Praise and Worship Team to sing in White Sulphur Springs

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS W.Va. (WVDN) – Women from up and down the east coast of the United States are gathering in White Sulphur Springs the weekend of Sept. 14-15 to offer praise to God through song. These women, who met each other during their time serving sentences at the Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia, are reuniting to witness the power of God transforming their lives. While incarcerated, they developed the Praise and Worship Team as one of the choirs at FPC Alderson’s chapel.

The Praise and Worship Team frequently went out into the community to offer praise and testimonies at area churches and schools; sometimes participating in events like Alderson’s Fourth of July Celebration or the Martin Luther King celebrations during Black History Month.

As their sentences ended, the women returned to their home communities and entered the workforce in a variety of professions. Their time in prison gave them a new perspective on life and their Christian faith deepened and became a very important part of their lives.

Some of the women have been out of prison for fifteen years, some less, but all have been rebuilding their lives over the past decade or more.

Throughout the years, their ties to one another have not been broken. They have kept in contact with each other through social media and visits. They have also kept in touch with former staff, including Christy Ford, the former Correctional Program Specialist in Religious Services and the former Chaplain, the Rev. Elizabeth Walker, at FPC Alderson. They both retired in 2016. Starting in 2024, former choir members began to work to get a time and date when they could come to Greenbrier County and sing at both of these retired staff members’ churches.

“I received a phone call from my former chapel clerk and longtime member of the Alderson Praise & Worship Team, telling me that they were planning on coming to sing at our churches and to reunite with one another,” Walker said. “I was amazed that, after all this time, these women wanted to come together and offer praise to God for all that God has done in their lives. When they were at Alderson, their faith experiences deepened their relationship with Jesus Christ in ways that have not diminished with the passing of time.” Walker also spoke with one of the women who has worked tirelessly to make this reunion in West Virginia happen; she also worked in the chapel during her time at Alderson.

Plans have been made, including when the women could offer their music during church services, finding them a place where they could all stay together in the area, and coordinating travel plans. Some of the women will be coming from as far away as Florida and New York; arriving by air, train or automobile to the Greenbrier Valley.

“This is a labor of love, pure and simple,” Walker said. “A wonderful weekend of music and fellowship with these women has been created. Former and current volunteers at FPC Alderson, along with retirees from the prison, have been invited to attend the services to renew acquaintances and listen to some incredible contemporary Gospel music.” Walker went on to say, “I am so pleased that they want to come to see us retired staff and our volunteers from the chapel, and to reunite with one another. I always hoped that we would see each other again, but never dreamed that they would be able to gather from so many different places and worship with us in our home churches.”

The Praise and Worship Team will offer services of praise at The Redemption Center on Tuckahoe Road in White Sulphur Springs on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 6 p.m. and again at St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Main Street in the Spa City on Sunday, Sept. 15, at 11 a.m.

“It is my understanding that the choir trips into the tri-county area are not happening anymore,” Walker stated. “After we retired, and then with COVID-19 shutting down so many things for the prison, the trips have not resumed.” She believes that the contact between the community and the inmates was invaluable to both the women and the churches and schools they visited during those trips. “This may be the last time, at least for a long time, that people will be able to hear this powerful music sung from the heart and offered to the glory of God by these women. I am so thankful that they have made this trip to sing for our two congregations,” Walker said.

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