Good things usually come to those who wait.
That is exactly what the ETSU Gospel Ensemble realized as they accepted their first-place trophy in the Baptist Student Union Conference Competition, held in Nashville on March 29.
The choir, which has been attending the competition for six years, not only brought home the prize, but a plague for most attendance as well.
On their journey to success, there were many trials and tribulations, threatening to keep the group from attending.
The Student Government Association denied the group’s request for 606 funds to help finance the trip to Nashville.
“We were worried for a moment or two, until we talked to Dr. Bader,” said Gospel Ensemble president, Jarret Bush.
“We discovered that with the amount of money that we raised through fundraisers, we were short by a small margin, and Dr. Bader gave us the rest of the money.”
Dr. Steven Bader, senior associate vice president of Student Affairs, was able to give the group money from the budget.
Even after dealing with finicial situations, the choir still managed to prevail in competition.
Bush accredits the group’s success to the musicians, Kelvin Scott and Carl Hale and the director, Robbie Hale, for going against the grain and convincing the choir to give their all.
Robbie Hale and Scott came up with a medley of three songs for the competition-winning piece.
“Me and Kelvin were sitting in his music room and were pressed for time for coming up with a song for competition,” said R. Hale. “Then three songs came to me and we couldn’t decide on which one to use.
“The Lord gave to me a medley of the three and we went from there,” he said.
Upon hearing their name called for first place, Bush said it was very exciting since they hadn’t won anything in the first few years.
“To hear ETSU’s name called for two awards was wonderful,” he said.
As far as attending the next BSU Conference Competition in Texas, Bush said he really didn’t know because at the end of the semester he is stepping down as president of the ensemble, and leaving it open for someone else.
Throughout all the ups and downs of the Gospel Ensemble, Bush said everything was worth it because in the end and made the choir stronger and solely dependant upon Jesus.

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