Through an alternative form of worship, the Signs of Adoration, or SOA, group performed an all-sign concert for the MSU community — both for the deaf and hearing.
Members of the auxiliary group of the MSU Gospel Choir prepared for the all-American Sign Language concert by huddling together backstage in prayer before the start of their performance Saturday night in the RCAH Theatre.
Family community services senior Carolyn McLean, the sign language chair of the SOA group, said God gave her the vision to host the concert.
“To my knowledge, an all-American Sign Language concert hasn’t been done (on campus),” she said. “I think it would be a really, really great stepping stone for this community — for the deaf community.”
With every seat of the theater filled, SOA performed with two other signing choirs, Lift Up Your Hands Ministries of the Evangel Christian Church from Roseville, Mich., and Hands of Praise, a signing group composed of elementary and middle school students from Detroit.
Worshiping through sign language bridges a gap to force those who are not deaf to pay attention to the words and not just the music, said Pastor Karen Rush, a member of the Lift Up Your Hands Ministries.
“By using sign language and pantomime, it’s not only reaching the deaf, it’s reaching the hearing,” Rush said. “It’s like seeing the Bible come alive.”
Using only animated sign language, the choirs performed several selections to various gospel songs such as “Woman Thou Art Loosed” and “Fix Me Up” that kept the crowd rocking from the beginning to the end of the concert, McLean said.
Although the concert was a successful performance, it meant much more to alternative forms of worship, said finance senior Regina Nicholas, a member of the MSU Gospel Choir.
“Their performance of ministry is important because you don’t want to keep the same thing for the simple fact that things get boring,” Nicholas said. “We all have different forms of ministry — people can personally relate to that form.”
Tired of the deaf community being ignored in the church, McLean wanted to provide more than a small deaf section or an interpreter, she said.
“(This is) really new and it will give people a way to honestly take a look at the deaf culture,” she said. “I just feel like it’s time for people to realize that the deaf community can worship God just like (the hearing) can.”
Members of the audience, such as Detroit resident Charles Mann, agreed.
“They transform the message of God into sign language to the deaf community in a blessed ministry,” he said.
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