JBU Worship Band Releases Single ‘Blind To Darkness’ On iTunes
Siloam Springs, Ark. (Feb. 5, 2015) - John Brown University’s touring worship band, The Red Steps, has released a new single on iTunes titled “Blind to Darkness.”
Senior Clint O’Kelley and now alumnus, Seth Kaye wrote the song in the fall of 2013 to accompany a chapel message by Dr. Ted Junseok Song’s, assistant professor of engineering at JBU.
Before each chapel service, student worship leaders meet with the speaker to talk about their message and collaborate on possible worship songs that may correlate with the chosen topic.
“Dr. Song’s message was much like a gospel message and talking about how in the church, we focus on the grace side, the gospel, and we forget about our sin,” O’Kelley said. “Seth and I wondered what song could help him present that, but the more we looked and thought about it, there wasn’t anything that focused on our sin that much. We locked ourselves in a practice room for a week and worked on it.”
The resulting song was initially meant solely for the chapel service, but the student body began to ask where to find it. So the JBU Music and Theatre Department began production on the single.
“While this process works quite well and closely mirrors the conversations commonly found in a local church context, it’s always exciting as an educator, pastor and artist when students decided, on their own accord, to dig in a little deeper,” said Jen Edwards, assistant professor of worship arts.
The song is performed by the ’13-’14 class of The Red Steps, of which Kaye was a member. The worship band is a select group of JBU students who travel to schools, churches and coffee shops across the country leading worship services and sharing the vision and history of JBU. O’Kelley joined the group this year.
John Brown University is a private Christian university, ranked No. 1 overall and a Best Value among Southern regional colleges by U.S. News. JBU enrolls more than 2,800 students from 42 states and 40 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, degree completion and concurrent education programs. JBU is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and a founding member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
