It's not preaching: Theater intersects with faith when WordPlayers take stage More: 9 for November: Don't miss these East Tennessee events as holidays approach Their performances include interpretive, contemporary-styled dances that incorporate exaggerated sign language as movements, musical skits with religious messages, and routines to hip-hop-inspired songs like singer Tye Tribbett’s “Victory.”' … You use your whole being to worship the Lord.” We feel this is where God has put us, through interpretive dance. And this is our form of worship, where we feel led. “I guess you could say people didn’t understand it at first,” Overton said. And the Lord had to present it, to show that this is God.' “Kristy, when she started, she had a lot of prayer, a lot of prayer. Not everyone accepted it. “That was hard at first,” Henderson said. View Gallery: Praise Team brings dance ministry to Baptist church Using your 'whole being' to worshipĪt the start, a 'dance team' at a Missionary Baptist church did get some pushback. Henderson, who has studied dance and performed with secular groups, remembers seeing Rejoice perform as a seventh-grader and being moved, with a friend, to ask to join. “We felt like that is what the Lord wanted us to do we felt that that was our way of ministering to others,” she said. Henderson’s aunt Kristy Murphy began the group. Current leaders Megan Henderson, 23, and Kristin Overton, 27, grew up in the church and became team members as young teenagers. There’s been a Dante Baptist dance ministry since the mid-2000s. Sign Up: Get Knox News headlines in your email. In fact, these dancers don’t want to be noticed for themselves. The movements by the Rejoice Praise Team of Dante Missionary Baptist Church aren’t that kind of dancing. Pairing 'dance' and 'Baptist' together may seem unusual, perhaps even unsettling, for some people.

Watch Video: Praise Team brings dance ministry to Baptist churchįor more than a decade a group of dedicated North Knoxville Baptists has danced for the glory of God.

Praise dances to break every chain