Seven Springs resident Cynthia Summerlin, left, has been singing with the Wilmington Celebration Choir (WCC) for 20 years. She is also the group’s vice president and travel coordinator. (Wilmington Celebration Choir|Courtesy photo)
The WCC performs close to 50 concerts a year with genres running the gamut from Southern gospel and traditional hymns to Black gospel, anthems, and praise and worship. (Wilmington Celebration Choir|Courtesy photo)
Eighteen members of the WCC, including Seven Springs’ Cynthia Summerlin, traveled to South Africa in 2011. Here, they take part in a choir clinic with the local Red Hill Community Choir. The little boy in the bottom right corner clearly enjoys mimicing the actions of WCC director Joey Gore; this is one of Summerlin’s favorite photos. (Wilmington Celebration Choir|Courtesy photo)
Cynthia Summerlin and her husband, Pastor Ashley Summerlin, have been married 54 years and ‘ministry partners’ for 32. (Cynthia Summerlin|Courtesy photo)
Faison native and Seven Springs resident Cynthia Summerlin hits the recording studio with her WCC choirmates to make their music available on CDs and USB drives. (Wilmington Celebration Choir|Courtesy photo)
Cynthia Summerlin, right, was introduced to the Wilmington Celebration Choir by friend Kerry McCarthy Poinsett. (Wilmington Celebration Choir|Courtesy photo)
WCC concerts sometimes take place outdoors, as is the case at this patriotic event in 2022. (Wilmington Celebration Choir|Courtesy photo)
Joey Gore, left, serves as president and director of WCC; Cynthia Summerlin is vice president and travel coordinator. (Wilmington Celebration Choir|Courtesy photo)
Seven Springs resident Cynthia Summerlin ministers to children in the Red Hill community of South Africa during a 2011 visit there by the WCC. (Wilmington Celebration Choir|Courtesy photo)
It’s often said that a person has a song in his or her heart. In the case of Seven Springs resident Cynthia Summerlin, the song — or, rather, songs — in her heart are specifically of the gospel variety.
The 72-year-old retiree sings tenor with the acclaimed Wilmington Celebration Choir (WCC), in addition to serving as the group’s vicep resident and travel coordinator. The choir is diverse in both its 50-person membership (multi-generational and multi-denominational) and its music (a repertoire that ranges from traditional hymns and Southern gospel to Black gospel, praise and worship, inspirational, and anthems).
Singing with the WCC is a dream come true for Summerlin, whose love for gospel music began when she was a child living with her grandparents in Faison, following her parents’ separation. “Growing up at my grandparents’ we’d watch ‘Gospel Jubilee’ every Sunday morning,” she recalls. “I loved the music and dreamed of singing with a group. I loved the Speer Family and the Happy Goodmans!”
Summerlin’s love for music continued to grow, and as a young teen, she began singing solo at the church she and her grandparents faithfully attended, Calypso Pentecostal Holiness Church (now Peace Baptist), which did not have a choir. “When I’d visit my mom, who had moved to Wilmington, we’d go to church on Sundays, and I loved their choir,” she remembers.
Over the years, she came to sing in various choirs and groups, including “The New Covenant Singers” of Faison Baptist Church and “A Peculiar People” of Jackson Heights Original Free Will Baptist Church. She was introduced to the WCC in 2003 by her friend Kerry McCarthy Poinsett, and after being “blown away” by a couple of their performances, she approached director Joey Gore and said, “‘I just can’t stand this; I want to sing in this choir so bad!’ And he said, ‘Come on.’” Summerlin didn’t have to be asked twice.
Since joining the WCC, she has had the opportunity to sing with numerous Southern gospel artists and in a few Gaither Homecoming events. “God does hear and answer the prayers of a little girl,” she says. “He has given me the desire of my heart to sing with a gospel group; I love what I get to do!”
Being a member of the WCC requires a significant time commitment, given that the group performs close to 50 concerts a year — indoor and outdoor local events, as well as concerts further away that require overnight stays — and practices every Thursday night in Wilmington, an hour and 40-minute drive for Summerlin.
Fortunately, she has the full support of her husband Ashley, himself a Baptist minister. The high school sweethearts have been married 54 years and have two children, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. They have been “ministry partners” for 32 years, Summerlin notes, adding, “As a pastor’s wife, I support him in his pastoral ministry, and he supports me in my ministry with the WCC. We are blessed beyond measure.”
In fact, when asked by phone to name her favorite WCC song, Summerlin has to pause and think about it, but Ashley can be heard in the background, quickly calling out his favorite: “When He Carries Me Away.” He is clearly a fan. After some consideration, Summerlin says that hers, at least for now, is “Church of the Living God.” Then, admitting that it’s hard to pick just one, she says she’s also partial to “The Goodness of God.” She emphasizes that the WCC performs its own unique arrangements, resulting in the singers putting a distinct stamp on each song they do.
When speaking of the 20 years she’s spent performing with the WCC, Summerlin uses the word “amazing” to describe many of her experiences; still, one stands above all the others, and that is a week-long stay in South Africa in 2011 by her and 17 of her choirmates. She laughs when she recalls doing the “Chicken Dance” for children in an elementary school; her voice becomes reverent when talking about a visit to a skilled care facility: “Most of the patients there had AIDS, so we did everything a capella and sang as softly as we could, so they wouldn’t be agitated, but they would enjoy the music.
“We went to an area called Red Hill,” she continues, “which was my favorite place that we ministered…they had developed a little choir within their community…It was an adult choir, but the children were all around us. It was just another great, great opportunity and experience. Our last night, we did a big community concert event, so we ministered in a lot of different areas.”
When asked what she appreciates most about being a part of the WCC, Summerlin references Chapter 4 of Ephesians, which, she says, stresses unity. Paraphrasing, she offers, “There’s one God, one body, one church. And we’re all one, no matter what denomination, if you believe in Christ, you are one, you’re family.” Mulling it over for a few seconds, she reiterates what is, to her, the essence of the Wilmington Celebration Choir: “We’re all one.”
To hear music by the WCC, or for more information, go to wilmingtoncelebrationchoir.com or to the Wilmington Celebration Choir Facebook page.
