New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College in New Orleans have degree programs in music and in worship ministry. Emerging from these programs is a worship team that provides a way for students to begin serving the Church while still in school.
Nate Jernigan is the director of Crescent City Worship. He is also director of the Center for Worship Studies and an assistant professor of music and worship for Leavell College, part of New Orleans Seminary.
“We try to give students an opportunity to grow, so it’s not just for the elite musician. It also has opportunities for students who need to grow — to take part in a group and a culture that is healthy and conducive for learning and gaining some experiences that will lead them to become an expert in that field,” Jernigan said.
The name of the group and its logo were chosen with purpose.
“New Orleans is called the Crescent City because the Mississippi River curves through our city and forms a crescent. We’re the only seminary of all six [Southern Baptist Convention] seminaries that is named after our city, and so we wanted our band’s name to have a strong connection both to our city and to our seminary,” Jernigan said.
The group’s logo has a font that curves around it, illustrating the river that curves around the city, and it also showcases a lantern — an “iconic architectural feature” of New Orleans.
“You see gas lanterns all over the city, which if you think about it, we want to be a light to the city. We want to be a light to the darkness in the ways that we serve and lead. So yeah, that’s a great image to represent what we’re hoping to accomplish,” he said.
More opportunities
The group began by leading Tuesday and Thursday chapel services at New Orleans Seminary, but it quickly became involved in more ministry.
Because they are frequently called on to lead or provide workshops for other conferences and events, the goal is to include 20 to 30 students from all programs. All it takes to become involved is an interest in serving through worship and an audition.
Six from the team represented the group by leading the worship times for the 2024 Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference at First Baptist Church Fairhope, which took place just before their latest album, “Crescent City Worship Live at Falls Creek,” was released Nov. 15.
This album contains both original songs and covers of popular worship songs. However, they don’t choose a song simply because it’s popular. They make sure each one is theologically sound before they add it to their playlist.
“We subscribe to the idea that all truth belongs to God, and so we’re going to evaluate every song based on the song. If so-and-so writes a song and uses truth from God’s Word, they don’t own that truth even though they may monetize it,” Jernigan said.
“So that truth that’s always been true about God — it always will be true about God — is something that’s worth proclaiming. We want to sing songs; we want to be known as a people who are theologically insightful and thoughtful in the ways that we choose songs based on the truth it represents.
“You’ll see on our album a mixture of modern hymns, old hymns, new praise and worship songs, and we really evaluate every song on its own basis based on whether it is declaring a truth about God that He owns, not a songwriter.”
“Crescent City Worship Live at Falls Creek” and the earlier release, “Crescent City Worship Live at the Abide Conference 2024,” can be heard through all music streaming platforms. For more information about the group and to inquire about booking, go to www.crescentcityworship.com.
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