Winners have emerged in the International Juvenile Music Competition organised by Greater Tomorrow Group (GTG), held on Children’s Day in Lagos.
The juvenile choir of CCC El-Morijah Parish, Ikorodu, Lagos, won the grand prize of $2,000, while CCC Ibara Cathedral, Abeokuta, Ogun State, clinched the first runner-up prize of ₦500,000. CCC Olifi Ijaye Cathedral secured ₦250,000 as the second runner-up.
Out of the 47 parishes that entered the competition, 10 juvenile choirs advanced to the grand finale.
The competition, which took place on Children’s Day, was organised by True Word in Season, the evangelical arm of the Greater Tomorrow Group (GTG), and was held at MUSON Centre, Lagos.
The convener of True Word in Season, Bro. Ademola Bolaji, explained that the initiative aimed to raise standards and align the minds of children and youths with spiritual values.
He lamented that many children are growing up in a disorganised manner due to the cultural environment and the kind of music they are exposed to from an early age.
Speaking on what inspired the competition, Bolaji stated, “We want to change the narratives and bring the music competition back to the norm of what it was used to be. Papa was a musicologist. and he was a very versatile bible teacher. He gave us juvenile bible quiz on the last Saturday of May every year. For the elders, he established musical competition. Contestants came from Ajashe and Ivory Coast to Nigeria to participate in the music competition. But today, our juveniles are singing all kinds of song.
This is a way of investing in the lives of our youth and building them to become the picture of what God has made them and not what the world made them.
You know this is children day, this is a way to bring the children together and give them a focus for their lives. God gave three things and we only added one to make us never to be poor in life. God gave us gift, talent, skill and we added education for our career. You will see that many of those that go for education are not celebrated except those we continue to get educated. But gift, talent and skill, footballers are about talents and skills. These are things that are celebrated. So we are saying discover the talent God gave to you and you’ll get to the height.
To give them that vision, we have to bring panel of judges from the Airforce. We have the band commander from the Airforce. We have a pianist and musicologist from Ile-Ife. They are here to judge the contestants and give them their scorecards on the science of music.”
The Shepherd-in-Charge of CCC National Headquarters, Makoko, Lagos, Ven. Superior Evangelist Afis Kiki, urged wealthy Christians both in society and in the CCC to invest their resources in evangelism and in advancing God’s kingdom.
He said, “We thank that we are here to celebrate our greater tomorrow and the youths generally. There is no financial possession deposited into our accounts that is really ours but for it to increase, it depends on the usage of it. The best way to use money is to use it for the kingdom of God. Spending money for God is like inviting money into your treasury. So, I encourage the wealthy men and women in the society and in the CCC to gather all their potentials and harness them into profit making unto the kingdom of God and into evangelism, concerts and things like this.
The first of its kind was the quiz we had at the National Headquarters four days ago and today, w are here to gather the youths to exhibit God given talents in music. I will be happy that everybody appreciates the gesture we deposited our monies into the kingdom so that we can boldly declare ourselves members of the kingdom of God.”
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One of the judges, renowned gospel recording artist Oluseyi Sholagbade, said the panel was assessing contestants based on quality and originality of their compositions.
He said, “The selection is based on age. The competition is designed for the juvenile to commemorate the 40th transition anniversary of Pa Oshoffa. What we are looking at is the quality and originality in those kids. The competition is meant to redirect and reshape them for future purposes. It is to refocus their mindset into church music. That is the primary aim of the competition.
It is to reawaken them and use it as a medium to bring their mind back from secularity which are rampart in Christendom where secularity is being mixed with sacredness. We are judging contestants on their original composition. We have given them a theme which they will compose on and we will be looking at the technicalities in their compositions. People want to follow the trend and it’s unfortunate that the trend is moving us away from the church. Music is more powerful and more military than the military. It penetrates the heart of the people with ease. So, we are using that as a tool to control and redirect the minds of our youths back to the church.”
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