Musician brings his program to church

Area musician and composer Johnny Carr intends to use his music to spread holiday cheer.

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Curtis Baptist Church will perform God's Promise, a cantata co-written by Carr, who is a part-time music teacher at Brookwood Elementary, at 6 p.m. Sunday.

The Columbia County Choral Society performed the musical last year, and Carr said this year's performance is different because it is more focused on the music and will be accompanied by a full orchestra for the first time.

"I'm a retired schoolteacher, and people kept asking me, 'What are you going to do when you retire?'" Carr said. "One of my main goals was to orchestrate this. It has taken me a little over a year to do it."

The musical was recorded in the late 1980s by Triune Music, but Carr and co-writer Don Phillips thought their best songs were cut from the recording.

"This version we're doing at Curtis Baptist Church on Dec. 14 is the full version, including the songs that were edited out of the recording."

There also will be a communion that is part of the musical called Light of Lights. The performance will start at 6 p.m., and the musical will be in place of the Sunday evening church service.