Southwestern students sing for Shane & Shane’s new hymns album

Close to 100 members of the School of Church Music and Worship (SCMW) at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary had the opportunity to provide the worship choir for a live album recording with Christian artists Shane & Shane on Oct. 1.

The opportunity came after a collaboration earlier this year. In January, Shane & Shane (Shane Barnard and Shane Everett) held a concert at Southwestern as part of the seminary’s Worship and the Church micro conference. SCMW choirs participated in the concert, which led to the invitation to be the worship choir in Shane & Shane’s upcoming live album.

“I think they were incredibly blessed by the worshiping heart of our students and the quality of their singing,” said Chuck Lewis, professor of church music and worship and associate dean of the SCMW.

The recording was held at Watermark Community Church in Dallas, home church for Barnard and Everett. Lewis said the recording session was like a worship concert with an audience. The students sang more than a dozen songs with the Shane & Shane team, most of them new, during the more than two-hour event.

“I think for many of our students, being a part of a live album recording is a once in a lifetime, rare opportunity,” Lewis said.

Although the opportunity came the same week as the Cowden Hall Centennial Celebration concert, marking the anniversary of the SCMW’s building, Lewis said they knew they could not turn it down, while Marc Brown, assistant professor of church music and worship, added they totally committed to the opportunity, inviting even some former choir members and others like his own daughter to participate.

Brown said students were able to practice working alongside other musicians and leaders who have different ways of preparing and leading, requiring a flexibility on their part to make sure it blended into a worshipful evening.

“Music is music, but the way people approach it based on their discipline, knowing we can all work together but we need to be flexible, that was kind of a beautiful picture of the body of Christ,” Brown said.

Jeremy Smith, who graduated with his Master of Music in worship leadership in 2025 and is now a Doctor of Philosophy student from Joshua, Texas, said they were tasked with helping make the evening a night of worship and not just a concert, and said, “that’s what it was. It was just a huge time of worship.”

Smith, who sings with Southwestern A Cappella and the Cowden Hall Band, said they had thought the event in January was a unique opportunity, so to be asked to sing with Shane & Shane a second time for their recording was “unbelievable.”

“It’s the biggest, most energetic, and most fulfilling worship service that I’ve ever been a part of,” Smith said, adding he is looking forward to using some of the new songs in chapel at Southwestern and at Trinity Hills Baptist Church, where he is the minister of music.

Alejandra Rojas, a Master of Divinity in worship leadership student from Houston, said she was grateful to participate in the event with her SCMW peers, saying they don’t often get to sing and lead worship all together.

“It gave us a glimpse as to what heaven is going to be like, singing with everyone,” Rojas said, describing the impact of singing the Doxology at the end of the concert with the choir and the congregation. “… Even the congregation that was present that day just sang with such fervor, with the familiarity of, yes, this is a live concert, but we’re ending on this note just to reorient us to the reason why we gather.”

Lewis praised the students for helping lead in a time of sincere worship.

“They’re committed to the Lord, and they want to make sure not only their voice is singing praise to the Lord, but their countenance, their ‘all that is within me,’ is praising the Lord,” Lewis said. “And just to stay engaged for two hours, I was really proud of them.”

Lewis said he was pleased to see what the students were taught in the classrooms being implemented in a public setting of worship.

“One of the things that we say here is as worship leaders we are never the point, but always the pointers to Christ,” Lewis said. “And I think when I watched our students as they were a part of this amazing worship experience, I saw that particular philosophy or idea coming to life. They were not the point. They were so humbly the pointers to Christ.”

The recording event gave students the opportunity to see the operation of a large church’s production team, from the instrumentalists to those running the audio, and how they coordinated to provide the night of worship.

Brown pointed out that opportunities like this are impactful for the students participating, but also are helpful in recruiting prospective students who hear about Southwestern through such events.

“It was a home run for a great worship night, to have our students involved in something that is really unique, really special,” Brown said. “And I know it paid dividends as far as helping people to realize what a special place Southwestern is.”

In the spring, the Cowden Hall Band was able to partner with Shane & Shane by using the recording studios of their Worship Initiative for the band’s album, “Day by Day: Hymns from Seminary Hill,” which is expected to release in a few months.