By: ED WISMER
Ocean City Sentinel critic
June 18, 2009

“OCEAN CITY - The Ocean City Tabernacle continues to expand its campus and its many services to Ocean City and surrounding areas. Under the direction of Tabernacle President Dr. Richard Stanislaw, the programs at the venerable and growing seasonal place of worship at the Tabernacle continually expands its offerings of high quality music and highly qualified and respected speakers and youth activities keeping the general public awareness of the Tabernacle high. An important innovation has been the Kull Youth Center which offers Christian entertainment and youth activities unequalled in this area.

Last Friday evening the Youth Center hosted a concert by the New Light 2009 Summer Music Team. The septet of singers and performers is from Messiah College which is located in the Harrisburg, Pa., vicinity. The personable talented and wholesome young singers utterly enchanted their sizable audience with a largely a cappella program of traditional sacred music in unique modern arrangements, contemporary hymns and some intriguing African songs sung in Swahili dialect. Some of the music featured unusual percussion effects and dancing gestures.

Tim Agnolutto is a junior public relations major from Dunkirk, Md., while Richard Chagnon is a senior theater major from Windsor Locks, Conn. The other two male members of New Light are Jonathan Eastburn, of Chalfont, Pa., who is a sophomore at Messiah College majoring in music education, and Bryant Vance, of Lowville, N.Y., a senior theater major. Erin Smidt is a sophomore music education major from West Milford, N.J., while Melissa Shumaker of New Bloomfield, Pa., is a senior church music major with a soprano voice that would earn her an operatic career. Sarah Wingard is a junior music education major from Harrisonburg, Va., whose bio says she is very fond of Oaxaca, Mexico. Whether as soloists or when singing in ensemble they were all superb.

Their harmony was perfect and they continually changed key without once going astray. On Saturday morning New Light performed again for a large Tabernacle sponsored breakfast gathering.”