God’s Grace - Needing Time

Topic: Origins - Ring Shout
God’s Grace was one of several acts who appeared at an anniversary concert for The Sensational Chariots in Philadelphia’s Saint Andrews Fellowship Baptist Church on a Saturday in 2016. The five women used "Needed Time" to close their segment.

The backup singers and musicians stood in the mourning bench area, while the lead, Vanessa Mims, moved into the aisle where the most interested were seated. When she walked, she bent her knees to move her feet. One hand held a microphone, while the other was bent at the elbow. During the denouement, she often leaned forward from the hips as she sang.

The women in her backup group stood behind floor mikes and moved to the music. While their movements were similar, they were not synchronized. They bent their knees and tended to keep their elbows bent.

Mims had a corded mike, and so only moved up four pews where people on the aisles were clapping. Those who stood tended to be on the side aisles or at the back.

At the end, the women moved down the aisle with the same march-style walk as Mims, and congregated at the rear.

"Needed Time" apparently was her closing number; two other videos of it were posted from concerts celebrating God’s Grace’s anniversaries. Her movement patterns were the same, as were the responses of the audience. In one, two women at the back brought tambourines that they began shaking toward the end.

Performers
Vocal Soloist: Vanessa Mims

Vocal Group: Rosie Harris, Misty Henley, Myra J. Maxwell, Patricia Dockery, Starr Ball [1]

Instrumental Accompaniment: electric guitar, electric bass
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum set

Credits
None given

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Phrases: come by here, needed time, praying

Vocabulary
Pronoun: somebody, then I
Term for Deity: Lord, then Jesus
Special Terms: none

Basic Form: prelude-denouement

Prelude: followed the conventional song with verses about "it’s a needed time" and "somebody’s praying." The first repeated the line three times (AAAB). The second used variants of "why don’t you come here" for the second through fourth lines. These two verses were repeated three times.

Transition: one verse, come by here in the morning/noontide/midnight hour, with "come by here" for fourth line.

Denouement: repetitions of "come by here" and "see about Jesus."

Ending: repeated transition verse, before another repetition of the denouement verse.

Literary Devices: incremental repetition
Unique Features: none

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: AB

Singing Style: soloist sang one syllable to one note. It became harder to understand her words toward the end. The group sang in chords.

Solo-Group Dynamics: The group begin repeating her lines, then repeated "come by here" as the soloist began repeating lines.

Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: the musicians continued playing while the women walked down the aisle at the end.

Notes on Performance
Occasion: concerts celebrating the anniversaries of local Philadelphia gospel groups. Two were for her group, and one was for another.

Location: mourning bench areas of local churches

Microphones: generally the soloist had a corded hand-mike and the backup singers had floor mikes. In one concert the second lead singer also had a hand-mike, and in another they all did.

Clothing: they dressed alike in straight, calf-length skirts and over blouses; in one case they were bright pink, in the others they were shades of white or gray. The musicians wore black or black slacks and white tops.

Notes on Movement
The guitar and bass player stood behind the women in two concerts. In the third, they were seated to one side. The drummer was always seated.

As suggested in the post for 30 September 2018, shoes with heels could restrain women’s movements. In the video for 2016, Mims took off shoes before she began singing. In the video from 2017, one of the backup singers removed her shoes before the recessional.

Notes on Performers
God’s Grace was organized in 2000 by Vanessa Mims and Rosie Harris. Mims was affiliated with Saint John Memorial Baptist Church where she was an associate minister. [2]

The second lead singer, Myra Maxwell, was a Methodist pastor at Saint Luke’s Restoration Worship Center. She had been sexually molested as a child, and much of her ministry was concerned with helping victims. She said she first became serious about religion when she learned "Jesus Loves Me" at a friend’s vacation Bible school. [3]

The others were members of Enon Baptist Church. [4] It had been organized in 1917; it’s pastor in 2017 was born in South Carolina, but moved to Philadelphia as a child. Samaria Bailey said "his preaching style is reminiscent of an elder Southern Baptist preacher and complements the enthusiastic music supplied by the church’s vocalists and instrumentalists." He said it was a spirit-centered church, because "if the Holy Ghost don’t come, then everything we do is in vain."[5]

Availability
YouTube: Vanessa Mims. "Needing Time." Uploaded 22 June 2014 by Vanessa Mims. Anniversary concert for God’s Grace.

YouTube: God’s Grace. "Come By Here." Uploaded 2 October 2016 by Best Quartets. Fifty-seventh anniversary concert for The Sensational Chariots.

YouTube: God’s Grace. "Lord Come By Here." Uploaded 17 June 2017 by PeaceCobbler. Seventeenth anniversary concert for God’s Grace.

End Notes
1. YouTube notes, 2016.

2. "Gospel, Soul & Rhythm-n-Blues Review with Carlton Lewis III and More." Ticketfly website.

3. John W. Coleman. "Pastor’s Healing from Abuse Inspires Ministry and a Meeting with the Pope." United Methodist Church, Eastern Pennsylvania Conference website. November 2015.

4. Ticketfly.

5. Samaria Bailey. "Church of the Week: Historical Enon Baptist Church." The Philadelphia Tribune website. 4 November 2017.