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Musical Ministry is Gift of Faith

By KEVIN RIORDAN of the Courier-Post  

Wellington Watts stands at the Casio keyboard in the basement rec room of his Glassboro home. The cozy paneled space - decorated with antiques and a photograph of former President Bush - suddenly fills with glorious melody.

"That's basically how a song is born," says Watts, who ought to know. The 59-year-old choir director and educator has written several hundred songs since 1986. He is developing "a musical ministry of hope, reconciliation, forgiveness, faith and inspiration."

Wellington Watts teaches at the Ambassador Christian Academy and is founder and director of the Unity Music Singers, both in Glassboro. Nancy Watts retired from teaching in the Glassboro school district in 1999 after a 31-year career. They have been married for 40 years and are the parents of a grown son.

Active members of Calvary Hill Church, proud patriots, and gracious hosts (they insist a columnist stay for a scrumptious home-cooked meal), the Wattses are setting their faith to music.

“It really is a miracle," Wellington says, describing how his unexpected musical career began. It was 36 years ago, and the choir director at Olivet Wesleyan Church in Glassboro didn't show up. The pastor, the Rev. W. Earl Watts, asked his son to fill in.

"I had never done it before in my life," Wellington says. "But it was like electricity shot through me. I instantly knew how to direct a choir." Many years later in 1986, Wellington wrote his first song, "In Remembrance of Me." Nancy sang it at the bedside of the elder Watts shortly before he died. "I never imagined that the first song I ever wrote would be the last song he would hear," Wellington says.

Songs have poured out ever since and continue to impact people's lives. Among the most memorable are "Mary's Song," which Nancy recorded on her 1990album “Share the Song”, and "He Watches Over You," inspired by Operation Desert Storm in 1991. And after Sept. 11, Wellington wrote "Let the Light of Freedom Shine" as a tribute to those who died in the terrorist attacks.

A CD of the song has been distributed to radio stations. Wellington describes himself as an "interpretive" and "intuitive" musician. "I get a feeling, or a mood, that translates itself into music," he says. "It's as if, out of the sky God sends this beautiful music."

Says Nancy, "It's a gift."

Kevin Riordan's column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.




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