Chip Colee ('90), minister of music at First Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama, wasn't originally planning to come to Samford. Then one day he visited the campus and was invited by an old family friend attending Samford to come to an A Cappella Choir rehearsal. "On hearing the first sounds coming from the choir, I knew immediately there was something very special about this place and that I wanted to be part of it. I never even visited another school after that," he says.
He had felt called to serve God in some specific way since the age of 10 and in high school began to see more clearly that the service would be in the field of music ministry. His music studies at Samford challenged him and prepared him for that service. The academic and musical standards at Samford were very high, he says, and he feels that the life lessons he learned, particularly from Dr. L. Gene Black, then School of Music Dean and director of the A Cappella Choir, had a profound impact on his life and ministry that shaped him "in incalculable ways."
"Dr. Black taught me about working with people and serving Christ and others with passion combined with excellence and humility. His standards and expectations were always very high, but he never gave up on me. Time and time again, he put me in a position to learn, grow and succeed," he says. Colee took on many leadership roles while at Samford: in choir, in student government, in his fraternity and as director of a Step Sing production. "The broad variety of leadership experiences I was afforded gave me a firm foundation of proven principles from which I still draw regularly," Colee says.
He also participated in ministry opportunities as an undergraduate which reinforced his desire to reach people for Christ. Through A Cappella Choir, he spent a summer using music as a tool on the mission field in Europe, which he says helped shape his Christian world view. And observing Samford graduates already at work in full-time ministry, such as Bob Hatfield, minister of music at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Birmingham, showed him the practical application of his classroom studies.
Colee attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, after graduating from Samford. Because of his broad-spectrum preparation and the excellence demanded by Samford's program, he says that his seminary studies were merely an extension of what he had already been doing.
In the spring of 2004, he was invited to be minister of music at First Baptist Church in Montgomery, a 180-year-old fellowship endowed with, in his words, "a wealth of talent and Christ-centered Kingdom leaders." The church has a goal of incorporating music into the discipleship of all its members, from the youngest to the oldest, he says. Its music ministries include youth choirs, adult choir, an orchestra and a school of fine arts. Colee loves that the church has a strong Samford connection. The pastor, Jay Wolf, and several members serve as Samford trustees, and many others in the church are supporters of the university.
Colee and his wife, a high school English and journalism teacher and a fellow Samford graduate, frequently tell young people they will get the highest quality education at Samford. "Samford is an experience that will prepare you for life and ministry and connect you to lifelong friendships too numerous to count. I am very thankful for the investment that Samford University made in my life," he says.
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