Young voices uplifted hearts and hands with songs of praise to God on Thursday night at the Show Me Center during the fifth night of the Hope for America crusade.

Members of the Baptist Student Center's Regeneration Collegiate Campus Ministries choir at Southeast Missouri State University performed to an audience of about 200 worshippers.

Music director Jason Barney said about 25 members of the choir were on hand to bring people closer to their Lord with music and spirit.

"We hope to usher in the spirit of God as we sing to him," Barney said. "We use music as a form of praise. The Bible said God abides in the praises of his people."

Audience members stood and clapped along with the choir as they sang contemporary gospel songs.

David Garritt, a member of the Horizon Foundation sponsoring the crusade, said the choir was brought in to raise people's joy in the Lord with musical fellowship.

"They bring a spiritual uplifting and a motivation for the audience to open their hearts to the message," Garritt said.

The featured speaker Thursday night was John Ed Mathison, a United Methodist minister.

Tonight is the last night of the crusade and will be highlighted by youth speaker Ken Freeman.

The Horizon Foundation, an organization founded by Cape Girardeau businessman Jerry Lipps, held a similar crusade here in April and has held others in Du Quoin, Ill., and Paducah, Ky. Another crusade is planned for September 2003 in St. Charles, Mo.

Attendance during this week's crusade was down significantly from April's, which organizers estimated at close to 2,000 people nightly. Garritt attributed the smaller crowds to a diminished interest from area churches.

"I think it was probably just a lack of interest on the part of some of the local pastors," he said. "For whatever reason, they may have had other things going on, but they didn't promote it as much this time. It's also hard to do something like this in your own hometown. ... To be successful at this here, you have to bring in an outside sponsor."

Doors at the Show Me Center open at 6 p.m., and the service begins at 7 p.m. Admission and parking are free. For information about the crusade, call the Horizon Foundation at 339-4646.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160