For The One: West End Baptist choir records first worship album
Published 1:16 pm Friday, June 20, 2025
West End Baptist Church’s choir during the recording of their album “For The One” earlier this year.
West End Baptist Church’s choir during the recording of their album “For The One” earlier this year.
West End Baptist Church’s choir during the recording of their album “For The One” earlier this year.
West End Baptist Church’s choir during the recording of their album “For The One” earlier this year.
West End Baptist Church’s choir during the recording of their album “For The One” earlier this year.
West End Baptist Church’s choir during the recording of their album “For The One” earlier this year.
West End Baptist Church’s choir during the recording of their album “For The One” earlier this year.
West End Baptist Church had 78 of its choir members participate in the recording of their album “For The One.”
West End Baptist Church’s Music Director Paula Kornegay directing the choir during the recording.
Patrick Kornegay recording his solo for the West End Baptist Church album.
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Story by Carey Reeder
Photos by Clay Daughtery
“As people hear this, we pray the Holy Spirit moves in their heart and that God does the work through us using our gifts in music, that their lives are changed forever.”
West End Baptist Church’s worship choir put together their first album earlier this spring entitled “For The One” that is aimed at spreading the word of the Lord through the musical gifts of its members. The album features some of the choir’s favorite and iconic songs over the years, but also mixes in some new tracks.
“It is for God, first and foremost, for his honor, for his glory and all the songs are Christian and biblically based,” Paula Kornegay, West End Baptist Church Music Director, said. “Pastor (James) Watkins says a lot of times that ‘We are looking for the one.’ The one person that God is speaking to to change their life forever. It is two-fold — it is for God, and the one who needs him.”
Kornegay has spent six years at WEBC as their Music Director and has always wanted to make an album with the choir. During her time in Louisville, Kentucky, Kornegay made two albums and felt the magic it can bring, which was the goal for “For The One.” The choir chose their track list from around 100 songs that were available to them. The album has 11 tracks featuring popular worship songs like “Mary Did You Know” and “Feels Like Redemption” in the choir’s own rendition of the songs.
“When you record it, you have the headphones on and you hear nothing in the room and everything comes through the headphones,” Kornegay said. “I had several older people before recording say ‘I don’t know.’ But they were the first ones to come over afterwards and say ‘I am so glad we did this.’”
The choir had 78 members participate in the recording aged 10-85, giving the music a wide range of tones. It took just a week to complete the project with the solos being recorded during the day and the choir’s portion being recorded in the evening. Soloists on the album included Kelsey Hubbard, Patrick and Paula Kornegay, Eddie and Sharon Lightsey, Liv Meany, Blake Potts and Trey Speaks. The tracks were mixed by Prism Music out of Nashville, Tennessee and the company helped the choir through each step of the process.
“We grew as a choir,” Kornegay said. “It was like a revival, a retreat and we learned to trust each other and we did it together. It was a very special growing time for us. If it comes from a place in our heart, God hears it.”
All of the songs the choir recorded had to be owned by Prism Music, leaving some of the songs that the WEBC choir is famous for off the track list. However, that leaves the door open later for a second album, something Kornegay and the choir are stirring the pot for already. An added piece that was mentioned is to include the WEBC’s kids’ choir and some live music from their worship band on the second album.
“We would love to do a second album,” Kornegay said.
Each choir member received two copies of the album — one for themselves and one to give to someone else. The hope for Kornegay and the choir is for the album to work as an evangelist tool that gets the word of God into the ears and hands of people. The choir has shared the album with people locally, but downloads online have reached the continent of Africa over 8,000 miles away. Members of the WEBC mission team will take copies of the album to Tanzania on June 14 to pass out during their mission trip.
One of the biggest blessings for the church throughout the recording process was an anonymous donation that came in. The donation covered the entire cost of the album project.
“It was a blessing from the start,” Kornegay said. “This did not cost us a thing … God was already working in their hearts, and we pray that he uses each one of us to encourage, evangelize and remind people in the hope of Christ.”
WEBC did six of the songs from the album during the Sunday service following the release of the album in late spring. Since recording the album, Kornegay has noticed the choir’s talent show through even more. She added that they are singing better musically, but they are singing more from the heart.
“(West End Baptist Church) is a great place to be, and I have been doing this for a long, long time,” Kornegay said. “This is the best of the best for me, it really, really is. It is a sweet group of people, they love the Lord and they want to do their best musically, but we are more concerned about why we are doing it and who we are doing it for.”
