The tour brings collegiate gospel choirs together to perform praise songs for audiences across New England.

A powerful new movement is emerging in our region as five New England collegiate choirs join forces, proclaiming the message of freedom and hope we have in Jesus Christ. Read the full story by Boston College student journalist Ella Chang to go behind the scenes before our final Gospel Experience tour stop at Morningstar Baptist on April 18!

P.S. Please help us spread the word by spreading the word to local pastors and congregations through our invite letter! 

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By Ella Chang

UMass Lowell’s New Purpose Gospel Choir performs at the third stop of UGET.

UMass Lowell’s New Purpose Gospel Choir shuffles onstage in an orderly line. They’re met with polite applause…and pounding footsteps.

Two college-aged women appear in the shadowy recesses of the auditorium. They charge awkwardly down the aisle, one valiantly battling a long, flowy dress that’s doing its best to trip her. Miraculously, they arrive at the front of the room unscathed, skidding to a stop mere feet from the stage.

As New Purpose sings, the women explode into a head-bobbing, hip-swinging frenzy. They clap along to an upbeat rendition of Joshua’s Troop’s “Everybody Clap Your Hands”. For Ricky Dillard’s “Amazing” – a soulful ballad – they plop down in front row seats, rocking side to side.

These women are members of the University of Hartford Gospel Choir, one of three guest choirs at tonight’s concert. Their group came to support New Purpose at the Lowell stop of the 2025-26 United Gospel Experience Tour (UGET).

UGET is an annual concert series featuring choirs from five schools: Providence College, Gordon College, the University of Hartford, UMass Lowell, and Trinity College (who couldn’t make it to the UMass Lowell show). Together, the choirs perform gospel music at locations across New England.

UGET’s goal is simple: unite collegiate gospel choirs to spread the faith and hope of Jesus Christ through music.

“It’s not just about going on tour,” Angel Nooks, UGET’s executive assistant, said, “but helping to bring unity across campuses; helping to bring unity within the body of Christ.”

Historically, gospel music has been a powerful source of unity in the Black church. It began as a means of encouragement and resistance for enslaved Africans. Centuries later, it served as the soundtrack of the Civil Rights Movement.

Dr. Craig Ramsey addresses the crowd.

Today, the gospel genre remains rooted in community. For Dr. Craig Ramsey, UGET’s tour director, church gospel choirs provided a way to connect with other Christians from a young age.

“It was about giving kids opportunities to work together, to come together, to serve together, to worship together,” he said.

But in his 14 years as a collegiate choir director, Ramsey noticed that, unlike the choirs of his childhood, collegiate gospel groups seemed isolated. They rarely collaborated with other choirs and mostly stayed within their own campuses. This meant they faced various challenges – from leadership turnover to lack of funding – alone.

“I saw that these gospel choirs were not being encouraged,” Ramsey said. Gradually, an idea formed: “What if we went on tour, and we just supported one another?”

Initially, a collegiate gospel tour was a pie-in-the-sky dream. Then UniteBoston – an organization dedicated to bridging divides among Christians – stepped in. They helped apply for grants and organize the tour, while Ramsey recruited choirs. In November 2024, UGET was born.

The first tour gave the choirs a taste of the intercampus community they’d been missing.

“The experience of collaborating with the other schools was really amazing,” Dyna Louis, New Purpose’s president, said, “being able to see these students in one place with one goal and one thing in mind, which is to worship Jesus Christ.”

Front right: Dyna Louis, president of New Purpose.

Now, in UGET’s second season, the students are even more excited to perform.

“You just come with greater anticipation,” Louis said. “You now come with the mindset of, ‘What is God going to do? How is God going to move?’”

Keeping the focus on God has always been UGET’s goal. It’s especially important now, Ramsey says, as Christians split along political lines rather than embracing their shared faith.

“We are allowing what’s going on in our country to divide us,” Ramsey said. “If we can get back under that umbrella of Jesus Christ, we can build from there and walk together. And I think we’ll find that there is more that brings us together than divides us.”

UGET’s second season isn’t quite finished – its last stop will be at Boston’s MorningStar Baptist Church on April 18. But already, Ramsey is looking to the future.

“We’re trying to build in the New England area and beyond,” he said. “What would it look like if every gospel choir that felt forgotten or didn’t feel like they had support came under the umbrella of the United Gospel Experience Tour?”

Four choirs sing together at the finale of UGET’s UMass Lowell concert.

It would probably look something like the finale of the UMass Lowell concert, where the four choirs merge together. Singers from different groups and different universities form one great whole: UMass next to UHart, Providence next to Gordon.

With infectious energy, they belt out classic hymns (“This is the Day”); traditional gospel (Malcolm Williams’ “The Blood Still Works”); and more modern tracks (Judith Christie McAllister’s “Hallelujah You’re Worthy”). They move as one unit; they sing as one triumphant voice, raising songs of victory and praise.

There’s no better symbol of UGET’s mission.

“What you do by yourself, that’s great,” Ramsey said. “What we do together is so much better.”