WS Chronicle

Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) offers their students, alumni and community a Hip Hop concert during homecoming, like many other HBCUs.  To offer an alternative, Fellowship Church is hosting Guilt Free Homecoming to students and young adults.

Guilt Free Homecoming will include Christian comedy and music and will feature Tim Shropshire, Emory Anderson and Chandler Moore. The event will be held at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, at the church, at 2800 E. Sprague St. Tickets are $25 for VIP (preferred) seating, $20 for general admission and $15 for student tickets (ID required). Purchase tickets on the Fellowship Church Facebook page or at www.guiltfreefc.eventbrite.com until Oct. 8 at 6 p.m.

The idea for the event came from Fellowship Church member Tanya Purdie.  She said she wanted give another musical option to the students because she is a graduate of WSSU.

“There are so many parties to go to during Homecoming, but that is kind of your only option,” she said.  “There are people who don’t want to go to the club or concert anymore and I am one of those people, but I still want to be involved.

“Our church decided to make this event happen to give people an alternative to do something different,” she continued. Purdie says when the idea for this event came to her a year ago, she decided to put her plan into action.

“I grew up in the church, but as I grew older I wasn’t living according to what it was supposed to look like,” she continued.  “So I decided to give my life to God for real and I used to go out and do all kinds of things, but when I decided to get saved, I knew my life had to be different.

“Initially, when I was saved, I just didn’t do anything as far as going out, but that is not realistic.  You can’t shut yourself off from the world because you want to do the right things.  My thought process was, just because you are saved doesn’t mean you stop living.”

Purdie knows that college students have a lot of pressure surrounding their everyday lives on campus from the opposite sex, partying and binge drinking, so offering something different where those things are not present was her main focus.

When thinking about who she wanted to perform during the event, Purdie just thought about who she would like to see.  She says she knows the talent included in the program will resonate with the audience.

“My expectations are for people just to come out and enjoy the show,” she said.  “You don’t have to dress up or be different because we are in a church.  The more people participate, the better this event gets.”

Comedian Tim Shropshire will also play the part of host during the event.  According to Purdie, Shropshire was very instrumental in coordinating the event.  Once Purdie presented the idea to him, he says he was all in.

“This was a no-brainer for me,” said Shropshire.  “One word that comes to mind is purpose, and everyone has that in life.  I feel that a part of my purpose is to provide an alternative because I do stand-up comedy for all people, but it’s clean.”

“Being able to encourage that upon this current generation is a game changer,” he continued.  “I think this is going to be an eye opener.”