After 17 years, Resha Wingo is retiring as accompanist for the CHRIST Choir at Asbury United Methodist Church.

Resha and Terry Wingo have traveled on CHRIST Choir tours for many years.

“My years with CHRIST (Christ Has Risen In Singing Teens) Choir will forever be imprinted on my heart,” Wingo said. “It has been my joy … to listen as the sound is enriched from fall to tour time.”

Initially, Wingo felt “ill equipped” to play for the choir. “Thankfully, Susan Hatcher (the director) was very patient. I’m forever grateful for her not kicking me out! I’ve continued to play for love of the instrument and joy of hearing those voices from across the choir room.”

Wingo sees today’s teens as busier, meeting more demands. “Spending these years with our teens has given me great joy — they love the Lord, worship Him deeply and share their love for Him very openly.”

On the 1996 tour to Williamsburg, Va., a bus broke down before that night’s concert. “That tour became the essentials versus non-essentials,” Wingo said. Seniors rode in the church van while the other youth crammed on one bus. “The only ones left behind were chaperones that didn’t have a part in the concert.”

For St. Louis in 2008, Wingo coordinated service day. “One group stacked old tires in an abandoned field. They stacked hundreds of tires and were so dirty and black that the community fire department hosed them down before they could get on the bus,” she said.

Over time, Wingo’s musical tastes have broadened. “When Asbury began contemporary worship, I first felt it wasn’t for me.” However, she and husband Terry started attending a contemporary service. Eventually, she played keyboard for a praise team band on a mission trip to Russia.

“See how God opened those doors. God showed me how much I can sing, play, rejoice, pray, praise Him,” Resha Wingo said. She also was in the handbell choir for 20-plus years and sings with the Chancel Choir.

The Wingos own Madison Drugs in Providence and are Asbury charter members. Son Jody lives in Atlanta. Daughter Anna Mercer and husband Michael live in Columbus, Ga. and are expecting their first child in October.