Watch: Pittsburgh Churches Create Virtual Choir for Easter

The project, called the Pittsburgh Blessing, is the work of two dozen local churches.

Pittsburgh churches will be empty Easter Sunday, but their parishioners have a chance to sing the same hymm.

Leaders from two dozen Pittsburgh-area churches created a virtual choir to sing a video-recorded anthem that can be downloaded and played by any church streaming their Easter services.

The lyrics and soundtrack of “The Blessing,” which was composed and released earlier this year by the worship ministry of Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C., were sent to Pittsburgh-area singers. Using cell phones or more sophisticated recording equipment if it was available, each singer sent their tracks back for editing.

Alan Hannah, assistant lead pastor at Allegheny Center Alliance Church, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the project was completed in just two weeks. “I had seen some videos that had gone viral online of these virtual choirs,” he said. “The idea came to me, man, what if we could get churches together and create a virtual choir?”

Hannah reached out to Jason Howard, lead pastor at Amplify Church, and the Pittsburgh Blessing project was born.

“It’s important for our churches to come together and say there’s hope, God is for you, and there’s a way to have a hope and optimism even when the world seems very shaken,” Howard told the PG. “There’s many traditions and many worship styles.” This allows us to have an opportunity to have a unified moment on Easter Sunday.”