Liberty’s School of Music supports graduate and music minister at Nashville church hit by tornado

On Tuesday, March 3, Liberty University graduate Caleb Lynn (’19) and his wife, Katherine, awoke to the sounds of hail and violent winds outside their home near Nashville, Tenn. The next morning, they discovered their home had withstood the storm but were informed that their church, First Mt. Juliet, where Caleb serves as music minister, had been devastated.

“It came at about 1 a.m. and caused massive devastation,” Caleb Lynn said. “The beautiful thing about the local church is that the tornado hit around 1 a.m. and by 10 or 11 a.m. we had 1,000 people on our campus serving. Even other local churches and their staffs came and volunteered to help.”

Lynn attended Liberty residentially for three years (2014-17), pursuing his undergraduate degree in Christian Leadership and Church Ministries. He finished his degree online and is currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Christian Ministry through Liberty University Online Programs. He married Katherine in July of 2017 and then accepted a full-time ministry position at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas, where the newlyweds resided until they moved to Nashville to be a part of First Mt. Juliet’s ministry in December 2018.

Leading worship is nothing new for Lynn, who was a member of Liberty’s worship team, now called the Liberty Worship Collective.

In addition to the church, Mt. Juliet Christian Academy, a 600-plus student K-12 private Christian school that meets on the same campus, was also hit hard by the tornado.

“It hit our education building which holds a lot of our classrooms,” Lynn said. “It basically tore out walls and just gutted it wide open.”

Lynn said that the Academy is attempting to discern their next step as they try and finish out the semester.

In an effort to help Lynn and his church body, Liberty hosted a Jazz Ensemble concert last Thursday at the Center for Music and the Worship Arts Concert Hall. All funds raised through ticket purchases will be donated to First Mt. Juliet for tornado relief.

“It’s a huge blessing,” Lynn said. “Anything helps, and we are very grateful.”

“After learning about the tornadoes that hit the greater Nashville area, the School of Music wanted to take action in support of the many friends and family our community has in the area,” said Timothy Williamson, director of communication for the Liberty University School of Music. “We made the decision to have all ticket sale proceeds go to First Baptist Mt. Juliet in an effort to come alongside this community and let them know that we support them and are praying for them.”