SYBENE - Marjorie Boyd sat quietly at the Sybene Senior Center on Monday, as she smiled and tapped her foot in time with the music.

Boyd said she really enjoyed the choir, as

members closed their eyes and tapped their songbooks along with the music. It was hard to determine who was enjoying it more - the singers or the audience.

"They've been here a long time," Boyd said. "That's why I come on Monday, because they are so good."

Bobby Ellis agreed as he drank his coffee and tapped his feet. Ellis' wife is a member of the choir, and he comes on Monday to hear them sing.

"I like to hear them sing, I think they are real good," he said.

Earnest Earl is the song leader of the choir, which sings every Monday at 10:30 a.m. at the senior center. The choir is comprised of members from different churches around the area.

Earl said there are 40 some members in the choir, six piano players, and additional song leaders, such as Ruth Damron of Chesapeake.

Before they start singing, Earl asks for prayer requests. The choir has a prayer and then Earl begins taking requests from the choir - and then they begin to sing.

"We just pick them out and sing 'em," Earl said.

As the song "If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere," echoes through the room, choir members and those watching sway back and forth in their seats, while tapping their feet and smiling. Some audience members sing along with the choir as the music can be heard down the hallway.

"We have a good time. That's what it's for," Earl said. "We want to be a blessing for people."

Judy Thacker and her mother, Imogene Sites, sing in the choir together. Thacker said she enjoys singing in the choir, and after her father got sick, she started bringing her mother.

Sites said that she has been singing since she was a little girl - when her father used to take them around to houses to sing to the sick.

"It's like the song, she said. "It's joy unspeakable and full of glory," she said.