BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: One of the problems of many churches -- of all varieties -- is finding and keeping really good music directors. For many of the best of them, it takes a sacrificial devotion to the church to pass up the riches offered by the popular music business. Bob Faw takes a look at the situation in some African-American churches.

CHOIR SINGER#1 (Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church): No matter the storms in your lifeÖ

MISSISSIPPI BOULEVARD CHRISTIAN CHURCH CHOIR: Hallelujah!

BOB FAW: The music, the voices lifted to God are glorious.

CHOIR SINGER #1: Hallelujah!

FAW: At the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee that majestic sound does not come easily. It takes work.

LEO DAVIS, JR. (Minister of Music, Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church speaking to choir): Higher -- and open your mouth.

FAW: From his choir, this minister of music, Leo Davis, seeks perfection.

Mr. DAVIS: Forte, right. Forte to piano.

FAW: Davis is demanding, because for this congregation, and traditionally for the black church, music, says the pastor here, Dr. Frank Thomas, does more than supplement the spoken word.

Dr. FRANK THOMAS (Pastor, Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church): Music comes as a softener of people. It allows me to gradually open myself to receive the word. And that's why you have so much music in church, because people can't just receive, generally receive, the raw word.

CHOIR SINGER #2 (Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church): Yes, Lord, I will do what you want me to do.

FAW: Indeed, this congregation has witnessed how music performed well can both transcend and transform.

Mr. DAVIS: One lady in particular said, on that particular Sunday, "I had made up my mind to commit suicide." She said, "I had made up my mind to commit suicide, but the song that you ministered that particular Sunday gave me hope to live on."

FAW: The problem is that accomplished ministers of music like Leo Davis are a vanishing species. Increasingly, black churches throughout the country are finding it harder to hire skilled musicians like him.

Dr. THOMAS: It does worry me, very much so, because I think, you know, for example, if we lose the ability to do spirituals that bothers me, 'cause it has an historical connection. So it bothers me that we may lose some very valuable pieces of music.

Dr. GARY SIMPSON (Pastor, Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Brooklyn, NY): It's a difficult thing to try to find someone trained. I talked to one of my friends who told me it took him five years to find a musician finally that would be his minister of music.

FAW: Dr. Gary Simpson, pastor of the historic Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, New York, knows the problem all too well. For nearly a year now, his church has been unable to hire a new director of music.

Dr. SIMPSON: We are not training musicians in the music of the church, which the black church did all along its tenure. That kind of commitment is gone, for the most part.

FAW: Music programs in public schools have been slashed, producing fewer musicians, Simpson adds. But the biggest handicap facing the churches is the world outside, where musicians can find greater fortune -- and fame.

Mr. DAVIS: The big money is in producing. The big money is in rap. They're looking at rappers with the million-dollar houses with gold ceilings, and why do I want to work in a church and make $30,000?

CONCORD BAPTIST CHURCH OF CHRIST CHOIR: Oh, glorious is his nameÖ

FAW: For the last four months, Dr. Glen McMillan, who teaches music at a college nearby, has been auditioning to fill that vacancy at Concord Baptist. He knows he will be judged, in large part, on how well he performs.

Dr. GLEN MCMILLAN (Interim Music Director, Concord Baptist Church of Christ): We're in this whole megachurch mentality, where the church, to me, has become so performance-based that everything is a quick fix. The church has been a place where you could express your gift and nurture your gift in the same process. Now it's more quick-fixed.

FAW: And that is the other dilemma facing black churches. They are not just competing for musical directorsÖ