One with the arts: Baylor senior balances life as a musician, filmmaker, student

By Rory Dulock
Fall 2025

WACO, Texas — While most Baylor students spend their April trying to finish the rest of the semester, one Baylor senior had the opportunity to work on “The Chosen,” create music with his roommates while still trying to balance school.

Beaumont senior Major Hargraves is no stranger to the arts. Coming from a choir and theater background, his interest in film first sparked from a local who decided to teach high schoolers what he learned while in film school.

“We had a class on Sunday nights. So there was this group of high schoolers, and we would just get together and make films and that was our thing,” Hargraves said. “So we just had this friend group that just made films, and I just really started to fall in love with the medium of filmmaking and saw the power that it has to tell stories and to contain messages for years to come.”

His passion for filmmaking led to working on the television series “The Chosen.” While initially his application was declined, an opportunity arose in the costume department, and eventually videography.

“Filmed season six, crucifixion season, of ‘[The] Chosen,’ which is crazy, and did behind the scenes videography which is just me following the director around and getting interactions between him and the actors and generally capturing everything on set for marketing purposes,” Hargraves said. “You don’t get more central to the heart of the Gospel than the story of Jesus himself and his ministry, and his death, burial and resurrection. And those are all the things we’re working with. And so there’s certainly moments where it’s like, ‘Wow, it’s like crazy to be here right now.’”

However, music is another passion of Major’s.

“This past year my roommates got together, and we made an album. We just had a little retreat in San Antonio at my roommate’s home studio and we were like, ‘We’re just going to make an album because why not,’” Hargraves said. “So we just took three days in San Antonio and we wrote all the songs and got close to finishing them. We’re still working on that. We’re going to get the rest of them out soon.”

One of those roommates is San Antonio senior Jackson Posey, who was first
acquainted with Major his freshman year.

“Me and all my roommates have this bit where if there’s something morally neutral and we’re trying to decide whether or not to do it we say, ‘Is it funny?’ And making like a comedic album, obviously funny, like that’s kind of the whole bit of the comedic album — that it’s funny,” Posey said.

While Major is well-versed in creating music through and through, his focus has always been on story.

“Yeah, I play the instruments and can do the singing stuff and whatnot, but I love writing. It goes back to telling stories,” Hargraves said. “In all of these mediums telling stories is the thing I am most passionate about.”

After graduating in May, Major will return to work on season seven of “The Chosen,” and will explore the possibility of grad school, or will go on missions and share the Gospel through his gifts.

“There’re so many things that interest me, and I want to learn about them, frankly,” Hargraves said. “And also the words of Jesus are really inspiring to me. ‘Seek first the kingdom and all will be added,’ I take that to be true. And I truly want to live my life seeking first the kingdom. … Chief of all the things that I’ve learned that are important to share, is the truth of the Gospel and that there’s a purpose to life and that there’s a God who loves every one of us.”