Internationally Acclaimed Pianist Aija Kim Will Play Sunday

Posted: January 11, 2010

Internationally Acclaimed Pianist Aija Kim will be providing pre-service music and the offertory this Sunday, Jan. 17th. Please be early so you don’t miss hearing the pre-service music she will be playing. After the service, you will have the opportunity to purchase CD’s signed by Aija. Her biography is viewable on her website.

About Aija Kim:
As a native of Korea, Aija has had the privilege of studying at some of the finest
institutions in the world, including the Wien Musikhochschule in Austria, the State University of New York and the University of Texas at Austin, where she obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts degree. During her mission concert in Russia in 1993, she responded to God’s call to use her music to direct people in experiencing His presence through Praise and Worship. Since then she has traveled and been used by God to inspire people in such places as Moscow, St Petersburg, Kazakhstan, U.S., Canada, Japan, China and North Korea.
She has appeared as soloist with the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, the Kazakhstan National Orchestra and the Crystal Cathedral Orchestra. In 2004, she appeared as a guest performer at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at Calvary Chapel’s “Easter in the Meadows” celebration in California. She has also performed at the Riverside Church in Manhattan, NY and the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles.
Also she has performed at the Mount Paran Church of God in Atlanta.

High School Choir is heading north!

Posted: May 29, 2009

It’s that time of year again! One-A-Chord, Mt. Bethel’s high school youth choir, embarks for their “cross-country” music tour early this morning. This year’s journey takes One-A-Chord to Nashville, Memphis, Paducah, and St. Louis as they sing and minister to others in a wide variety of venues: for underprivileged children, for assisted living facilities, for a traditional worship service, and for the general public. One-A-Chord’s mission is to spread their joyful sound to all who hear them, and they are even taking a break from their music to spend time with inner-city preschoolers at a VBS camp!

To learn more about the tour, follow One-A-Chord’s progress on Twitter (@MtBethelMusic). Everyone here in the Music Ministry asks for all church members to keep this wonderful choir in their prayers as they minister to others across the states!

Carols for Christmas

Posted: December 11, 2008

Carols for Christmas 2008

This year’s “Carols for Christmas” was exceptional! Mt. Bethel went “green,” recycled the old favorites and “employed” orchestra volunteers.

The overall agreement is that we have never heard anything more beautiful from our church. Thank you choirs, orchestra, bells, actors, directors, children, set crews and everyone else for your hard work and wonderful spirit.

We have a bunch of pictures available for your perusal.  Here are 85 pictures of the kids, youth and adults getting ready for the service, and here are 23 pictures from the service itself.  Enjoy!

Come enjoy the music of Christmas

Posted: November 21, 2008

Mt. Bethel has a variety of Christmas music programs coming in the next month, and we hope you’ll come and enjoy them with us.

Carols for Christmas

  • Sunday, December 7 — 4:00 & 6:30pm — Sanctuary
  • Presented by Chancel Choir, One-A-Chord, Crossfire, iPraise, Handbells & Orchestra.
  • Deborah V. Pierce, Conductor.

The Glory of Christmas

  • Wednesday, December 10 — 6:30pm — Sanctuary
  • Mt. Bethel Orchestra, Adult and Youth Handbell Choirs
  • Al Stark, Conductor
  • Nancy Miller, Conductor

Objects in Christmas Are Closer Than They Appear

  • Sunday, December 14 — 6:00pm — Sanctuary
  • A Contemporary Christmas Musical
  • Created by Dennis and Nan Allen
  • Suzanne Tucker, Director of Youth Choirs
  • Brittany Leazer, Director of Youth Drama

The Christmas County Spelling Bee

  • Wednesday, December 17 — 6:30pm — Sanctuary
  • The Musical is by our iPraise grades 2-5
  • Prior to the Musical, we will feature weePraise Singers, 1st grade iPraise, Orff instruments, Chimes & Handbells
  • Beth Irwin, Director of Children’s Choirs

iPraise Halloween Event

Posted: November 6, 2008

What a great time iPraise & weePraise Kids had on Wednesday the 29th of October. They welcomed in Halloween, dressed up in their favorite costumes, Singing, ringing, acting, and enjoying lots of candy with their best friends. The kids were encouraged to bring a friend to experience learning music, drama, Orff, handbells, and chimes. Positive feedback was received from this outreach event with several children joining!

We’d love for you to come to our Christmas Musical on Wednesday Dec. 17th at 6:30. Your children are welcome to join iPraise and weePraise in January!

Nancy Freeman,
Volunteer Coordinator

You can view all 145 photos from the event here

Start spreading the news… Manhattan Melodies Rocked the House!

Posted: September 30, 2008

 

Last Saturday night the combined student choirs One-A-Chord and Crossfire joined forces with other church talents to bring a night of fun, food, fellowship and Broadway entertainment like Mt. Bethel has never seen!

The event started as choir students served a delicious Tapas-style meal to over 280 guests who bought tickets in an effort to raise funds for their choir tour. Students sang and danced to hits such as 42nd Street, New York, New York and Lullaby of Old Broadway. And if that was not enough, the crowd was thrilled to have Associate Ministers Diane Parrish and Vaughn Stafford each share a solo number and then nearly bring the audience to tears with their duet “All I Ask of You” from Phantom of the Opera.

Music interns John Brown and Matthew Sparkman provided a bit of comedic relief while Drama director Brittany Leazer donned a cowboy boots and hat and shared a solo from Annie Get Your Gun. The Kingsman were kind to add a spirited number from South Pacific and Youth Choir Director Suzanne Tucker even joined in the fun with a solo from Guys and Dolls.  Sprinkled throughout the Three Act evening, several students were able to spotlight their Broadway talents with solo performances from Katie Hollenshead, Jenna Meredith, Samantha Rascle, Kevin Geiger, Savannah Perdue and a duet with Alexa Combs and Laura Shepherd.

The final number was a joint effort with both the Middle and High school choirs sharing “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray which was the perfect topper to the evening of tapas! The event was a huge hit with not only the students and the audience… but the Youth Choir Budget as well! Thanks to the addition of a successful silent auction, this evening of entertainment raised over $4000 to help offset cuts in the department.

With all of the food, music and excitement of New York’s Broadway without having to leave East Cobb, perhaps Mt. Bethel will make this an annual event!

Daraja returns!

Posted: August 29, 2008

Jambo! We are so excited that Daraja African Children’s Choir is coming back to Mt. Bethel! If you heard them perform last year, and listened to some of their testimonies, you will be excited also! Many of our mission team members met a lot of these children in Kenya. They have none of the material things that our children and grandchildren have and yet they are among the most joyful kids you will ever meet. When they sing about their Faith, they really mean it! When they dance, it is truly worship!

They will be in concert at 6:30 on Sunday, October 5, in the sanctuary. They are also making a visit to Live It Live that day. We only need two more host families for October 4 and 5 so contact the mission office if interested.

Sherry

The Aristocats

Posted: August 1, 2008

What an outstanding Music Week we had at Mt. Bethel UMC last week!  There were 107 rising first through sixth graders and a staff of 30.  In just five afternoons, these children learned an entire musical play…the songs, the choreography, lots of acting parts, and many words to memorize.  They came to us each day energized and ready to rehearse.

On Friday evening the children performed “Aristocats, Kids” and did a wonderful job.  They almost made the audience think they had rehearsed for six weeks, not just one week! Mt. Bethel’s Music Week has become a highlight of the summer for many children in the church and in the community!

Beth Irwin
Director of Children’s Choirs

In Music Week, Everyone is a Cool Cat!

Posted: July 23, 2008

What a better way to have fun and fellowship than dancing, singing, and acting in this year’s Music Week Production of Disney’s Aristocats, Kids?  This year children from 1st to 6th grade will rotate through drama classes, dance classes, bell and chimes classes, music classes, and the children’s favorite class, lunch. These kids will have many opportunities to have fun with their friends while learning music and acting skills through fellowship shared with our talented Music Ministry Staff.  Be sure to check out the final product this Friday, the 25th at 7:00pm. Meow!

In Christ,
Sparky & Jon, Music Ministry Interns

One A-Chord on Tour — Soli Deo Gloria!

Posted: June 24, 2008

What a trip!

This year’s summer mission/music tour took 42 high schoolers (and 10 adults) to Louisville, Indianapolis and Chicago.  (You can check out our itinerary on Google Earth!)  We left Friday morning for Louisville, enjoying the fellowship of a truly special group of high school students.  Believe it or not (and I know you won’t believe me)…I never heard one complaint from this group…ever!  They were positive and appreciative and easy-going.  Just a joy to work with!

Here are some highlights from our trip:

  • In Louisville, we provided lunch, sang and played games with the children from Wesley House.  What a blessing it was to see their faces light up when our youth spent time with them!
  • Orchard Park Presbyterian church in Indianapolis…Sunday morning.  We sang two services.  In the traditional, we were up and down the stairs to the choir loft all morning…it was like singing while using a Stairmaster.  They were so appreciative of our songs and really made us feel welcome.  In the contemporary service, the band could barely hold themselves back from playing along!
  • Sunday evening…A beautiful old Congregational church in Crystal Lake, IL. A very tasty dinner, followed by the first full concert presentation of our tour.
  • Sight-seeing on Monday…a perfect day!  Bike ride along Lake Michigan, deep dish pizza, Chicago’s wonderful museums, Michigan Avenue malls and the lights of the city seen from the Hancock Observatory.   What a city!
  • On Tuesday, we cooked a full breakfast for the residents of the Eckhardt Senior Apartments, a subsidized housing unit for the elderly in Chicago.  Eggs, sausage, biscuits, bananas, coffee, oj…prepared and served by our fabulous youth…with some help from a great team of chaperones!  After breakfast we simply spent time with each resident, talking and listening.  Then we went up to their 20th floor rec room and sang a concert with a great view of the city all around us.
  • Dinner at Ed Debevics!  Don’t talk back and watch what you ask for!!
  • If you’re ever in Chicago, you need to check out the Chicago Temple!  This skyscraper church has an amazing sanctuary…as if an old traditional church has been encased in a high-rise.   Every Wednesday, First Methodist Chicago (aka Chicago Temple) has a noon-time communion service.  For many people who work in the city, that service is their “Sunday.”  We provided music for the service, then ascended 20 floors and 173 steps (whew!) to the Sky Chapel, a small chapel with panoramic views of the city and a rich history.
  • Wednesday night, we celebrated our time in Chicago.  The seniors had a special dinner cruise on Lake Michigan that was lots of fun…despite the thick fog.  (Hey seniors…Lola misses you already!)  The rest of the crew enjoyed the evening at Navy Pier.
  • We left Chicago for the drive back to Louisville.  Thursday evening, we presented our last full concert for the trip at Friendship House, a senior assisted living home.  In a packed, standing room only, oppressively hot room, One A-Chord sang their hearts out…and the crowd responded with enthusiastic applause, lots of smiles, hugs and kisses.  It was a fantastic end to the musical part of our journey.  Of course the fun didn’t end!
  • Friday…Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom.  Roller coasters and water rides that afternoon.  Friday evening…choir banquet at the Hard Rock Café, followed by our annual superlative awards handed out riverside.

I’ve outlined the main stops, but couldn’t begin to tell you about all the moments in between.  Students led wonderful, thoughtful devotions each night.  Our wonderful college interns led the group in singing praise songs.   “Family” groups who may not have really known each other before tour, spent time praying, talking, and supporting each other.  And of course all the fun…movies on the bus, tossing the Frisbee in the park, climbing trees, crawling the malls, cookie dough in hotel rooms and lots and lots of laughter.

Mt. Bethel…you should be very proud of this group.  I certainly am.  They represented you in fine fashion!  I hope you were all in worship last Sunday to hear One A-Chord present their Homecoming Concert.  If you weren’t…you really missed something!

And if you’re a high school youth not participating in One A-Chord…join us next year!  You don’t know what you’re missing.  Check out 56 pictures from the trip, or watch the video below for a recap!

Suzanne