“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing” (Psalm 100:1-2).
Believing that music is an important part of worship and spirituality, our church actively supports dynamic vocal and instrumental music and offers special music events throughout the year.
It is our goal to
- Glorify God through vocal and instrumental music
- Enrich the worship service through creative music programs
- Foster personal growth and faith development by sharing our gifts as Christian musicians.
- Provide musical experiences for children, youth and adults, enabling them to serve the church and glorify God in worship.
Music ensembles at our church include
The Sanctuary Choir consists of 30-40 members, rehearses most Thursdays from 7:30-8:30 pm and performs most Sundays during the worship service throughout the church program year.
The choir performs a wide variety of literature styles and presents a special choral work the Sundays prior to Christmas and Easter. In addition, they sing for various themed Sundays such as Beatles and Broadway Sunday. If you like to sing, the choir welcomes you!
The Handbell Choir is for adults of all ages. The bell choir consists of 12-15 members and rehearses from 6:15-7:15 most Thursdays throughout the church program year. The bell choir performs music in worship services several times a year.
The Cherub Choir is for children in grades pre-K-3rd and performs about four times per year. They rehearse at the end of Sunday School from 10:45-11 on the weeks leading up to a performance. The music is meant to be exciting, easy to learn and have a memorable and meaningful spiritual message.
The Youth participate in various music ensembles and/or choirs as dictated by interest and time. The church loves musical offerings by our youth members whenever the spirit moves them.
The Hendrickson Organ in the choir loft was built in 1968. It has four manuals with sixty-one boxwood and ebony keys on each manual, thirty-three stops and forty-six ranks of pipes, the largest of which is 16 feet long and the smallest the size of a pencil. In 2014 the organ was upgraded and a computer installed allowing for transposition, recording and playback. Also, each organist can now program their own memory settings making the organ much more user-friendly for multiple organists.
The Steinway Grand Piano in the sanctuary was refurbished in the 1980’s. In addition to our own church musical performances, musicians in the La Crosse area enjoy performing concerts and recitals using this beautiful instrument.
The Positiv Organ and The Martin Harpsichord are housed in the chapel and are used for special performances.
Nancy Allen is the director of music, organist and sanctuary choir director. Nancy has been with the church since 2001 and is currently a professor of music at Viterbo University.
Suellen Retzlaff is the handbell choir director and has been in that role since 2005.
Kristi Koch is the sanctuary choir piano/organ accompanist and substitute pianist/organist. She has served in these roles since 2005.
Carolyn Udell, retired music teacher, currently gives freely of her time and talents to bless some services and the children’s choir with piano accompaniment.