Welcome!
Upcoming Rehearsals
Next set of rehearsals are:
- Sunday, April 6th – Palm Sunday Tech rehearsal 2:00-4:00pm
- Tuesday, April 8th at 5:30pm – Extra rehearsal in Choir suite
- Wednesday, April 9th from 5:30 -8:00pm – Dress rehearsal for Palm Sunday
**PLEASE NOTE ANOTHER EXTRA REHEARSAL ON TUESDAY NIGHT**
Weekly Choir Update
- April 6th WORSHIP MUSIC:
- Call to Worship
- NONE
- Anthem –
- Lonesome Valley
- Hymns:
- Rock of Ages Hymnal pg# 361 vs. 1 – 3
- Because He Lives – Hymnal pg# 364
- Sound Check Times:
- Vocal Quartet – 7:10am arrival; 7:15am sound check
- Choir – 7:15am arrival; 7:22am sound check
- Flute Choir – 7:35am sound check
- Call to Worship
- What General Anthems to be Listening to and working on:
- Listening & Working on Parts
- Hosanna in the Highest
- Until You Save the World
- Dead Man Rising
- Listening & Working on Parts
- Easter Anthems:
- Listening and getting familiar with:
- He Lives
- Risen, Just As He Said
- An Easter Celebration
- Listening and getting familiar with:
- New Information:
- Tech and Dress Rehearsals for Palm Sunday
- Sunday, April 6th – 2pm – 4pm Tech rehearsal in the Sanctuary
- Wednesday, April 9th – 5:30pm – 8pm. (PLEASE NOTE THE EARLIER START TIME)
- EXTRA REHEARSAL
- We are doing another extra rehearsal in the choir room on Tuesday night from 5:30-7:00 or 7:30pm.
- Choir rehearsal Schedule and anthem schedule after Easter:
- I have adjusted one of the Sunday’s in May to an anthem we have already done.
- I have also updated the rehearsal schedule below as well.
- Short rehearsal on April 23rd: 6-7:15pm
- NO rehearsal on May 7th
- What to Wear for Palm Sunday and Easter:
- Palm Sunday cantata:
- concert black
- Men with coat and tie
- Women in dresses, skirts or dress pants with nice blouse
- Easter Sunday:
- Colorful and dressy
- Men in Coat and Tie
- Women in dresses, skirts or dress pants with nice blouse
- CHOIR PARTY
- Linda Smith and Pam Ellisor would like to host a party at Linda’s home on Sunday, April 27th to celebrate all of the hard work we have done.
- Details:
- Sunday, April 27th 3-7pm
- Address: 207 Yuchi Ct in Niceville
- What to bring:
- I will send out an invite by next week and you will bring a dessert
- Linda and Pam are providing the fried chicken
- Please bring lawn chairs and you can also bring kayaks, paddle boards, life jackets, swim suits and towels. She lives on the water and there will plenty of opportunity to enjoy the afternoon and the water.
- All are welcome including spouses or companions
- Details:
- GMC Annual Conference Choir, Monday May 5th @ 7pm:
- For those riding in the van, please plan on leaving the church parking lot by 1:30pm. Call time is 5:30pm
- Linda Smith and Pam Ellisor would like to host a party at Linda’s home on Sunday, April 27th to celebrate all of the hard work we have done.
- Palm Sunday cantata:
- Tech and Dress Rehearsals for Palm Sunday
- Tech Rehearsal and Dress Rehearsals for Palm Sunday are this week.
- France Trip Rehearsals:
- Music update
- I have added a rehearsal in April, see below
- Choir rehearsals from 7-8:30pm. Here is the schedule so far:
- April 7th, 14th, 28th. (added a rehearsal for April)
- May 12th, 19th
- June 2nd 9th
- What to be working on this week:
- Reign
- Wade in the Living Water
- He Is the Everlasting God
- Come Find His Rest
- Beauty of the Cross
- Precious in My Sight
- Music update
- Older Information:
- Choir Tour update:
- It is still not too late to still sign-up if you are wanting to go. We are approaching that mark soon. This is going to be an incredible tour!
- Trip Site Link
- Choir Tour update:
Prayer Requests
4/2
* Judy – for the slain Walton County Deputy William May along with his family and department.
* Candace – her niece undergoing strong chemo and is having hair loss already.
* Darlene – for the death of her close friend, Trish
* Lori – for her brother-in-law who passed out today and went to the hospital and still has no answers to what happened.
Planning Center Links
SoundCloud Links
Link to access SoundCloud link or access on soundcloud.com (You do NOT need to sign in or create an account to listen just download the app onto your device or access online.)
- Winter/Spring ’25 Listening mp3’s
- Winter/Spring ’25 Alto mp3’s
- Winter/Spring ’25 Soprano mp3’s
- Winter/Spring ’25 Tenor mp3’s
- Winter/Spring ’25 Bass mp3’s
- Palm Sunday Cantata “In My Place” Listening Mp3’s
- Palm Sunday Cantata – Soprano mp3’s
- Palm Sunday Cantata – Alto mp3’s
- Palm Sunday Cantata – Tenor mp3’s
- Palm Sunday Cantata – Bass mp3’s
Anthem Schedule
April 6th –
Lonesome Valley
April 13th – Palm Sunday morning
1. Hosanna in the Highest – with Orchestra
2. Until You Save the World
April 13th – Palm Sunday Concert
Cantata – In My Place
April 20th – Easter
1. An Easter Celebration – with Orchestra
2. He Lives – with Orchestra
3. Risen, Just As He Said – with Orchestra
April 27th –
1. Dead Man Rising – with Orchestra
2. Beauty of the Cross – with Orchestra
May 4th –
What a Savior, What a Friend – with Instrumental quintet
May 11th –
Same Power – with Orchestra
May 18th –
Sing Rejoice and Sing Praise – with Brass and Handbells
Music List
France Choir Trip Music
- From Music in Your Folders:
- Lonesome Valley
- So Be It
- Wade In the Living Water
- A Song Unending
- Come Find His Rest
- Until You Save the World
- Beauty of the Cross
- The Blood of Jesus Medley
- Music you will get from me:
- This Train
- Reign
- Fill-a-Me Up
- He Is the Everlasting God
- Doxology
- Bless the Lord
- Precious in My Sight
- Jesus, Firm Foundation
- We Are Not Alone
Upcoming Calendar Dates
- Palm Sunday & Easter Dress rehearsals:
- Sunday, April 6th: 2:00 – 4:00pm Tech Rehearsal for Palm Sunday concert
- Wednesday, April 9th: 5:30 – 8:00pm Palm Sunday concert Run Through Dress Rehearsal
- Sunday, April 13th: 4pm Concert (1:45pm Call Time)
- Wednesday, April 16th: Easter Dress rehearsal 5:30 – 8:00pm
- Wednesday, April 23rd: Short rehearsal from 6:00 – 7:15pm
- Wednesday, May 7th: NO REHEARSAL
Getting to know our choir members
Link to the choir member information spreadsheet: Link
This week’s choir member highlight is Shelly Elbert
Shelly recently joined the Chancel Choir but you all know her from the orchestra and the flute choir. She began playing the flute in fourth grade. She was a military dependent so the family moved a lot, but flute was a staple. She didn’t sing until her senior year in the choir at school. She also played piccolo during the marching season. Multi-talented as are all our orchestra members!
Shelly is married to Tim, her high school sweetheart, who she met in band. They have been together for 40 years and have three sons. Jason (and Jennifer), who have two children – Blakely and Brooklyn; Ryan (and Tori), and Tyler.
The Elberts have been in the area since 1988. Shelly is a tennis player with the Top Spins and also likes to play bridge. She also likes to have fun. One of the things she had fun with was as the Children’s Supervisor for Bible Study Fellowship with pre-schoolers.
Her favorite Bible verse is Psalms 46:10 and loves Christmas songs all year round!!
We are so blessed to have Shelly and her talents in choir, flute choir, and the orchestra!!
This week’s choir member highlight is Renee Johnson
Renee Johnson was born and raised in Pennsylvania. At church, she sang in the children’s and adult choir. She also sang in her high school chorus. No matter where she lived, she always sang in a church choir.
When she graduated, she joined the Marine Corps. Being stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC., there she worked as an administration clerk.
She married a Marine from Alabama. They have 2 sons. Steven, a 26 year Vet, USN. He lives in Jacksonville, FL and works for NorthThrope, Grumman. And Charlie is a Flight RN with Life Saver Air Rescue, in Auburn, AL. She has 5 grandchildren
Renee retired after 30 years from General Electric Crop in Decatur, AL and with her husband moved to Defuniak Springs. Last year they moved to Niceville and she joined Crosspoint Church and is now singing 1st Tenor in our choir. Renee also volunteers at the Bargain Box. She enjoys being a Watercolorist, reading and quilting.
One of her favorite songs is: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
We are so happy to welcome Renee to our choir!!
This week’s choir member highlight is Wes Turner
Wes is one of our new basses. He was born in Roanoke, VA. He began his singing career at the young age of about 8 singing with his church choir. That has been his venue of choice most of his life. And now we are blessed to have him singing bass in our church choir!
We graduated from the Air Force Academy. He spent 20 years in the Air Force and flew the F-15. He currently works for Boeing.
He has been married to Chelsey for 11 years. They have 4 children: Penelope, Axel, Sabrina, & Harrison. Raising four children doesn’t leave much time for hobbies but he does find time to work out, run and lift some weights. If he is really lucky, he finds time to make bread.
One of his favorite songs is “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”
Welcome Wes! We’re glad to have you singing with us!!
This week’s choir member highlight is Reneé Gutierrez
Renee is in the soprano section of our choir. She was born in Galveston, Texas, but moved to Niceville at age 2. She’s been here ever since. She graduated from Niceville High School. Her first outing as a soloist was at age 5 at the Rocky Bayou Kindergarten graduation ceremony. She sang with the Youth Choir at church and recently sang a solo with our choir. We are grateful she is sharing her talent with us! (And is one of the ones helping to lower the average age of our choir members.)
Renee has 2 children. Bianca and Topher. She has a varied work history. She’s worked in a few restaurants and worked her way up to General Manager of Hungry Howie’s in Niceville. She likes to experiment with new dishes. Too bad Hungry Howie’s is a corporate entity or she may have transformed their menu with her experiments in the oven. Renee now works at Super Cuts in Niceville. She has found her calling and loves cutting hair. She also has earned a Cosmetology license.
According to Renee, God is always there and holding us up. She likes the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar tried to force them to worship his gods and threatened to throw them into the blazing furnace. But their answer was Daniel 3:17-18, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even it he does not, we want you to know, 0 king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.
This week’s choir member highlight is Maxine Spence
Maxine was born in California and grew up in Pensacola, Florida. After the death of her father her mom, who was from Pensacola, moved them back to Florida. She began singing at an early age-—5! She sang in high school and the Pensacola Christian Chorus, Christian High Singers, and Sugar Beach Acapella Chorus and for many years was a baritone in barbershop quartets. She is one of our faithful and wonderful altos. She plays a little piano and the recorder.
Maxine attended the University of West Florida and majored in medical laboratory technology and criminal justice forensic studies. She spent six years in the Air Force. She was a radio maintenance tech stationed at Upper Heyford AFB in England. She spent time in Hahn, Germany before ending her career at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma.
Maxine has been married to Walter Spence for 22 years. She has a son, Richard, and a stepdaughter, Vicki. She and Walt have an affinity for birds and bird photography. And are both very good at it! She works as the treasurer of Spence Brothers Properties.
She likes Roman 12:2 bible verse among many others.
Two of her favorite hymns are The Old Rugged Cross, and O Holy Night.
This week’s choir member highlight is John Pruitt
John was born in Terre Haute, Indiana and attended Indiana University in Bloomington, majoring in Education. He attended college on an ROTC scholarship and joined the Air Force after graduation. He was in the Air Force for 28 1/2 years.
While in high school John sang with the chorus, played the trumpet in the band and was the drum major. One of his favorite musical memories was singing with his sisters. They put him on a chair when he was little, turned on the radio and while they washed and dried and he rinsed, they all sang together!
John is lucky enough to be married to the lovely Martha. They have three young ad Its. Joshua is a senior at FSU, Elizabeth is a sophomore. The oldest, Emily is married with a daughter Avery and a son Atticus.
After retiring from the AF, John worked as a contractor on base. He’s retired from that and now volunteers at the Hurlburt Thrift Shop. He began singing with the Crosspoint Choir in the bass section about 14 years ago when he joined to sing One Christmas concert. He has graced us with a number of solos over the years and we are grateful to him for sharing his talent.
A favorite hymn is Amazing Grace.
Favorite Bible verse: John 3:16
This week’s choir member highlight is Leak (Leroy) Thornal
Col (Ret) Leroy Thornal was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1930 during the Depression.
His first professional singing job was at age 10. He got 10 cents for singing in his Uncle Russ’ talent show.
Leroy joined the National Guard in Charleston, SC when he was 16. After just over a year he joined the regular Air Force as an enlisted man for three years, nine months and 17 days. He attended the University of South Carolina on the Korean GI Bill and received a BS in Civil Engineering. He got an MS from Troy University. He became a fighter pilot and flew the T37, T29, T28, T33 and the F4 Phantom. His career included flying in the Korean War and 100 missions over North Vietnam. One of his favorite memories was being an Air Force Escort Officer that picked up POW’s in Hanoi and brought them home. He told one friend’s wife he would bring hers home and he did!
Leroy is married to Joyce and their children are Lana, Mike, Kris, and Wes. They have 13 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
In addtion to singing in our bass section for many years, he has written 5 songs: Faith of a Child, The Lord Has My Soul In His Hands, Salvation Train Leaves at Midnight, This I Believe, and Little Babe from Bethlehem. He sings them all a capella. Not bad for a gentleman who does not read music!
Leroy is partial to Proverbs 3, 5, & 6. One of his favorite songs is The Canticle of Praise that the Chancel Choir has performed a number of times.
