To some people, the question might have seemed to be choosing between hanging on to the past and ministering to the present.
Doing both would be too expensive. “It was beyond our reach,” says pastor Fred Elliott-Hart. Still, the congregation with an average attendance of 100 people did decide to do the impossible.
“There was a strong sense in the Council that this is where the Spirit was leading us,” says Elliott-Hart. “We didn’t want to lag behind the Spirit.”
So the congregation voted to hire Cristina Tinglof, a graduate of North Park Theological Seminary, who had grown up in the church. They are also spending roughly $35,000 to repair the instrument.
The organ will be rededicated at 5 p.m. Sunday during a special service that will be followed with a concert by Ingrid Gutberg. The concert will be the first of a series performed by different artists.
“We could worship without it, but it’s also about stewardship of what was left to us,” says Elliott-Hart.
The church’s organist, Keith Kirchoff, a classically trained musician who has performed around the world, says he is looking forward to playing the instrument that had given him fits. “It was always an adventure playing it in its old shape,” says Kirchoff. “Many times the keys just didn’t sound at all.”
Then there were the mornings when he had the opposite problem – a contact would break and the note would keep sounding. “There were several times I would have to stop in the middle of a hymn and turn the organ off,” Kirchoff says.
“The congregation is going to be in for a surprise when Keith gets back on the organ,” says John White, who did the renovation.
When the Hook & Hastings organ was built in the 1920s, it was considered “the Cadillac of organs,” says White, with obvious admiration. Some of the pipes are as small as several inches high, while others stretch 32 feet.
Although White doesn’t attend the church, he has had a long connection with the instrument – his father had cared for the organ for decades. “I grew up knowing that organ,” he says.
White has taken over his father’s business and cares for 140 organs on a regular basis. “That organ is definitely one of my favorites – except for the electrical work.”
White replaced “tens of thousands of wires” that stretched “miles and miles.” The “partial” renovation took four months. All the electrical components were replaced with modern technology that does not require the wiring. Despite the changes, “It’s going to have the same exact sound,” White says.
Restoring old organs is becoming more common, White says. “There are certainly churches that are shying away from the pipe organ, but there are a lot of churches that are preserving them. Since the Bicentennial, it seems more and more organs have come out of mothballs.”
The church is located in what Kirchoff calls an “eclectic, funky, artist neighborhood” and that the congregation is quite diverse. He adds, “Some of the young couples have really commented on how they appreciate the traditional worship.”
The church has been able to pay for the organ and youth pastor due to generous donations above regular giving as well as fundraising, says Elliott-Hart. A large AME church that used the sanctuary while undergoing its own building renovation donated $1,600 to help hire Tinglof. A rummage sale netted $7,000 for the organ.
To find directions to the church, visit the church website.
