Raise the Rafters Concert Sat. 4/10 at 7PM

St. Ansgar is proud to host a joint concert of !Zing and Rock My Soul. This concert is part of a final push to fund the renovation of our beloved organ. When we decided to raise money for the organ, we decided as a congregation that we should give 10% of what we raise to charity (tithe). Well, the actual cost of the organ work is funded, and now we are working on the tithe. So come on out and enjoy some wonderful jazz and gospel music.

Your night out will fund three wonderful causes. One third of the tithe will go to African Relief Ministries, a nonprofit sponsored by the Sundanese congregation that worships in our building. African Relief Ministries is a micro lending organization that loans small amounts of money to entrepreneurs in Sudan. Another third will go to help rebuild the childhood church of an Ethiopian member of our congregation. Bethel Lube Presbyterian Church in Ethiopia reached out to St. Ansgar when termites made their building unlivable. The final third will go to Community Uplift Projects (CUP) International, a charity that runs an orphanage in Hosur, India. The father of our music director is the founder of CUP International.

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Call 774-8740 ext. 7 or email concert@saintansgar.org.

Organ Renovation is Complete!

Our organ renovation and rebuilding is complete! Here is a synopsis of the work that has been done:

In the recent years, the organ’s entire electrical relay system had reached the end of its useful life. The thousands of delicate contact fingers were starting to break off from decades of repeated spark burning. Plastic parts in the console were disintegrating. The old cotton-covered wiring throughout the organ was now in violation of the National Electric Code. The power supply was no longer filtering the current properly. Malfunctioning mechanical relays were causing notes to stick.

The pedalboard frame had cracked, thereby not allowing the pedal keys to be tightened as much as they needed to be. This caused them to play even when they weren’t supposed to.

Faucher Organ Company replaced the entire electrical system with a new solid-state unit, having no moving parts and no longer creating any more destructive sparking. All the wiring and cables were replaced and brought up to code. A transposer was included, which easily allows an organist to play in higher or lower keys. A greatly-expanded combination action was installed, allowing guest organists to store their own stop combination memories.

A side benefit to designing the new relay system was the ability to add 6 additional stops to the organ without the need for additional pipes. This allows certain pipe ranks to serve double-duty, being available to play at two different pitch levels. This greatly increases the versatility and color dynamics in a small instrument.

The console, bench and pedalboard were also completely stripped and refinished at no cost, in return for the church being able to commit to the project early enough during the slow month following Christmas.

Other than tuning and perhaps occasional valve adjustments in the chests, there should not be any more electrical and relay issues for many generations ahead.

Music at St. Ansgar

Music is an integral part of our worship service and one of the ways St. Ansgar comes together as a congregation. Volunteers (such as Jim McDonough pictured above) collaborate with our music director providing both instrumental accompaniment and vocals. The Sunday School students are frequently part of the music program singing songs and playing hand chimes.