Canadian church musician Ron Klusmeier will be bringing his cross-country “Tour of a Lifetime” to St. Paul's United Church in Estevan on Wednesday, October 10.
Klusmeier's concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $20 per person, with $5 going to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and $1 going to St. Paul's.
There will also be a music workshop with Klusmeier that singers and musicians are invited to attend, and a technology workshop hosted by Klusmeier's wife, Christina Bogucki. Both sessions will start at 4 p.m.
Throughout his 41-year career as a church musician and composer, Klusmeier has toured across Canada multiple times, sharing music that inspires and moves people to action.
Now, as he prepares to retire, he is embarking on his final tour to support the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
“I want my final tour to do something significant for others,” says Klusmeier, who has visited over 2,000 churches across North America since 1971. “It’s my hope that it will inspire people to action on behalf of the many people in the world who don’t have enough food to eat.”
Although he spent most of his career in the United Church of Canada, including three years as that church’s national music ambassador, Klusmeier's music has been included in hymnbooks for the United, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Methodist and other denominations. His music has been part of every assembly of The World Council of Churches since the Fifth Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1975.
His commitment to building bridges between churches made working with the Foodgrains Bank — an organization made up of 15 churches and church agencies that represents 32 denominations working together to end global hunger — a natural choice.
“Sometimes there are walls that denominations inadvertently build between people, but the Foodgrains Bank brings churches together for a common goal to end global hunger,” he said.
During the tour, which started in August 2012 and will continue through to June 2013, Klusmeier will perform, offer workshops on music and team with volunteer choirs at almost 200 churches from B.C. to the Maritimes.
