Our Choir

The choir is a talented, committed group of people who share their musical gifts on a regular basis at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran church. Usually, pieces are sung as anthems on the first and third Sundays of the month with occasional supplements to the liturgy as needed. From May through August special music is planned and performed by small groups of singers who come together as opportunity affords.

The choir began a few months after being organized in the summer of 1987 under the direction of Ruth Kratzke. Ruth was a Lutheran Bible Institute student who took on leading choir as part of her degree – we became her “mission”. The small group of 9 singers performed about once every month. Since then we have had several different directors, mostly coming from within our musical congregation. Our numbers have swelled to as many as 25 members through the years. Currently we bring 12 to 15 forward to sing on a given Sunday.

Celebrate Worship Service

For the past 16 years,  we have been pleased to offer our Celebrate Service to add some variety to our worship experience. This service focuses on more contemporary music and closely follows a traditional Lutheran format.  Unique to the service is the flow of music linked to scripture readings that helps focus and lift spirits at the beginning of worship.  The celebrate service features an ensemble of talented musicians including vocalists, pianist, string bass, acoustic guitar, violins, and percussion.

Handbell Choir

The handbell choir is relatively new to Sheperd of the HIlls. The bells were acquired through a generous gift of one of our members in January 2008. We normally practice weekly following worship on Sunday and perform on the fourth Sunday of each month. We have eight committed ringers as the core group with 7 to 8 ringing at any one time. Five additional people have graciously agreed to substitute when needed. We are learning the different techniques and progressing quickly. The handbell choir has a special Easter performance and regularly accompanies the choir adding a wonderful sound to round out the choir's always strong performance. We would welcome anyone to join us who has the desire to ring bells and is able to make the commitment to play regularly.