2008 Year in Review

Rich Criss to Present Fourth Lenten Concert

The Lenten Recitals of the United Methodist Church presents Rich Criss, pianist, organist, and vocalist on Friday, March 7th for its fourth in a series of Noon Lenten Concerts. These thirty-minute recitals, beginning at noon, are held in the church sanctuary and are open to all. Intended to both uplift and give pause for reflection during the forty days of Lent, the concerts feature a variety of local musicians. The recital will be followed by an informal soup luncheon. There is no charge; however, a free will offering is accepted for the luncheon.

Rich Criss is very well known throughout Iowa and Illinois as a dynamic vocalist and pianist. Founding the widely acclaimed eighty-five-voiced Celebration Chorale in 1994, Criss spent the next thirteen years as Director of Music at First United Methodist Church before receiving a call into full-time ministry. On February 1, 2007, Rich began serving the Emmanuel Reformed Church in Morrison, Illinois as their Ministry Coordinator for Worship and Congregational Life. In this job, Rich coordinates the church’s music program, facilitates its senior ministries, assists with the youth ministries and partners with Emmanuel’s senior pastor in providing pastoral care to the church’s 540 members. Since his arrival at Emmanuel, the church’s Sanctuary Choir has grown from eighteen to fifty-eight members and its eighty-five-voiced outreach choir, “Emmanuel’s Voices of Praise,” presents Christmas and Spring cantatas as part of Emmanuel’s concert series. The concert series also features a line up of such talent as: Huntley Brown, Stellar Kart & Remedy Drive, the Hopper’s, Damaris Carbaugh, The Perry’s and others. Still a licensed paramedic, Rich and his wife, Lynelle, remain active in a volunteer capacity in EMS serving on the Fulton Fire Department in Fulton, Illinois. The Criss family, including his wife, Lynelle and their two daughters Brittany and Allysa, reside in Morrison, Illiniois.

Criss accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior at a young age, although faltering in his faith during his college and post-college years. Eleven years ago, Criss recommitted his life to Christ and has been called to use Christian music and his own experiences and mistakes to encourage, uplift and provide a Source of Hope to those strong or struggling in their own faith. Rich shares from the heart the message of grace during his concerts so that others may be brought to Christ for the first time, or into a renewed relationship with the risen Lord.

The United Methodist Church opens its doors to all for this time of hope, promise, and inspiration.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
March 3, 2008