We said ‘Aloha’ to Mike and Vicki Gorman last August when they moved to Houston where Mike got a job with the Houston Symphony as Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager. Before moving they asked us for a recommendation on a church to join, and we suggested Christ the King Lutheran. We actually first became aware of Christ the King because it was the parish of former LCH members, Don and Biz Person.

In 2005 Carl and I attended a Bach Symposium as part of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians conference in New York City and met Carroll and Dorie Shadduck and Albert LeDoux from Christ the King.  They have an extensive Bach series and perform many cantatas and major Bach works. Obviously it is a larger congregation than LCH, but we think we share many values and priorities in common. They do have a beautiful Noack tracker organ and the building has architecturally been “turned on its side” as LCH has.

In 2007 Carl and I attended the Leipzig Bach Festival and we were surprised to find a number of people from Christ the King Lutheran there on tour. They apparently have a sister church relationship with St. Thomas Leipzig (Bach’s church). In fact, The Rev. Dr. Robert Moore from Christ the King, gave the sermon in German while we were at the Leipzig Bachfest. That same summer, we attended the ALCM biennial conference in Houston, and of course, ended up at Christ the King for several events.

Vicki Gorman writes: I am very tardy in sending my thanks to you for introducing us to Mark Mummert at Christ the King Lutheran. After taking some time to settle into life in Houston, we started attending at the beginning of Advent — a very new year. Everyone at the church has been most welcoming, the sermons inspire, and the congregational singing is great. The members are very proud of the music program, as well they should be. Mark does a terrific job involving everyone and I particularly like his arrangements and improvisations. He had Mike play with a terrific string ensemble in January. The vespers services and concerts are at the same time on Sunday evening as the Luther League meetings — how convenient for parents of teens!

Vicki will be singing in performances of the St. Matthew Passion at Christ the King during Holy Week this spring. She says, “I missed out when you did it at LCH, so I feel blessed to have an opportunity to finally sing it.”

By the way, at LCH we sing Mark Mummert’s setting of the Gloria and This is the Feast from Setting One of the ELW during the “green” seasons.