Testament Of Freedom - Singing Men - Devon Hollingsworth At Christ Church Of Oak Brook Illinois

The Singing Men Of Oak Brook was Dr. Arthur DeKruyter's dream, to have a group of men march down the aisle singing and being a musical outreach for Christ Church of Oak Brook. I started the group, 15 men who rehearsed every Wednesday morning at 6:30 a.m. followed by a few of us going out for breakfast before going to work for the day. Vivian Pearson was accompanist until a short time ago, serving for more than two decades. After awhile, I realized they needed to rehearse evenings in order to grow in numbers, and because I was already directing three groups in addition to them and playing classical organ music for worship, and overseeing 15 music groups and their directors, I asked the church to hire another director for the Singing Men. Clayton Halvorsen at the time was an internationally award winning director of the Wheaton College Men's Glee Club. He brought a new dimension to the group that enabled them to grow in numbers and in excellence. They rehearsed 2 hours every Tuesday evening, and you can hear the beautiful music they presented all over the Chicago area and into a couple more states too. This continued for many years with two more excellent directors.