“Just Friends” saves the day

“We called everybody and they said ‘yes,’” is the simple answer to how it happened.

Leadership at Waldorf’s First Lutheran Church felt a bit confounded upon receiving the news that Ash St. John and Kurt Weber, a piano and violin duo from the Twin Cities area, could no longer perform the evening of Dec. 12 due to a personal emergency. Their performance had been widely publicized, especially among area churches, and leadership was uncertain what to do. Church pastor Larry Sipe commented their reaction was, in football parlance, to “drop back 10 yards and punt.”

Remembering the well-known area gospel group “Just Friends,” leaders contacted New Richland area member Dean Buendorf to see whether there was any chance the 10-member tenor and baritone group could put together a performance with less than two days’ notice.

By an astounding coincidence–or perhaps something more than coincidence–all group members were available and fully prepared, since they had recently performed a Christmas-themed program at Trinity Lutheran Church in New Richland, the venue which gives them space for their all-year, weekly practices.

Many of the 40 or so audience members arriving for the 6:30 performance at First Lutheran the evening of Dec. 12 were taken completely by surprise to find 10 harmony singers at the front of the church, rather than the two instrumentalists who had been named in the advance publicity.

In his announcements shared periodically during the performance, spokesman Randy Lewer commented the group members love to sing and love to share the good news about Jesus, and so were delighted with the opportunity to perform, even on short notice. By equally surprising coincidence, Gratia Johnson, who accompanies the group during practice, was available to serve as accompanist for those numbers singers did not have recorded accompaniment for.

It was also shared that eight of the ten active group members were among those who first formed the group 22 years ago. Present on Dec. 12 were Dean Buendorf, Larry Crabtree, Paul Hanson, Dale Krueger, Randy Lewer, Dennis Maurer, Doug Riskedahl, Brad Stencl, Brian Vairma, and Vern Wilker.

Among the numbers they performed were “Hear the Good News,” “Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy,” “One Pair of Hands,” “Angels Among Us,” and “Christmas Lullaby” and an a capella version of “Let There be Peace on Earth.”  The song “Celebrate the Child” included the words “No more wandering in the night, celebrate the child who is the light.”

It was also announced the group will be taking part in the Rochester KTTC telethon to raise money for cancer research on January 18 and 19. They have not yet been informed of their time slot, but remembering that, as gospel singers, they were placed on Sunday morning during last year’s telethon, they suspect that will be the case again. They encouraged anyone interested to watch for further information on Facebook and in the Star Eagle.