Santiago de Chile
tel (011-56) 222-166-360
ForestRefuge@mi.cl
Camino del Ayuntamiento 2114
La Dehesa
Santiago
ph: (56)-222-166-360
ForestRe
John Ridgway Walker is a composer, conductor, and clinician with more than 35 years of international experience in creative worship and educational leadership.
John Walker's composition "Grace Upon Grace" played a key role in focusing our attention and our hearts on the biblical theme verse of our anniversary celebration here at St. John's Lutheran Church. It helped unite us around the message of God's grace as it has been experienced in our congregation through the generations. It brought together former and current choir members, voices and instruments, adults and children, in a manner uniquely fitted to our resources and helped us gel as a reunited community of praise. Most of all, it helped us express our love and gratitude for God's past blessings and our confidence that God will continue to bless us for mission into the future.
Before composing the number, John asked what message I, as pastor, would most like to proclaim and leave as an eventual legacy to the congregation. "Grace Upon Grace" expressed and amplified this message more effectively than I had hoped or dreamed. John listened well and composed with heart and art. I was moved to tears the first time I heard the words, moved to confident faith when I heard the music and moved to joy as we sang it together.
I was not the only one so moved. One leader of the gathering summed up the feelings of many in the following words. "I couldn't stop singing it. I even heard children singing it over and over. It became part of us. ...Everything fit together so well."
-Rev. Ken Halstead, Pastor St. John's Lutheran Church Richland Center, Wisconsin October 2009
"John was a visionary as much as a missionary. He envisioned the need the country had to grow musically and felt the need to do something about it... (He) gave birth to the choral and orchestral movement that now exists in our country and the Dominican Republic will be forever grateful to him."
-Dra. Susana Acra Ph.D. Music Education Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic November 2005
"(Mr. Walker) is one of those dedicated educators who has contributed so much to the development of American-sponsored overseas schools."
-Dr. Keith Miller Regional Education Officer for Central America
The Office of Overseas Schools The United States Department of State Washington D.C.
Copyright 2009 Forest Refuge Music Studio. All rights reserved.
Camino del Ayuntamiento 2114
La Dehesa
Santiago
ph: (56)-222-166-360
ForestRe