October 2018

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As most of you are aware we have hired Flo Powell to be our new pianist. I thought it would be a good idea to give everyone some background on Flo and help us to understand how blessed we are to have her.

First and foremost, she loves Jesus, and this is evident in her spirit and in her music. Flo is shaking us up a little with selections that for many of us recall our pasts, when we may have sat in front of a campfire, or if you had a family like mine, would sing in the car to keep us kids in the back seat from fighting on a long trip. A long trip being anything over five minutes.

She brings change, something the choir and others wanted to bring, to jazz up our service a bit, to expand our musical repertoire. We know change is difficult. I ask that we embrace the change, that we open our ears and our hearts to new experiences of music.

I will share with you that she said to me after the first Sunday she was with us that made me laugh and continues to do so: “I wanted to shout out ‘Thank you, Jesus’ but then I realized what church I was in.”

Lady Flo as she’s known, has been trained in classical music since she was three years old. She earned degrees in Music Education and Music Performance from Jersey City State College. In addition, she has advanced her music education in Piano Pedagogy and Synthesizers, MIDI and Computers I & II. She studied piano privately with Dr. Samuel Peck (Classical), Anna Mae Lundy-Lewis (Classical, Sacred Song and Gospel), Lillette Jenkins-Wisner (Classical, Jazz, Standards from 30’s and 40’s, Broadway and Sacred Song) and Carolle A. Mochernuk (Classical).

Along with being a concert pianist, Flo’s been an actor, a finalist in Mrs. New Jersey Competition, a television talk show host, a music director, conductor, composer, arranger, accompanist, piano teacher and performer at supper clubs, private parties, nursing homes and gala events.

Her repertoire is from Bach to Rock and everything in-between—Duke Ellington, Gershwin, Louis Armstrong, Cole Porter, Barbara Streisand, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Lionel Ritchie, Dionne Warwick, Billy Holiday, and many more artists and composers from all genres of music
Flo’s been a world traveler, playing cocktail lounges on cruise ships. And she’s had lots of gigs near and as far as South Africa. Presently Flo is working as a piano teacher and proprietor of Flo’s Piano Studio on River Road in Minisink Hills.

May we welcome Flo to our congregation and into our lives. May we continue to worship and praise God as one, with one voice, as we live into, and bring into this world, the kingdom of God. Amen.

In His Name and For His Glory,
Pastor Sherry