Jon Stemkoski’s Celebrant Singers, a Visalia-based internationally-known Christian music ministry, will present a community-wide concert, “An Afternoon of Musical Praise,” on Sunday, November 14 at 3:00 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 165 Mill Street in Porterville. The concert is free of charge, and a free-will offering will be received.
Group founder, Jon Stemkoski said, “Some people from the First Congregational Church in Porterville called us and asked, ‘Would you folks be able to come and present a praise and worship concert for our city? We need an uplift!’ With everything we’ve all been through over the last 18 months with Covid-19 and various other struggles, it seemed like an excellent idea so we said, yes!”
Since 1977, Celebrant Singers have ministered in all 50 states, all Canadian provinces and more than 100 additional nations. They provided music for Mother Teresa’s Nobel Peace Prize reception, were received multiple times at the Vatican, appeared at several “World Youth Days” and have sung to more than 8 million people in live concerts and countless others via television, radio and other broadcast media.
They were the first outside group in decades to hold public religious meetings in the Communist countries of Albania, Bulgaria and Cuba.
In 1984, the group ministered in St. Peter’s Square before an Easter-week crowd of over 500,000. During a special private audience, Pope John Paul II said to Mr. Stemkoski “You must keep doing what you are doing…our world needs your message now more than ever.”
Stemkoski said, “While we’ve been active internationally during the pandemic, the Porterville concert is our first in the United States in 18 months. We are very excited to have this opportunity so close to home and look forward tremendously to a great afternoon together.”
All are encouraged to attend this uplifting concert with one of America’s premiere music ministries. Auditions for future Celebrant teams will be held immediately following the concert.