Welcome to the Men of Praise
Interdenominational Christian Male Choir
Woodstock, Ontario

News archive: 2006-2007 season


May 9, 2007

The annual Festival of Praise concert hosted by the Chatham-Kent Male Choir, and held at St. Paul's Congregational Church in Chatham, was a rousing success! The venue chosen was large and well appointed, the instruments were excellent, and the host choir had things organized like pros. The church was almost filled, and it was a wonderful evening of praise and fellowship.

Now, our choir season has once again come to a close. We wish to thank our director Henry Bruines for leading us through the last half of our season (Jan to April), especially the Festival of Praise concert in Chatham and our final Sunday evening concert at Stanley Park Baptist Church in Kitchener.

We now look forward to our season kickoff barbeque at the end of August (the 29'th it would appear). The official date and location will be announced soon.


Jan 27, 2007

The choir board met during the Christmas holidays to discuss many things, but mostly our options about another director. We all appreciated Phil's leadership and directing style and would have liked him to continue as our director but he could not. Many names were suggested to contact, and there will be follow-up on those.

At the business meeting held in place of our first practice on Jan 3, 2007, the choir was notified that one person, Henry Bruines, has expressed interest to help us to the end of the season in April. This option was discussed at length, and it was agreed to accept his proposal. We will invite Henry to be our new interim director, with the understanding that the director search will continue.


Dec 30, 2006

The concert in Plattsville went very well, despite a lower-than-expected turnout. The crowd very much appreciated the music. Once again, a big thanks both to Phil Oegema for leading us that night, and to our organist John for bringing his organ out once again to accompany the choir!

The choir will reconvene on Jan 3'rd, 2007 for an information/business meeting to discuss the director issue.

Now, a new year is just around the corner. The choir wishes everybody a wonderful new year!


Dec 15, 2006

On Wednesday December 6, a few hours before our practice and 3 days before a concert, our director Geoff resigned from the choir. No official notice was given, nor was his decision formally explained. This left the choir in an awful bind. Some calls were made, and many prayers were raised. The day before the concert, Phil Oegema from the St Thomas area had agreed to lead us through the next two Christmas practices and concerts. We thank him for taking up this difficult task!

The Hope FM fundraiser concert on Dec 9 went very well. The Men of Praise and the Torchmen Quartet from St. Catherines were the two featured groups. A full house and excellent singers and groups made for a wonderful evening. Our interim director Phil did a fine job leading us, considering we only had the afternoon on Saturday to get familiar with each other. A big thank-you to our organist John Lobbezoo for bringing his own home organ out for the evening as the host church doesn't have one!

We now look forward to our final concert of 2006 at Plattsville Evangelical Missionary Church on Dec 16, with Phil leading us again.


Nov 8, 2006

Our annual concert was held on Oct 28 and was done in cooperation with Musica Sacra Chorus from Norwich. It was a wonderful night, with a full house! The choirs thank all those that came out that soggy night: the members, the musicians, and especially the audience. This was also the first full concert for the new director of the Men of Praise, Geoffrey Bullivant.


Oct 4, 2006

Our season is almost one month old already, and things are progressing well. Geoffrey Bullivant accepted our call to be the new director for this year. He is getting familiar with the quirks and limitations of the choir, and is also preparing us for our first concert of the season, our annual fall concert. We hope to see many familiar faces there, along with new ones.

We are always thankful to the Lord for His blessing and continual guidance, especially in bringing Geoffrey to us. We pray that this season will be a blessing not only to the choir members and our new director, but to the many people who will come out to see, hear and praise God with us.

© 2022 Woodstock Men of Praise, Peter Schepers
This page last updated on August 24, 2007