One never knows where those conversations will lead. And you might just be the answer to someone’s prayer. Such was the case in this story.
Chris Barnhill chuckled as he recalled meeting Pastor Sarah [Samuelson] at the grocery store. “My wife and I had just left our jobs at St. Francis and St. Michael Church in Muskegon, ready for a break from leading church music for a while. Pastor Sarah casually asked if we would consider helping out for a while at her church, Trinity Lutheran Church in New Era. Kristin and I said ‘Yes’ with every intention of it being a temporary commitment. Yet here we are, a year later.”
Pastor Samuelson said, “I had been praying for several years for someone with their many gifts in music to come to our church. They are opening doors for us that we could not have opened without them.”
Chris and Kristin Barnhill have been passionately involved with church music their entire adult lives. In fact, Chris played the organ for Mass for the first time at the age of 13. He served as the assistant director of music at his church from the age of 13 until he became the director at age 21 when his mentor and former director retired.
He and Kristin were born and raised in Muskegon and served together in several Muskegon churches: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, St. Michael Catholic Church and Prince of Peace Catholic Church, where they were for 15 years. “Then we moved to Texas for four years with God’s Embrace Ministries, a parish ministry for spiritual development for which we wrote many songs,” Chris shared.
They have complementary talents, which make them a wonderful team. Chris is a gifted instrumentalist on the piano, organ and guitar and is a composer. Kristin is a cantored vocalist who studied under Gwenneth Bean and who frequently serves as cantor for worship. In several churches she has directed bell choirs. “She is also a wordsmith who writes the lyrics for the songs I compose,” Chris said.
Both are able vocal choir directors. Trinity Lutheran member Risë Rasch sings in the choir and says, “As a member of the choir, it has been a joy to experience firsthand Chris and Kristin’s enthusiasm for leading us and singing with us.”
Trinity Lutheran has approximately 125 families, whereas prior churches they served had as many as 1,500 families. A smaller church presents challenges in recruiting choral and bell choir participants. Except in large urban churches that can afford full-time music directors or organists, most church musicians need additional employment to survive.
Both Barnhills have other jobs as well as church work. Kristin has an undergraduate degree in Marketing and Communication and will earn her MBA in Business Administration from Purdue University this year. Chris has a BA in Psychology from Grand Valley University and studied mortuary science. He is a funeral director at Sytsema Funeral Home in Muskegon. Kristin is employed in marketing at SAF-Holland\haldex.
Living in North Muskegon, the Barnhills continue to worship at their home church, Prince of Peace Catholic Church, on Saturday and then head north on Sundays to lead music at Trinity Lutheran in New Era. They are deeply appreciated in both places. Their vision for the future at New Era is to inspire sufficient members to form a handbell choir and to integrate some good contemporary music with the good traditional music found in the pew hymnbooks.
Rasch values their contributions. “Their individual offerings during our services have brought a mixture of traditional and contemporary worship music to our congregation. The Spirit is definitely with them in all they do! It will be exciting to see what new programs they help Trinity Lutheran bring to our community.”
