Thirty years ago Harold Anderson, then director of the Everett Gospel Mission, asked John Sinkevitch, then director of music for Everett First Baptist Church, to create a men’s chorus. The chorus would sing old gospel hymns and proceeds from their concerts would go to the mission. Drawing singers from churches in and around Everett, the small men’s chorus eventually expanded to include women and a small orchestra. Over the years their concerts provided generous support for the mission and did much to raise the community’s awareness of the positive role the mission plays in Everett. However, the real beneficiary has been the greater Everett area because John’s love of God and gift for using music to draw people together spilled out of the churches and into our communities.
The culminating event of those 30 years came Sunday afternoon, Nov. 17, in a “Farewell Concert” at the Civic Auditorium. With more than 230 singers and instrumentalists on stage and a standing-room-only audience, director John Sinkevitch led musicians and audience in a collection of gospel hymns, patriotic songs and Christmas favorites. No one wanted the afternoon to end because it also signaled the end of an era.
We’d like to express our heartfelt thanks to Harold Anderson for following his vision, John for showering everyone he met with God’s love and joy through music, and the Everett Gospel Mission for its tireless work in “housing the homeless, feeding the hungry and comforting the hurting.” We’ll miss John and the chorus, but the mission is still here and we will find other ways to help.
Everett
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