Rehoboth’s 60-student high school choir will be touring the Los Angeles area of California this March, their eighth such tour. As in past tours, the group is planning several days of intense concerts throughout the area, with one day off at the end for fun, and one solid day of some sort of ministry.

“One of the goals is always to minister [in concert],” choir director Bob Ippel says. “But we also want to rub shoulders with people who are doing ministry, and to get kids excited about all the different ways to do it.”

Past tours have visited Michigan, Germany, the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, as well as a Katrina-belted New Orleans; in contrast to these suburban or rural trips, Ippel and his co-director Gail DeYoung want RCS students to also experience how Christians reach out to people in urban settings, and with the mixed population of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians in Los Angeles. So after three energetic days of giving concerts for various churches and schools, choir students will divide their efforts among four L.A. ministries, including a homeless shelter in Skid Row and a women’s shelter in Long Beach. In a further crash of cultures, the very next afternoon the choir will be visiting the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., where they were invited to sing for a “Plus 50s” group luncheon.

The theme of this tour is “Face to Face,” a recognition of how God meets his people through Christ, and how we are to carry on His work here on earth. The choir has four songs recorded toward their sixth CD, which Ippel and DeYoung hope to complete after the tour’s conclusion.

For more information on the public concerts, or to purchase one of the choir’s CDs, please contact 505.726.9606.