Meet John Rea, our new Director of Music Ministry. His love for music has taken him on an incredible journey, helping others experience worship through the beauty of the creative arts. At Saint Luke you will likely find him at the organ masterfully playing a lovely hymn, laughing along with our kids as he leads them in song (even in super speed with hand motions!), or giving creative guidance to the talented choirs and musicians at rehearsals.
John comes to Saint Luke with not only heart, but much experience and skill. He was trained classically on piano and organ, studied classical voice, and even started a Christian rock band while in college at Temple University. He has composed hymns, anthems and musicals for the church, and created a theatre partnership with a synagogue in Philadelphia. His hymn, 'God's Work, Our Hands' debuted in the 2014 SEPA Synod Assembly.
John began his work as a church organist/choir director in 1986 at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Conshohocken, PA, where his father served as pastor. He also has served as Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Audubon, PA, where he built the music program from one senior choir when he arrived to two junior children choirs, a senior choir, a summer series of vocal and instrumental soloists and an intergenerational bell choir. He also created three Christmas Pageants, as well as wrote and directed a musical based on the Christian fairy tale, The Three Trees. In The Three Trees, the intergenerational cast of 50 worked with Spiral Q Puppet Theatre from Philadelphia to create over 40 puppets that lived on 15 foot bamboo poles!
John not only has a passion for making music but inviting others into the process regardless of their skill or knowledge level. He has taught music and liturgy to children ages 2 – high school. He’s introduced percussion instruments into the fabric of worship, even directing a brass quintet for holiday services. He has experience directing vocal soloists and instrumentalists, both acoustic and electric, from beginner to expert.
Outside of church, he is the Founder and Artistic Director of MacGuffin Theatre & Film Company, a nonprofit arts-based education program for young actors. He is married to his best friend of 11 years, Stacey-Kyle. Stacey serves as Pastor for Youth and Family Ministry at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Phoenixville.
We thank you gracious God for all that care and nurture Your people. May You fill them with peace, ingenuity, determination and gladness. Fortify their hearts for the great work ahead.