Church lauds Steele's years of music ministry

The Twin Cities has been home for Fred Steele for more than three decades, but on a recent afternoon, he felt as if he were back in his hometown of Gary, Ind. Steele's church, Greater Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist Church, threw a party honoring him for 30 years of music ministry.

"I was absolutely floored," he said of the appreciation party. "It literally brought me to tears. Churches here don't do that sort of thing. I saw it a lot back in Gary when I was growing up, but it's not a common thing in churches here."

Steele is far from common himself. It's impossible to talk to him for more than two minutes before his boundless enthusiasm for music -- especially gospel music -- comes spilling out.

"I tell my choirs that gospel music is not something you are involved with just on Sunday mornings," he said. "I tell them, 'When you want to listen to music, don't put in a hip-hop CD. Put in a gospel CD.' If you listen to gospel music on a day-to-day basis, it will affect the way you live. I always carry a song in my heart -- a gospel song."

That enthusiasm is contagious. Just ask the Rev. John Bowen, pastor of the church at 1800 Dupont Av. N., Minneapolis. When Steele was hired away from a church in St. Paul seven years ago, Mount Vernon had two choirs, one for adults and one for youths. Now it has five.

Steele's choir members have to be on their toes. Although they have weekly rehearsals for the next Sunday, he doesn't hesitate to change songs mid-service.

"I love listening to Pastor Bowen preach, and sometimes he says things that remind me of a particular song, and we just go with that," he said. Yes, the sudden changes pose a challenge for the choirs, "but my choirs are really pretty phenomenal. They give their hearts to the music."

Steele, 54, said that giving is the bedrock of his ministry. "I don't think that God gives us our gifts for ourselves," he said. "He gave me my gift of music to share with others. You have to take those gifts and pass them out. When you share them with others, that's when you achieve what God wants you to do."

There was a Minnesota connection to President Obama's audience with Pope Benedict last week, and a near-miss on a second connection -- and we're not talking about Miguel Diaz, the St. Cloud theologian who has been nominated as ambassador to the Vatican but has yet to undergo confirmation hearings.

The presidential entourage included Denis McDonough, a native of Stillwater and a graduate of St. John's University. He's a deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, and it was his job to brief the U.S. reporters traveling with Obama on what transpired during the meeting.

Which brings us to Minnesota's almost-second tie. According to the Vatican's account of the meeting, Obama introduced McDonough to the pope as "a priest's brother."

With all due respect, Mr. President, the Rev. Kevin McDonough is not just your run-of-the-mill priest. He's well known within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, where he served as rector of the seminary and then as vicar general -- basically, the chief of staff -- for retired Archbishop Harry Flynn before taking over at St. Peter Claver Church, the leading African-American parish in the Twin Cities.

Bridging Inc., the Twin Cities charity that gives away $1 million worth of furniture a year, passed two milestones this week: Its 22nd anniversary and the serving of its 50,000th client.

Fran Heitzman, 84, has been there for all of it. A former church maintenance man, he started with one donated crib and built a social service organization that provides 125 families a week with everything they need to set up households, from couches to silverware.

"As long as donated furniture keeps coming, we'll keep giving it away," he promised. "But it's tough sometimes to keep coming up with 125 kitchen tables each week, which also means we need 600 kitchen chairs. We're trying to do the best we can, but right now we need dressers so bad."

Want to help? Bridging has a residential donation pickup service. Call 952-888-1105, ext. 5.

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392