Brunelle brings bluegrass to church

In his 39 years as musical director at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, Philip Brunelle has garnered a well-earned reputation as someone who is not afraid to push the envelope. But next weekend he's doing something that's a stretch even by his standards: The entire service will consist of a bluegrass mass.

"I have no idea where this is going to lead," he admitted. "My goal has always been that if someone comes to Plymouth Church for one year, they will hear every type of music from Renaissance to Baroque to classical to modern-day. Then I thought, 'We've never done bluegrass.'"

The project grew out of an earlier experiment involving the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, the classical group that Brunelle also leads, and the Monroe Crossing bluegrass band. They teamed up to present "The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass," a suite of songs composed by Carol Barnett with text by poet Marisha Chamberlain. Brunelle was convinced that it was going to be a memorable event; he just wasn't sure if it would be as a resounding success or a colossal failure.

"Teaming up classical singers with a bluegrass band?" he said. "It had all the makings of trying to put a round peg in a square hole."

It turned out to be such a hit that they took it on the road and recorded a CD, "The World Beloved." So now he's taking it one step further, although this one, he argues, is just the next logical move.

"It was billed as a mass, so I thought, 'Let's present it as a church service,'" he said. "I sat down with senior pastor Jim Gertmanian. He's always excited to try new things, so we worked it into an entire service in which Bible readings and prayers are woven into it."

The church choir will provide the voices, with the Monroe Crossing band reprising its accompaniment. It happens April 6 at the 10:30 a.m. service. The church is at E. Franklin and Nicollet Avs. S. in Minneapolis.

Charting church membership The annual Cityview Report of local church demographics came out recently, and, as always, it's loaded with statistical tidbits. Produced by the Rev. John Meyer and City Vision, the 155-page report contains charts that you can compare to come up with some interesting insights.

For instance, when the makeup of the Twin Cities faith community is broken down by the number of churches in each denomination, Roman Catholics account for only 8 percent. But when you look at the same chart based on average weekly attendance, the number jumps to 31 percent. Ergo, Catholics are much more regular in their attendance than are members of a lot of other denominations.

Members of the ELCA, you do OK, too, with your share growing 8 percentage points. And Baptists gain slightly (3 points). But there's bad news for the United Church of Christ: When the pie chart is converted from the number of churches to the number of attendees, your slice shrinks by more than half.

Hit radio Students from Northwestern College in Roseville won eight awards -- the most from any college -- in the National Religious Broadcasters student production competition for 2007.

Four students racked up the honors for the school. Brian Gullickson, Aaron Pearson, Ryan Nissley and Matt Olson won awards in multiple categories, including radio newscast, drama and commercial.