Out of the Loft: A Memoir of Music and Ministry

Don King is nudged out of his comfort zone and spends thirty years leading choir ministry tours to Russia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland in Eastern Europe and Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in Central Europe. Leaving the security of the choir loft, two church Choirs boldly, if somewhat naively, go into the world to share the love of Jesus Christ through vital spiritual singing. Along the way, Don encounters a roller-coaster ride of emotions ranging from exhilaration over God’s phenomenal blessings, to despair as the ministry faces seemingly “impossible” obstacles. A church is surrounded by police wielding AK-47s, as an American choir performs behind the Iron Curtain. A choir member is forced to stay behind in Germany after Czech border officials refuse to allow her passage. Several tour participants are flown home with serious medical problems. Don and two colleagues get lost in the Czech Republic while searching for unleaded gasoline. Who would have guessed that choir tours could be so exciting? In this honest narrative, Don shares how God is able to use two different choirs that were part of the “Out of the Loft” mission and ministry to bring his message of love, hope, and salvation to needy people in Central and Eastern Europe. Thousands of people experience God’s transforming power. Don and his fellow musicians develop a renewed and strengthened faith as they see God’s hand and faithfulness throughout the ministry and in their own lives.

Don King served as a history teacher and student counselor at the junior and senior high levels for 38 years before his retirement from the Glendale Unified School District in Glendale, CA. He has been intimately involved in church choirs ever since his college days in Ann Arbor, MI. Don currently lives with his wife, June, in Escondido, CA.