On Sun., Oct. 1, Concordia celebrated the breaking of ground for the new Music, Worship and Theology building. This building has been long awaited and took a great deal of negotiating with the City of Irvine to get approved. The new building is necessary because Concordia is a growing campus, appealing to more students each year.

The service took place in the CU Center at 4:00 p.m. and many faculty, donors and current students were in attendance. The Concordia Choir and Sinfonietta provided musical performances showcasing students’ talents. Several of Concordia’s alumni were in attendance, both in the audience and in the music ensembles.

President Krueger opened the service by greeting everyone in the audience. There were several mini speeches given by faculty such as Dr. Jeff Held, Assistant Dean of Arts & Sciences and Dr. Steve Mueller, Dean of Christ College. These faculty members talked about their learning experiences and what this building will mean to future students.

Executive Vice President of University Advancement, Tim Jaeger, took some time to thank the approximate 130 donors for their gracious donations and pledges. To date, $23 million has been donated toward the production of the new building.

The new Music, Worship and Theology building will have state of the art rooms with double concrete slabs and appropriate insulation in order to keep practices as private and productive as possible for future students. In addition to practice rooms, the Music Department will also be receiving a new choir room and a recording studio for worship arts.

The Music and Theology departments are excited to be moving into the same building. “Lutherans have always seen a connection between theology and music. Luther said, ‘I accord music the highest place next to theology.’ He saw that these two are good partners,” said Mueller. The two departments will have their own wing within the new building.

At the ceremony, the audience and ensembles followed Pastor Quintin Anderson outside the CU Center to the site of the new building in order to bless it and celebrate the start of construction. Selected members of the campus community were invited to pick up shovels and turn up earth. After the ceremony, a small reception was held for everyone that came to bless the ground.

The building is scheduled for completion late Summer 2018.

Tags: event

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