Ken Medema will be the featured artist at a New England Summer Music Festival at 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 1 at Court Street Baptist Church, 129 Court St., in Auburn.

Medema is a widely-known, much-loved musician and singer-songwriter. His lyrics provide social commentary on themes such as justice, hunger, poverty, homelessness, and relevant Christian charity.

Medema earned a degree in music therapy at Michigan State University. He has performed in 49 states and more than 15 countries on four continents. His keyboard and vocal abilities, improvisation skills, and humor both uplift and entertain.

This public event also features a choir of singers from southern Maine. Several other musicians will accompany Medema with flute, saxophone, piano, and the church’s historic Hook and Hastings organ.

Mary Carol Kennedy is a professional flutist and saxophonist, a teacher of woodwind instruments, and staff musician at North Saco Congregational Christian Church and Hillside Chapel in Arundel. Ryan Slocum, a student at USM, is an up-and-coming musician currently the organist at the West Auburn Church.

The Mark Thallander Foundation sponsors this event. The foundation, which produces music festivals throughout the United States, grows faith and connects communities through the power of music.

For 18 years, Thallander was organist at Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. He lost his left arm in an accident on the Maine Turnpike while vacationing here. Since then, he has rearranged music in order to perform successfully at concert level. He returns to Maine often.

This concert also celebrates the 160th anniversary of the founding of Court Street Baptist Church in Auburn.

For more information, call 207-784-6661 or email Office@CourtStreetBaptist.org.

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