Please join the Zion Lutheran Church, located at 1200 Duncan, this Thursday at 7 PM for a free organ performance by special guest organist, David Rankin.
The Rodgers Classic 569 organ was installed at the church in October of last year by David who resides in Ellsworth, Kansas, and he is paying a special visit to Pampa to catch up with friends and put on a recital that certainly should not be missed.
David got his music degree from the University of Kansas and taught music for 17 years at the university, his expertise being primarily with the tuba, but having a childhood fondness for the organ.
David moved to the small town of Ellsworth in 1987 where he would raise his family, and it was there that his interest in the organ would become more than just an interest and would ultimately bring him here to Pampa.
“I was the Rodgers representative for a total of 25 years and the other part of my job was to take care of pipe organs, and I actually came and took care of the three big churches in Perryton for quite a while so I was familiar with the panhandle,” David said. “Fast forward to right after Covid, Scott Lewis from Zion called me out of the blue. It has to have been at least four years ago, but he said he had tried to get someone to come help with their Rodgers with no luck. He started looking online and found me way up in the middle of Kansas. I was the first person to give him the time of day.”
“I ended up coming down and trying to help them with the old organ, but they decided that they were done putting money into the old one. I was just getting ready to retire and I knew my showroom organ that I’d had for a while would be perfect for them. They bought it and we hooked it up to the pipes.”
While David has played that particular organ for members of the church since its installation, this recital will be his first community-wide performance in Pampa, and what makes this performance one that can’t be missed is the simple fact that David still plays the organ despite a horrible accident in 2006 that left him with only one hand.
“In 2006 I had a chainsaw accident, and the short version is they tried to reattach my hand in an 11-hour surgery, but it didn’t work. My left hand was amputated in November of 2006. For most of the organs that I’ve sold, if the place has a dedication of some kind, I’m involved in some form and I’ll go and play. God had a different plan for me. I thought I’d never play again-I wouldn’t even get close to our piano. But God shoved me in a good direction and all is good.”
From those who have heard him play, they can tell you that you have to be there and witness it to believe what you’re hearing, and there’s no doubt that your spirit will be moved.
While some churches have veered away from the traditional pipe organ music and are geared more toward live bands, David feels that both forms touch the soul in similar ways, but the pipe organ and hymns tend to stay within the hearts of those who hear them, young and old.
“The organ is not dead, church music is not dead,” he said.
“Our kids that have grown up in our church, who have left and come back, talk about how they missed the tradition, how they missed the hymns. There’s no organ, there’s no piano, it’s all praise stuff. What happens in those situations especially if the music is unfamiliar, most people don’t sing anymore, they just listen.”
David has picked out a set of songs that most people would know and be able to sing along to, and he and the Zion Lutheran Church invite you for a memorable and spiritual evening. The concert is expected to be approximately an hour long and light refreshments will be provided.
