A Random Tuesday Afternoon
Story: Danielle Luebbe
Photo: Elizabeth Kucera and courtesy of Rebekah Freed
From Concordia University, Nebraska to GRAMMY Award-winning chorister back to Concordia, Rebekah Freed finds ways to use her talents for serving and glorifying God.
Rebekah Freed ’11 has been preparing for a life of serving others for as long as she can remember. As she headed toward high school graduation, the Wichita, Kansas, native knew she wanted to be a director of Christian education (DCE). That limited her choices when it came to choosing a college. She wanted somewhere close to home with an excellent DCE program and the opportunity to continue pursuing a passion for music. Concordia University, Nebraska was the place that checked all her boxes.
“From the logistical side that all made sense,” Freed says, “but more than that, when I visited campus, I just had a sense that this was where I needed to spend my college years.”
Freed joined Concordia’s DCE program and double majored in behavioral science and psychology with an emphasis in youth ministry and family life ministry. She participated in music ensembles, took lessons in voice and piano, served as a resident assistant in the dorms and generally found ways to support other students and be involved on campus.
During a DCE internship her senior year, Freed was placed at First Trinity Church in Tonawanda, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. After her internship, First Trinity extended a call to Freed to serve as director of high school and young adult ministry, a role she held for eight years. After leaving Concordia, however, Freed realized that she missed being part of a musical group, so she looked for local community choirs. Unfortunately, it was December and many of them only held auditions in the fall.
“The only one with January auditions was the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus (BPC),” Freed says. “I decided to go ahead and give the BPC audition a shot. Since I hadn’t auditioned for anything in nearly seven years at that point, I figured if nothing else, it would give me some audition experience before auditioning for other groups that fall. I never had to audition for another group because I made it into the BPC and started singing with the group within a few weeks.”
The BPC was perhaps a more professional chorus than Freed had anticipated joining, but once she started getting to know the ensemble, she realized it was a perfect fit. “I was challenged to grow musically, met great friends through rehearsals and performances and had opportunities to sing with world-renowned musicians,” Freed says. “The BPC had a few concerts of our own each year and traveled to perform at a variety of venues around Western New York, but our primary role was to sing with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra whenever their pieces required a chorus.”
One highlight of her time with the BPC was performing and recording the East Coast Premier of Richard Danielpour’s “The Passion of Yeshua.” “It was an intense week with hours and hours spent each day at the concert hall or other rehearsal spaces, but so worth it to be part of sharing this new piece with the world,” Freed says. “The recording we made that weekend ended up getting nominated for three GRAMMYs in 2021 and won the GRAMMY for Best Choral Performance.”
The GRAMMY-winning recording features the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta; the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, prepared by Adam Luebke; and the UCLA Chamber Singers, prepared by James K. Bass.
At nearly two hours long, the piece leads listeners through the hours leading up to and including Jesus’ death. The narrative sections were sung in English and various Hebrew psalms were placed throughout to capture the elements of Jesus’ Jewish background that can sometimes be missed in the modern-day Christian reality.
“Spiritually, there are not too many places in our world where God’s Word can be proclaimed in such a profoundly public way,” Freed says. “We had the chance over and over to sing of Jesus in a packed concert hall. Even still today, as I read certain sections of scripture, ‘The Passion of Yeshua’ melodies and instrumentation come back to my mind, almost like a soundtrack of the events leading up to Christ’s death.”
In the middle of that performance week, Freed received a phone call about a job posting as the director of student development in Concordia Nebraska’s Student Life Office. Not only was she performing with what would become a GRAMMY-winning ensemble, Freed was also days away from closing on a house in Buffalo.
“I had been intending to settle in and stay in Buffalo for quite a while, but evidently God had different plans,” she says. “Within a few days, I was interviewing on campus and was offered the position after my visit. Thankfully God made it clear that this was where He wanted to use me moving forward. It was such an extremely difficult transition that felt a little like whiplash for me, my family and my friends. Instead of settling into a new house in the place I had called home for nearly a decade, I was suddenly moving across the country learning a new career.”
It was a quick decision, but one that was prayerfully considered and one that fits Freed’s style of service perfectly.
“A church setting typically lends itself to a model of gathering youth and young adults together to equip them to be able to live out their faith and trust in Jesus on a random Tuesday afternoon when something hard or joyful or challenging happens,” Freed says. “While I truly did love that role, now I’m getting to walk alongside them on the random Tuesday afternoon. Ministry happens right in the middle of the day-to-day life here on campus, celebrating with them in the joys of success or showing them the grace of Jesus while holding them accountable in a discipline meeting or simply helping them adjust to college life.”
Ministry happens right in the middle of day-to-day life here on campus.
As director of student development, Freed is the building manager for all 11 residence halls on campus, hires and trains the residence hall staff, meets with other departments of the university to consult about student life and is available to mentor and support any student who needs it. She facilitates a peer ministry program on campus, Peer2Peer, matching up students with trained peers to help them navigate whatever life challenges they might be facing. She leads LAUNCH, Concordia’s new student orientation, and helps coordinate housing on campus. She responds to crisis situations, mediates roommate conflicts and plans student activities.
Basically, Rebekah Freed and her student life team are the foundation that supports the student experience at Concordia.
Her DCE training comes in handy as well. “I have had opportunities to lead some spiritual growth opportunities on campus, which I really enjoy,” she says. “My favorite was an 8-week-long women’s Bible study I taught this past semester. In addition to over 35 student participants, we had a chance to match each of them up with a woman here in our Seward community or a Concordia alumna to pray for them and encourage them while we journeyed through the study.”
Freed has come full circle back to Concordia, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“The work done in this place can be truly life-changing,” she says. “I hear stories from coaches about students who now know and follow Jesus because of the way the coaches run their programs and invest in the lives of their athletes. I see our RAs and RCs comfort and care for students at 2 a.m. while grieving the death of a loved one. I witness professors go well beyond simply teaching a subject area as they literally walk with a student over to our office, the Wellness Center, the Academic Resources Center or financial services to help them get connected to resources they need. The education provided in the classroom prepares students to go all over the world using the gifts and talents God has given them. I’ve watched students find freedom from addictions or unhealthy coping mechanisms as they are met with grace, loving accountability and guidance. What truly makes Concordia special is everything that goes on behind the scenes.”