Editorial

Christian artist's performance a measure of character

Monday, April 20, 2009

Memorial Auditorium was not as packed Sunday night as it might have been given the caliber of the performance, but it was a large and enthusiastic crowd that turned out for one of the most special events we've experienced in recent years.

Fernando Ortega delivered an intimate and humble performance that still couldn't mask one of the top talents of Christian music today, if not one of the top talents of any genre.

Overcoming canceled flights and a bleary 2 a.m. arrival by car from Denver Sunday morning, Ortega, a classically trained pianist and grandson of a Mexican-American farmer and blanket weaver, told stories of that grandfather and his family while accompanying himself on a baby grand piano borrowed from the college.

Seated in a recliner in the front row of the audience was the Rev. Dr. Chris Atkins, associate pastor of the Evangelical Free Church of McCook, surrounded by his family from as far as Texas and Florida. It was his illness -- surgery for a brain tumor and long hospitalization with complications -- that prompted members of his church to arrange Ortega's visit.

During his recuperation in Dallas, Atkins found, in Ortega's music, relief that medication could not provide. That Ortega would consent to travel from his home in New Mexico to McCook -- rented car, borrowed piano and all -- is an measure of the performer's character.

Sponsors picked up most of the cost of Ortega's performance, leaving about $25,000 in ticket sales and donations toward Atkins' mounting medical expenses.

Sunday night's response to those needs is a measure of the character of our community.

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