EDMOND, Okla. -- Under the auspices of his church's Armstrong International Cultural Foundation (AICF), Gerald Flurry, pastor general of the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG), broke ground back in January 2008, on the AICF's performing-arts center in Oklahoma. The $15 million 800-seat concert hall, Armstrong Auditorium, modeled after the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif., will eventually, perhaps by late 2009, serve as the location for Sabbath services for the PCG's headquarters congregation and provide a venue for the church's performing-arts series. The AICF's series so far, currently based in the John Amos Field House at 2501 W. Simmons Rd. on the campus of Herbert W. Armstrong College (HWAC) in Edmond, Okla., has spotlighted some widely known performers. They include The 5 Browns (young members of the same family playing classical music, sometimes simultaneously, on five pianos); classical-guitar duo Angel Romero and Eliot Fisk; and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. HWAC and the PCG made international news recently when six students from the four-year college helped out for a few months on an archaeological dig in Jerusalem that located a tunnel that dates from the time of King David. The students -- Jeremy Cocomise, from Illinois; Brent Nagtegaal, Australia; Brandon Nice, Indiana; John Rambo, Oklahoma; Edwin Trebels, the Netherlands; and Victor Vejil, Texas -- dug alongside archaeologist Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University. As reported on the Web site of The Daily Oklahoman (newsok.com), President Stephen Flurry of HWAC said he hopes the find at the dig leads to the discovery of King David's palace. That would "verify the accuracy of the Scriptures," he was quoted as saying. "Certainly the historical significance is what we are most interested in." For news of the arts series, the dig and Herbert W. Armstrong College, see the PCG's Web sites, which include armstrongconcerts.org, hwacollege.org and pcog.org. |
