This gospel tape by the Berg Chorale is from 1991 - the following year, he passed away from complications related to leukemia. [center][/center] [center][img width=500px]//7ca49eb9f67ba1319ef136f9d52cd8b8.cdn.bubble.io/f1735757599497x245126336690157470/richtext_content.jpeg[/img][/center] [center][/center] TEST OF FAITH Family, friends prayed for life of renowned choir founder I met Ferd Berg only once in the intensive care unit of the Bow Valley Centre. He was unconscious and it was a week before he died Jan. 22. More than 800 people attended his funeral Monday. Berg founded the Berg Chorale, a 30- member ensemble which has travelled the province by bus each weekend for the past 30 years, bringing glory to God and God to people through singing and music. "He was one of a kind," says television anchorman Darrell Janz, Berg's cousin and a member of the chorale for the past six years. "I never knew anyone with so much energy and ability. "He had a real heart for people that symbolized his whole life. He was a servant leader. He never asked of his choir, his family or anybody else what he didn't ask of himself." Five years ago Berg was diagnosed with leukemia. Fighting it valiantly, Berg was hospitalized with a viral infection in his lungs just after New Year's. A week after his admittance, I was having a business lunch with Rev. Jim Wallace, co-pastor of South Calgary Community Church. Ferd helped establish the church in 1971. Ferd's brother, Rev. Steve Berg, is the church's co-pastor. Wallace explained that Ford, a cherished member of the church family, was near death, in the General Hospital, across the street from the restaurant. He planned to visit Berg after lunch and as he was leaving, I asked if I might join them in prayer. Walking across the street, Wallace talked about how this experience was testing their faith. Berg's family, church members and hundreds of others in Calgary's Christian community were praying for him. Many, including his wife, Helga, believed that God had promised a miracle healing in Berg's life. "I've never been part of a situation where a person was so urgently, so desperately, so faithfully prayed for," Wallace said. Didn't God promise to answer people's prayers? Doesn't God heal? What if Berg died? What then? When I entered the waiting room with Wallace, it was filled to overflowing with family members. It was like walking into a wall of faith, the concentration of prayer and belief was so strong. After that, I too began using every opportunity to pray for Berg's healing. Eight days later, 63-year-old Berg died. On Sunday, Wallace preached about unanswered prayers and unfulfilled promises. There were no pat answers; no trite assurances from the Bible. In- stead, he talked about how some are healed and some are not. There is no magic formula. Berg's family and friends had not fallen short in their prayers. God, indeed, was commending them for their faith- fulness and efforts. All prayers are answered. It's just there are some things that are part of God's plan that we cannot know or understand. "I continue to believe and walk in faith that God has a better way," said Wallace. On Monday, hundreds of mourners filled Grace Baptist Church for Berg's funeral. They included a man who shared a hospital room with Berg a year earlier. Hospitalized for a suicide attempt, the man hardly knew Berg He was lonelier for Berg's passing. Another was the wife and daughter of another man who was in intensive care with Berg before he died. They wanted to see the people who have such faith. The Berg Chorale gave the performance of their lives. Wallace talked about Berg's three lifetime goals: to glorify God with his music; to not only know and under- stand the Word of God contained in the Bible, but to live it with passion; and to walk in wisdom, knowing what God asks of any situation. Then Wallace prayed: "We grieve the passing of his body and passing of his life on earth. We rejoice that he is not dead and the light of eternal life still blazes in his soul. Give us the wisdom and the grace that we live as he lived; that we will press on to the goal as he did; and to finish what he began. Just before the family walked the casket up the isle, Berg- in a tape recorded hymn gave his encore performance as his deep bass voice boomed through the church, "I bowed on my knees and cried holy." Among his final words before his death, Berg-whose life had been fuelled by his passionate love of God in Jesus Christ- told his family: "Even if I die, I shall believe that by his stripes (wounds) we are healed."
