The LCA’s got talent … lots of it.
Teenage drummer Teseme James Krause, or TJ as he is known, was the first contestant to receive the ‘gold buzzer’ and an automatic place in the semi-finals when entertainment show Australia’s Got Talent returned to Australian TV screens last month.
In Year 9 at Tatachilla Lutheran College, south of Adelaide, TJ is a member at Aberfoyle Park Lutheran Church in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, along with his family.
His drumming, dancing and all-round charm so impressed Australia’s Got Talent judge Kelly Osbourne that she pressed the show’s new gold buzzer and sent TJ straight through to the next stage of the competition. Watching on were delighted family members, including TJ’s parents
Julie and Jonathan Krause, both of whom work with Australian Lutheran World Service. TJ and his younger brother Abebaw (AJ) were born in Ethiopia.
After their father died when TJ was two, and their mother could no longer take care of them, the pair lived in an orphanage until they were adopted and came to live in Australia.
TJ featured on the cover of a special edition of The Lutheran in June 2015, entitled ‘You’re Welcome’ and told the story of his remarkable life. You can read his story on the LCA website.
Also through to the semi-finals of the Nine Network show with TJ are singing trio the Elliott Sisters, who grew up attending Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at Para Vista in Adelaide’s north-eastern suburbs. They are the daughters of Gavin and Yolande Elliott who still are members at Good Shepherd church.
The sisters were backed on the show by swing band Swing & Tonic, which also features members who attend Para Vista church.
Another hat-trick of talented siblings, the Germein Sisters, who hail from Grace congregation, Bridgewater, in the Adelaide Hills, recently collaborated with Swiss artists to compete for the right to represent Switzerland in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.
READ MORE STORIES ABOUT SA-NT
