LOS ANGELES
New Hope Singers
Berdj Djambazian
Team Leader & Tenor
The good news of Jesus Christ and a love of music shaped Berdj Djambazian’s life from early childhood. Born in St. James Armenian Convent in the Old City of Jerusalem to survivors of the Armenian Genocide, Berdj would wake up to hear his father singing praises to God and giving thanks for the new day. As a young boy, Berdj was a frequent soloist for churches’ musical and choir programs.
Berdj attended Beatenberg Theological Seminary, toured Switzerland and Germany while taking part in the school’s quartet and sextet groups as a tenor, and graduated in 1967. From 1968-1972, while pastoring two Armenian Evangelical churches in France, he attended the National Conservatory of Marseille to study voice and vocal performance. He won 1st place at the conservatory competition by performing the songs “Hayastan Yergir Traghtavair” and “Comfort Ye, My People” from Handel’s Messiah.
His brother Rev. Hagop Djambazian wrote hundreds of praise and worship songs, and they recorded their first duet album together in 1968. They also worked together on relief efforts during the civil war in Lebanon, establishing a medical clinic in Beirut.
Moving with his family to California in the early 1980s, he led United Armenian Congregational Church in Los Angeles, and was instrumental in establishing three new congregations in the area. Rev. Djambazian was one of the first Armenians to use media for evangelism, and he uses media to this day for his musical and spiritual outreach. God has used Berdj to reach thousands of people through relief and evangelistic missions around the world, many to Armenia.
The Lord called him to his current post as Minister to the Union, Armenian Evangelical Union of North America, and he is taking New Hope Singers to outreach concerts in Los Angeles, Fresno, Canada, and next across the ocean.
Music, in Berdj’s words, has interchangeable characteristics with the love of God: they are both indiscriminating, they both transform the person within, and they are both international – reaching all people everywhere. Rev. Berdj Djambazian expressed, “I feel the LORD is calling me now to reach people around the world with the love of Jesus Christ, which was my dear father’s prayer from the very beginning.” He quotes his beloved father’s words, “The enemy burned my family into ashes, but they could not burn my faith in God.”