By fall 1970, he had formed a group of eight singers and accompanying instrumentalists, chosen a name, scheduled some performances, and started to travel. From the start, they met with success and numerous invitations to appear at churches, schools, church meetings, and conventions.

They also made a number of successful records, which were then distributed by Chapel Records. At the time of their 25^th anniversary, they had started to reissue older LP recordings in two-CD sets, a 25^th anniversary project that when completed included ten sets.

They used that three months to get organized and to give a few practice concerts in the Portland area. Local churches lent their support, admiring the Maces and members of the group for what they were undertaking. Lucy later described the first of what through the years would be several providential miracles:

They were not without their critics, including conservative church members and some classically trained musicians who decried what they felt was a lower class of sacred music. There were many members and trained musicians, however, who recognized the professionalism of the presentations, the integrity of the music, and its inspired lyrical quality and felt that the Heritage Singers were providing an important music ministry in the church.

Even with this full schedule, it became necessary in 1973 to add a second group, Heritage Singers II, to meet the invitations. For five years both groups responded to what seemed an insatiable hunger on the part of schools and churches for the type of programming they provided. When Max formed the second group, he wanted it to be a mirror image of the original, performing the same repertoire and singing in the same style and with the same unique harmony associated with the first group. Leaders of group II, however, drifted away from that ideal, and eventually the second group disbanded, with some of its singers joining the first group.

In the early years, many members were college-age students who would sing one or two years before returning to school to continue their education. In the last two decades, with a reduction in the schedule to mostly weekend tours, Mace has been able to retain singers for several years by drawing today's seven-member ensemble from a pool of about a dozen experienced singers, all of whom have other jobs. Max, his daughter, Val, and son, Greg, who is the sound engineer, take all of the trips and provide a stable base.

After singing with the group for ten years, during which time she was known as "Mom" to its members, she injured her legs in an accident in the 1980s and was unable to walk for three months. Although she eventually healed, during the time of convalescence, Lucy assumed direction of a television series they were starting and led out in that activity for over ten years and 200 programs. Because of these responsibilities and others, she no longer sang with the group.

Son Greg began running the soundboard at age eleven, when the group started, and has continued in that capacity ever since. Drawing on that experience, he formed a sound company, which he owns and operates between tours.

Daughter Val began traveling with them on tours at age nine and became a member of the group at age eleven. Her distinctive soprano voice has become the basis for what is known as the "Heritage sound."

Both she and Greg married persons who are also part of the group. Greg met his wife, Adrianne, during a 1995 tour in Brazil. She had grown up in a family where music was important and, before meeting the Maces during that tour, had been in several gospel groups in her country. Two months after the tour, she traveled to the U.S. to learn English, and two years later she and Greg married.

Val's husband, Art Mapa, a native of the Philippines, is a gifted guitarist, arranger, producer, talented recording technician, and videographer who has been with the group since 1985. He operates the Turning Point Studio, part of the Heritage Singers operation, where he creates accompaniments for the ensemble and produces CDs, videos, and DVDs of the group and its singers.

Many of its singers have been in the HS a minimum of ten years, several having sung longer than that. David Bell, an accomplished basso profondo who has been with them for 26 years, has one of the longest tenures for a non-family member.

He started singing in the group at age nineteen, dropping out of his studies at Walla Walla College, now University, at the beginning of his sophomore year. Known for his singing with the Messengers Quartet, a group that traveled extensively throughout the Northwest on promotional trips for the college, he responded quickly to an invitation from the Maces to audition and then sing with their group.

Bell joined at a time when the group was constantly on the road and put his education on hold for two years. He returned to WWC in 1984, completing a degree in electrical engineering three years later. He continued his studies at Cal State in Sacramento, earning a master's degree in Management Information Systems at CSS in 1999. Throughout those years he also continued to sing with the Heritage Singers when possible and continued to do so while completing a Ph.D., and teaching full-time as an associate professor at Pacific Union College.

In a recent article about him he observed, "One of my real joys in life is to sing. It can reach people in ways preaching can't." He particularly enjoys the contact with those who come forward at the end of their concert. "People come with all sorts of things - individually, we pray with them. Really making those connections is the most special part to me."

In its first years, accompaniments were provided by members of the group who were also instrumentalists and others who traveled with the singers. Today's accompaniments are all prerecorded except for special event concerts and some appearances.

Starting in its second year the group was doubled in size to provide a fuller and richer sound. Singers along with accompanists and support staff meant that as many as nineteen people were at times on the road. When, because of advances in sound technology, the same breadth of sound could be achieved with fewer singers, the group returned to its original size. While the smaller group facilitated travel arrangements, it also reduced expenses. Over 250 musicians have been part of the Heritage Singers in its nearly four decades of existence.

Beginning in the early 1990s, with the decision to reduce performances in the U.S. to mostly weekend tours, they continued to take one or two foreign tours annually. They have traveled and performed in over sixty countries.

One of the most memorable trips was to Romania, where audiences who had listened to them on smuggled-in tapes during the years when the country was part of the Soviet Union shared with them how important their music had been to them during those troubled times. This past year's travel included concerts in the Philippines and in the Czech and Slovak Republics.

Additionally, churches in some regions of the country now charge the group when hosting them for a concert. The income from sales at concerts of CDs, DVDs, and tapes of the group and its singers, all of which are produced at their studio, has helped offset the decline in offering income and increase in expenses.

There were times during the years when cash flow was a problem and the Maces didn't cash their paychecks so that there would be enough to pay the singers. Lucy recently recalled,

Some in that original group have since increased their contribution to match the passage of years. These donors receive a monthly letter with photographs about activities and plans for the group and a free copy of each new CD.

Overseas travel expense is underwritten by those who host them or by sponsors, many being Christian businessmen. While few concerts in the U.S. have an admission charge (the Maces feel people shouldn't have to pay to hear music of the gospel), concerts abroad are usually ticketed events to help sponsors recover some of their expenses. The Heritage Singers also help groups by giving fundraising concerts for a fee with the understanding that proceeds above that amount will be retained by the hosts.

In 1973, they and their business manager found and purchased a large acreage, previously the site of a working cattle ranch in Placerville, California. Construction of an 11,000 square foot lodge was started in 1973 that included a rehearsal area, offices, nine bedrooms with shared baths, and two one-bedroom apartments for Max and Lucy and the business manager and his wife. A recording studio was added later.

Although the facility, which has become known as "The Ranch," was not finished by Christmas 1974, the Maces, tired of sleeping in motels, moved into their apartment, which had just been sheetrocked to provide privacy, for the holiday.

Members of the group, wanting to be the first to also sleep at "The Ranch," joined them, even though it meant they had to sleep in their sleeping bags on the first floor, which was totally open and strewn about with building materials. Five years after the purchase of the land, when the business manager and the Maces dissolved their business relationship, the Maces retained the facility and 35 acres.

While at WWC, He met and dated Lucy Hatley, a musically talented student at Walla Walla College Academy, now Walla Walla Valley Academy. They married in January 1958, following her graduation from the academy in 1957.

Musical segues between numbers along with comments by Max and members of the group establish rapport with the audience, which in a recent concert I attended, listened attentively and responded enthusiastically to the music. Just before the final number, the traditional invitation for those with prayer needs was given and led to some in the audience going forward.

When this recognition is mentioned to the Maces, they are quick to observe that the real reward for them is the realization that they have been able to change lives and to share in this ministry with so many talented young people.