We Believe: Faith, Community, and the Holy Act of Singing: Full Schedule

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - "Fishing on the Other Side," new texts by Lydia Pedersen; "Water Drops from the Living Well," new hymn tunes by Iteke Prins

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sponsored by Virginia & Mark Meyer

Fishing on the Other Side, new hymn texts by Lydia Pedersen. An eclectic collection of hymn texts written in response to specific occasions or pastoral needs.

Water Drops from the Living Well by Iteke Prins. A collection of hymn tunes set to texts by Hymn Society members, E. Downing, J. Reynolds, M. Bittner, D. Merrick, F. Crider, and J. Thornburg.

Speakers

Iteke Prins

Sectional Leader

Iteke Prins is a long-time member of The Hymn Society, who has composed hundreds of new hymn tunes, many of which are published by The Leupold Foundation or its successor, Wayne Leupold Editions, Inc.

Lydia Pedersen

Sectional Leader

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - "Indian Melodies" by Thomas Commuck

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

The first known published music by a Native American composer, "Indian Melodies" (1845) by Thomas Commuck is a collection of 120 hymn tunes. The presentation will include Commuck’s story as a Narragansett Indian, a Christian and a member of the Brothertown Indians, descendants of several New England native tribes who formed a new community. Ten of Commuck’s tunes will be introduced, some with appropriate historic texts, and some with contemporary words. We’ll discuss the style of the music, the role of Thomas Hastings as editor, and the potential of Commuck’s tunes for church use, and as inspiration for arrangers and composers.

Speakers

Carol Scott

Sectional Leader

Carol Scott has served as an organist and choir director in several denominations since 1990. In 2000 she earned a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies from Associated Mennonite Theological Seminaries in Elkhart, Indiana. She is currently the organist and choir director at Hamilton... Read More →

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional, Streamed for Digital Registrants

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - "Songs of Resistance": Voices of Victory, Peace, and Protest in the Bible and Today

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

This session will introduce attendees to my upcoming book and study, Songs of Resistance: The Bible’s Voices of Victory, Peace, and Protest. It pulls together my vocational experience as a biblical scholar, a minister, a musician, and an activist. Through the study of six different genres of biblical song, we will explore the role of musical and poetic passages throughout the Bible, and in particular how they connect with different aspects of lived human experience, both ancient and modern. From songs of worship and lament, to poems of love and proclamations of a more just social order, this study will listen intently to the voices of our ancestors in faith, and guide readers to consider how this legacy of music and community carries on today. The presentation will include some musical selections, as well as time for discussion and a Q&A period. The table of contents is as follows:

Introduction: The Power of Music in Cultures Ancient and Modern
Ch. 1: Singing the Stories of War: The Song of Deborah and the Song of the Sea
Ch. 2: Singing in Defeat: Psalms and Lamentations
Ch. 3: Singing of Delight and Desire: The Song of Songs
Ch. 4: Singing in the Labor of Birth: The Mothering Songs of Hannah and Mary
Ch. 5: Singing a New Community: The Christ-Hymn of Philippians 2
Ch. 6: Singing Through the Apocalypse: The Songs of Revelation
Conclusion: Singing a Brighter World into Being

Speakers

Amanda C. Miller

Sectional Leader

The. Rev. Dr. Amanda C. Miller (she/her) is a biblical scholar, an ordained minister, and a lifelong musician. She has an undergraduate degree in music therapy, a Master of Divinity, and a PhD in biblical studies. Dr. Miller is Professor of Biblical Studies at Belmont University in... Read More →

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional, Streamed for Digital Registrants

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - Here I am. Where Are You? The spiritual practice of discernment in music ministry

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sponsored by Karl Moyer

How do we approach the work of discernment in our music ministry? How do we do the work of discerning, with humility, the unique musical landscape of the communities that we find ourselves serving? What is our role in shaping that landscape? How do we respond to the growing diversity present in our pews, culturally, theologically and in expressions of faith?

The holy work of discernment requires spending time in a place of questioning and unknowing. It is liminal space, and it is often uncomfortable.

This breakout session is an invitation to consider Discernment as a spiritual practice in our work as music directors. With prompts from the facilitator, participants will take time to consider where they are theologically, spiritually and musically (Here I Am) and then to consider where the community is (Where Are You?).

This breakout session hopes to provide encouragement and generate ideas for those who find themselves in a place of discernment where their worshipping community is being transformed and changed; where the past no longer is and the future is yet to be. Participants are encouraged to come prepared to share their stories, experiences, and questions.

Speakers

Tracy Pratt Stuchbery

Sectional Leader

In her 30+ year career as a freelance pianist, singer, choral conductor, teacher, and church musician, Tracy Pratt Stuchbery has served Anglican parishes in Richmond, Squamish, and Penticton in the beautiful province of British Columbia. She has worked with the Vancouver Children’s... Read More →

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - New Songs by Kate Williams, and more from Unbound

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Kate Williams has become a regular collaborator for writers including Adam Tice, David Bjorlin, and Hannah Brown. This sectional will feature her tune collection, as well as other new texts and tunes from a variety of writers and composers published on GIA's Unbound platform.

Speakers

Adam M. L. Tice, FHS

Sectional Leader

Adam M. L. Tice, FHS, is GIA Publications’ Editor for Congregational Song. In that capacity he curates the Unbound platform, regularly making new hymns and tunes available for download. He was text editor for the 2020 Mennonite Hymnal, Voices Together, and his own texts have appeared... Read More →

Kate Williams

Sectional Leader

Kate Williams is the Vice President of Sacred Music at GIA Publications, Inc. Kate is the editor of Gather—Fourth Edition, the latest edition of the nation’s most well-known hard-bound hymnal, as well as the editor of Of Womb and Tomb: Prayer in Time of Infertility, Miscarriage... Read More →

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - Singing EarthCare in a Climate Crisis

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

This sectional will provide an overview of creation theology from the time of Francis of Assisi ("All Creatures of Our God and King") through the most recent hymns, demonstrating the changes in theology reflected in various eras and cultures.

Speakers

C. Michael Hawn, FHS

Hymn Festival Leader, Sectional Leader

Michael Hawn is the University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Church Music, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. He is the author of several books related to congregational songs, the USA Editor for the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology... Read More →

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - Singing Ecumenism: Editing the Duke Chapel Hymnal

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sponsored by David English

Singing together in worship is an expression of Christian unity. The study of congregational song is an exploration of Christian identity. Who are we, together, when we gather for worship? How are we formed and shaped by the songs that we sing? What, in fact, are the songs that we sing, considering that cherished ecumenical hymns have myriad textual and musical variations across traditions, and that different Christian traditions have peculiar core repertoires of assembly song?

Every hymnal, in a sense, represents an effort to respond to such questions. The Chapel Hymnal: An Ecumenical Collection of Congregational Song, forthcoming from Duke University Chapel and MorningStar Music/ECS Publishing Group, seeks to respond to these questions through the lens of Duke Chapel’s identity as a vibrant center of ecumenical Christian worship rooted in the love of God in Jesus Christ. Assembly song at Duke Chapel centers the Biblical psalms and the broad communal core of Christian hymnody, while also celebrating the particularities of diverse Christian traditions and cultures through inclusion of their unique hymnic repertoire in worship.

This sectional will: describe the process used to establish robust editorial criteria for The Chapel Hymnal, and share those criteria; highlight the hymnal’s advisory panel of scholar-practitioners (including numerous Fellows and members of THS) representing diverse Christian traditions; introduce the hymnal’s psalter, newly translated and pointed for chanting; model the hymnal’s potentially novel paradigm for presenting songs from the global South; and review the research used to determine core repertoire—both ecumenical and “tradition specific”—featured in The Chapel Hymnal.

Speakers

Kelly Dobbs-Mickus

Sectional Leader

Kelly Dobbs-Mickus is an editor for MorningStar Music/ECS Publishing Group of St. Louis, Missouri. She has extensive experience in church music publishing, including editorial work on hymnals at GIA, most notably as project editor for Worship, Fourth Edition. Kelly has served as a... Read More →

Zebulon Highben

Sectional Leader

Zebulon M. Highben is director of Chapel music and associate professor of the practice of church music at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He conducts the Duke Chapel Choir and Schola Cantorum; oversees Duke Chapel’s extensive music program; teaches courses in sacred music... Read More →

Monday July 14, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

11:15am EDT

Sectional - "A Treasury of Faith, Lectionary Hymns, Old Testament, Series A," new tunes by Roy Hopp to texts by Gracia Grindal; "We Gather Together" new hymn texts by William Pasch

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sponsored by Martin Seltz in memory of John Ferguson

A set of new tunes by Roy Hopp set to Gracia Grindal's comprehensive set of hymn texts based on the Old Testament lectionary texts of Series A.

A set of new texts by William Pasch with an appendix of tunes by both William Pasch and Robert J. Weaver.

Speakers

Roy Hopp

Sectional Leader

William Pasch

Sectional Leader

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sectional

11:15am EDT

Sectional - "We Sing with Holy Mary"

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

This new collection of hymns and songs honoring the Mother of God is ecumenically sensitive and broad in scriptural/theological scope. Building on inherited scriptural and liturgical texts, influences from more recent Mariological scholarship and reflection are also present, including a "Mary at the Margins" section. Diverse text writers and composers are represented throughout.

Speakers

Alan Hommerding

Sectional Leader

Alan Hommerding is Liturgical Publications Editor at GIA Publications, a hymn text writer and composer, and has served as music director for Edgebrook Community Church (UCC) in Chicago since 2013.

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sectional

11:15am EDT

Sectional - Episcopal Cancionero

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sponsored by Peter Irvine

The Office of Latino Ministries of the Episcopal Church has produced a songbook which includes popular Latino song, traditional hymnody, liturgical music, and new compositions. It includes Spanish-language and bilingual (Spanish and English) songs. Participants will hear the rationale and history for this project of many years and will be invited to sing along with a diverse selection from the cancionero.

Speakers

Gary Cox

Sectional Leader

The Rev. Gary Cox is vicar of Santa Teresa de Avila Episcopal Church and pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Chicago. He has played cello and guitar in various orchestras and chamber ensembles in Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Ecuador, and Guatemala. He has participated in the Episcopal... Read More →

Yuri Rodríguez

Sectional Leader

The Rev. Yuriria (Yuri) Rodríguez-Laureani serves as a curate at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity in the Diocese of Indianapolis. She was recently ordained to the priesthood after completing the Master’s in Divinity program at the School of Theology, Sewanee: The University... Read More →

Laurie Zant

Sectional Leader

Laurie Zant has been singing and accompanying on the guitar since childhood. She started exploring Latin American worship music while living in Chile in the early 1990s and has been planning and leading Spanish and bilingual liturgical music ever since. A retired software solutions... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sectional

11:15am EDT

Sectional - Joyfully Sing! A New Sacred Choral Music Education Curriculum for Children

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sponsored by Glen & Judy Brown Richardson

Joyfully Sing!, a new curriculum that teaches children to sing and read sacred music, combines the best practices of contemporary music education with the Church’s song. Developed over the past decade with the Notre Dame Children’s Choir at the University of Notre Dame, the curriculum is an ecumenical approach that weds a Kodály-inspired educational philosophy with sacred repertoire. Designed for children from preschool through high school, the incremental curriculum employs a sound-before-sight methodology where children gradually associate playful and reverent sacred melodies with notation.

To safeguard the artistic, intellectual, and social accomplishments of the Hungarian people, Zoltan Kodály, composer and music educator, advocated for children to be the stewards of the musical heritage found in their folk music. In sacred contexts, music transmits shared theology, ethics, and a sense of belonging across time. For over a millennium the Church entrusted the propagation of its sacred music to child choristers who sang Gregorian chant, the music of Palestrina, Bach, Mozart, Fauré, Britten, Vaughan Williams, and many more. Texts included liturgical settings of the mass to seminal theological tenets such as Ubi Caritas (Where charity and love prevail), Sicut Cervus (Like as the hart desireth the waterbrook), and If Ye Love Me.

Joyfully Sing! seeks to elevate the role of children singing the sacred music of the Church and to encourage congregations to invest in the musical acculturation of children and young adults. Artistic Director and Director of Education Mark Doerries and Cynthia Berryman will introduce the curriculum to Hymn Society attendees and discuss ways to adapt it to the unique needs of each congregation.

Speakers

Cynthia Berryman

Sectional Leader

Cynthia Berryman has been teaching vocal and instrumental music from preschool through university for nearly three decades. She is certified in Orff-Schulwerk music and has additional training in Kodály and Dalcroze techniques. She is currently teaching music at Elm Road Elementary... Read More →

Mark Doerries

Sectional Leader

Dr. Mark Doerries is an Associate Professor in the Practice of Conducting for Sacred Music at Notre Dame and the Artistic Director of the Notre Dame Children’s Choir. Doerries serves as the Artistic Director of the Notre Dame Children’s Choir, the community engagement arm of Sacred... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sectional

11:15am EDT

Sectional - Music with Others: A Sacramental Understanding of Ethics and Justice as Performed in Congregational Music

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sponsored by C. Michael Hawn, FHS

This sectional addresses all aspects of this year’s conference theme. The primary question I will address is, how does performance studies inform the ways we live out our baptismal vocation through congregational music to advocate for justice? Baptism will be the aspect of faith that helps center this conversation. Baptism reminds us who God is calling us to be throughout our life. Our baptismal vows give us an identity and a vocation, that when lived out, calls us to be advocates for justice. The use of performance studies allows us to examine how we perform congregational music, through the lens of our baptismal vocation, to create pathways to advocate for ethics and justice in solidarity with those in the community. We cannot be advocates for justice without being in conversation with our community. Congregational music is a formative, community activity. An expanded understanding of congregational music incorporates a multitude of ways to be an active participant, recognizes the different actions performing encompasses, and explores the many ways that participation in worship makes meaning. What music should we be singing to ensure it aligns with our mission, promotes justice, and expresses love to God and our neighbors? This question will be explored in a way that provides practical information for performing congregational song and singing specific examples. The holy act of singing unites communities together in a unique way to advocate for justice because of the vocation received through the sacrament of baptism.

Speakers

Megan Mash

Morning Prayer Leader

Megan Mash grew up in Independence, Missouri, and began playing piano at the age of seven. She was active in the music program, both as a participant and leader, in her home church. Megan earned a Bachelor of Arts in music and religion from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. She... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sectional

11:15am EDT

Sectional - Pastoral Musician Burnout: Faith Crisis, Clinical Diagnosis, or Both?

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Pastoral musicians are an understudied and underserved population. A recent study found that 83.8% of American pastoral musicians experienced one or more factor of burnout. Some research claims that burnout is the result of a lack of faith and even a myth, while other research has found burnout to be the result of many factors including working with "ill-behaved clergy." Can faith, community, and/or singing help with burnout? We'll discuss the latest research to find out. Following this presentation, participants will be able to identify burnout, discuss the signs of burnout, and implement basic tools to prevent burnout.

Speakers

Kensley Behel

Sectional Leader

Kensley Behel is the CEO and president of the Musicians’ Health Lab Inc. Prior to her appointment with the Musicians’ Health Lab, Dr. Behel earned her Ph.D. in Performing Arts Health with a minor in sacred music from the University of North Texas. Her research area focuses on... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sectional, Streamed for Digital Registrants

11:15am EDT

Sectional - Singing for our Lives: Music, Spirituality, and Activism Among Queer Communities During the Height of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Drawing on years of research, teaching, and speaking on topics at the intersection of music, Queer history, and activism, Reverend Jim Mitulski and musicologist Thomas Kurtz will present a lecture/performance and Q&A discussion exploring how the relationship between music and spirituality literally and figuratively served as a voice for social change among Queer communities that faced systemic exclusion during the dark years of the AIDS crisis. Dr. Kurtz will begin by investigating how modes of musical expression including sound, lyrics, and performance practice are inextricably linked to understanding history as activism among Queer communities. Following this portion, Rev. Mitulski will speak on his experience as the Pastor of Metropolitan Community Church San Francisco between 1986-2000 while focusing on the musical influences during his tenure. The latter half of this presentation will highlight three church musicians who will perform excerpts and describe the impact of music-making during the height of the AIDS epidemic. Afterwards, the audience will participate in a Q&A session with Dr. Kurtz, Rev. Dr. Mitulski, and musicians.

Speakers

Thomas Kurtz

Sectional Leader

Dr. Thomas Kurtz’s research investigates how music and performance functioned as a catalyst for social justice during prominent social movements, with a particular focus among the Queer community in the San Francisco Bay Area. He’s held teaching positions at San Antonio College... Read More →

Jim Mitulski

Sectional Leader

Rev. Dr. Jim Mitulski is pastor of Congregational Church of the Peninsula in Belmont, California, and a resident of Oakland, California. He has been a pastor in both the Metropolitan Community Churches (the historically queer/LGBTQ Church) and the United Church of Christ for over... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:15am - 12:30pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - A new supplement for the Episcopal Church

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

The Hymnal 1982 was published 40 years ago, and it's been over 25 years since the church's last official full supplement. Selah is stepping into this long gap to provide the church with a resource that provides the congregational song from the last decades that churches can use in their varied worship. Schaap, a decades-long Episcopal church musician as well as president/senior editor of Selah, has drawn from his extensive experience in both along with recommendations from a large pool of Episcopalians to create a collection that will let the church catch up to what most Hymn Society members already know: the church’s song is alive and well.

Speakers

David Schaap

Sectional Leader

David Schaap (pronounced skaap [rhymes with top]) is president and founder of Selah Publishing Co. His undergraduate studies were at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a double major in music (composition and arranging) and art (sculpture). Schaap has led workshops, hymn... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - CRUMBS & BANQUETS: A Legacy of Sacred Song

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Let’s sing some songs from my new book, CRUMBS & BANQUETS: A Legacy of Sacred Song. The book will include some new hymns, plus older songs, co-written by Dave Brubeck, Peter Erskine, Shirley Murray, Carlton R. Young and more!

Speakers

Rusty Edwards

Sectional Leader

Rusty Edwards,DMin, DD is an ordained Lutheran minister from Marietta, Georgia. His songs are included in 100+ books worldwide, and he has published several collections of his own songs. He is Executive Producer of the GRAMMY winning album How Love Begins by Nicole Zuraitis.

DETROIT MUSIC pdf

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - Emulating Hispanic Styles on the Keyboard for Worship

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sponsored by Glen & Judy Brown Richardson

A vast majority of Hispanic liturgical repertoire is guitar-based, such that leading these songs entirely from the keyboard can be a daunting challenge. From cumbia and bolero to salsa and vallenato, Hispanic styles provide a captivating if not complex study in rhythmic and harmonic structures. This session provides a basic understanding of how these quintessential styles function and how they can be authentically emulated on the keyboard in a worship context. With knowledge of their inner workings, you’ll experience a variety of Latin-American styles modeled with fluent authenticity for your Spanish-singing congregations.

Speakers

Peter Kolar

Sectional Leader

Peter Kolar is a composer of Salvadoran-Polish heritage and a classically-trained pianist known for his creative blend of classical, folkloric and pop idioms. His works include the bilingual (English-Spanish) mass settings “Misa Luna” and “Mass of the Sun of Justice,” both... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional, Streamed for Digital Registrants

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - Local Community Hymnals are Different

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sponsored by Joanne Reynolds

It's one thing when a hymnal is prepared for a denomination or large community of believers, and something else entirely when a local congregation prepares a hymnal. This sectional will explore two such local projects: Bethphage Hymnal of 1922 crafted by the Swedish Lutheran leaders of Bethphage Mission, a facility to care for developmentally disabled children in Nebraska; and Mawl a Chân/Praise and Song of 1952, a Welsh/English language hymnal published by Welsh United Presbyterian Church of Detroit, MI. In addition to looking at the contents of each book, we will delve into the community context that made it important for these groups to publish their collections of hymns, both for themselves and for any other similar groups who might benefit from them.

Speakers

Peter Rehwaldt

Sectional Leader

Rev. Peter Rehwaldt, Ph.D. is an ELCA interim pastor, hymnologist, and former HSUSC Director of Research, living in the Metro Kansas City area. His doctoral work focused on a multigenerational understanding of liturgy, hymnody, and preaching. At past HSUSC conferences, he has offered... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - Reckoning with the Doctrine of Discovery Today: How Our Sacred Songs Can Move Us Towards Indigenous Solidarity

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sponsored by David English

In 2024, the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery and Music that Makes Community partnered together to release a playlist collection of paperless community singing songs for congregations and communities to sing and embody the work of repair and solidarity with Indigenous communities. In this workshop, we will share songs and stories from our Sacred Lands Playlist: Volume 1, and invite hymn writers to contribute to a second volume of sacred songs, Hymns for Sacred Lands, to be released in 2026.

The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery promotes an organizing model that recognizes the interrelatedness of cultural and structural change, towards growing the movement for Indigenous justice. Our playlist is a cultural change resource, to speak the truth about our shared history and integrate the values and vision of decolonization. Singing in this community-building way is intended to help strengthen our shared commitments to engage the work of repair and structural change organizing with joy, connection, and renewed purpose.

Music that Makes Community (MMC) practices communal song-sharing that inspires deep spiritual connection, brave shared leadership, and sparks the possibility of transformation in our world. We offer resources, training, and encouragement in the dynamic power of singing to connect others and ourselves. Rooted in both Christian contemplative and activist traditions, MMC envisions a liberative culture that empowers individuals and communities to claim and use the power of singing to heal our spirits, nurture our common lives, and work for justice. We aspire to create spaces that are laboratories of learning, discovery, and communal joy.

Speakers

Conie Borchardt

Sectional Leader

Conie Borchardt (she/they) is the Executive Director of Music that Makes Community, where they delight in sharing the practice of communal song-sharing to inspire culture participation and creation. As a freelance Public Heart Artist, Conie listens and moves from the confluences of... Read More →

Doe Hoyer

Sectional Leader

Doe Hoyer (they/them) is an organizer and songleader with the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery, and coordinates the Repair Network. They have lived on Dakota homelands for most of their life, and are involved locally with the Twin Cities Repair Community for Makoce... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - The Dissonance of Prophetic Preaching: Congregational Song as a Tool to Preach Social Justice While Maintaining the Unity of the Church

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sponsored by James & Kathleen Hart Brumm

This sectional will explore the research findings of the presenter, whose D.Min. thesis utilized collaborative congregational song and hymn writing as a tool for preaching social justice while maintaining the unity of the church in divisive political times. The research was conducted during two four-week sermon series during the 2024 US Presidential Election. The first straddled Election Day and explored "Loving Your Neighbor in an Election Season" and the second was an Epiphany sermon series focused on the lack of affordable healthcare. Both sermon series included "home-grown" hymns written in collaboration with a scripture-study group at Rev. Fearing's congregation in Greensboro, North Carolina, a left-leaning "purple" congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The findings will be presented along with a selection of hymns written for this research intervention. A Q&A will follow where we'll share best practices for utilizing congregational song to be "repairers of the breach" in increasingly politically volatile contexts.

Speakers

Stephen Fearing

Sectional Leader

Rev. Stephen M. Fearing is a Hymn Society member, hymn writer, liturgist, musician, and PCUSA minister currently serving as the Head of Staff of Guilford Park Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is currently working on his Doctor of Ministry at New Brunswick Theological... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

2:00pm EDT

Sectional - The Lay Of The Land: Up-To-Date Results from Worship Leader Research

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Though the emergence of the term "Worship leader" (WL) is relatively recent (40–50 years), the term has become ubiquitous for describing persons who lead the musical portions of worship services, especially those that practice some form of contemporary praise and worship (CPW). Few research studies have examined worship leaders directly. What do WLs think about the songs they lead, the industries that provide those songs, and the WLs' own role in the spiritual formation of their congregations? The Worship Leader Research team (WLR) has spent the last several years unpacking the results of a wide-ranging 2021 survey that looked into these questions with WLs from across North America. In this sectional, the WLR team will present emerging longitudinal results from a winter 2025 survey and explore new insights into WL mental health and wellness. The session will include a presentation of data as well as an opportunity for conversation about the implications for all church musicians.

Speakers

Marc Jolicoeur

Sectional Leader

Marc is a lifelong musician and lover of church music. He is an ordained minister with the Wesleyan Church, and serves as a Pastor of Discipleship in Moncton, New Brunswick. He is also an Affiliate Professor at Kingswood University, where he directs the Worship Studies Program, and... Read More →

Adam Perez

Sectional Leader

Adam A. Perez earned a doctor of theology in liturgical studies with a secondary area in religion and the arts from Duke University Divinity School. He holds a B.A. in music education from Trinity Christian College (Palos Heights, Illinois) and a master of arts in religion and music... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

Sectional

3:30pm EDT

Sectional - "Power in the Blood"

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

How widely have hymns and songs in recent congregational song resources included references to blood, and how has this image been used in relation to life and death, sacrifice and atonement? What are the theological, ecumenical, and pastoral implications for communities that sing these texts?

Speakers

J. Michael McMahon

Sectional Leader

J. Michael McMahon currently serves as Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. An ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Mike is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Washington... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sectional

3:30pm EDT

Sectional - "Sing the Journey Deep"

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sponsored by Martin Seltz in memory of Lorraine Smith Brugh

Come explore Inshallah's second songbook Sing the Journey Deep and reflect on the stories related to its 53 songs. Imagine these songs in rehearsal or worship, nurturing faith, building community, and celebrating the Presence of the One who is the Singer, the Singing and the Song. Consider how the organizational structure of this songbook: Opening to the Sacred, Dwelling in the Stories, and Living the Practice, might apply to your choir rehearsal, your worship practice, and your everyday life., affirming that singing together can be transformative. Discover the Holy in singing that stretches to meet the complicated times in which we live, toward the flourishing of all!

Speakers

Debbie Lou Ludolph

Sectional Leader

Debbie Lou Ludolph, PhD, Dean of Chapel and Director of the Kanata Centre for Worship and Global Song at Martin Luther University College in Waterloo, Ontario, crafts worship, leads song, and creates song and art events in a multi-faith, multi-cultural context. She teaches courses... Read More →

Kathryn Smith

Sectional Leader

Kathryn has always had a love of singing, nurtured by singing hymns in church and being a part of several singing groups. She has been a member of Inshallah since 2011, and now serves as the Administrative Assistant of the Kanata Centre for Worship and Global Song. Kathryn is the... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sectional

3:30pm EDT

Sectional - Cultivating Peace Through Music

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

For the past 3 years, I have led an international partnership with Al-Akhawayn University in Morocco that explores the act of music-making as a model for cultivating peaceful relationships across religions and cultures. The program has been an unqualified success, and I believe The Hymn Society would be an exceptional place to share the results of the project and to extend the model into intra-religious peacebuilding in the US. Would the practice of making music together with those who we disagree with in our own religion (think theologically or politically) open up more productive dialogue? My research suggests that it does, and I would love to share that with the Society.

Speakers

Nathan Myrick

Sectional Leader

Nathan Myrick is an ethnomusicologist and theological ethicist. He is fascinated by the ways that musical activity forms and frames human relationships, and studies how music facilitates human flourishing in religious and quasi-religious communities. He is the author of Music for... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sectional

3:30pm EDT

Sectional - New hymn tunes from Patrick Michaels

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Patrick Michaels has been a prolific writer of exceptional hymn tunes over his long career. His hymns—both texts and tunes—are found in a variety of denominational hymnbooks and hymnal supplements, and in his many single-author collections. This newest collection includes his tunes for the texts of contemporary poets including Richard Leach, Adam Tice, Mary Louise Bringle, David Bjorlin, Carl Daw, John Bell, Thomas Troeger, Ruth Duck, Shirley Erena Murray, and Brian Wren. Come and sing the inspirational and profound texts of these poets in lively and diverse and musical settings!

Speakers

Patrick Michaels

Sectional Leader

Patrick Michaels has been a professional church musician for 48 years. He was born in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota as a music major. Michaels worked at two churches in that area before moving to the Boston area. He has been the Minister of Music at St. James’s... Read More →

David Schaap

Sectional Leader

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sectional

3:30pm EDT

Sectional - Singing Unity: Performing and Embracing our Ecumenical Call

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sponsored by C. Michael Hawn, FHS

Through the holy act of singing, pastoral musicians are at the forefront of being practitioners of oneness for their communities and beyond. This session examines our Christian call to unity and communion considering varied musical repertoires and corporate ecumenical prayer practices. A special preview of newly translated Taizé chants in English will be included.

Speakers

David Anderson

Sectional Leader

David Anderson serves as Editor-at-Large for GIA Publications. Additionally, he serves as Organist and Director of Pastoral Music and Liturgy at Ascension and St. Edmund Parish in Oak Park, Illinois, where he conducts three parish choirs of various sizes and age groups. Since 1992... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sectional

3:30pm EDT

Sectional - Songs of the Spirit: Exploring how Music Weaves Through Latin American Religious and Community Life

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

In many Latin American cultures, music is not just an art form but a deeply embedded aspect of religious and communal life. Through communal singing, congregations create shared spiritual experiences, reinforce their collective identity, and navigate cultural and social dynamics. The relationship between music and communal life in Latin American churches reflects the broader interplay between faith, culture, and community.

This workshop will delve into the profound connection between faith communities and their musical traditions in Latin America. Participants will journey through the rich tapestry of religious music, from traditional hymns to indigenous rhythms and melodies, including a wide array of styles and regional variations specific to each country, to discover how singing and music contribute to spiritual practices and community building while learning about their historical and cultural contexts.

Speakers

Laura D'Angiola

Teacher, active member of the Methodist Church in Argentina, currently coordinating the Liturgy Commission of the Methodist Church in Argentina. Has participated in many international liturgy activities, and is a founding member of Red Crearte.

Gerardo Oberman

Sectional Leader

Composer, poet, and pastor in the Reformed Churches of Argentina. He is a founding member of the Crearte Network in 2004 and has served as its coordinator from the beginning. He also works as a historian of the Reformed Churches in Argentina and Dutch migration in the region. He is... Read More →

Horacio Vivares

Sectional Leader

National Music Teacher with a specialization in Guitar, and later as an Orchestra Conductor with a specialization in Chamber and Symphonic Music. He has actively participated in various ecumenical projects with organizations such as the Latin American Council of Churches, the World... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sectional

3:30pm EDT

Sectional - The Unholy Act of Singing - "Grosser Gott Wir Loben Dich": The Hymnal of National Socialism

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sponsored by Martin Tel

Our 2025 conference theme, “We Believe: Faith, Community, and the Holy Act of Singing” seeks to explore the core values of The Hymn Society. We believe that congregational song shapes faith, heals brokenness, transforms lives, and renews peace. But what if someone didn’t? What if a committee sought to create a hymnal which supported a dangerous political ideology?

Such is the case with Grosser Gott Wir Loben Dich, the 1941 hymnal of the German Christians, the Lutherans who aligned themselves with the policies of the National Socialist Party under Adolf Hitler. In this sectional, I will discuss the underlying theology behind the hymnal and the layout of the hymnal which drives that theology. Then, I will evaluate how the hymnal treats the hymns of Paul Gerhardt. I chose Gerhardt because he is the foremost hymn writer for German Lutherans.

This historical overview will serve to remind us that not every act of congregational singing is a holy act.

Speakers

Andreas Teich

Sectional Leader

Andreas is retired pastor in the ELCA. He received his BA from Muhlenberg College in 1982 and his MDiv from the Lutheran School of Theology in 1986. A member of The Hymn Society since that time, Andreas has presented two hymn festivals, written for The Hymn and led a sectional on... Read More →

Tuesday July 15, 2025 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

Sectional, Streamed for Digital Registrants

1:30pm EDT

Sectional - Denominationally distinctive? A fresh look at Reformed and Presbyterian congregational singing

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

A recent, major survey on worship created by the presenter and distributed to Presbyterian and Reformed denominations over the last year promises to shed new light on practices of congregational singing in those traditions. This sectional will use the data from that survey to ask an important question: “Is Reformed and Presbyterian congregational singing still denominationally distinctive?” That is, can we look at current practices of congregational singing among these denominations and recognize those practices’ connection to the Reformed/Presbyterian tradition’s theology and practice?

It is a gift to the Church that, in this age of ecumenism, Christians across denominations share a significant body of congregational song. However, recognizing that denominations also rightfully cherish their individual theological and musical identities, it can be a good thing to magnify the particularities of various denominations. Asking the question “is Reformed and Presbyterian congregational singing denominationally distinctive” provides an opportunity to explore not only the textual and musical idioms of Presbyterian/Reformed congregational singing, but also to explore what implications the aesthetics inherent to these idioms have on their ethos.

Participants will be presented with real data from the survey, will sing through various examples of congregational song represented in that survey, and then will be led in a guided discussion on whether/how these examples reflect or challenge the history, theology and traditional musical ethos of the Reformed/Presbyterian family of churches. In other words, is North American Presbyterian/Reformed congregational singing still denominationally distinctive, or not?

Speakers

Jonathan Hehn

Sectional Leader

Jonathan Hehn, OSL, is a musician and liturgist currently serving as Choral Program Director and Organist as well as a Term Assistant Professor of Sacred Music at the University of Notre Dame. He is a brother in the Order of Saint Luke and holds degrees in music (BM, DM) from the... Read More →

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sectional

1:30pm EDT

Sectional - Exploring the Hymns of Susan Palo Cherwien

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sponsored by Jacque Jones, FHS, in Memory of Ruth Duck, FHS

In 2024 Augsburg Fortress published Living in Wonder, the fourth collection of hymn texts by the late Susan Palo Cherwien (1953-2021). It offers 21 hymns as well as comprehensive indices to her entire body of hymnody. This and Cherwien’s previous collections offer worshipping assemblies and hymn lovers new hymns for being formed in faith and in the holy act of singing together.

Speakers

Jennifer Baker-Trinity

Sectional Leader

Deacon Jennifer Baker-Trinity serves as Program Manager for Worship Resource Development, a shared position between the ELCA and Augsburg Fortress Publishers. In this position she attends to developing and teaching about resources that support the church’s worship. Jennifer completed... Read More →

David Sims

Sectional Leader

David Sims is the Senior Music Editor at Augsburg Fortress, where he directs the development and production of choral, instrumental, and assembly song resources. From 2014 to 2021 he served as Cantor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis, where he played organ, assisted... Read More →

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sectional

1:30pm EDT

Sectional - Found in Translation: The Role of Mission Hymnody on the Formation of the Brazilian Baptist Identity

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

This presentation considers the complex issue of missional hymnody by focusing on the contents of the two official Brazilian Baptist hymnals, published one century apart: Cantor Cristão (first published in 1891) and Hinário para o Culto Cristão (1991). We will discuss three ethnomusicological concepts — “negotiation of proximity” and “the ethics of style” (Rommen, 2007) as well as “musical localization” (Ingalls et al., 2018)— in connection with this repertoire, and share our conclusions as to why these “foreign” songs have found such fertile soil in the hearts and minds of our fellow missionized Brazilian Baptist siblings. In addition, we hope to demonstrate how the singing of the hymns published in these two hymnals contributed to the cultural delineation and formation of a distinctive Brazilian Baptist identity. Singing included!

Speakers

Maria Monteiro

Sectional Leader

Originally from Recife, Brazil, Maria Monteiro serves as Lecturer in Church Music at Baylor University, and as music director at Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana (First Mexican Baptist Church) in San Antonio. Before joining the Baylor faculty in 2020, she taught for seventeen years... Read More →

Armindo Ferreira

Sectional Leader

Born in Recife, Brazil, Armindo is a first-year PhD student in Church Music at Baylor University. He holds degrees in Modern Languages and Literature (B.A., 2008), in Music Education (B.M.E., 2016), and in Music (M.M., 2020) from the Federal University of Pernambuco, in Recife, Brazil... Read More →

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sectional, Streamed for Digital Registrants

1:30pm EDT

Sectional - Hyming and Hawing: Solemn High Camp and Other Irreverencies

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

A lighthearted survey of humorous hymn texts both ancient and modern that cannot today be sung with a straight face by choirs or congregations, including such titillatingly transgressive titles as Isaac Watts's "Blest Is the Man Whose Bowels Move," Michael Forster's "The World is Full of Smelly Feet," and my own "Psalter for Fallen Plaster." The sectional is designed to upend traditional notions of sacred music as essentially a dour enterprise. Participants will be encouraged to cast aside their inhibitions and sing these irreverent texts con gusto.

Speakers

Edward Moran

Sectional Leader

Presbyterian elder, author of hymn texts, including several published in Songs for the Holy Other.

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sectional

1:30pm EDT

Sectional - The Diverse Spiritualities of Congregational Song

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sponsored by Lucy Goman

Worship planners are accustomed to connecting the hymns and songs they select with the scripture readings and/or the theme of each service. Unfortunately, such important and commendable attention can become too focused on the needs of individual services and lose sight of larger patterns involved in hymn selection. In particular, routinely favoring one kind of hymn (for example, hymns that emphasize feeling) can lead to neglect of other styles of hymnody that foster the development of a wider range of spiritualities.

Expanding the categories identified in Urban T. Holmes III’s A History of Christian Spirituality, this sectional will consider both the negative and the positive aspects of the range of spiritualities likely to be found in any worshiping assembly. Each of these qualities will be illustrated and experienced by the singing of relevant hymns and songs, including a number of familiar ones that may not have been considered from this perspective.
Although the conceptual framework governs the choice of what is sung, the overall experience of this sectional is intended to provide an opportunity for engaged singing that leads to new insights and appreciation for the importance of congregational song in deepening and expanding singers' spiritualities.

Speakers

Carl P. Daw, Jr., FHS

Sectional Leader

Carl P. Daw Jr., FHS, is a well-known hymnwriter whose hymns have appeared in numerous English-language hymnals around the world and have been translated into Spanish, Dutch, German, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. Hope Publishing Company has published five collections of his hymns... Read More →

Alfred Fedak

Sectional Leader

Alfred V. Fedak is a distinguished organist and a widely-published and well-known composer of church music, with over 300 choral and organ works in print. More than 100 of his hymn tunes appear in hymnals and collections throughout the English-speaking world and Asia. Four anthologies... Read More →

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sectional

1:30pm EDT

Sectional - The William Bradley Roberts hymnary

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sponsored by C. Michael Hawn, FHS

The collected hymn tunes of William Bradley Roberts over a lifetime of church leadership as musician and priest. Texts for all times of worship and church life.

Speakers

William Bradley Roberts

Sectional Leader

The Rev. William Bradley Roberts, DMA (b. 1947) is Professor Emeritus of Church Music and Director of Chapel Music at Virginia Theological Seminary in suburban Washington, D.C. He came to Virginia Seminary after serving for five years as Director of Music Ministry at St. John’s... Read More →

David Schaap

Sectional Leader

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sectional

1:30pm EDT

Sectional - Twelve Years of Miller and Thompson

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sponsored by Jacque Jones, FHS, in Memory of Ruth Duck, FHS

Composer Mark Miller and lyricist Lindy Thompson share the remarkable story and songs that resulted from their serendipitous meeting. Learn about their writing process, sing through their catalog (I Choose Love, Home by Another Road, Stillness) and hear some pieces that are in the works.

Speakers

Mark Miller, FHS

Sectional Leader

Mark Miller believes that everyone is a child of God and that music is instrumental in healing the world. He adheres to Cornel West’s belief that “[j]ustice is what love looks like in public,” and he daily lives out his conviction that music, social justice, and the beloved... Read More →

Lindy Thompson

Sectional Leader

Lindy Thompson is a lyricist and poet who collaborates regularly with Mark Miller, FHS, as well as other brilliantly-talented members of The Hymn Society. She is a lay member of Christ UMC in Franklin, Tennessee, where she lives with her family. She currently writes a column for The... Read More →

Wednesday July 16, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Sectional