Annual Conference – Leadership Bios

We are proud that our Annual Conference always features a broad array of leaders that cover many denominations, fields of study, and lived experiences. Here you can learn more about the people who will lead us this year.

Hymn Festival Leaders

Mark Miller, FHS
Mark A. Miller is Professor of Church Music and Composer In Residence at Drew University in Madison, NJ. He is a Lecturer in Sacred Music at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music and Divinity School and is also Minister of Music at Christ Church in Summit. Mark is Artist In Residence at St. Bart’s Episcopal Church in New York City where, in 2022, he helped found “Imagine Worship”, a midweek gathering in midtown Manhattan. Last year, Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis conferred upon him the Doctor of Divinity degree, honoris causa, for his leadership in sacred music and the church.

Mark’s widely published choral anthems and congregational songs have been called “the soundtrack for the progressive church”.  His newest album & collection of songs, Revolution of the Heart (GIA Inc), is available on streaming platforms including Apple music and Spotify. Miller’s popular compositions for pipe organ are published by GIA and Morningstar.

A graduate of Juilliard (M.Mus. in Organ Performance) and Yale University (B.A. Music), Mark was made a Fellow of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada in 2024.

 

Myron Sauder
Myron K. Sauder lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania with his wife Sarah and seven children. A member of the Old Order River Brethren church, he began to study his church’s oral singing tradition as a teenager, resulting in his writing Handbook for Spiritual Hymns, a handbook for his church’s hymnal. His working career has been in teaching a variety of subjects at several church schools and in writing. At home, he enjoys time with family, singing, and reading.

 

Braxton Shelley
Braxton D. Shelley is the George Washington Williams Professor of Music, of Sacred Music, and of Divinity at Yale University, where he is also faculty director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Music and the Black Church. A specialist in African American popular music, his research and critical interests, while especially focused on African American gospel performance, extend into media studies, sound studies, phenomenology, homiletics, and theology. His award-winning first book, Healing for the Soul: Richard Smallwood, the Vamp, and the Gospel Imagination develops an analytical paradigm for gospel music that braids together resources from cognitive theory, ritual theory, and homiletics with studies of repetition, form, rhythm, and meter. Healing for the Soul is the winner of four book prizes, including: the Lewis Lockwood Award from the American Musicological Society, the Emerging Scholar Award-Book from the Society for Music Theory, the Ruth Stone Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology, and the inaugural Portia Maultsby Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology. His second book, An Eternal Pitch: Bishop G.E. Patterson, Broadcast Religion, and the Afterlives of Ecstasy was published in November 2023 by the University of California Press. His third book, Digital Antiphony: Black Gospel, Social Media, and the Art of Assembly is forthcoming with Oxford University Press.

A native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Rev. Dr. Shelley received a BA in Music and History from Duke University, a Master of Divinity and a PhD from the University of Chicago. An ordained minister in the Baptist tradition, Rev. Dr. Shelley’s scholarly interests in gospel music and Black preaching are enriched by his practical investment in both fields. He is the composer of gospel selections including “Due Glory,” “Say So,” and “What A Day,” which have been ministered at conferences, concerts, and worship services across the country: the Gospel Music Workshop of America, The National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, and the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference/Choir Directors’/Organists’ Guild Workshop, among them. With his recording choir TESTIMONY, Prof. Shelley is completing a new recording project, “Your Name,” which is slated to appear in early 2026.

 

Marcell Silva Steuernagel
Marcell Silva Steuernagel is Associate Professor of Church Music and Director of the Master of Sacred Music and Doctor of Pastoral Music Programs at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology. He also serves as the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology’s Regional Editor for Latin American and the Caribbean, and lead co-editor of the Journal of Praise and Worship. Marcell writes at the intersection of church music, theology, musicology, and performance theory. He served as Minister of Worship, Arts and Communication at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Curitiba, Brazil, for more than a decade, and is an internationally active composer and performer. His most recent monograph is Church Music Through the Lens of Performance, published on Routledge’s Congregational Music Studies series.

 

Jerome Weaver
Jerome Weaver is a leader of congregational song in his church, as well as being involved with various music ministry programs. He publishes a hymnal (Zion’s Praises) compiled by his grandfather in the conservative Mennonite tradition.  Along with his family, he loves to attend hymn singing events whenever he can. He lives in Vineland, NJ with his wife and five children, and is a Life Member of The Hymn Society.

 

 

Plenary Speakers

Keri Day
Keri Day is the Elmer G. Homrighausen Chair & Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. She also has an honorary appointment as Extraordinary Professor at Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa. In 2023, she was the first African American woman to be promoted to full professor in the 212-year history at Princeton Theological Seminary. She earned a B.S. in Political Science and Economics from Tennessee State University, an M.A. in Religion and Ethics from Yale University Divinity School, and her Ph.D. in Religion from Vanderbilt University. Her teaching and research interests are in womanist/feminist theologies, social critical theory, cultural studies, economics, and Afro-Pentecostalism. She has authored four academic books, Unfinished Business: Black Women, The Black Church, and the Struggle to Thrive in America (2012); Religious Resistance to Neoliberalism: Womanist and Black Feminist Perspectives (2015); Notes of a Native Daughter: Testifying in Theological Education (2021); and her most recent book, Azusa Reimagined: A Radical Vision of Religious and Democratic Belonging, (2022). She has been recognized by NBC News as one of six black women at the center of gravity in theological education in America.

She has previously served as the chair of the theology department at Princeton. She has also served as a board member for the American Academy of Religion, which is the largest scholarly society dedicated to the academic study of religion, with more than 6,000 members around the world. She has previously served as a series editor for Cambridge University Press (Religion and Critical Reflection series) and currently is an editorial board member for the Journal of World Christianity.

Alongside her scholarship, she also engages public policy leaders. She is an advisory board member for Theologies of Children’s Well Being at the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). She has participated in White House briefings in Washington D.C. to discuss issues related to economic policy, religious freedom, and faith-based initiatives. She has also written for the New York Daily News, The Christian Century, The Feminist Wire, and The Huffington Post.

 

Miriam Spies
Miriam Spies is not known for her singing but is always glad to have a place in God’s choir. Ordained in The United Church of Canada, she is a crip theologian interested in how bodies, especially diverse and marginalized bodies, shape and reshape practices of ministry. Miriam has served on worship committees for her own denomination as well as The World Council of Churches. Recently engaged in work with the World Communion of Reformed Churches, she is committed to ecumenical relationships in seeking God’s justice together. Her guide dog, Noelle, accompanies her and occasionally will make her own bird-call-like sound!

 

Nate Stucky
Nathan Stucky serves as Director of the Farminary Project at Princeton Theological Seminary. He grew up on a farm in Kansas where his love for Christian faith and agriculture first took root. After earning a BA in Music from Bethel College (KS), Stucky spent six years doing ecumenical youth ministry on the eastern shore of Maryland, and two years farming back in Kansas. After farming, Stucky earned an MDiv and a PhD (Practical Theology, Christian Education and Formation) from Princeton Theological Seminary. His scholarship explores questions of land, ecology, theology, agriculture, justice, joy, and Sabbath as they relate to theological education. He is the author of Wrestling with Rest: Inviting Youth to Discover the Gift of Sabbath. Ordained in the Mennonite Church (USA), Stucky engages Farminary work as integral to his calling to teaching ministry. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with his spouse and three children.

 

 

Morning Prayer Leaders

Mina Choi
Mina Choi is an award-winning musician who has shared her talent and passion with communities worldwide. Raised in Dallas, she has earned degrees and various research opportunities from prestigious institutions worldwide: Royal College of Music in London (BMus), Yale University (MM), Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the Netherlands (MA), Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart in Germany, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (DMA). As ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), she earned her M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary.

She has received numerous awards and scholarships during her studies. Also, Mina was First Prize Winner of Max Reger Organ Competition in Leeuwarden (the Netherlands), and Third Prize winner of Franz Schmidt International Organ Competition in Austria. She also performed at major venues in Europe including the Grosvenor Chapel and St. George’s Church (Hanover Square) in London; St. Lawrencekerk (Alkmaar), Oudekerk, and Nieuwekerk in the Netherlands.

Mina has been an organist at the Doylestown Presbyterian Church (PA) since 2014, and she also works at Princeton Theological Seminary (Princeton, New Jersey) as the Coordinator of Worship and Music for the Seminary’s daily chapel services. (www.choimina.com)

 

Melissa Haupt

 

Martin Tel
Martin Tel is the C. F. Seabrook Director of Music at Princeton Theological Seminary. He has been leading music at PTS for 30 years now, and is very active in The Hymn Society.

 

Noel Werner
Noel Werner is Director of Music at Nassau Presbyterian Church and past Dean of the Metro NJ AGO, holds degrees from Westminster Choir College, Indiana University and Christian Theological Seminary.

 

 

Featured Session Leaders

Emerging Scholars Forum
We are currently accepting applications for this year’s Emerging Scholars Forum. Three scholars will be selected to receive a full conference scholarship and who will provide the first Featured Session at the conference. For details on the application process, click here.

 

 

Mini Hymn Sing Leaders

Meg Harper
Margaret “Meg” Harper has been hailed by The Diapason magazine for her “impeccable” playing and by the Boston Musical Intelligencer for “outstandingly lively, punchy” performances. Croatian newspaper Glas Slavonije writes, “The freezing cold of a January evening dominated the cathedral in Djakovo, but it could not diminish the richness and warmth of sound brought out of the cathedral organ by Margaret Harper.”

Before coming to Trinity Church Princeton to serve as their Director of Music, Meg served parishes in New York, New Hampshire, and Texas. She has taught organ, harpsichord, and keyboard skills at Baylor University, the University of Southern Maine and the Eastman School of Music. Meg holds a DMA and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. She has presented premiere performances of new works by composers including Cecilia McDowall, George Baker, Philip Moore, Todd Wilson, and many others. She has served in leadership roles for the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Royal School of Church Music – America, and the American Guild of Organists. Margaret performs and tours as an organist, harpsichordist, and conductor, and is on the roster of the Concert Artist Cooperative.

 

Patty Thel
Patty Thel grew up a Southern Baptist in a family that sang hymns in four parts at the supper table in North Carolina. Her grandparents lived next door in a house full of hymn-singing at a grand piano and pipe organ. After moving to the Princeton area with her husband and three children, she worked at Westminster Conservatory on the artist faculty, and as an adjunct at Westminster Choir College, teaching Special Education and Music Education along with other courses. She taught for years at the Lewis School and at the Rockbrook School, where her son Tommy attended. Both schools were designed for the neuro-divergent. Patty founded and directed the Westminster Conservatory Children’s Choir program, was Executive Director of Trenton Children’s Chorus, and served as the middle school choral director at Princeton Day School. She served as interim director of children’s choirs at Nassau Presbyterian, her home church. This year, she helped design and teach a class with Martin Tel at Princeton Seminary, “Creating Strategies for Inclusion in Church Life and Worship.” She is happy to be serving this way, honoring both the heritage of her faith and her own family journey–finding joyful paths of inclusion for singers of all abilities.

 

 

Organ Recitalist

Eric Plutz
For the last two decades, Eric Plutz has been University Organist at Princeton University, where his responsibilities include playing for weekly services at the Chapel, Academic Ceremonies, and solo concerts, as well as accompanying the Chapel Choir in services and concerts. He manages the weekly After Noon Concert Series at the University Chapel, is Lecturer in Music and Instructor of Organ at Princeton University, and maintains a private studio. Mr. Plutz is Collaborative Keyboardist for Princeton Pro Musica and accompanist for the Somerset Hills Chorus. In 2016 Mr. Plutz received the Alumni Merit Award from Westminster Choir College.

Mr. Plutz’s most recent recording, “B A C H – The Gamut from ‘A’ to ‘G’,” was released on the Affetto label in 2023.  Showcasing organ works in A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, the album was recorded on the Mander/Skinner organ in Princeton University Chapel.

As an organ concert soloist, Mr. Plutz, who “performs with gusto, flair, clarity, and strong yet pliant rhythmic control (James Hildreth for The American Organist),” has accepted engagements in distinguished locations across the United States and abroad. He has been a featured artist at three Regional Conventions of the American Guild of Organists (2007, 2011, and 2019), the Annual Convention of the Organ Historical Society (2016).  His playing has been broadcast on “With Heart and Voice,” “Pipedreams,” and “the Wanamaker Organ Hour.”

Originally from Rock Island, Illinois, Mr. Plutz earned a Bachelor of Music degree, magna cum laude, from Westminster Choir College and a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. Additional study consists of two visits to Europe: in 2005, he studied the complete organ works of César Franck with Marie-Louise Langlais in Paris, and in 2019 he studied the complete organ symphonies of Louis Vierne with Ben van Oosten in The Hague, Netherlands.

 

 

Organ Masterclass Instructor

Mina Choi
See bio under Morning Prayer Leaders

 

Songwriter in Residence

 

Sectional Leaders

Kenneth Athon
Kenneth Athon is a lifelong church musician who studied music composition at Belmont College, Nashville. He has composed scores of hymns and worship songs for congregations in Minnesota, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Hymns to Sing on a Storm-Tossed Sea, for which he composed the hymn tunes, is his first collection.

 

Carl Bear
Carl Bear is a scholar and practitioner of music and worship. He studied church music at Valparaiso University (BM), musicology at Arizona State University (MA), religion and music at Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music (MAR), and liturgical studies at the Graduate Theological Union (PhD). He has served as a church musician in Lutheran, Anglican/Episcopal, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, United, and Baptist communities in Canada and the United States. He serves as editor of the Journal of Congregational Song (previously known as The Hymn).

 

Bruce Benedict
Bruce Benedict is the chaplain of worship arts at Hope College in Holland, Michigan and the founder of Liturgical Arts organizations Cardiphonia and Bellwether Arts. His recent Durham University dissertation explores song, ritual, and contemporary worship practices in evangelical funerals.

 

Lola Bobrow
Lola Bobrow is a senior at California Lutheran University majoring in Music Education with a minor in Psychology. Her Spring 2026 senior recital will include Brahms’ cello Sonata no. 1 and the first Bach cello suite. She currently works as a private cello instructor at Westlake Music Academy. In her free time she volunteers at her local chapter of the St. George Pathfinders.

 

Marty Wheeler Burnett
Marty Wheeler Burnett is the Associate Professor of Church Music and Director of Chapel Music at Virginia Theological Seminary. Prior to her faculty appointment in 2020, she led the music ministry at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska. An award-winning educator, Burnett previously served as Director of Fine Arts and Associate Professor of Music at College of Saint Mary in Omaha. Under her leadership, the college choirs performed twice at Carnegie Hall and toured Ireland and Italy.

She holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and a Doctor of Ministry degree from The University of the South. Her publications, presentations, and research focus on liturgical music. Burnett is a past President of the Association of Anglican Musicians and a current member of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music of The Episcopal Church. She has served parishes in Texas, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and her compositions are published by Church Publishing Incorporated, MorningStar Music, Randall M. Egan, St. James Music Press, and Selah Publishing Company.

Burnett’s new book, Shapers of The Hymnal 1982: Our Faith in Words and Music, celebrates the fortieth anniversary of the Episcopal hymnal’s publication.

 

Marlene Jenkins Cooper
Marlene Jenkins Cooper is a devoted church musician, choir director, vocalist, composer, organist, and author whose ministry spans more than five decades. She has served as a guest clinician for church music workshops and conferences throughout the Eastern region, where she inspires both musicians and congregations with her deep love for sacred music and her commitment to biblical excellence in worship. Her ministry combines her passion for music, teaching, and scripture, with the desire to edify the Body of Christ through excellence in worship.

She is the author of four books, including Grace Notes: Five-Minute Inspirational Devotionals for the Church Choir, Musicians, and Friends of Music. She also hosts the podcast Grace Notes: Devotions at the Piano with Marlene, where she shares scriptural insights and reflections on sacred music to encourage listeners in their spiritual and musical journey.

Marlene holds music education degrees from Temple University (M.M.Ed.) and King’s College (B.S.), with further graduate studies in technology. She retired after 34 years of service in the School District of Philadelphia, where she taught general and vocal music and was a middle school computer specialist.

Her greatest desire is to glorify God through music, draw others into His presence, and help believers live victorious Christian lives.

 

Dan Damon, FHS
Dan Damon, FHS, is an internationally published writer of hymn texts and tunes whose work appears in many current hymnals. He is Associate Editor of Hymnody for Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, Illinois. Damon is an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, retired July 1, 2020. He is a jazz pianist and plays Fridays and Saturdays at Lara’s Fine Dining on the waterfront in Richmond, California. In 2016, Damon was named a Fellow of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. His recordings are available on your favorite streaming service. For more on Dan, check out his website: dandamonmusic.com

 

Stephen Fearing
Stephen M. Fearing is a hymnwriter, and a pastor in the Prebyterian Church (USA). He recently earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, focusing on the positive effects of congregational singing on prophetic preaching and fostering unity within the church during these politically polarized times. Stephen presented his research at the Hymn Society gathering in Detroit in July 2025.

In addition to his work with the Hymn Society and serving as pastor at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church, he is the co-founder of the Clergy Emergency League, a grassroots network of ecumenical clergy dedicated to resisting Christian nationalism. Stephen lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Tricia, and their two daughters, Hazel Grace (6) and Windsor (4). He has written more than 75 hymns and psalm paraphrases.

 

Adán Fernández
Adán Fernández is the Director of Music/Organist at Holy Family Catholic Church in Glendale, California. He is also University Organist and Adjunct Professor in both the School of Music and the School of Religion at California Lutheran University. He has been published in Religions Journal and Cross Accent and is an active composer of choral and organ music. He has earned degrees in piano from Azusa Pacific University, pipe organ from the Claremont Graduate University, and a DMA in Sacred Music from USC.

 

Donté Ford
Donté Alexander Ford is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is best described as a musician, minister, and scholar. His many musical talents have afforded him the opportunity to serve as guest clinician/conductor, lead pianist, opera chorister, resident percussionist, and Minister of Music. His musical activities also include composing, specifically focusing on arrangements of Christian hymns and Negro Spirituals. A Christian minister, Donté is a gifted preacher, holding ordination and ministerial credentials in the Holiness-Pentecostal tradition. Though a life-long Pentecostal, Donté is committed to the diversity of the body of Christ. As a scholar, Donté focuses his efforts on the history and preservation of Black American concert, popular, and sacred music, church hymnody, congregational song, and the history, theology, and music of African American Holiness and Pentecostal movements. His scholarly work includes lectures on African American choral art forms and contributions to the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology and UM Discipleship Ministries’ History of Hymns. Currently, he is a 2024 recipient of the Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Teacher-Scholar Grant awarded by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship to continue his work on the hymnody of Bishop Charles Price Jones.

 

Nancy Graham
Nancy L. Graham, church musician, hymnologist and author, lectures in the US and Great Britain. As a writer, Nancy is most known for her biography of Erik Routley, The Unfractured Faith of Erik Routley from Brighton to Princeton (2024), and her books on the reception of African American spirituals, They Bear Acquaintance (2017) and African American Spirituals and the Lectionary (2015). She is currently collaborating with British and American hymnwriters on a lectionary for women and the resource Lectionary: Year B for the Presbyterian journal Call to Worship.

 

Gracia Grindal, FHS
Professor Emerita at Luther Seminary, graduated in 1965 from Augsburg College in Minneapolis. In 1969 after earning an MFA at the University of Arkansas in Poetry, she taught English at Luther College until 1984 when she was called to teach homiletics and hymnody at Luther Seminary. Since her retirement in 2013, she has continued writing poetry, Jesus the Harmony (Fortress Press, 2021), and hymntexts.  This volume of hymns on the Psalms completes her twenty year project A Treasury of Faith, in which she wrote a hymn text on all of the lessons in the Revised Common Lectionary. She has also just completed a memoir, What a Fellowship: Remembering Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church. (Fortress Press, 2025.)

 

Anderson Harrison, III
Anderson (Andy) Harrison, III is a recent graduate of the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he received his Master of Theological Studies degree. A native of Port Arthur, Texas, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Southern Nazarene University. A versatile musician, conductor, and ministry consultant, Andy is a multi-instrumentalist whose work centers on the performance, preservation and teaching of Black sacred music traditions. He has served as a guest lecturer and clinician at numerous institutions and events, including the University of Oklahoma School of Music and Department of African & African American Studies, The Ohio State University School of Music, the Gospel Music Workshop of America, and the National Baptist Convention USA Congress of Christian Education. Currently, Andy serves as the Director of Worship at Vista Ridge United Methodist Church in Lewisville, Texas.

 

Marty Haugen, FHS
A pastoral musician and hymn writer.

 

Brian Hehn
Brian is an inspiring song-leader equally comfortable leading an acapella singing of “It Is Well” as he is drumming and dancing to “Sizohamba Naye.” Experienced using a variety of genres and instrumentations, he has lead worship for Baptists, Roman Catholics, United Methodists, Presbyterians, and many more across the U.S. and Canada. He received his Bachelor of Music Education from Wingate University, his Master of Sacred Music from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, and is certified in children’s church music (K-12) by Choristers Guild. He has articles published on sacred music and congregational song in multiple journals and co-authored two books under the title All Hands In published by Choristers Guild. While working for The Hymn Society as the Director of The Center for Congregational Song, he also serves as adjunct professor of church music at Wingate University in Wingate, North Carolina. Brian lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with his wife, Eve, son, Jakob, and daughter, Clara.

 

Ana Hernández
Ana Hernández is a composer, song leader, activist, and facilitator creating and collecting sung prayers to open space to practice being present to the beauty of God and all creation as we build loving and just community. Ana has produced nine albums (find them here: anahernandez.org).

 

John Horman
John D. Horman is a composer, clinician, and former public school music teacher who served as music director at Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kensington, Maryland, and First Congregational Church (UCC) in Washington, DC. He presently serves as pianist and organist at Washington Street United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. John has been a prolific composer of anthems, hymns, and articles for music periodicals for the last 50 years. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Maryland and also studied composition privately with Emma Lou Diemer and Alice Parker, FHS. John presently lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

 

Jacque Jones, FHS
Jacque B. Jones, FHS, has been writing in various forms all her life, and she took up the challenge of writing hymn texts in 2003. Jacque has been an active member of The Hymn Society in the US and Canada since 2003, having served as its president from 2014 to 2016. She is a member of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York, where she is actively involved in worship leadership. A native of Texas, Jacque attended Baylor University and The University of Texas at Austin, where she received a BFA in theatre. She and her husband live in Brooklyn Heights, and they have 3 adult children. Jacque’s hymn text collection Songs Unchanged Yet Ever Changing was published in 2015 by GIA and her texts may be found online on GIA Unbound.

 

Mary Nelson Keithahn
Mary Nelson Keithahn, a graduate of Carleton College and Yale Divinity School, is a United Church of Christ pastor and educator, now retired and living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She has written curriculum and worship resources for denominational and ecumenical use and numerous articles for religious journals in addition to collaborating with John Horman for forty years on twelve multi-generational musical dramas and over a hundred hymns, some of which appear in more recently published hymnals and supplements. Sing of All that Love Can Do is their fifth collection of hymns.

 

Jan Kraybill, FHS
Jan Kraybill is a Grammy-nominated performer, dynamic speaker, and enthusiastic advocate for the power of music to change lives. In addition to maintaining a very active international concert schedule, in Kansas City she is Organ Conservator at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Organist-in-Residence at Community of Christ headquarters, and organist at Village on Antioch Presbyterian Church.

Jan has performed in many venues in North America and Europe, as well as Australia, Russia, South Korea, and Tahiti. Organizations such as the American Guild of Organists (AGO), The Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and various broadcasts have featured her as a speaker and performer. Several solo and collaborative recordings are available, including her album The Orchestral Organ, nominated as Best Classical Instrumental Solo and in two other Grammy categories in 2020.

Jan holds degrees in music education and piano and organ performance, including a DMA from the University of Missouri Conservatory of Music and Dance. She attained the AGO’s Fellow certificate, organists’ highest certification level, in 2010. In 2024, she was named a Fellow of The Hymn Society. Her extra-musical interests include lacemaking, painting, and riding her Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Visit www.jankraybill.com for more information.

 

Lloyd Larson
For over 40 years, Lloyd Larson has been an active composer and arranger for several major publishing companies of church, school, and community choral and instrumental music. His compositions and arrangements number well over 2,000 published works including choral anthems, numerous extended Christmas, Easter, and non-seasonal works, keyboard collections, vocal solo and duet collections, instrumental solo and ensemble publications, orchestrations, and handbell settings.

Larson’s musical career has taken him across the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Central America, and the Caribbean. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from Anderson University (Indiana) and a master’s degree in composition and church music from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Kentucky). He has done subsequent graduate work at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, The Ohio State University, and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to his college sweetheart, Marci. They have three married children and ten grandchildren. He makes his home in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area.

 

Maren Haynes Marchesini
Maren Haynes Marchesini serves as Director of Worship & Music at Hope Lutheran Church in Bozeman, Montana. Maren is a choral director, cellist, vocalist, composer, and scholar with broad-ranging musical interests. She holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington where she focused on megachurches, gender, and ritual (specifically at the former Mars Hill Church), and she continues scholarly work in Christian music, ethics, and community, including a current research project at Holden Village. Maren brings a passion for community singing, diverse musical traditions, improvisation, collaboration, and play.

 

Patrick Michaels
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 Episcopal Church, Cambridge, for 39 years, where he has led the community in a vibrant and innovative music program. He began encouraging and supporting members of the congregation to compose musical Psalm settings for the church’s own use; this program has yielded an abundance of wonderful settings of the Psalms which are sung every week, and the composing continues to this day. Michaels was also the Director of Chapel Music at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge from 2004–2012, where he helped expand the repertoire of and encouraged music-making from all members of the community.

Michaels began writing hymns (both texts and tunes) in the 1970s and has attended various hymn-writing workshops sponsored by The Hymn Society since that time. He has benefited especially from the professional advice of Mary Louise Bringle, FHS, Brian Wren, FHS, and Al Fedak. Patrick Michaels’ texts and tunes are published in denominational hymnals, in various supplements, and in single-author collections in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

 

Mark Miller, FHS
See bio under Hymn Festival Leaders

 

Heather Moore
Heather Gottas Moore serves as the Associate Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. An ordained deacon in The United Methodist Church, she brings over 25 years of experience in youth, camping, and discipleship ministries across diverse contexts. A native Californian temporarily rooted in Texas, Heather’s life and ministry reflect her deep passion for bridging church and community, nurturing spaces where faith becomes embodied in practice—and song.

Active in music ministry since her youth—through choir, handbells, dance, and praise band leadership—Heather believes music shapes spiritual identity and communal life. Her vocational journey has centered on creating spaces for spiritual formation through music, worship, and community—especially in the “mountain top” experiences of camps and retreats that inspire lifelong faith.

Heather holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Arizona Global Campus and both a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology from Perkins. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Liberal Studies at SMU. She lives in Mesquite, Texas, with her husband, Geoffrey, and delights in singing, camping, crafting, and family adventures.

 

Sally Ann Morris, FHS
Sally Ann Morris, FHS, is a composer of hundreds of hymn and congregational song tunes. Many of these are found in denominational hymnals worldwide. Sally’s musical styles range from classically traditional influences to lyric melodies, jazz, folk, pop, and short form chant. Sally is recognized in The Hymn Society as a composer, worship leader, song enlivener, and mentor to emerging writers.

 

Nathan Myrick
Nathan Myrick is Assistant Professor in the Townsend School of Music at Mercer University, where he also serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies. Beginning in 2025, he became Director of the Sacred Spectrum Project, a program underwritten by Lilly Endowment Inc dedicated to Enhancing Worship for Neurodivergent Children Through Music and the Arts. He is the author or editor of several books and articles, including Music for Other: Care, Justice, and Relational Ethics in Christian Music (Oxford University Press) and the co-edited (with Bo kyung Blenda Im) special issue of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion, “The Power of Timbre in Religion.”

 

Jean Nalam
Jean Cuanan-Nalam is a hymn writer, composer, arranger, guitarist, and church choir conductor, currently serving as Assistant Professor of Church Music at the Divinity School of Silliman University. She also conducts Ugkat, the school’s angklung ensemble, and leads workshops on music and worship in churches and conferences. Dr. Nalam earned her Bachelor and Master of Music in Music Education from Silliman University and completed her PhD in Church Music and Worship, with a concentration in Music Ministry, at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas, becoming the first Filipino to hold a doctorate in that field. Her dissertation, Hubad: Elena Maquiso’s Hymn Redrafting Methods Towards a Cebuano Model of Hymn Redrafting, reflects her lifelong advocacy for contextualized Cebuano church music. She has served as choir director in UCCP churches in Surigao, Negros, and Valencia, and has edited and co-edited several Cebuano hymn and choral collections, including Melody and Liturgy, Unang Huni, and Hinalad. Her research on Elena Maquiso was published in The Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song (2021). Recognized as a Lovelace Scholar and a contributor to the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, she is also founder of the radio ministry Manag-awit Kita sa Dios. Married to Jerome, she is mother to four children, all bearing Cebuano names.

 

Edward Poston
Edward Poston is a native of Clearfield, Utah. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Organ Performance from Brigham Young University-Idaho and his master’s degree in Church Music and Organ from the University of Kansas. Inspired by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcasts from a young age, Edward began piano studies at age four and organ studies at age eight. In high school, he played the violin and cello, gaining a love for orchestral conducting. Mr. Poston has held roles as organist and music director for Protestant and Catholic congregations in Utah, Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri. He was recently named Associate Organist and Communications Coordinator at the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit, Michigan. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Kansas, where his dissertation explores 21st-century LDS hymnody.

 

Joanne Reynolds
Joanne Reynolds is a native of Southern California, who splits her time between Newport Beach and Crested Butte, Colorado. She traces her spiritual heritage through Reform denominations from Schwenkfelder ancestors who came to the United States in the 18th century. She is currently a member of two Congregational-United Church of Christ congregations in her two home towns.

 

Paul Rorem
Paul Rorem is the recently retired Professor of Church History, Princeton Theological Seminary. He serves as editor of Lutheran Quarterly and Lutheran Quarterly Books (Fortress). His most recent book is Singing Church History (Fortress, 2024)

 

David Schaap
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 festivals, and reading sessions for national meetings of The Hymn Society, the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, and National Association of Pastoral Musicians, as well as for many regional events. He is also currently organist/choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 

Chris Shelton
Chris Shelton is the pastor of Broadway Presbyterian Church in New York City, and author of the collection, Sing No Empty Alleluias (GIA Publications, 2021). Since then, Chris has published additional works through GIA’s Unbound series. Chris’ hymns have been included in Voices Together; God Welcomes All (the Hymnary Supplement of the Church of Scotland); Songs for the Holy Other; and Call to Worship. In 2025, Chris’ hymn “With water, wind and whisper” was awarded second place in The Hymn Society’s “God the Creator” hymn search.

 

Marcell Silva Steuernagel
See bio under Hymn Festival Leaders

 

Joshua Taylor
Joshua Taylor is the Instructor of Sacred Music at the University of North Texas and serves as the Director of Worship & Music at First United Methodist Church in Denton, Texas.

He has presented interest sessions for numerous organizations, including The Hymn Society and for the Christian Congregational Music Conference in Oxford. He is the author of From Plague to Purpose: Sacred Wandering and the Postmodern Church (Wipf & Stock) and a co-author of A Liturgy for All Bodies (Cyclical Press) and articles in the Choral Journal, Call to Worship, Presbyterian Outlook, History of Hymns, the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, and Religions Journal.

Joshua holds the Doctor of Pastoral Music degree from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Kansas State, and a Bachelor’s of Music Education from UNT.

 

Martin Tel
See bio under Morning Prayer Leaders

 

Patty Thel
See bio under Mini Hymn Sing Leaders

 

Lindy Thompson
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 has co-led a girl’s small group as part of the youth program for the past 8 years. She practiced as a physical therapist in Colorado, then moved back to Tennessee and homeschooled her 3 children for 22 years until May 2025. She also serves as a doula to women experiencing pregnancy and childbirth. Lindy finds writing to be a means of grace through which she can discover holy ground, and she loves sharing her writing in creative ways. She has written a column for the Journal of Congregational Song (previously known as The Hymn) for the past 2 years and has been writing a weekly devotion for the Fellowship of Worship Arts based on the lectionary since 2020. She has spoken at Bible and Culture classes at Belmont University and presented a seminar there with Mark Miller, FHS. Her poetry can be found at lindythompson.com and her lyrics have been published by Choristers Guild, GIA, Hal Leonard, Hinshaw, and Gentry Publications.

 

Chia-An (Victor) Tung
Chia-An (Victor) Tung, originally from Tainan City, Taiwan, is a Doctor of Ministry candidate at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto. His research explores the ethnographic study of Chinese Christian diaspora communities in Toronto and Newfoundland, as well as the influence of American and Canadian women religious on musical pedagogy and medical mission models in Taiwan.

An accomplished collaborative pianist, Victor currently serves as Associate Conductor of the Better Homeland Worship Choir, a Chinese Christian ensemble based in Toronto. He is the recipient of the 2024 Pastoral Study Project Grant from the Louisville Institute.

Victor is also the co-founder of the Grace Bamboo Sacred Music Ministry and published The Lord Is Our Refuge: The First Contemporary Hymnal in the Siraya Language in 2025.

 

Noel Werner
See bio under Morning Prayer Leaders

 

Chi Yi Chen Wolbrink
Chi Yi Chen Wolbrink has degrees from Tainan Theological College and Seminary, Taiwan, and Westminster Choir College (M.M., Choral Conducting). Chi Yi served for twelve years as choral associate at Princeton Theological Seminary and was a member of the Glory to God hymnal committee. She teaches global church music at national and international events, directed a choral concert at Lincoln Center in New York, and is featured on multiple recordings. Chi Yi was born in Tainan, Taiwan. She is music director at Bayside Presbyterian Church, Virginia Beach, and adjunct faculty at Norfolk State University, Virginia, as well as Director of the Board of the Virginia Chorale. She enjoys cooking, sharing recipes, camping and riding bikes with her husband, Jeff.