We Will Sing

Our new webinar series consists of six programs lasting 60 to 90 minutes that offer reflections on a variety of issues that affect congregational singing today.

Each of the six webinars in this series will be held on Thursdays and begin at 3:00 p.m. ET, and will also be available as recordings for registrants to view for a limited period of time.

Registration for a single webinar is $25 for members, $35 for non-members, $15 for students. Registration for the full series of six webinars is $125 for members, $175 for non-members, and $75 for students. To register for one webinar or for the full series, click the button at the bottom of any of the webinar entries.

Want to support this initiative even more? The Hymn Society is always grateful for support from our generous donors, both individuals and corporations. Click below for details on available sponsorship levels and what benefits they provide.

We also invite you to check out “Starting the Song,” another webinar series being run by the Center for Congregational Song!

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October 22 – C. Michael Hawn, FHS: "Do You Have a Song?"

Michael Hawn, FHS, is University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Church Music, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He continues to serve at SMU as an adjunct professor and director of the Doctor of Pastoral Music degree program. A long-time Life Member of The Hymn Society, Michael has led festivals, delivered plenary addresses, and published numerous articles in The Hymn. In addition to published texts on global hymnody and recent congregational song, he is the USA editor of the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology and History of Hymns, online hymnological resources.

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November 12 – Robyn Henderson-Espinoza: "Singing at the Crossroads of Race, Gender, and Justice"

Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, PhD has been described in a myriad of ways: a scholar-activist, scholar-leader, thought-leader, teacher, public theologian, ethicist, poet of moral reason, and word artist. Among these ways of describing Dr. Robyn, they are also a visionary thinker who has spent two decades working in the borderlands of church, academy, & movements seeking to not only disrupt but dismantle supremacy culture by focusing their PhD studies on new concepts of being & becoming, decolonizing knowledge production, & bridging with radical difference. Dr. Robyn is the Founder of the Activist Theology Project, a Nashville-based collaborative project that seeks to work with the dominant culture and produces curriculum at the intersection of scholarship and activism. Dr. Robyn was named 1 of 10 Faith Leaders to watch by the Center for American Progress in 2018.  As a scholar-activist, Dr. Robyn is committed to translating theory to action, so that our work in the borderlands reflect the deep spiritual work of transforming self to transforming the world. Dr. Robyn is a non-binary Transqueer Latinx who calls Nashville, TN home. They are the author of Activist Theology, 2019, published by Fortress Press and the forthcoming book “Becoming (em)Bodied.”

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January 21 – Mikie Roberts: "Voicing God's "Twang" - The Maturation of Caribbean Hymnody"

The Rev. Dr. Mikie Roberts is an ordained Moravian pastor who is currently serving as the Programme Executive of Spiritual Life and Faith and Order at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland. He has been serving in the position since February 2019. Prior to his appointment at the WCC, for the past 25 years, he served in several capacities throughout the Moravian Church across the Eastern Caribbean. These included Provincial Director of Music, Minister of Music, Pastor and Associate Pastor. He was the general editor of the first Caribbean Moravian hymnal and liturgy book – Caribbean Moravian Praise and Liturgy Book. He has studied at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom); the Westminster Choir College of Rider University (New Jersey, USA); and the University of the West Indies and United Theological College of the West Indies (Mona, Jamaica).

 

Sponsored by Marilyn Devnich

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February 11 – Deborah Carlton Loftis, FHS: "Nineteenth Century Shape-Note Tunes for the Twenty-first Century"

The Reverend Deborah Carlton Loftis, Ph.D., retired in 2017 from her position as Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. She was named Fellow of The Hymn Society in 2016.  Prior to The Hymn Society post, Deborah was professor of church music at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (VA) from 1999-2008.  She holds a Master of Church Music degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY and a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Kentucky in cooperation with the University of Louisville.  Her dissertation was an interdisciplinary study of shape-note singers in Benton, KY.  A Baptist minister, ordained in 1983, she served churches in Kentucky and Alabama in music and pastoral care for over 20 years.  She is an active member of Grace Baptist Church in Richmond, VA.

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March 11 – Simei Monteiro & Marcell Silva Steuernagel: "A Conversation between Two Brazilian Song Leaders"

Simei Monteiro is a Brazilian poet, composer, translator, author and editor. A native of Belém, PA, Brazil, her songs and translations appear in several hymn books and collections of sacred songs in Brazil, Latin America, USA, Europe, and Asia. Monteiro has taught at the Baptist Seminary in Rio de Janeiro as well as at the Methodist University in São Paulo, studied under Pablo Sosa, and was part of the group that organized the first Brazilian collection of hymns, A Nova Canção, published by the Methodist Publishing House in São Paulo. Among many other projects and achievements, she recently concluded a translation project of more than fifteen years with the publication of Mil Voces para Celebrar: Hinos de Charles Wesley e de John Wesley (Curitiba, 2019), a bilingual English-Portuguese publication that includes translations of 85 hymns by John and Charles Wesley.

Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Church Music and Director of the Master of Sacred Music Program at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology. 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.

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April 8 – J. Michael McMahon and Panel: "Singing as the Journey Continues"

Panelists:

  • Cynthia A. Wilson, Executive Director, Worship Resources, Discipleship Ministries, United Methodist Church, Nashville
  • Matthew Boutda, Director of Music, Leaside United Church, Toronto
  • Jonathan Y. Tan, Professor of Catholic Studies, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland; and Organist/Director of Music, Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal), Cincinnati
  • Kate Williams, Senior Managing Editor, GIA Publications, Chicago

J. Michael McMahon, D.Min., is Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada. An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he has served congregations for many years in ministries of musical, liturgical, and pastoral leadership. For twelve years he served as President and CEO of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and has extensive experience as a teacher, speaker, clinician, and author. 

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