Jay Althouse received a B.S. degree in Music Education and an M.Ed. degree in Music from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. For eight years he served as a rights and licenses administrator for a major educational music publisher. During that time he served a term on the Executive Board of the Music Publishers Association of America.

As a composer of sacred and secular choral music, Mr. Althouse has more than 500 works in print for choirs of all levels. His music is widely performed throughout the English-speaking world. He is a writer member of ASCAP and is a regular recipient of the ASCAP Special Award for his compositions in the area of standard music.

Mr. Althouse has also co-written several cantatas and musicals with his wife, Sally K. Albrecht, compiled and arranged a number of highly regarded vocal solo collections, and is the co-writer, of the best-selling books "The Complete Choral Warm-up Book", and "Accent on Composers", a reproducible source book for classroom music teachers featuring the music and lives of 22 composers. Most recently, he authored "Ready to Read Music", a music reading readiness book for young students.

Douglas J. Benton has been directing handbell choirs since 1973. He is a published composer/arranger of handbell, choral, organ, brass and orchestral music. Doug is a frequent contributor to OVERTONES, writing articles on techniques, conducting, and the first major research on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and handbell ringing. He is an internationally respected Clinician and is in great demand nationally as a Festival Massed Conductor. Doug has served the AGEHR as State Chair, Area XI Chair and as Chair of the Director Education Department. Currently, he is Director of Music Ministries at Gold Canyon United Methodist Church in Gold Canyon, Arizona.

Bud Wayne Bisbee received his B.M. in Piano Performance from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and an M.A. in Choral Studies and Composition from Occidental College, Los Angeles. He has taught all levels of music, children through adults, and has directed many church music programs. His choirs have toured extensively in this country, Europe and Japan. Currently he is Composer-in Residence for the South Bay Children's Choir at El Camino College in Torrance, California and conducts the choir at St. Wilfrid's Church in Huntington Beach He also continues to compose and teach voice and piano at his home in Long Beach.

Susan was born and educated in Michigan and began her study of music with her parents, both of whom were performing artists. Her piano/organ/voice studies continued while attending Hope College. She has served as accompanist for college choirs and touring groups as well as for various solo artists and community choirs. She has led workshops on Music and Worship and has held positions as Pianist, Choral Director and Director of Music Ministries at churches in Michigan, Wisconsin, Vermont and Ohio.

Susan is a published lyricist and writes primarily with Craig Courtney for Beckenhorst Press. She also collaborates with David Lantz III, Lloyd Larson and Mark Hayes on both sacred and school repertoire.

Susan lives in Holland, Michigan with her husband, Dr. James A. Boersma.

Harry Causey is a Christian choral and orchestral conductor, author, composer, arranger, orchestrator, speaker, and radio host. His national reputation began when he served as Minister of Music for the College Hill Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio (Dr. Jerry R. Kirk, Pastor). His innovative worship leadership brought visitors from throughout the country to observe and learn. Later, he served at the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland (Dr. Richard C. Halverson, Pastor), with similar results. So many requests came for him to train choirs and worship leaders in churches coast to coast and to speak at national conferences that he decided to become a freelance minister of music in 1981. He established Music Revelation through which he published a national newsletter, authored three books ("Open the Doors to Creativity in Worship," "Things They Didn't Tell Me About Being a Minister of Music," and "If Only I Could Read Music"), and provided other resources to equip church musicians for their ministries. These materials continue to be used in many Christian colleges and Universities to help train young church musicians. From 1997 to 2001, he served as the Minister of Worship and Music for Chapelgate Presbyterian Church in Marriottsville, Maryland.

In 1984, he founded the National Christian Choir in Washington, DC an auditioned choir of nearly 200 singers and serves as their full-time Music Director and Executive Director. He has produced 22 recordings for them. He also produces and hosts their weekly one-hour radio program called "Psalm 95" which is broadcast on over 300 stations in all 50 states and nearly 200 international locations. The NCC's impressive history includes concerts at the Kennedy Center, the Washington Convention Center, the National Cathedral, the George Mason Center for the Performing Arts, the National Religious Broadcaster's Conference, the Christian Booksellers' Association, the dedication of the Korean Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC., the "Hour of Power" at the Crystal Cathedral with Dr. Robert Schuller, Ligonier Ministries Conferences with Dr. R.C. Sproul, Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, and Focus on the Family Headquarters with Dr. James Dobson in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Among their more unique appearances were on the Diamond Princes cruise ship in Alaska and for Disney's "Magic Music Days" at EPCOT. Internationally, The NCC traveled to the Holy Land in 1986 where they were the featured choir in Manger Square in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. In 1990, they toured Eastern Europe, singing in Berlin and Prague. In 2008, they returned to the Holy Land at the invitation of the Israel Ministry of Tourism to sing in Jerusalem during the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the founding of modern Israel.

Harry Causey has been a featured speaker and worship leader at many national conferences. He served as Guest Chorus Master for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He is a published composer and arranger of more than 100 choral anthems. His numerous musical arrangements and orchestrations for The National Christian Choir are used in churches throughout the country. He served on the Advisory Board for two hymnals published by Word Music, The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration and The Celebration Hymnal.

He studied at Davidson College (B.A. in Music), Florida State University School of Music (M.M. in Composition), and choral conducting at the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. He was ordained as a pastor in 1981 by the Evangelical Church Alliance. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Antietam Bible Seminary in 2006.

Teaching the Scriptures is one of his callings. Nowhere is that more evident than when he leads a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, one of his favorite activities. In 2002, he received a Citation of Merit from the Governor of Maryland for his work with The National Christian Choir as well as a letter of congratulations from President and Mrs. George Bush.

Harry and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Frederick, Maryland. Their two adult children, David and Debbie, and their five grandchildren live nearby.

Dr. Bryan Chapell has served since 1994 as the President of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, the national seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Raised in Memphis, TN, Dr. Chapell also served as a pastor of two churches.

Dr. Chapell now preaches and teaches in churches and schools in many nations. He has authored several books including: the highly acclaimed, Holiness by Grace; Each for the Other; Praying Backwards; and, Christ-centered Preaching, a preaching textbook now in multiple editions and languages throughout the world.

While pastoring his first church in Illinois, Dr. Chapell met his wife, Kathy, who was the piano player. An accomplished flute player and singer, she has also served as a choir director for many years. The Chapells have four children (two married sons and a married daughter and one younger daughter).

Patti Coda (b.1954) began her music career at age 3, copying her older sister's piano lessons by ear. She and her twin sister performed music together from childhood through college years in church and school choirs and bands. A graduate of Bethany Bible College, Santa Cruz, CA, she received her Masters Degree in Music Education from California State University, Fresno, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Since 1980 she has taught school and church music, homeschooled her son, and accompianied (piano) professionally. She currently resides in Fresno with her husband and son, and enjoys gardening, walking, watching sports, sewing and reading.

A native of Indiana, Craig Courtney began playing the piano at the age of three and the cello at the age of eleven. He received a Bachelors and a Masters degree in piano performance at the University of Cincinnati, studying piano under Raymond Dudley and chamber music under Walter Levin of the LaSalle Quartet. During that time, he was a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Honorary Music Society.

Following a three-year stay in Milan, Italy, where Mr. Courtney studied the piano with Illonka Deckers, performed for the Associazione Musicale "Gustav Mahler", and worked extensively as a vocal coach, he was invited to join the music faculty of the famed Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, serving as piano teacher and accompanist for the woodwind and brass department.

It was during this six-year period, while serving in the music ministry of the Salzburg International Baptist Church, that Mr. Courtney began directing a church choir and composing sacred choral music, due to the unavailability of English language music. In 1985, his compositions came to the attention of John Ness Beck, through the publication of his octavo, Thy Will Be Done, initiating a close working relationship between the two men which continued until Mr. Beck's death in 1987. In making plans for the ongoing of Beckenhorst Press, Mr. Beck appointed Craig Courtney to assume his responsibilities as staff composer and editor.

At this point in time, Mr. Courtney's published works include more than two hundred choral octavos, nine vocal collections, a piano solo collection and six extended works for choir and orchestra. Compositionally, Mr. Courtney combines his training and background as a pianist, a cellist, a vocal coach, an accompanist and a choral director to create words that bear his unique style. He has been a frequent recipient of ASCAP achievement awards and his composition, Peace I Give to You, was awarded 1st place in the 2003 John Ness Beck Foundation competition.

In demand throughout the country as a choral clinician and featured composer, Craig Courtney now resides in Columbus, Ohio with his wife, Susan, and his fourth son, Nathan.

Patti Drennan earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree at Oklahoma State University and a Masters of Music Education degree at the University of Oklahoma. She taught Choral Music for twenty-eight years in Norman Public Schools, the first twenty years at West Mid-High School, where she was voted "Teacher of the Year", and eight years at Norman High School. In 2004 she was awarded the coveted "Director of Distinction Award" given yearly by the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association.

An active composer and arranger, Patti has over 250 choral octavos published with Beckenhorst Press and other major publishers. She has served as a clinician for school and church workshops in 19 states and several times in Canada, She has been guest director at numerous Composer Weekends and has had a composition from Sing for the Cure performed at Carnegie Hall. She has been an adjudicator for choral contests in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas.

Mark Hayes is an award-winning concert pianist, composer, and arranger of choral, piano and orchestral music. With over 600 published works to his credit, Mark is well-known for his unique choral settings which draw from diverse styles such as gospel, jazz, pop, folk, and classical to achieve a truly "American sound." He has recorded numerous solo piano albums and tours internationally as a concert artist and clinician. A graduate of Baylor University. Mark is a reoccurring recipient of the Standard Award from ASCAP. "I've Just See Jesus," a recording he orchestrated and produced won the prestigious Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association, which is the equivalent to a Grammy in gospel music. Mark is a frequent conductor at Carnegie Hall, where his Te Deum, Magnificat and Gloria have been performed.

HOWARD HELVEY (b. 1968) resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he is active as a composer, arranger and pianist, and serves as organist & choirmaster of historic Calvary Episcopal Church. Nationally and internationally he is in frequent demand as a composer, conductor, speaker, and member of the Steinbach/Helvey Piano Duo.

Known particularly for his choral music, Mr. Helvey maintains an extremely active writing schedule, and his hundreds of compositions and arrangements are published by Beckenhorst Press, Hinshaw Music, Oxford University Press, Boosey & Hawkes, Alliance Music, Lawson-Gould, E.C. Schirmer, Paraclete Press and Roger Dean, among other companies. His compositions have been featured on numerous recordings, national television and radio broadcasts, in such eminent concert venues as New York's Carnegie Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall (LA), the Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas), the White House, the National Cathedral (Washington, D.C.), and many locations throughout Europe and Asia. In addition, his music is regularly performed at regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and other professional music organizations, and has been acclaimed as "engaging" (Choral Journal), "definitive" (Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians), "magical" (The Hymn) and in response to his occasional inclusion of jazz elements "fun and certain to be of interest" (The Diapason). Recordings of his music appear on the Innova, Pro Organo, Cedille and Spektral (Germany) record labels. Mr. Helvey is commissioned frequently by church, university, and professional ensembles, and recent performance highlights have been presented by the Kansas City Chorale, Chicago a cappella, the Turtle Creek Chorale (Dallas), the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola (New York), the Bach Society of Saint Louis, the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, Kammerchor Constant (Cologne), and Pro Musica (Copenhagen) and by university/collegiate choirs from Stanford, Harvard, Concordia, Luther, and Texas A&M. He received awards in 2002, 2003 and 2006 (as first prize winner) from the John Ness Beck Foundation, who annually recognizes outstanding achievement in choral composition.

As a pianist, Mr. Helvey since 1997 has collaborated with distinguished artist Richard Steinbach in concerts and recordings of four-hand and two-piano literature. Performance highlights have included concerts in dozens of cities throughout the United States, Canada and England, and by invitation as duo artists at the 2000 national meeting of the Music Teachers National Association convention in Minneapolis. Widening their exposure through television appearances in the United States and Canada, the Steinbach/Helvey duo has offered its performances to a broad and diverse community. 2001 saw the international release of their critically-acclaimed debut CD recording Piano Duo which included the brilliant and rarely-performed masterwork Eight Variations on an Original Theme in A-flat Major by Franz Schubert. The Steinbach/Helvey duo is managed by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists. Along with violinist Mari Thomas and cellist Susan Petersen, Mr. Helvey is also a founding member of the Hannaford Piano Trio.

A Missouri native, Mr. Helvey holds a Bachelor of Music degree in composition from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Master of Music degree in composition and piano performance from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. Designated an undergraduate Chautauqua Scholar, he pursued additional studies in piano at New York's Chautauqua Institution. Mr. Helvey has studied piano with Raymond Herbert, Jan Houser, Richard Morris and Dolores Gadevsky; and his composition teachers have included John Cheetham, Thomas McKenney, Darrell Handel and Frederick Bianchi. As one passionate about effective congregational hymn-singing, Mr. Helvey received additional training in hymn-accompanying and organ improvisation from Gerre Hancock.

Molly Ijames was born in Flint, Michigan, and holds a B.S. in Music Education from Bob Jones University. From 2000 to 2006, she was a music teacher and church pianist in three church and Christian school ministries in Michigan and Missouri. She moved to Greenville, South Carolina, in 2006 to work for SoundForth Music, the music-publishing branch of BJU Press, and began studying composition with Joan Pinkston. This association led to her first published choral anthem with Beckenhorst in 2007. Since then she has had several choral and instrumental arrangements published under Lorenz, Beckenhorst, and SoundForth. Her composition, Song of Bethlehem, was awarded 1st place in the 2008 John Ness Beck Foundation competition.

She currently serves as composer, editor, and product coordinator at SoundForth, and is highly involved in the music ministry at Cornerstone Baptist Church. She frequently travels with the president and chancellor of Bob Jones University to play for various dinners and church services. She also accompanies and composes for campus choirs, annual choral recordings, and university chapels.

Molly also enjoys running, scrapbooking, traveling, and spending time with her sister, Erin.

Paul Isensee is Dean of the School of Music and Performing Arts at Philadelphia Biblical University. His teaching responsibilities include courses in music fundamentals, church music, hymnology and worship as well as oversight of music for University chapels.

Michael Jothen is Past - President of the National Board of Directors of Choristers Guild, Dallas, Texas, recently retired Music Director of the Senior Choir of St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Baltimore, Maryland, and Professor of Music and Division and Graduate Program Director for Music Education at Towson University, Towson, Maryland.

As a choral and general music educator, composer, guest conductor and clinician, Dr. Jothen has shared with church and school musicians, choral educators and young people throughout North America and Europe. His years of teaching and leadership experience in churches and schools in Michigan, Ohio, Colorado and Maryland, have contributed to his co-authoring the P-8 basal textbook series, Music and You, Share the Music, and Spotlight On Music published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Publishing. He is also a lead author of the grades 6-12 choral textbook series Experiencing Choral Music published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill and author of Master Strategies for Choirs published by Hal Leonard Publishing.

Jothen's degrees are from St. Olaf College, Case-Western Reserve University, and The Ohio State University where as a student, Beckenhorst Press and Choristers Guild published his earliest compositions. In addition to his writings he has continued to compose and has consistently received recognition and awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers especially for his compositions for children and youth.

David Kellermeyer has an undergraduate music degree from Heidelberg College and MA and EdD degrees from Teachers College Columbia University. His doctoral dissertation centered on the Adult Church Choir. David retired after a career of music instruction in choral and instrumental music spanning elementary through college graduate level courses. He has been Director of Music in churches of various denominations and directed both singing and ringing choirs. David has also conducted community orchestras and choruses in various locations. In addition to Beckenhorst Press, David's choral and handbell compositions appear in catalogs of a number of other major music-publishing companies.

Jason W. Krug (b. 1978) is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 with a degree in Music. He is currently the interim music director at Irvington United Methodist Church. He has several private piano students, and has extensively accompanied school choirs, musicals, and private voice students.

His handbell career began in 2001 when he began ringing with and arranging music for the Wagner Memorial Bell Choir at Irvington United Methodist, and in 2005, he took over as the choir's director. In 2006, Beckenhorst Press picked up his arrangement of the French carol Il Est Né, marking his first publication. Since then, he's had a total of eleven compositions and arrangements accepted for publication. In addition, the Raleigh Ringers of North Carolina commissioned a piece from him, a commission he fulfilled with a humorous arrangement of Jingle Bells. His pieces have been featured at the Capital Area Handbell Festival in North Carolina and the New Jersey Youth Handbell Festival.

Outside his musical career, he is the media director at Brandywine Elementary School. In addition to his duties as a librarian and teacher, he has inspired his third, fourth, and fifth grade students to become novelists through the National Novel Writing Month Young Authors Program. Even at school he can't get away from music, as he accompanies all the school music programs, and one of his compositions, Celebration, is dedicated to the Brandywine Elementary Visions Chime Choir, who premiered the piece.

Linda Lamb has been involved with handbells since 1992, as director, composer, and sometime ringer. She is the handbell director at Lexington Park Baptist Church, Lexington Park, Maryland, where she directs one adult and one youth choir. She is also a founding member of the Pax River Ringers, a community group in Southern Maryland, and the founder and list owner of the Frustrated Friends of Finale (FFFinale), an internet mailing list for handbell composers and arrangers who use the Finale music program. She graduated from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, with a B. A. in sociology, and from Concordia University in Wisconsin with a Master of Church Music (emphasis in handbells). She and her husband Ken are the proud parents of two grown children and two grandchildren.

David Lantz III is a full time choral director and teacher of music theory, composition, voice and piano at East Stroudsburg High School, in East Stroudsburg, PA, where he has taught for the past 18 years. He also serves as choir director for the Stroudsburg United Methodist Church in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

A composer and arranger with over 400 choral octavos in print with many major publishers, he has also written music for symphonic band, orchestra, jazz band, chamber ensembles, and piano. He is also an editor and engraver. A working musician, he has sung and played electric and upright bass in various musical groups for the last 34 years.

Lantz has a B.S. in Music Education from Susquehanna and M.M. in Composition from West Chester University. He is married to composer and musician Marti Lunn Lantz, and is father of 5 musical children, ages 11 to 24.

Lyndell Leatherman was born into a Nazarene parsonage in southeast Kansas in 1953. He studied piano with his mother, Wilma, who today--as an active octogenarian--is still playing the piano and organ in her church and community of Eureka, Illinois. Lyndell has been accompanying soloists, ensembles, and choirs since the age of 13, when he began playing the piano for his church youth group in Green Rock (now Colona), Illinois. He earned a degree in Church and Choral Music at Olivet Nazarene University, Kankakee, Illinois, where he studied piano with Stephen Nielson and organ with Ovid Young, two professors who later teamed up to form the world-renowned piano duo known as Nielson & Young. He then completed the course work for a Master's degree in Music Theory and Composition at Illinois State University, Bloomington-Normal, where his composition professor was Roque Cordero, who in his youth had been a student of Igor Stravinsky.

From 1977 to 1997 Lyndell served as Music Editor at Lillenas Publishing Company, Kansas City, Missouri. Since 1997 he has freelanced as a composer, orchestrator, music engraver, accompanist, and editor (primarily for FJH Music Company, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida). He is a member of ASCAP, and has placed many choral, keyboard, and instrumental publications with major companies. His family includes his wife Barb, one son, two daughters, and two grandchildren.

Janet Rupp Linker received her bachelor's and master's degrees in organ performance from Capital University and the University of Michigan, respectively. Her organ instruction was under Marjorie Jackson Rasche at Capital, and Marilyn Mason at the U of M. Her first organ position at the age of fifteen was at the Wauseon, Ohio, Evangelical Mennonite Church. She held church positions in Lubbock and Waco, Texas , Sacramento, California and Columbus Ohio. She is now organist at Trinity United Methodist church in Upper Arlington, Ohio.

Mrs. Linker's first teaching position was at Texas Tech university in Lubbock, Texas. She has taught at the Capital University Conservatory of Music, first in the community music school, then on the faculty for over thirty years. She plays for various events at the Ohio Theater on the well-known Morton Theater organ.

She has published eighteen books of organ music, several anthems, and, in collaboration with Jane McFadden, over sixty works for organ and handbells and a piano/organ duet book. Publishers include Beckenhorst Press, Inc., Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Concordia Publishing House, Sacred Music Press, Lorenz Publishing Company, Agehr, Inc., Abingdon Press, Celebrations Unlimited, H.W. Gray Publications, Hope Publishing Company., Chorister's Guild, and Morning Star.

Janet resides in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Jim, who is the owner of the Link Stamp Company. They are the parents of two grown sons, Jeff and Tim. Their daughter, Jenni, died at the age of twenty-two in 1985. They now have six grandchildren.

Joseph Martin, a native of North Carolina, earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Subsequently he earned a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the University of Texas, Austin. Joseph taught for five years in the Piano Pedagogy Department of the University of Texas. While at Furman University, he was accompanist for choral director and composer Milburn Price and, inspired by his teaching, Martin began to compose. He is a member of the staff of Shawnee Press, Inc. as Director of Sacred Publications, with responsibilities for overseeing the editorial and creative direction of the company and also coordinating the recording and production aspects of future sacred publishing efforts. Joseph lives in Austin, Texas with his children Jonathan and Aubrey and his wife Sue.

Associate Professor Emerita Julia Morgan has retired from Auburn University Department of Music, where she taught piano, theory and piano-related courses. A piano teacher for 41 years, she also taught private students.

For 47 years, Mrs. Morgan was also a church organist. The last 25 years were at Auburn United Methodist Church, from which she retired in December, 2006.

During her years as a professional musician, she enjoyed teaching, performing, accompanying, adjudicating, composing, arranging, and being a member of professional organizations. Now she is enjoying retirement, which includes traveling, reading, participating in several local activities, and being with her husband of 52 years.

Composer Carl Nygard has been associated with the music industry since 1982, and is represented in the catalogs of fifteen American music publishers. His published works, scored for all manner of voices and accompaniments, number more than 180, and have been performed on six continents. His conducting career has taken him to thirteen states, where he has led reading sessions and festivals at every level from local to all-state. West Chester State University honored him in 1988 as an outstanding graduate. He has adjudicated choirs for PMEA and the Baltimore County School System, and is the retired director of vocal music for the Fleetwood Area School District in Fleetwood, PA. He and his wife Dorian are the proud parents of two grown sons.

Composer, arranger,conductor, Mr. Ringham holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from Indiana University. He taught at colleges in Arkansas, Missouri and Alabama before becoming the Booking Director for the Concert and Artist Division of Summy Birchard, Inc, in New York City. This was followed by almost 30 yours teaching music of all levels, K-12, in the Lawrence Public Schools in Cedarhurst, Long Island, New York where he built and directed award winning choruses. He also introduced and developed new programs in guitar, class piano, voice class, electronic music and synthesizer ensemble. It was during this time that his attention turned from solo performance to composition. He has served a variety of congregations as organist and conductor of vocal and handbell choirs. Retired from teaching, he is now Director of Music at Mission Del Sol Presbyterian Church in Tempe, Arizona. A member of ADCA, AGEHR and ASCAP, Mr. Ringham has received consecutive annual ASCAP awards.

Penny obtained her degree in piano performance from Moody Bible Institute and American Conservatory of Chicago. She has released nine solo piano CDs of her own compositions and has published several piano books with various publishers (Portraits of Christmas, Portraits of the Cross, Portraits of Christmas II, Portraits of Praise, Images, Images II, Midnight Clear, Near to the Heart of God, Timeless, Morning Has Broken, The Solo Piano Wedding). She has also had close to forty choral pieces published.

Penny lives in Indianapolis with her husband, Dave, who is the senior pastor of Grace Community Church. They have two grown children, Barry and Lucy.

David Schwoebel is Minister of Music / Composer in Residence at Derbyshire Baptist Church in Richmond, VA. He is a graduate of McKendree College in Lebanon, IL, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Voice and Organ Performance, and a Master of Church Music with an emphasis in Composition respectively. Prior to beginning his ministry at Derbyshire in January 1997, he had served churches in his hometown of Belleville, IL, Montgomery, AL and Atlanta, GA.

As an ordained minister, David administrates and oversees a comprehensive music ministry of nine choral organizations, five handbell choirs, an Orff ensemble, a 28-piece orchestra and brass ensemble. His energetic, hands-on approach to ministry finds him working each week with people of all ages, encouraging and equipping them to discover and develop their varied musical talents and skills.

The MICHELLE hymn tune included in the 1991 Baptist Hymnal is named after David's wife, Michelle. The BRITTANY, ASHLEY and COURTNEY hymn tunes in the Celebrating Grace Hymnal are named after their three daughters.

Dr. Scott has an undergraduate degree in piano performance and a Master's Degree in choral conducting from BGSU under Richard Mathey, the Choirmaster certification from the American Guild of Organists (AGO), a Master's Degree in Liturgical Theology from the University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D. in music theory and music composition. He is a life member of the American Choral Director's Association (ACDA).

In his twelfth year as Director of Music and Liturgy at S. Joan of Arc Church in Chagrin Falls, his choirs have sung at The Cathedral of S. John the Evangelist in Cleveland, The Vatican, The Duomo in Florence, S. Paul's in Venice, The Basilica of S. Francis in Assisi, S. Ignatius in Rome and elsewhere. Tom also directs the Men of Independence (with David Smotzer), who are currently ranked 30th internationally in the Barbershop Harmony Society, and the choral program at Trinity High School. In demand as a clinician, composer and vocal coach, Mr. Scott has recorded several jazz compact disc recording. He and Ann have been married 29 years, and they have four children.

Larry Shackley is a full-time composer and editor from Columbia, SC. From 1995-2007, he taught and directed the music program at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC. Prior to that, he worked for several years at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, creating original music and producing radio programs for the Moody Broadcasting Network. He served as staff keyboardist for ten years at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. Shackley's published music includes over 130 choral pieces and 30 books of keyboard arrangements, as well as solo vocal and instrumental collections.

Shackley and his wife, Joni, have four children: Stephanie, Andy, Laurel, and Geoffrey; and two granddaughters, Emily and Katie.

Pat Thomson is well known in music circles in Saskatoon. Since 1963 when Pat began song writing, many of her compositions have been used for "special occasions" in the community, in concert, in Music Festivals, in schools and in churches. Her Handbell compositions have been chosen as Canada's "masse ring" selections for the 1996, 1998, 200, and 2008 International Handbell Symposiums.

Philip M. Young is a native of Greenville, SC. He received his education at North Greenville University, Furman University, and the Graduate School of Music of Florida State University. In 1987 he was awarded the honorary Doctor of Letters from Campbell University.

He became Minister of Music of The First Baptist Church of Henderson, NC in 1959. Upon his retirement in 2004, he was given the title of Composer-in-Residence.

As a composer he has received numerous awards and commissions. Over two hundred of his choral, handbell, and organ compositions have been published. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, having won numerous Society's standard compositions annual awards. He is also a member of the American Guild of Organists, and a past president of the North Carolina Baptist Music Conference.