On Sunday, January 29, we begin an exploration of the place of music in worship and spirituality. We will examine the roots of our worship music and the various branches it has developed over generations. We will also have conversations with music professionals about the influence of church music on their faith and their music careers. Listening to examples of different expressions of spiritual music as well as singing along are natural parts of our journey. We believe that this exploration will be of interest to many people in our community, and so we want to be very clear that guests are welcome to any of the presentations.

All sessions will be held on Sunday mornings at 9:30am in the Fellowship Hall, and the presentations will be made available on video for those who are unable to attend. Many of our speakers will also share a song or two with us during our 10:45am worship service.

January 29 - Session 1
The speaker to kick off our series will be David Horace Perkins. Dave is a music maker who has played guitar on recordings or in concert with numerous artists such as Carole King, Ray Charles, Vassar Clements, and Jerry Jeff Walker.  As a record producer, he worked with artists such as Over The Rhine and Steve Taylor.  Recently, Dave wrote and recorded the score for the feature film Deadline, which opens on February 15th. Dave is a Master of Divinity graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School where he is currently the Associate Director of the Religion in the Arts and Contemporary Culture program. Last year, Dave was awarded the Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.  His dissertation is titled Selling the Sacred: Praise and Worship Music in the Sanctuary and Marketplace. In this opening session, Dave will talk about the roots of contemporary worship music in American and English revival history. He will discuss the relationship between contemporary worship music, pop music, and culture-at-large, and share examples of how contemporary worship music is used in some churches today. Dave will perform one of his own songs during morning worship.

February 5 - Session 2
Julia Callaway, Director of Music Ministries at Vine Street, will take us through the progression of music in church worship, from medieval, renaissance, reformation, and American 18th and 19th century eras. She will be assisted by members of the Chancel Choir. We will examine the styles of hymns and sing many of them in this participatory session.

February 12 - Session 3
Michael Ligon will have a conversation with Gabe Dixon on stage in the Fellowship Hall. Michael and Gabe have a long history at Vine Street, and they will talk about the influence of church music and the church community on Gabe’s career as a professional musician and performer, and the connections he sees between his own music and traditions of spiritual music. Gabe will sing a couple of songs during morning worship.

February 19 - Session 4
Shawn Tate has inspired church congregations for over 30 years with his smooth and powerful vocals. A native Chicagoan, Shawn grew up singing in choirs. After receiving his Masters of Arts degree in Arts, Entertainment and Media Management from Columbia College Shawn moved to Nashville in 1994 to expand his affinity of gospel music. For 8 years Shawn worked at EMI Christian Music, helping to start the EMI Gospel record label. He has worked with some of the brightest names in Gospel, Country and R&B music including Kirk Franklin, Smokie Norful, CeCe Winans, Yolanda Adams, Trace Adkins, Lyle Lovett, Michael McDonald and more. Shawn will lead us in understanding and appreciating the contributions of the African – American Christian singers and songwriters throughout the history of the American church. Shawn will be sharing examples of the soulful Gospel music that is a part of many worship services today, and being a noted singer himself, he will offer a couple of songs in our 10:45 worship service as well. 

February 26 - Session 5
Jack Wallace will lead a discussion in the fellowship hall about the past four sessions and invite comments about what styles of worship music we would like to explore on a couple of Sundays in March (Shapenote/Sacred Harp? Chant? Jazz?).