Dr. Vernon M. Whaley
BA, MCM, DMin, PhD 

Dr. Whaley is the Director of the Liberty Center for Worship and Chairman of the Department of Music and Worship Studies at Liberty University.   He has distinguished himself as a teacher of church music and worship for better than 30 years.  Dr. Whaley has led worship ministries in churches in Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.   

Known as a creative choral arranger, dynamic worship leader, and effective conference speaker, Dr. Whaley has become a mentor to church worship pastors and leadership around the country.  His practical orchestrations, creative combination and blending of orchestral instrumentation, and unique treatment of choral texture with orchestra have provided many worship resources for the church. 

In addition, Dr. Whaley is the president of Integra Music Group, a music publishing company.  He helped spearhead the creation and production of Integra Music Group’s Classic Masterpieces For Young Voices.  He has published arrangements, compositions, and orchestrations with well-known Christian publishers, created several musicals, and edited two popular hymnals. 

Dr. Whaley also serves on the Board of Directors of Artists in Christian Testimony Intl.

www.liberty.edu/academics/arts-sciences/worship

Pastor Steve Berger
Grace Chapel Leiper's Fork - Pastor

On a California day in 1984 Steve Berger’s life was joyfully interrupted by Jesus Christ. Ever since that unforgettable day, Steve’s life has been marked and defined by grace. After attending Calvary Chapel Bible School, in 1990, Pastor Steve was asked to plant Calvary Chapel Diamond Bar. At the height of Diamond Bar’s growth, God called Pastor Steve, his family and three couples to yet another great adventure – Planting a church called Grace Chapel in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, twenty miles south of Nashville. Grace Chapel, a rural church, continues to experience growth on a weekly basis. Pastor Steve has been thankful to see God’s Kingdom expand through the various ministries of Grace. Especially close to his heart is Grace’s mission work in Mexico, Haiti, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Sudan. Known for his straight-talk in the pulpit, and his desire to trust God for big, unexpected Kingdom impact, Steve’s teachings are heard throughout the country and abroad via the web. He is also a popular speaker at Worship Arts Conferences, as Grace Chapel has been marked by a thriving, expressive worship ministry and out-of the-box artistic events that look to impact the churched and unchurched community alike. “In the beginning, God created. It is the first revealed action of God. As we bear the image of God, our churches should be incubators and supporters of Christ-honoring and thought-provoking creativity.”

www.gracechapel.net/

Pastor David Taylor

David Taylor was raised in Guatemala City, studied at the University of Texas at Austin, Georgetown University, the University of Wuerzburg, and Regent College in British Columbia, Canada, where he studied systematic theology with J. I. Packer.

He's been an Arts Minister at Hope Chapel in Austin, Texas, for the past twelve years. His artistic interests include playwriting, photography, modern dance and film. Currently he is editing a book about art and the church (for Baker Books) and beginning the process of establishing an arts center in Austin. He recently organized the TRANSFORMING CULTURE symposium. In the winter of this year he heads off with his wife Phaedra for Ph.D. work in the UK.

http://artspastor.blogspot.com/

Makoto Fujimura - Visual Artist

Makoto Fujimura was born in 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts. Educated bi-culturally between the US and Japan, Fujimura graduated from Bucknell University in 1983, and received an M.F.A. from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with a Japanese Governmental Scholarship in 1989. His thesis painting was purchased by the university and he was invited to study in the Japanese Painting Doctorate program, a first for an outsider to this prestigious traditional program.

It was during the six and a half years of studying in Japan that Fujimura began to assimilate the combinations of abstract expressionism explored in the US with the traditional Japanese art of Nihonga. Upon his return to the US, he began to exhibit his paintings in New York City, while continuing to show in Tokyo, and was honored in 1992 as the youngest artist ever to have had a piece acquired by Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.

After 20 years as a successful artist in Japan and the U.S., Fujimura has become a voice of bi-cultural authority on the nature and cultural assessment of beauty, by both creating it and exploring its forms. His paintings address the creative process and explore what it means to see. The work moves the observer from cognitive categorization to visceral experience.

In 1990, Mr. Fujimura founded The International Arts Movement. IAM hosts a major conference in New York City every February, attracting notable speakers and performers such as Dana Gioia (poet, Chair of NEA), Patricia Heaton (actor), Rob Mathes Band, Miroslav Volf (theologian, Yale University) and Elaine Scarry (author, Harvard University).

Most recently, Fujimura's work, The Splendor of the Medium, a collection of paintings formed of carefully stone-ground minerals including azurite, malachite and cinnabar, has been showcased in New York City.  Critic David Gelertner wrote in A Faithful Art: Makoto Fujimura and the redemption of abstract expressionism: "Makoto Fujimura's paintings are a joyful gusher from a well that had long run dry...(he is a) superb artist who does honor to the Japanese traditions he uses, and helps fan life back into several magnificent western traditions--traditions as new as abstract expressionism, as old as Christian art."

He was appointed to the National Council on the Arts, a six year Presidential appointment, in 2003.

www.makotofujimura.com

Rev. Byron Spradlin
MCM, MDiv, & currently in Doctoral studies 

In 1970, Byron wrote down the assignment from God that has guided his ministry efforts ever since then:  to disciple and mentor people out of music and the arts, working them into the fabric of Church, Missions & Marketplace ministry around the world.  This ministry calling has been manifested in many ways.

Byron founded Artists in Christian Testimony Intl in 1973 and currently serves as mentor and strategist for more than 100 ongoing ministry projects around the world, staffed by more than 125 full-time, bi-vocational, volunteer, and short-term ministers and missionaries as the President of A.C.T. Intl.

He is widely recognized as an authority in music, worship and the arts in missions and local church ministry.  He has over 30 years of experience as worship leader, recording artist, production director, large church worship pastor, church planter, Senior Pastor, and adjunct professor.

Byron has spoken at conferences internationally, including: URBANA, Japan Christian Arts Network Conference, Southern Baptist’s International Mission Board Leaders Conference in Thailand, YWAM School of Performing Arts in India, Gospel Music Association’s Music in the Rockies conference as well as churches and colleges across the U.S.

In addition, he also currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the international Jews for Jesus ministry, headquartered in San Francisco, CA (since 1973), a Leadership Team member of the “Redeeming Cultures through the Arts” issue group of the Lausanne Consultation on World Evangelization, a Worship Ministry Coach Trainer for Church Coaching Solutions, a Certified Biblical Life Coach, and the Worship Track Director of the Certificate in Training for Ministry program at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, Beirut, Lebanon.

Byron and his wife Pam reside in Leipers Fork, TN.

www.actinternational.org

Michele Pillar - Recording Artist

Michele Pillar has been involved with music since her childhood in L.A., approaching it not only with the innocence of youth but also with the premature wisdom that comes from growing in unsettled surroundings. In part to escape from the effects of her parents’ alcohol abuse, she found refuge in music, listening to Top 40, The Beatles, Motown and even Broadway Musicals – anything that told a story in song and could carry her somewhere far away.

Michele didn’t just listen. Her talent was evident early, to the extent that she began performing at 16, though that meant lying about her age in order to work in nightclubs. A friend, Alf Clausen, cast her in a rock opera he wrote when she was 17. Later Alf would hire her again to play the voice of Karen Carpenter on the TV show, The Simpsons.

While in college Michele began recording. She sang on TV commercials for Bank of America, Toyota, Levi Strauss, Lexus and helped define the direction of Christian popular music. She received three Grammy nominations and was on the road 200 days each year as a solo artist when she met and soon wed Carlton.

It was a marriage filled with the promise of sustaining two successful careers, each enhancing the other. But just a little more than four months into their union, plans were shattered when Carlton was shot in the neck during a random gang related shooting. His near-fatal injury changed his and Michele’s lives for the next decade. Larry struggled through physical and emotional recovery and Michele stood by his side, supporting his children and his efforts through every step.

Only now, when looking back at this tribulation, can Michele put the experience into perspective. Surprisingly – or maybe not, to those who know her well – she has found a positive side to it all, as one might find light in darkness, given enough time and patience.

Empowered by her return to song, encouraged by her husband having recovered his musical voice, supported by family and the great musicians that she has known as friends for years Michele redefines herself on her latest recording, I Hear Angels Calling, as a singer for all audiences.

Come interact with Michele about how artists must keep a focus on spiritual growth and ministry while moving ahead in their art and life.

www.michelepillar.com

Kirk Whalum - Recording Artist

“One of the most exciting memories of my whole career is standing before a combined live/video audience of over 12 million people onstage with Whitney Houston in Johannesburg, South Africa, playing the very song I honked out on my horn the first day I brought it home from jr. high, “Amazing Grace.” I’ll never forget it. God has a way of proving His power in some pretty impressive ways!”

Saxophonist Kirk Whalum attributes his big, soulful sound to his Memphis, TN gospel roots and his initiation into the Houston, TX nightclub scene while a college student at Texas Southern University. The 80’s were highlighted by Kirk’s stepping out of his highly successful sideman role and forming his own band. That’s where jazz pianist Bob James “discovered” him and brought him on tour, which led to a Grammy nomination and five successful albums with Columbia Records, including Cache`, which was Kirk’s first #1 album. After moving to Los Angeles, Kirk starred as an “in demand” session player for top artists like Luther Vandross, Barbara Streisand, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones, Larry Carlton and most notably, Whitney Houston. It’s his sax heard on the mega-hit, “I Will Always Love You.” Kirk soon followed that career high point with his phenomenal hit album released on Warner Bros. records, For You, perhaps one of his most successful recordings to date; the other being the powerful Gospel According to Jazz, Chapters I & II.

Kirk has released 19 albums and received numerous awards and acknowledgements for his musical excellence including seven Grammy nominations and is the winner of two Stellar awards for The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter II. He is presently on Rendezvous Records and has just released the chart climbing CD, Roundtrip. He is currently working on The Gospel According to Jazz Chapter III.

As someone who loves working with young musicians, Kirk is most proud of his 2006-2008 appointment as the first Artist-in-Residence of the STAX Music Academy in his hometown of Memphis.

www.kirkwhalum.com

Rick Cua

In a society that seeks fame and fortune above all, Rick Cua’s simple mission - to share the love of God through music - is a cool drink of water in a dry land. Add to that wide-ranging experience and wisdom gained from almost a quarter-century in music ministry and business, along with a gift of encouragement and you have the components of an artist, teacher and speaker with a passion for helping others find their fullness in Christ.

Rick has always sought to be a resource to the church. Having been a member of a successful mainstream rock group, The Outlaws, then continuing for more than 15 years as a Christian recording artist, serving for more than 5 years as an executive of EMI Christian Music Publishing, and 16 years as an ordained minister, gives Rick a rich well to draw from. Currently, Rick focuses his time on 2 companies, Rick Cua Entertainment and All for the King Music, which speaks to his personal mission of sharing the power of God’s Word through music.

He has released 11 albums, with six #1 songs and nine Top 5 hits, and a Dove Award nomination. He has performed across the United States and around the world for the better part of his life. Rick’s 12th and newest CD, “Won’t Fade Away”, celebrates 25 years of music ministry: 1982 – 2007.

Rick and Diana, his wife of 37 years, live in Franklin, TN, have 2 daughters and a son-in-law, Niki, Nina & Todd.

Josh Childs - Media Arts

Known for his hilarious comedic timing, truthful acting, writer’s acumen, and educator’s heart, Josh has been thrilled to be a working actor for the last twelve years. He is a proud alumnus of every professional theatre company in Nashville and is adding to his ever- growing list of commercials, short and feature films, including a small character role in the upcoming “Hannah Montana” movie. In 2002, he joined Crystal Cruises as a guest artist, touring China, Japan, Taiwan, and Alaska.

One of the great pleasures in Josh’s life is seeing the lights come on in a student’s eyes. To that end, he has taught at the Tennessee Parks Department, Abintra Montesouri, and Franklin Christian Academy. This summer, he is looking forward to teaching at the prestigious Kids on Stage Summer Academy in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee.

Josh’s productions “Zombies Can't Climb”, “Jigsaw” and “the Living Nativity” have all been produced locally. He is currently engaged in the poetic struggle of producing his first feature film, “Prophet.”

Josh lives in Nashville with his wife, Heather, and the newest star of the Childs’ household, Joses Wayne Childs.

Dr. Dianne B. Collard

MA, DMiss 

Dianne is an international speaker and writer who is committed to the embracing of all the arts and the artists in the experience of worship and mission. Her extensive doctoral research in Europe regarding the current role of the arts in the Church and the alienation of the artists enable her to speak with authority and passion. 

Dianne and her husband have been missionaries since 1986, serving in over 40 countries while living in Europe.  Her role is multi-faceted: preparing and directing the work of hundreds of missionaries; speaking at conferences throughout Europe, the U.S. and Mexico; and directing the department of worship and the creative arts for an organization training European church planters. She has lectured in classes at Biola University and Columbia International University.   

Dianne has published articles in such magazines as Lydia, a leading European magazine for Christian women; Today’s Christian Woman; Women of the Harvest; CIVA SEEN and many others.  She has contributed to the German version of the Woman’s Devotional Bible and other Christian materials published throughout Europe.  She also a contributor to the essential book for women in missions, Frontline Women: Negotiating Cross-cultural Issues in Ministry. Her current writing projects include a book on her journey of forgiveness following the murder of her eldest son and co-editing a Handbook for Church-Related Art Galleries with Sandra Bowden, an artist and former president of CIVA.

Currently, Dianne is on the staff at the Center for Intercultural Training in North Carolina which provides pre-field training for missionaries serving around the world. She continues to be in demand as a conference speaker and as a mentor of artists who are Christian through her personal ministry organization, Montage International. In 2007 Montage became a ministry department of Artists in Christian Testimony International.  It exists to challenge and train the Church and its artists to embrace the arts in worship, spiritual formation, and mission for the purpose of personal and cultural transformation.

Through training, mentoring, researching and writing, Dianne challenges the Church concerning the value and need of re-embracing the arts. She also pleads with the artist to not abandon the Church, but to be God's messengers of beauty and creativity in the Body of Christ. The values of being culturally appropriate, Biblically based, and committed to adult learning principles make Dianne's messages powerful and effective.

www.montageinternational.org

Ramon Presson, M.S.

Ramon Presson is the author of a dozen books currently in print, including the Love Talks series co-authored with Dr. Gary Chapman. His most recent book Beyond the Shadows: Discover Hope for Overcoming Depression is a featured title by Serendipity House/LifeWay. An assistant pastor for two decades and a clinically certified marriage & family therapist since 1987, Presson is the founder of the Marriage Center of Franklin. (www.MarriageCenterofFranklin.org)

Presson has published articles in several top Christian magazines including Discipleship Journal, Marriage Partnership, Christian Single, and Decision. A writing coach, Ramon is a newspaper columnist, an avid journaling writer, a blogger, and a devotional writer who also likes to dabble in short stories and poetry. Ramon is fond of quoting Chesterton's affirmation of writers: "I do not deny that we need priests to remind us that we shall all one day die; but I insist that we also need another type of priest, the poet, to remind us that we are not dead yet."   Says Presson, "A writer of poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction, has the opportunity to reflect and glorify the Creator with his/her creative gift. Furthermore, the writer has a ministry of extended reach far beyond his locale with his art and ideas. The wise writer entrusts good seed to the wind."

One example is how Presson’s Discipleship Journal article “Mission Trips Without Guilt Trips” has been reprinted and included in short-term mission manuals by churches and mission organizations around the country.

Presson is currently completing the manuscript for New Growth Press of a bold and honest book entitled “When Will My Life Not Suck?” Anchored in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Presson’s book examines Paul’s remarkable perspective and attitude expressed in the midst of undesirable conditions and uncertainty of fate. Says Presson, “Paul‘s personal plight gives him considerable credibility with the modern reader to speak into and challenge their own woes of affliction and dissatisfaction. Philippians is the book I regularly return to for spiritual and attitudinal font-end alignments. Not a Bible study book, it includes much of my own experience and observations of my clients over the years. The publisher is working hard to position it as a crossover book in the market in order to reach a widespread audience with the message.”
Ramon, his wife Dorrie, and two sons make their home in Thompson’s Station, TN.

www.ramonpresson.com/coaching.php

Frank Fortunato

Frank Fortunato has served in the music ministry his entire lifetime. After several years teaching music courses in colleges in the Midwest he began ministry with Operation Mobilization serving as a music missionary for many years on board the two mission ships of Operation Mobilization, the Logos and Doulos.

Frank later completed graduate studies in ethnomusicology and serves as Operation Mobilization’s International Music Director, coordinating Heart Sounds International, a ministry promoting indigenous worship through seminars, songwriting events, and recording of non-western worship mostly in the restricted parts of the world. The recording teams have released more than 50 audio and video projects from five continents, including DVD documentaries, a YouTube channel of worship from their projects from every continent, and an internet radio channel broadcasting all the recorded songs from HSI projects.

Based at the OM USA headquarters in Atlanta, Frank teaches on global worship music and leads worship at a local church. He recently co-authored All the World is Singing—Glorifying God through the worship music of the nations. Frank's wife Berit, from Sweden teaches elementary grades. The Fortunatos have two grown children, one of whom is a missionary in Chile. They have adopted two orphan children from India.