Author Noel A. Snyder discusses his new book Sermons That Sing: Music and the Practice of Preaching. Shownotes at musicandthechurch.com/62.

An interview with Nathan Myrick and Mark Porter, editors of Ethics and Christian Musicking. Get in touch at sarah-bereza.com and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

Mark Chaves, director of the National Congregations Study, shares recent highlights from the survey and how they compare with the last 20 years of data. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

Right now we are constrained by limited in-person music making, closed church buildings, virtual choirs and so on. But we can still find musical satisfaction. Join me in this podcast to discover your own inspiration for growth and develop a plan to nourish your musical soul. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

Let's take stock of where we are in the marathon of the pandemic and of the program year. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com/58 and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

I am so delighted to be talking with author Andy Thomas about his new book Resounding Body: Building Christlike Church Communities through Music. So often we think that a great church music program must be heavy on financial resources, but he "encourages music leaders to step up and persevere in low-resource contexts, and challenges all those who lead music in worship to refocus on building communities, not just on producing musical results." It's a lovely conversation, and I hope you listen in.











About Andy Thomas: Andy Thomas is an organist, pianist and choir director with over 25 years' experience of reinvigorating music in churches from different Christian traditions in the UK and overseas



Purchase Resounding Body: You can purchase a copy of Resounding Body: Building Christlike Church Communities through Music through your local bookstore, or online in places like Bookshop and Amazon.



Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

In this episode, Dr. Adan Fernandez shares his positive approach to virtual rehearsals and performances.







Dr. Adan Fernandez is the Director of Music at Holy Family Catholic Community in Glendale, CA, and is the Campus Organist at California Lutheran University.







Resources Mentioned on This Episode:



* Spitfire Plugin







Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Listen in for an in-depth interview with Andrew Eastes, Jonathan Ottaway, Glenn Stallsmith, and Deborah Wong, four of the authors of Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship. This is the second of two episodes on Flow. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com/55 and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

Listen in for an in-depth interview with Lester Ruth, Zachary Barnes, and Adam Perez, three of the authors of Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship. This is part one of two parts; next month's episode continues with Flow's four other authors: Andrew Eastes, Jonathan Ottaway, Glenn Stallsmith, and Deborah Wong. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

Listen in for an in-depth interview with Dr. Alisha Lola Jones about her new book Flaming?: The Peculiar Theopolitics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance. Get in touch: sarah-bereza.com/53 and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

Jessica French shares her compositions, how her compositional process is influenced by synesthesia, as well as her work as a soprano and music educator. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com/52 and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

You know the old joke: if you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans. Be that as it may, here' show I'm planning for the fall. Not the usual hymns + anthems + a few handbell pieces, but plans nonetheless. With a baby due in mid-August, I need some plans in place, even though they're practically sure to change. I bet you have more flexibility than I do, but I hope hearing my plans will give you some ideas for the coming months. Get in touch: sarah-bereza.com and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

What does music ministry look like - sound like - right now? Whatever your answer, it's certainly different from what it would have been earlier this year. On this episode, Brian Hehn and I discuss leaning into our identities as music ministers, and why that focus is an important aspect of our work as church musicians all the time, not just right now.







Brian Hehn is the Director of the Center for Congregational Song, a wing of the The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. He has also ministered as a church musician for many years.







Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

We're putting church music online - whether we want to or not. Fortunately, we're finding lots of grace and permission to fail as we figure out what on earth we're doing! Craig Harmann and I talk about our mindsets as we live in this new season of life as church music directors.







Craig Harmann is a music director and educator based in Houston, Texas. He also produces the Church Music Makers blog and podcast. Find more about him and his resources for church musicians here.



Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Delvyn Case is bringing people together by creating conversations around sacred music. And he's creating these conversations not just with other musicians, but with folks who haven't trained to talk about music by coupling live musical performances with guided dialogue. Today, we talk about the values around Scripture and community that motivated his founding of Deus Ex Musica, plus the events that Deus Ex Musica is producing to support the connection between sacred music and faith formation.







Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.



Resources Mentioned on This Episode:



* Delvyn Case* Deus Ex Musica

Want to program more music by women composers? Selah Published has just released a new choral series edited by Sarah MacDonald, and all the composers are women: Sarah Cattley, Elizabeth Coxhead, Eleanor Daley, Elizabeth Kimble, Stephanie Martin, Ceclie McDowall, Annabell Rooney, and Sarah MacDonald. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com/47 and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

Crawford Wiley and I talk about our top five favorite hymnals. None are hymnals that our congregations sing from, but we use them in our service planning and sometimes devotionally. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com/46 and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

How can singing foster our relationships with strangers? And how can singing not just foster relationships, but be a powerful means of hospitality? Dr. Helen Phelan draws on her ethnographic work with a Congolese-Irish choir to show the "sonic hospitality" of singing together, with Dr. Joshua Busman interviewing. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com/45 and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

What language does God speak, and how can the metaphor of language help us better understand our relationship to God? Dr. Jean Kidula, Professor of Music at the University of Georgia, shows how thinking about dialect expands our ways of thinking about the music we use to worship God. Get in touch: musicandthechurch.com/44 and musicandthechurch@gmail.com

1. Making change in our churches in a week-by-week process, 2. the importance of resources to validate aspects of ministry that aren't currently supported, and 3. how important teachability and curiosity is to leadership. With Dr. John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Get in touch: musicandthechurch@gmail.com and transcript and shownotes at musicandthechurch.com/43