Constance Cherry, D.Min. (Professor, DWS 702)
Constance has been busy with numerous speaking engagements. Most recently she preached the keynote sermon at the Academy of Preachers National Festival of Young Preachers in Indianapolis, presented sessions at The Worship Symposium, Calvin College (Grand Rapids) and at the annual church music conference sponsored by Cairn University (Philadelphia), and spoke at two events for Ohio United Methodists: the Leipsic Lecture and Crucible, a United Methodist training program for pastors.
C. Michael Hawn, D.M.A. (Professor, MWS program)
Michael’s new book, New Songs of Celebration Render: Congregational Singing in the Twenty-First Century (Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2013), is an examination of seven streams of congregational song since the Second Vatican Council. It includes a chapter by Dr. James Abbington (African-American song), Greg Scheer (Contemporary Christian), Global Song (Michael Hawn and Lim Swee Hong) and other chapters on Roman Catholic song, contemporary classical hymnody, gospel song, and folk song. Michael also published twenty-five articles in the newly released Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology (October 2013), an online subscription dictionary of over two million words and 4,500 articles, http://www.hymnology.co.uk/. In 2013, Michael taught short-term introductory worship courses and worship workshops in Adelaide, Australia, Moscow, Russia, and Shanghai, China.
Reggie Kidd, Ph.D. (Professor, DWS 704)
Reggie was ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal church at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Orlando on January 5.
Lester Ruth, Ph.D. (Professor, DWS 701)
Lester’s article, “Writing with Awe,” was published in the September 2013 issue of Worship Leader magazine. It looks at historic ways to write worship songs in awe of Jesus. If you haven’t read his article on how Eastern Orthodox writers can help us write ancient new songs, follow this link: Go East, Young Songwriter, Go East.
In January, Lester presented a paper entitled “Divine, Human, or Devilish: The State of the Question on the Writing of the History of Contemporary Worship” in the Exploring Contemporary and Alternative Worship seminar of the North American Academy of Liturgy. He also presented sessions at The Worship Symposium at Calvin College. Recent papers, presentations and resources can be found at sites.duke.edu/lruth.
Greg Wilde, D.W.S. (Professor MWS 502)
Greg recently accepted the call as parish priest at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Pewaukee, WI, in the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee. 