Current and Past Grants

University of Arkansas

Jeffrey Allen Murdock

To encourage more inclusive and vibrant worship experiences for Christian communities by developing resources for Black sacred music programs about the historical and cultural influences on the genre, then equipping sacred music scholars and practitioners to diversify worship music selections, educate congregations, and perform Black sacred music in a variety of contexts.   

University of Notre Dame Folk Choir (2024)

J. J. Wright

To create and workshop an original musico-dramatic composition and production of five scenes from resurrection accounts to enable undergraduate students in the Folk Choir to contemplate healing and forgiveness.

Wheaton College

Donté Ford

To uplift the hymnody of twentieth-century Holiness reformer and prolific hymn-writer Bishop Charles Price Jones, and to reinvigorate its use within and beyond the Black Church through crafting arrangements and featuring them at choral clinics, thus enriching the historical, cultural, and theological breadth of local church choir music and congregational song.

Wheaton College

Donté Ford

To uplift the hymnody of twentieth-century Holiness reformer and prolific hymnwriter Bishop Charles Price Jones and to reinvigorate its use within and beyond the Black church by crafting arrangements and featuring them at choral clinics, thus enriching the historical, cultural, and theological breadth of local church choir music and congregational song.

ZionQuest Fellowship

To revitalize the worship experience in three congregations who share the same worship space by expanding the use of worship arts and musical forms so that all may engage in worship that is healthy, vital, and spiritually engaging.

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Katie Graber

To help communities critically engage questions about why we sing diverse music and how we can do it justly by collaboratively creating a hymnal companion-style volume that aids North American communities as they sing songs from around the world. 

Baylor University

Shannan Baker

To pilot a contemporary worship training program focused on discovering the best educational methods for teaching contemporary worship, by engaging in workshops on technology, music, and theology. 

Belmont University

Adam Perez

To assess the distribution and reception of popular worship songs and the relationship between the worship music industry and local worship practitioners, in order to equip practitioners with a deeper understanding of the forces that impact their worship song selections. 

Bethel Christian Reformed Church (2023)

To train young worship leaders and strengthen congregational worship through developing an intergenerational mentorship program.

Church Music Ministry of Canada (2023)

To encourage and equip choir members as worship leaders, not performers, by creating a network for choirs in Vancouver’s Chinese churches that will commission hymn anthems, share resources, and prepare choir members to strengthen the corporate ministry of congregational singing.

École de Théologie Évangélique du Québec

Ruth Elaine Labeth

To study the composition of scripture-based songs in Creole churches in Guadeloupe to help worship leaders and pastors envision culturally contextualized worship.

Fresno Pacific University

Amy Whisenand

To explore the relationship between singing and reconciliation in the church through hosting workshops for scriptural study, practice sharing, and collaboration.