While there are many factors to consider when we approach the planning and leading of corporate worship, in this eight-part series, Dr. Jonathan Rodgers helps us identify those habits and practices that encourage and foster vibrant and robust corporate worship expressions. His desire, while somewhat prescriptive, is to ask pastors, worship leaders, musicians, and other church leaders to seriously evaluate their current practices with the hope that they would consider alternatives or adjustments to bring one of these Vital Signs into improved health. Perhaps after the end of this series, a church might want to consider one or two Vital Signs to address, assess, and improve.
About our Blogger: Jonathan Rodgers has been directing choirs in schools and the church for over fifteen years. His choirs have performed at state MEA conferences and collectively he has led over twenty-five extended choir tours across the U.S. and internationally. As a clinician and presenter, Rodgers has been a guest conductor for honor choirs throughout the Southeast. He has also presented sessions at National ACDA Conventions, state MEA conventions in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia, and other conferences including Baylor University’s Alleluia. He is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Pi Kappa Lambda, and is a “Friend of the Arts” in Sigma Alpha Iota.
Prior to Samford, he served as Minister of Music and Worship Arts at Hunter Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He oversaw a seven-member worship arts staff and a ministry that involved over 800 people in choirs and instrumental ensembles ranging from preschool to senior adult. Rodgers also previously served as Assistant Professor of Choral Music at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee.
Rodgers earned the Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Master of Music in Church Music degrees from Samford University, and he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting at the University of Southern Mississippi.
In addition to his conducting and scholarly activities, Jonathan is an active pianist, church musician, and composer. His works have been published with Walton Music, Pavane, and Colla Voce and performed by churches, high schools, and colleges at honor choir festivals and ACDA conventions across the nation—even Carnegie Hall. Jonathan has been married to his his wife Alicia for seventeen years, and they have four children: Savannah, Leighton, Brooks, and Gabe.
Links below to the entire series on Vital Signs for Healthy Corporate Worship:
Healthy Congregational Worship—Is Trinitarian in Nature
Healthy Congregational Worship—Encourages Vibrant Congregational Singing
Healthy Congregational Worship—Is Planned and Prepared
Healthy Congregational Worship—Activates Vertical and Horizontal Relationships
Healthy Congregational Worship—Is Timely and Timeless
Healthy Congregational Worship—Remembers its Context and Community