Person Results

Switch back to the old search page.Advanced Search

Showing 131 - 140 of 206Results Per Page: 10 20 50

Richard K. Avery

1934 - 2020 Hymnal Number: 186 Author of "We Are the Church" in Singing Our Faith Rv Richard Kinsey Avery USA 1934-2020Born in the Central Valley of CA, he attended schools at Exeter, CA, where his family was active in the First Presbyterian Church. He decided to become a Christian minister at age 14 while at a Presbyterian youth conference. He attended Redlands U, Redlands, CA. He then attended Union Theological Seminary, NYC. He participated in the University Choir and associated with Christian friends there. He became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Port Jervis, NY, (FPCPJ) for 40 years. Musically inclined, he composed a variety of songs (both lyrics and music), mostly with his close friend, Rv Donald S Marsh. Avery was commentator, preacher, and song leader for the duo, while Marsh conducted drama events and conducted three choirs. Together, they wrote over 150 published hymns, carols, and anthems. In 1967 the two founded Proclamation Productions, with sales later handled by Hope Publishing Company. With Marsh, he led conference and church assemblies in new forms of worship in all 50 states from the late 1960s into the early 2000s. These events included 30 years of summer seminars at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM. At Port Jervis, NY, Avery founded a community center for poor people called the ‘Hope Center’. He was also a member of and chairman of the board of directors of Mercy Community Hospital. His church, FPCPJ, was a prominent center for creative forms of worship, music, and drama, providing many concerts and theatrical events for the community. He was also involved with Westminster Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, where he served as music leader after retirement from the NY church. In 2003 he founded a small magazine, ‘Santa Fe Theologians’, serving as editor, and later, as manager of Santa Fe Theologians Institutes, which held public forums on contemporary issues. He was also a member of the World Affairs Forum, the Council on International Relations, the Santa Fe Symposium, and the Coro de Camara chorale ensemble. He died at Santa Fe, NM, never having married. John Perry

John Webster Grant

1919 - 2006 Person Name: John W. Grant, b. 1919 Hymnal Number: 175 Translator of "O Holy Spirit, by Whose Breath" in Singing Our Faith Grant, John Webster. (Truro, Nova Scotia, June 27, 1919- ). United Church. Dalhousie University (Halifax), B.A., 1938, M.A., 1941; Keble College, Oxford, D.Phil., 1948. Served as a Navy chaplain during World War II; acted as editor-in-chief of Ryerson Press (Toronto), 1959-1963; taught church history at Pine Hill Divinity School (Halifax), 1948-1949; Union College (Vancouver), 1949-1957; in South India, 1958-1959; and at Emmanuel College (Toronto), 1963-?. He published many books and articles in his field of specialty, notably The church in the Canadian era (1972). His hymn-writing began with translations and paraphrases, but even they reveal his unusual range of talent and expertise. --Hugh D. McKellar, DNAH Archives

Howard S. Olson

1922 - 2010 Hymnal Number: 162 Author of "Good News" in Singing Our Faith Howard Olson (b. 1922; d. 2010), longtime missionary/teacher in African, compiled a number of African songs in Set Free (Augsburg Fortress, 1993). Many were folk tunes to which Christian Swahili texts were later added. He wrote in the introduction: “In their original form these tunes wee sung with uninhibited improvisation. Consequently the form in which these songs appear in this book represents only one of several possibilities.” Sing! A New Creation

Leon Roberts

1950 - 1999 Person Name: LR Hymnal Number: 52 Composer of "[I will praise your name for ever, my King and my God]" in Singing Our Faith Leon began his piano studies at the age of six with a local teacher he knew as "Mr. Ben." His grandmother, Mrs. Mary Bookman, became a religious mentor in the musical growth of her grandson. Being from a family of devout Baptists, Methodists and Pentecostals, he gained an integrated understanding of faith. He first learned skills of directing congregational worship at his mother's church, the First Apostolic Fire Baptized Holiness Church of Coatesville. It was there that he also had a deep personal encounter with Jesus Christ. His talents and strong faith in God were reflected in the musical groups that he formed and directed such as the "Voices of Love" and the "Jubali Movement of Southern Pennsylvania." Leon was equally talented during his years in the Coatesville Area School District as a member of the various choral groups such as the Meistersingers and the many theatrical and musical productions. In 1968, Leon came to Washington, DC, to attend Howard University where he received a Bachelor's degree in Music Education. Later, he completed course work for the Liturgical Studies Certificate from Georgetown University. While at Howard University, he was a co-founder, pianist and composer for the 100-member Howard University Gospel Choir. Additionally, during this period, he directed the Mount Zion Baptist Church Young Adult Choir and the Library of Congress Gospel Choir. The defining event of Leon's career and life came in April 1977 when he was invited to direct the struggling Gospel choir of Saints Paul and Augustine Catholic Church in Washington, DC. Embraced and mentored by the church community, he converted to Catholicism and made his life's work the integration of the energy and emotion of African-American Gospel music with the traditions and rituals of the Catholic liturgy. From 1977 until 1994, he was the Director of Liturgical Music at the Saint Augustine Catholic Church and an instructor of choir and music appreciation at the Saint Augustine Elementary School. From 1978 until 1983, he directed the Mackin Catholic High School Choir and the Archdiocesan-wide Gospel Choir at Saint James Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York. In 1982, he founded and directed the Archdiocesan Mass Choir for the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. He also was music director of the Bishop McNamara Senior High School Gospel Choir. Leon was the co-founder and music chairperson of the REJOICE! Conference on Black Catholic Liturgy. In 1989, the REJOICE! Conference was held in Rome, Italy, and the Vatican where he spoke on "The Development of African-American Liturgical Music Since Vatican II." He was an internationally recognized African-American composer, arranger, liturgist and recording artist. The following are among his works: "Mass of Saint Augustine," published by the Gregorian Institute of America and dedicated to his late sister, Claudette Shatteen; "I Call Upon You God!-The Mass of Saint Martin de Porres," published by Leon C. Roberts and Associates of which he was president; "He Has the Power" and "Deliver the Word," recorded by the Saint Augustine Gospel Choir; "God Has Done Marvelous Things," an artistic collaboration with David Haas and Roberts' Revival; "The Coming," recorded by Roberts' Revival and published by Oregon Catholic Press; and his most recent recording, "Come Bless the Lord," a live concert recording to be released in March 1999. He was a major contributor to the first African-American Catholic hymnal, "Lead Me, Guide Me," which included twenty liturgical settings and was distributed nationally in 1987. In 1993, his psalm settings were published in the African-American hymnal of the Episcopal Church entitled "Lift Every Voice and Sing." And, he also worked with the late Sister Thea Bowman to produce her "Songs of My People" and "Round the Glory Manger." Leon's liturgical music and seminars are famous around the world. He toured with various choirs throughout the United States, Italy, Japan and the Caribbean Islands. During his tour of Rome, Italy, he directed the Saint Augustine Choir at a special audience with Pope John Paul II. In 1990, his concert tour of Japan with Roberts' Revival received critical acclaim and resulted in appearances on ABC-TV, FOX-TV and a number of radio stations. On Christmas Eve 1991, he directed the Saint Augustine Gospel Choir in a special program on "The History of Gospel Music" on ABC's Nightline. From 1994 through 1996, he and Roberts' Revival performed annually in Hawaii at the BILAC, Big Island Liturgical and Arts Conference. He was a clinician and lecturer for many organizations including the National Office of Black Catholics, the National Pastoral Musicians Conventions, the East Coast Conference for Religious Education, Notre Dame University, the Catholic University of America's Liturgical Studies program and many dioceses and archdioceses. In 1994, Leon moved to Brooklyn, New York, to become the Florence Van Keuren Artist-in-Residence at the Concord Baptist Church of Christ. He served as the director for Concord's Gospel Chorus and the Male Chorus. He also was music director of the Union Theological Seminary Gospel Choir in Manhattan. In 1998, he was honored by the Office of Black Ministry of the Archdiocese of New York. During that ceremony at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, New York's Archbishop John Cardinal O'Connor presented him with the "Special Achievement Award" for his many contributions to Black Catholic worship and the development of liturgical music. Then on Friday evening, January 22, 1999, at Providence Hospital, Leon left his earthly home to be with his heavenly Father, after being diagnosed with stomach cancer just two weeks earlier. --www.giamusic.com/

Alan J. Hommerding

Person Name: Alan J. Hommerding, b. 1956 Hymnal Number: 239 Author (v. 2) of "I Received the Living God" in Singing Our Faith

Bob Dufford

b. 1943 Person Name: Bob Dufford, SJ, b. 1943 Hymnal Number: 202 Author of "Be Not Afraid" in Singing Our Faith

Alexander Gondo

Hymnal Number: 221 Author of "Uyai Mose (Come All You People)" in Singing Our Faith

Marie J. Post

1919 - 1990 Person Name: Marie Post Hymnal Number: 148 Author (sts. 2-3) of "Praise and Thanksgiving" in Singing Our Faith Marie (Tuinstra) Post (b. Jenison, MI, 1919; d. Grand Rapids, MI, 1990) While attending Dutch church services as a child, Post was first introduced to the Genevan psalms, which influenced her later writings. She attended Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she studied with Henry Zylstra. From 1940 to 1942 she taught at the Muskegon Christian Junior High School. For over thirty years Post wrote poetry for the Grand Rapids Press and various church periodicals. She gave many readings of her poetry in churches and schools and has been published in a number of journals and poetry anthologies. Two important collections of her poems are I Never Visited an Artist Before (1977) and the posthumous Sandals, Sails, and Saints (1993). A member of the 1987 Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee, Post was a significant contributor to its array of original texts and paraphrases. Bert Polman