Church Music Ministries

Our Mission

The Mission of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is to equip leaders to fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandments through the local church and its ministries.

OUR PROGRAM

The mission of the Division of Church Music Ministries is to develop excellence in Kingdom-minded music and worship leaders and includes accredited degrees from the bachelor level through the doctoral level.  These degrees combine rigorous training in music with biblically based ministry preparation with curriculum offerings to match current church practice in terms of worship leadership.  Our ultimate aim is the glory of Christ through His church.  We believe that worship renewal in the local church is key to revitalizing the evangelical church in America.  The Church Music Division is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. 

A Word From Our Chair, Greg Woodward

Welcome to the Church Music Ministries Division of New Orleans Baptist Seminary.  We'd love to have you come visit our city and enjoy some of the wonderful cuisine on one of our Preview Days for prospective students.  We hope to provide answers to many of your questions through our website, but please feel free to contact us with any further questions at musicdivision@nobts.edu.  Before proceeding to the rest of the site, please read the following description of our program.  I believe it accurately represents who we are and who we seek to be as a leader in church music ministry development.

How do we face the overwhelming challenges of providing relevant seminary training in worship studies?

The need is clear.  Our society's starvation for the Word is the clearest indication of the fundamental need for Biblically-based worship leaders.  Worship leaders play an important role in helping the people of God to see the connection between celebrating God's presence and hearing God's voice.  This two-fold principle is revealed in Ezekiel 43: the glory of God is revealed in the temple and Ezekiel then hears God's voice. Thus, the equipping of worship leaders continues to be a priority for a seminary that focuses on total church health.

NOBTS reaffirms it's commitment in providing comprehensive instruction in this essential area of church leadership.  The challenges are daunting: 1) convincing millennials that, while they may be able to obtain a worship leadership job without a music degree or seminary training, they may not be able to sustain a lifetime of effective ministry without further education; 2) preparing worship leaders for the widest variety of musical scenarios and church identities in the history of the Evangelical church; and 3) developing coherent curriculum choices that deal with the challenges related to items 1 and 2.

Furthermore, it is beyond clicheé to refer to "worship wars" or "praise choruses versus hymns."  Those of us who have been involved in worship ministries for at least a decade are weary of these debates.  Away from the clamor of this ongoing rhetoric lies a sanctuary of theological conviction, thoughtful and Christianly mediation, Christ-honoring creative output, and celebrative worship.  You might be surprised, as throngs of other NOBTS alumni were once surprised, to find this sanctuary in the midst of the most unlikely of cities.  

Let's listen to what's going in the halls of this modern-day hermitage. One of our nationally-recognized faculty members, Michael Sharp, is presenting a series of lectures on multi-generational worship. Darryl Ferrington is helping a prospective DMA student living in Georgia understand that it really is possible to remain in Georgia and enter the DMA program. Dr. Ferrington is revealing the relevance of proven music education techniques in the 21st century church. Ed Steele, our history expert, gently reminds incoming freshman in Leavell College that we will equip them for a life-time of ministry in the constantly changing landscape of music ministry. During his lunch-break, Dr. Steele will squeeze in some time for further edits to a Cuban hymnal as part of the ongoing equipping ministry of NOBTS to Cuban worship leaders. Greg Woodward discusses the pedagogical contrasts between a rock-democracy and choral dictatorship. Chris Turner models a commitment to excellence both as a practitioner of vocal art and as a scientific-practitioner of vocal pedagogy. Benjie Harlan is preparing  compositions for the church and academic world of choral music. But, most importantly, we see a student sitting in a practice room reaching the end of herself in a pursuit of excellence before the Father, asking Him to renew her calling and sustain her drive to reveal the glory of her Savior to the world.

All of these observations tell us why the NOBTS Church Music Ministries Division can say, by the authority of the calling of God upon our lives individually and His anointing over our institution, that we are "developing excellence in Kingdom-minded music and worship leaders."

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A Brief History

In September, 1919, the Department of Music at the Baptist Bible Institute was begun by E. O. Sellers. In 1953, the Department became the School of Sacred Music.  The title was changed to the School of Church Music in 1960 and to the Division of Church Music Ministries in 1972.  Since its inception, the Division has been dedicated to providing instruction in a broad field of musical study which enables the student to render more effective Christian service.

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Accrediting

The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and the Division of Church Music Ministries offer fully-accredited programs.  The Seminary is accredited by the regional accrediting agency, The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, to award associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.  The Seminary's graduate programs are also accredited by the professional theological accrediting agency, The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.  The Seminary is also an accredited institutional member of The National Association of Schools of Music.

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Contact Us

Please feel free to contact us by telephone, e-mail, or regular mail:

Division of Church Music Ministries
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
3939 Gentilly Boulevard
New Orleans, LA 70126
(504) 282-4455, extension 3226 or extension 8013
musicdivision@nobts.edu