I am excited that Reformed Worship is beginning a weekly blog and absolutely thrilled at the group that we have gathered to write. They are a diverse group of practitioners, academics, musicians, and theologians; what connects them all is their love for the church and worship that is thoughtful, relevant, rooted, innovative, global, contextual, creative, and disciplined.
-Rev. Joyce Borger, editor
Kevin Adams
is the author of 150: Finding Your Story in the Psalms and The Book That Understands You. In 1991 Kevin and his wife Gerry planted Granite Springs Church, a congregation that has helped inspire a movement of church planting in the Sacramento area. He serves as senior pastor, as Director of the Church Planting Center at the Newbigin House of Studies (San Francisco), and teaches at Calvin Seminary and William Jessup University. He is writing a book about living our baptism. Kevin is fascinated and intrigued by worship, how it forms and shapes individuals and contagious communities of faith. His special interests are in the missional depth and wisdom of the psalms, sacraments and preaching.
Joy Engelsman
an ordained minister of the Christian Reformed Church living in Denver, Colorado, has been planning and leading worship since middle school—just a few years ago.
Zac Hicks
(D.Min. candidate, Knox Theological Seminary; M.Div., Denver Seminary; B.A., Biola University) is Pastor of Worship at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and blogger at zachicks.com and LIBERATE. He grew up in Hawaii, studied music in Los Angeles, and trained in Philosophy and Biblical Studies at Denver Seminary. His passions include exploring the intersection of old and new in worship. Zac is an avid writer and recording artist, most recently having produced The Magnificent Three (EP). He is a contributing author to Doxology & Theology (Nashville: B&H, 2013). Zac has been married for fourteen years to his wife, Abby, and they have four children--Joel, Jesse, Brody, and Bronwyn.
Syd Hielema
serves as the Team Leader for Discipleship and Faith Formation Ministries of the Christian Reformed denomination. 42 years ago he began serving as a church organist, and since then has continued to serve as a preacher, worship team leader, author of short liturgical dramas, writer, worship mentor for teen musicians, and professor of university level worship courses. His passion lies at the intersection of worship, discipleship and faith formation.
Matt Kaemingk
is the Executive Director of the Fuller Institute for Theology and Northwest Culture in Seattle. Matthew teaches courses in theology, culture, worship, and the arts. Matthew also directs Fuller's [Trans]formation Initiative in Seattle on worship and the arts. The initiative focuses on resourcing artists and worship directors in the Pacific Northwest with theological education for their creative vocations (tformconference.com). Matthew earned an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary along with doctoral degrees in Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary and Systematic Theology from the Free University of Amsterdam. His research and writing in worship and the arts focuses particularly on the (trans)formative power of worship for a Christian's public life and the vocation of the artist in the life of the church and the world.
Katie Roelofs
has been serving as the Minister of Music and Worship at the Washington DCCRC since 2006. She is currently in an MDiv program at Reformed Theological Seminary in DC with a focus on liturgical studies and congregational worship.
Sue Rozeboom
is assistant professor of liturgical theology at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and is a member of Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Eric Sarwar
an ordained Presbyterian pastor from Pakistan, and founder and director of the Tehillim School of Church Music & Worship in Karachi.
Chris Schoon
and his wife, Hennie, live on the south side of Hamilton, ON with their four kids. Chris currently serves as the Senior Pastor at First Hamilton CRC and previously served as the Outreach Minister at Plymouth Heights CRC (Grand Rapids, MI). Along with teaching occasionally at Redeemer University College and Calvin Seminary, Chris is completing his Th.D. in missional theology at Wycliffe College (Toronto) focusing on worship, discipleship, and community engagement in the missional church movement. His worship-related interests center around telling the grand narrative of God’s grace through liturgy and how worship as a gathered people intertwines with the life of God's people outside of worship.
Sandra Van Opstal
is director of worship for the Urbana Mission Convention. She previously served as director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Chicago Urban Program and now serves on the national leadership team for InterVarsity's Latino ministry LaFe. A Chicago-born Latina, Van Opstal is passionate about people of different cultures coming together to experience the presence of God. She regularly consults as both a worship leader and a mission trainer with Christian colleges, conferences and local churches.She earned her M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and has published articles about multiethnic worship in The Narthex and Mission Frontiers. She also contributed to the Small Group Leaders' Handbook. Van Opstal and her husband live in Humboldt Park, Chicago, where they minister at Grace and Peace Community Church.
John Witvliet
is director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and associate professor of music and worship at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also teaches in the religion department at Calvin College.
The Guest
From time to time we will also have a guest blogger.