News

As the semester comes to a close, we celebrate alongside our students the academic achievements of our graduates and church musicians. During last week’s Honors Convocation, four Church Music students were honored for exceptional academic achievement and scholarly excellence.

On April 18, the Dunn Center hosted a Worship Lab Workshop at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, TX, bringing together students and youth leaders from across the region for a day of learning, mentorship, and hands-on worship leadership training. Designed to explore both the how and the why of leading worship in the local church, the workshop combined practical skill-building, exemplary leadership models, and meaningful conversations about calling and ministry, offering students a formative experience that connected musical excellence with servant-hearted leadership.

Over the past several weeks, our students have taken their research well beyond the classroom, participating in academic conferences across the United States and around the world. Alongside faculty and alumni, they have contributed to important scholarly conversations about worship, music, and global Christian practice, sharing original research, lecture‑recitals, and performances with diverse academic communities. These gatherings highlight not only the depth of our students’ work, but also the collaborative ethos that connects generations of scholars as they carry our green and gold into the wider world.

The Black Worship Festival, held February 23–28, brought together artists, scholars, students, and community members for a week-long celebration of Black sacred music, creativity, and cultural exchange. Anchored by the Hearn Innovator Series in Christian Music, the festival welcomed 10-time Grammy Award–winning producer and composer Kevin Bond, the week then featured the internationally acclaimed Nathaniel Dett Chorale in a landmark performance of The Hosea Oratorio: A Gospel Jazz Hip Hop Spoken Word Fusion by Dr. Stephen Newby. 

Baylor University will mark a significant milestone this year as it hosts the 25th Annual Sacred Harp Sing, a vibrant gathering that honors one of America’s oldest and most enduring musical traditions. Held each year on the Saturday before the second Sunday in February, the event brings together singers from across Texas and beyond for a day of spirited, communal music‑making in the Great Hall of Truett Theological Seminary. 

The annual award honors Church Music Professor Randall Bradley, D.M.A., director of the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies, for his outstanding contributions to Baylor’s learning environment.

The spring semester is off to a vibrant start at Baylor, with a wide range of opportunities for creativity, professional formation, and worship through music. From collaborative songwriting and career development to historic singing traditions and powerful engagements with Black worship, the months ahead offer something for students, faculty, and the wider community alike.

As 2025 comes to a close, we pause to reflect on the work of the Dunn Center, Church Music faculty, students, and alumni. From classrooms to sanctuaries, rehearsals to worship gatherings, our community has poured energy, creativity, and faith into shaping leaders within the church. This seasons invites us to not only celebrate milestones but also recognize the many ways God has been at work among us. 

In the heart of Baylor University’s School of Music, doctoral student Sylvia D. Jones is crafting a legacy that blends classical excellence with spiritual depth. A soprano whose voice has been described as “angelic,” “full of passion,” and “tear-jerking,” Jones is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Church Music with an emphasis in vocal performance, a path that reflects both her artistry and her calling.

As Dr. Bradley’s retirement approaches, the School of Music and the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies stand resolved to reflect and celebrate the visionary leadership that has transformed the Center into a vital resource for ministers, young people, and church musicians alike. This upcoming new chapter allows for faculty, staff, and students to both celebrate and continue the legacy of the past while also remaining free to dream new dreams and develop initiatives to impact the church of tomorrow. 

Dr. W. James “Jimmie” Abbington Jr., a preeminent scholar, performer, and advocate for Black sacred and gospel music, died September 27, 2025. His work as a performer, editor, teacher, and conductor shaped worship and church-music practice across the United States, and his visits to Baylor, including his 2023 Northcutt Lecture, longstanding service on the Dunn Center Advisory Board, and leadership at the Alleluia Conference, left a lasting mark on our campus community and church musicians near and far. 

Baylor University’s Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies welcomed acclaimed singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken to campus this week as the Fall 2025 Hearn Innovator in Christian Music through the annual program that brings distinguished leaders in music and the arts to Baylor.

Each summer a group of upcoming seniors participate in a four week internship within the local church. The church music internship provides Baylor students with a formative opportunity to bridge classroom learning with hands-on ministry experience. Working directly alongside an experienced minister of music, this immersive environment allows students to cultivate practical skills in worship leadership, rehearsal planning, pastoral care, and administrative responsibilities, while also deepening their understanding of the unique dynamics of congregational life.

This week marks the start of classes for the fall semester at Baylor. As we return to campus, we also celebrate the many accomplishments of our faculty, staff, and students over the summer months. Having flung our green and gold afar, the Dunn Center, together with Baylor’s School of Music, continues to thrive in its mission, embodying Baylor’s motto: Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana, Pro Mundo. We look forward to sharing with you in the year ahead the many ways Baylor supports the local church and equips leaders for faithful, lifelong service.

"In African American gospel music, new sounds and idioms have always emerged, and sometimes they were integrated amid resistance. Lately, this issue has cropped up with Maverick City Music, whose genre-blending approach (gospel plus contemporary Christian music, or CCM) has sparked debates about whether it’s diluting a beloved art form."

In this article published August 19, 2025, Dr. Newby shares a helpful perspective on the history of gospel and how Christians can approach new iterations with an open heart. Click here to read the full article!

On Sunday, May 18, a group of Baylor students and leaders depart Waco for an unforgettable journey to Kenya — a trip rooted in worship, service, and cultural exchange. After arriving in Nairobi the following evening, the team makes their way to Subiaco Retreat Centre, their first home base in the country.

For students in Baylor’s Church Music program, the classroom is only part of their formation. While technique and theory are crucial, so too is cultivating a sense of belonging and shared purpose — the kind that can’t be taught from a textbook. It’s in the gathering spaces, over shared meals and worship opportunities, where the seeds of lifelong friendships and ministry partnerships are often sown. It is through this lens that the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies (CCMS) seeks to explore and expand offerings that provide growth and inclusion to church music students.

In an era where youth engagement in church life is more crucial than ever, Baylor University’s Worship Lab Worship Workshop emerges as a transformative initiative. Spearheaded by the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies, this program extends beyond Baylor’s campus, aiming to equip middle and high school students with the tools to lead worship and invigorate their local congregations. 

Congratulations to Associate Professor of Music Monique Ingalls, Ph.D., who has been named the School of Music’s Ammann Endowed Chair in Church Music and Worship. The role will provide vital support for Ingalls's research on the congregational music of Christian communities around the world.

On Tuesday, March 25th, 2025, the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies hosted the 40th annual Northcutt Lecture featuring Dr. Karen Westerfield Tucker. 

Baylor School of Music faculty, staff, students, and alumni were represented on a grand scale for the 2025 meeting of the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music (SCSM) this past week at Belmont University (Nashville, TN). SCSM exists to promote the exploration of connections between Christian faith and the academic study of music. The society champions itself as being a cross-disciplinary organization including ethnomusicologies, music theorists, musicologists, scholars of liturgy and of church music, theologians, and practicing church musicians. 

A truly magical moment took shape on the stage of Jones Concert Hall this past Sunday. The concert was a culmination of a weekend where alumni joined with current members of the Baylor University Men's Choir to celebrate 25 years of exemplary leadership by Dr. Randall Bradley. Throughout his time at Baylor, more than 1,000 young men have joined their voices together with others from disciplines across the campus, building an inspirational community of leaders. Bringing together two decades of students is no small task and a key group of alumni felt the call to build a team of leaders to shape a weekend celebration that honored the legacy of their fearless leader.

In this final feature of the year, we highlight the many successes of our faculty, students, and hosted programs. Join us as we look back on the work of the Dunn Center and Church Music Program at Baylor. 

Research in the field of church music consists of work conducted by scholars from across the globe. While various cultures share many common threads, each community and each ecosystem have unique attributes that make their sharing of the gospel distinctive. Often, extensive academic research is attained through the observations and conclusions of those visiting faith communities and not from the publication of direct voices within these sacred spaces.  Enter the Global Church Music Bibliography created through the work of the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies at Baylor University. This project responds to the struggle to find research by church music scholars writing about their own traditions outside North America. This project intentionally and exclusively consists of English-language research by non-Western scholars and allows users to engage with the material in an interactive format. 

The Church Music faculty have for many years invested in the lives of our students both academically and personally. This intention focus comes from a deeply rooted desire to help our students mature and build long lasting relationships. One of the goals for the Dunn Center is to help facilitate space for community growth outside of the classroom, offering conversations, meals, and experiential opportunities. 

Established in 2007, the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies Advisory Board was began with 20 original members. Among this group were church musicians, pastors, Christian artists, business leaders, and distinguished alumni. The Board gathered in its early years to develop a vision for fostering the growth and effectiveness of the Center to utilize Christian music to its God-given potential. Over the years, the Board has directly supported projects through programmatic funding, offered valued consultations for program directions, and volunteered time to work and present at Baylor events. 

Dunn Center has been awarded a second grant to continue exploring youth participation in worship in the local church. During this new project, the research team is working to assess and develop youth leadership models that when applied fully or in smaller, appropriate contexts, will increase the overall productivity and longevity of youth worship teams. The CCMS project is titled the Worship Lab Initiative (WLI) and seeks to identify and introduce scalable worship leadership models into the local church through observations, assessment, and implementation.

The 40 Collective is a new worship leadership team made up of Church Music students with a desire to grow in contemporary worship leadership skills. This year, 40 Collective has plans to travel to serve at church services and other worship gatherings – and they’re available to hire! Dr. Shannan Baker, Postdoctoral Fellow in Music and Digital Humanities, provides leadership for the group as part of her work in the Dunn CCMS. We sat down with Shannan to hear about the history and vision, as well as hearing from two of the student leaders.

The Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies is delighted to welcome Geraldine Latty-Luce and Carey Luce as our inaugural International Visiting Scholars for the 2024-2025 academic year. We are confident that this cross-cultural exchange will enhance the work not only of the Dunn Center, but also of the broader School of Music and Baylor University as a whole.

We sat down with Geraldine and Carey to hear about their individual stories, their story together, and their vision for their residency here at Baylor. Read the article to learn more!

The Alleluia Conference is a meaningful space for ministry leaders to join together in conversation and training, allowing for important dialogue surrounding the joys and challenges of daily service to the local church. In July, some 173 churches were represented at the Alleluia, bringing together more than 300 church musicians for the event.

Each semester, students at Baylor are given opportunity to be involved in many distinct aspects of music making that include symphony/orchestra, choral ensembles, private studio classes, opera, and more.

Baylor University’s Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies in the Baylor School of Music has been awarded a four-year $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of its Strengthening Ministries with Youth Initiative. This award comes as phase one of the Dunn Center’s Building Bridges to the Future project, a $1.2 million award designed to enrich youth worship ministries, nears its conclusion. 

Three students in the church music program were recently honored as part of the spring convocation for their outstanding work and commitment to church music studies. These students join others from across the School of Music recognized for their valuable contributions to music studies at Baylor. 

Each spring the School of Music welcomes a leading scholar in the area of church music to Baylor's campus for the Northcutt Lecture Series. The Northcutt Lecture is made possible by an endowment from Cassandra Northcutt and the late LeGrande Northcutt of Longview, Texas and remains one of the most prestigious lectures on church music in the world. 

In this week's student spotlight, we hear from senior church music major Evan Rivera. Evan walks us through his journey that brought him to Baylor and how his time has helped prepare him to lead a next generation of leaders. 

Aided by the support of the Shaping Young Worshipers Through Transformative Music Ministry initiative, Oso Musical has relaunched! Oso Musical provides a musical classroom experience for the participants (K-12), a support community for the families, and an opportunity for Baylor students planning to enter church ministry or education

It's Baylor Giving Day! As a generous donor to Baylor University, you are an essential part of a community that illuminates the path for Baylor and its future.

The Dunn Center supports and encourages the success of church music students through scholarships, stipends, travel awards, lectures, and more. Gifts made to the Dunn Family Center for Christian Music Studies Excellence Fund directly impact students on a weekly basis. 

In the third biweekly newsletter from the Dunn Center, read about exciting happenings with our children's grant work, join us in congratulating our students on recent achievements, and see the variety of events happening over the next two weeks. 

The Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies hosted the Spring 2024 Hearn Innovators in Christian Music Series with artist and worship pastor Laura Story February 26-28. Made possible by an endowment from the generosity of the late Billy Ray Hearn, this series is designed to bring innovators in the field of Christian music to Baylor’s campus for interactions between the guest and Baylor students. Over the course three days, Laura gave a public presentation, attended church music classes, and shared meals and coffee times with students. 

Every two years, the Baylor School of Music hosts the Semper Pro Musica solo and chamber Ensemble competition. This year, Chanmi Kim, M.M. Church Music student, took the first place price in the Semper Pro Musica organ competition. We sat down with Chanmi to talk about her organ journey and this exciting opportunity. 

In the second biweekly newsletter from the Dunn Center read about the success of the PhD program, see the exciting news from one of our alumni, and see the variety of events happening over the next two weeks in our area. 

"What's Happening in Church Music" is a biweekly digest of updates and events featured within the Dunn CCMS. Click to read more about featured stories, alumni updates, student achievements, and more. 

Baylor Alum, Jonathan Keith, recently accepted a post with "The President's Own" Marine Band and Chamber Orchestra. A born and raised Texan, Jonathan Keith (B.M. Applied Music ‘20, M.M. Church Music '23) hails from Houston. Learn more about Jonathan and his time at Baylor in the first Alumni Spotlight of 2024. 

Greetings from Baylor University's Dunn Center for Christmas Music Studies! Our students, faculty, and staff wish you a blessed Christmas season and a Happy New Year. We joyfully share a bit about our year with you.

Baylor Connections is a conversation series with people shaping the future. Each week we go in depth with Baylor leaders, professors, and more, discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. In this episode, Dr. Newby discusses the power of Black worship, Baylor’s efforts to both preserve and share the music for future generations, and the path that led him to Baylor for what he calls his “dream job.”

The Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies (CCMS) has a new home on Baylor's campus. Following exciting expansions in the School of Music, Harris House will now operate as an additional hub for the School, specifically for Church Music. 

Applications are now open for Church Music graduate programs with the Baylor School of Music, Baylor Graduate School, and Truett Seminary.

The Baylor Church Music Faculty will be hosting online information sessions for our graduate programs on Monday, October 30th. These sessions will provide more information about application, admission, and financial aid.

Interested in learning more? Sign up for one of our program information sessions (link available within the article).

'Music experts say we don't need more "manly songs," but we do need to help lower voices find their place' writes Kelsey Kramer McGinnis of Christianity Today

The Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies (CCMS) in the Baylor School of Music is set to host Elias Dummer, recording artist and worship leader, for its fall 2023 Hearn Innovator Series. Elias’s public presentation will be held Monday, September 25, at 6 p.m., in Recital Hall II of Waco Hall, 624 Speight Ave.

WACO, Texas (July 20, 2023) – Baylor University announced today the appointment of Stephen Newby, D.M.A., as the inaugural holder of The Lev H. Prichard III Chair in the Study of Black Worship. Newby brings a background in music, scholarship and ministry to the new position, which provides interdisciplinary leadership, research and scholarship efforts associated with the growth of Baylor’s Black Gospel Music Preservation Program.

The Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies (CCMS) in the Baylor School of Music will host James Abbington, D.M.A., associate professor of church music and worship at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, for its spring 2023 Northcutt Lecture Series. 

On Thursday, February 23rd at 3PM the Baylor School of Music will celebrate the life and legacy of alumni Harold Dunn. Mr. Dunn's bequest to Baylor University will be celebrated with the naming of the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies in Baylor's School of Music. This event will take place in Powell Chapel, George Truett Theological Seminary. 

The Baylor Center for Christian Music Studies in the School of Music hosts its annual Sacred Harp Sing after two-year hiatus.

Derick Etale, a second year graduate student in church music, serves as director and choreographer for the Angaza choir, Texas' very first African community choir. Not only is the choir different in their looks and sounds, but also in their learning methods, according to Etale, who was born and raised in Rwanda.

Dr. Shannan Baker has been awarded the Vital Worship Teacher-Scholar grant from the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship. The Calvin Institute for Christian Worship's Vital Worship grant program has helped enrich the worship of various communities for many years and is currently in its fifth year of awarding grants specifically to teacher-scholars who connect worship with other disciplines.

In 2018, the Center for Christian Music Studies was invited to join a research initiative, funded by a Lilly Grant, to examine the religious lives of youth across the United States. The church music program designed a grant project surrounding Worship Lab, the annual training camp

In September (13th – 21st) 2022, the Drs. Bradley, Ingalls, Monteiro, Laube and Baker traveled to Nigeria. The group first stayed overnight in Lagos at a Baptist Guest House operated by the Nigerian Baptist Convention and enjoyed getting to know

In Spring of 2022, Drs. Bradley, Ingalls, and Monteiro traveled to Recife, Brazil, with the purpose of exploring possible partnerships in teaching and research with both the North Brazil Baptist Theological Seminary (STBNB) and the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE).

WACO, Texas (Jan. 17, 2019) – Baylor University’s Center for Christian Music Studies in the Baylor School of Music has been awarded a four-year $1.2 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of its Strengthening Congregational Ministries with Youth Initiative.