St. Olaf Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts
July 19 – 23, 2010
"The News and The Good News"
The theme of the 2010 St. Olaf Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts (CWTA) is "The News and The Good News." We will explore how media and the arts further (or hinder) the church's work.
Pastors, church musicians, artists and lay leaders from all denominations and any size congregation participate in CWTA. They experience and apply the concepts introduced at the conference through conference sessions and worship services. These daily services refresh and inspire those who are leaders in their home congregations. The services use the lectionary for specific Sundays in the upcoming church year, serving as an inspiring model to use in participants' home churches.
As a community of learners, the conference faculty and the participants foster spiritual renewal and affirm vocation. Participants develop personal and professional networks to call upon for support, expertise and counsel.
Registration brochures will be mailed in early January 2010. If you have been a conference participant during the past six years, you will automatically be on the mailing list. To request a brochure, contact the Church Relations Office at the phone number on the left or e-mail the office. Online registration will begin in early January 2010.
As information on faculty members, topics and titles become available, this web site will be updated.
Worship services are open to the public in Boe Memorial Chapel: 1:30 p.m. on Monday; 8:15 a.m. on Tue., Wed. and Thurs; and 10:45 a.m. on Friday.
The Choir Connection
July 19 – 23, 2010
Youth and teen singers, rising grades 4th through 12th, are invited to participate in the Choir Connection, a weeklong program of song, music education, Bible study and recreation. Kenney Potter will conduct the Teen Choir and Heather Williams Potter will conduct the Youth Choir.
A College of the Church
As a college of the church, St. Olaf seeks not only to develop its own students in mind, body and spirit, but also to support in vital ways the church at large in its mission of bearing witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts grows out of this larger sense of the college’s mission, offering spiritual nurture and professional growth for persons engaged in congregational ministry, especially those who lead and enable worship. The conference provides a supportive forum for enhancing theological understanding and pastoral skills in worship, church music and the arts.
For information on earlier conferences, please visit this link.
Comments from 2008 Participants
"Worship is the very best part of the conference."
"My fellow attendees asked good questions ... they truly wanted answers."
"John Ferguson is accomplished, confident, and has a great sense of humor ... a privilege to study with him."
"The silent movie was
sublime fun."
"I loved the clarity and enthusiasm of Jill Mahr ... a great teacher."
"Dave Hagedorn was relaxed, informative, experienced, and I had fun with drumming."
"I can't wait to try this myself."
"Inspiring, especially Aspaas -- just what I needed."
"What a blessing for Judy Swanson and Bruce Benson to talk about visualizing worship through art."
"Mel Bringle's in-depth seminar was excellent, fun and theologically deep"
"Bradley Welch is a rising star ... bring him back!"
Mary Albing
Tuesday and Wednesday
Mary Albing taught homiletics for two years at Luther Seminary. She has published a number of parish education materials for the ELCA and the book Called Into Ministry. She is a pastor of the ELCA, ordained for word and sacrament ministry in 1988. She has served parishes in eastern North Dakota and Minneapolis, and as a chaplain and Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisory candidate at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. Mary currently serves Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer in southwest Minneapolis, a congregation devoted to worship and social justice. Visit her church web site at lccronpenn.org.
Randy Engle
Thursday and Friday
Randall Engle is the Pastor of the North Hills Christian Reformed Church of Troy, Michigan. After graduating from Calvin College and Seminary, he was the first-ever ordained minister of Music in the Christian Reformed Church, a position he held at the Calvary Christian Reformed Church of Bloomington, MN. After moving to Michigan he received a Ph.D. from Oxford where he researched the organ controversy in the Netherlands during the Reformation. His current project is a book entitled Sound Theology, an examination of protestant conceptions of sound, and how sound (instrumental, choral, spoken) could best be used, or not used, in worship. Engle is President-elect of the Choristers Guild. Visit his church web site at northhillscrc.org.
