Jubilee College of Music students attended the 2013 Church Music Workshop North at Trinity Church in Livermore, California.  JCM Dean, Dr. Merril Smoak was one of the main leaders in planning and coordinating this annual event.  Over 350 people from the San Francisco Bay area received training in various aspects of worship and church music at the annual workshops.           

The key worship leader for the workshop was Scott Wesley Brown.  Brown was a major figure in the contemporary praise & worship movement that began in the mid 1970’s and continues today.  He led in a time of worship and spoke about what it means to give glory to God.

Some of the courses at the event included "Worship Songwriting - The Anatomy of A Song, Song Sharing and Evaluations," "Contemporary Worship Leading - Planning a Contemporary Worship Service," "Children's Music - How to Prepare for a special Children's Music Ministry Program," "Praise Team Vocals - Using Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm to Grow Your Vocal Sound," "Media Visual Arts - An exploration of media equipment," and "Sound Techs - Mixing for Worship."

"It was a good opportunity to share our ideas and experience about worship and music with other students and musicians from different areas," said Miriam Zhu, an Olivet student who attended the workshop.              

The Workshop was held at Trinity Church where Dr. Smoak has served as Associate Pastor of Music & Worship for 35 years.  The 2014 Workshop is scheduled for the last Saturday in January.

Check out more Olivet University music news at Jubilee's blog: http://olivetjubileemusic.com/