Worship Arts July August September 2022

Meet our new Executive Director!

D ear Friends, I am thrilled to intro duce Camisha Chambers as the new Executive Director of The Fellowship of United Method ists in Music and Worship Arts! Your Fellowship Board is excited to work together with her as we

munity initiatives, and her program initiatives have touched the lives of over 50,000 individuals combined. Currently, she is Associate Pastor at the United Methodist Church and Community Development for All People in Columbus, OH. She is also in the Doctor of Ministry program at United Theological Seminary, focusing on “Spiritual Cultivation and Trauma Heal ing Through Music Therapy” in places of worship and community settings. Lastly, Camisha proudly served as Board President & CEO for IV-CHARIS, a 22-year-old parachurch non-profit located in Cincinnati, OH. Camisha is very career-, goal-, and

From the President Nancy Farrington

journey forward in our mis sion to assist worship leaders in creating meaningful worship experiences. I want to especially thank our interview team, Jacqueline Thompson, Kevin Presley, Brittney Stephan, and Stephen Mitchell, for the time, prayer and discernment they gave to the search process. Camisha Chambers earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University, Oxford, OH, and her Master of Science in Organizational Leadership from Mount St. Joseph University. Additionally, she holds a PROSCI Change Management Designation. Camisha is well-versed in strategic planning, mobilization, change management, organizational development/branding, and networking/relationship building. She is respon sible for multiple local, regional, and statewide com- We as a Fellowship have much to celebrate! As you have seen above, Camisha Chambers has accepted an invitation to be our new executive director. She brings a multidude of gifts to her new job and is excited to be in ministry with us, as we are with her. Welcome, Camisha! We celebrate the ten years that Carla Swank Fox served in many leadership roles, not the least of which was editor of WorshipArts . Read the glowing tributes on pages 28 and 29. We also celebrate the many years Joy Lamb has served on this committee as she completes her latest term. Thank you, Joy, for an exceptional job! It’s clearly a time of transition for The Fellowship. As we look to the future, this is a good time to look back. Summer 2022 marks the 66th anniversary of the signing of the charter of the National Fellowship of Methodist

task-oriented and takes im mense pride in delivering high-quality programming. She understands the value, strength, and impact music and worship arts have on an individual’s life and church experience. To that end, Cami sha comes with the hope of assist

ing clergy, laity, and worship leaders to recognize and engage with The Fellowship as the clearinghouse for the United Methodist denomination that is designed to transform the world through worship.

F R O M T H E E D I T O R I A L C O M M I T T E E

Musicians (NaFOMM), our founding organization. It is also the 43rd anniversary of the expansion of The Fel lowship’s areas of interest to worship ministries outside music. While these are not traditional milestones (anni versarties ending in zero or five), they are significant, so we are celebrating our past by assembling eight inspiring WorshipArts articles, gleaned from our last 10 years, that encompass most of our many areas of interest. Reaching farther back, as a special feature, on page 34 we have concluded the issue with one of our favorite celebrative pieces: Roger Deschner’s “A gift of music,” which he presented at The Fellowship’s Convocation in 1991 and was printed in our fall magazine that year. We hope all of our content will be helpful to your worship design leaders as you dream and plan for the next program year. And we celebrate that the Holy Spirit is leading the way!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4 July-August-September 2022 • WorshipArts • umfellowship.org