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WC08 Speakers and Artists

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 7:30 P.M.
TO MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 12:30 P.M.
Hyatt Regency O'Hare Hotel, Rosemont, Illinois

	Rory Noland is the director of Heart of the Artist Ministries, an organization dedicated to serving artists in the church. A composer, songwriter, author, and speaker, Rory is a graduate of the Chicago Musical College at Roosevelt University and served for twenty years as music director at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. He is the author of The Heart of the Artist: A Character-Building Guide For You and Your Ministry Team, Thriving as an Artist in the Church: Hope and Help For You and Your Ministry Team, and his latest book The Worshiping Artist: Equipping You and Your Ministry Team to Lead Others in Worship all published by Zondervan.
	Nichole Nordeman was raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She has won multiple GMA Dove Awards, including two awards for Female Vocalist of the Year. Some of her best-known songs include Why, This Mystery, Holy, Legacy, Brave, and What If. Nordeman writes an editorial column for CCM Magazine called Loose Ends . . . Confessions Of An Unfinished Faith. She recorded the album Brave right after giving birth to her son, Charlie. Her greatest hits album Recollection: The Best of Nichole Nordeman was released March 6, 2007.
	Stephen Kelly is the worship and arts coordinator for University Ministries (North Park University) in Chicago, Illinois. Steve and a team of NPU students will lead worship on Saturday night. Learn more about Steve Kelly and NPU worship and arts ministry.
	Matt Nightingale is a grateful child (of God), husband (to Luanne for 14 years), father (to Josh, Jake, Emily & Zachary), singer/songwriter/recording artist (www.myspace.com/mattnightingale), and musician/pastor (at Peninsula Covenant Church in Redwood City, California since 2000). Matt will be leading worship on Sunday with a team of musicians from the Pacific Southwest Conference.
	Sandra Van Opstal works as the co-director of InterVarsity's Chicago Urban Program (CUP). Sandra enjoys leading worship, including InterVarsity's Urbana Mission Convention, CHIC, and Willow Creek Association conferences. She is also passionate about raising up a generation of worship leaders in diverse worship as an expression of God's Kingdom and has led seminars in issues of diversity and justice at Wheaton College, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Willow Creek Arts Conference, and InterVarsity events. Sandra worships at New Community Covenant in Logan Square and is working towards a master's degree at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
	Amy Mark is serving the Covenant Church in Berkeley, California where she works to equip and empower the worship arts ministry at Berkeley Covenant. She is jazzed about discovering the hand prints of God on the lives of others, and is convinced that we can know God better by paying attention to those hand prints. Amy has led worship with groups of all “shapes and sizes” in a wide variety of situations. She earned an M.Div. from North Park Theological Seminary and is currently serving as the director of prayer for the FEAST 2008. Amy has recently learned to knit, and hopes to learn to work with stained glass, and to sky dive in the near future. She is pretty sure that some day she is going to live on a boat.
	Beverly Scripter is the pastor of music ministries and worship support at Salem Covenant Church in New Brighton, MN. She has her B.M. in Church Music from North Park University and her M.M. in Church Music from Westminster Choir College. Although she was raised as a Covenant pastor’s daughter, she has served churches in the United Methodist and Presbyterian traditions as well as in the Evangelical Covenant Church. Bev was ordained to specialized ministry in 2005. The music ministries at Salem include: a graded vocal program for all ages, 2 hand bell choirs, wind ensemble, brass choir, string ensemble and several worship teams. Salem offers both traditional and contemporary worship opportunities.
	Tim Peterson is the creative arts director at Crossroads Covenant Church in Loveland, Colorado, where his role includes: web design, worship planning, music, video production, and technical direction of worship services. Before Crossroads, Tim served with Willow Creek Community Church and was part of the College Life planning Team at North Park University. Tim approaches worship planning with a storyteller perspective, and likes to surprise the congregation with sounds and visuals that present the gospel in fresh and engaging ways. Tim is married to Janele, and they have a young son, Caden.
	Dan Johnson has the distinction of being on staff the longest at Hilmar Covenant Church: 27 years! During this time, he has developed many worship arts ministries, including choral and instrumental ensembles, a sacred dance team, visual arts, drama and full-scale musicals. His primary ministry continues in music and worship arts, but more recently, as he has been challenged and grown in his understanding of what it means to follow Jesus, he has taken on leadership in the areas of prayer, congregational care, global missions, and the Persecuted Church. Dan is glad to know that he is not too old to learn new things! And he is grateful that Hilmar Covenant has also been flexible enough to encourage him in his new ministry responsibilities.