Fellowship National Council:

David Bone, is the Executive Director of The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts. He works with the national council to manage the program and financial affairs of The Fellowship. David has served in this capacity since 1991. In addition to this full-time position, David is the co-author of “The United Methodist Music and Worship Planner” and “Prepare! A Weekly Worship Planbook.” David holds Master of Music degrees in Sacred Music and Choral Conducting from Southern Methodist University. David is a regular clinician at local and national events in the areas of music, worship, and choral conducting.

 

Kevin Bogan, President, is in his fourth year as the Director of Traditional/Blended Music at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, one of the fastest growing United Methodist congregations in the country. He has also served United Methodist Churches in Florida and Arkansas. He was the Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Boca Raton, Florida for eleven years. Kevin has been very active in the Fellowship serving as a district representative in the Florida Chapter, dean of the Youth Workshop for the Annual Church Music Workshop in Florida and as a frequent clinician at district and national events. Kevin was the design team chairman for the 50th anniversary national Fellowship convocation held in San Francisco, California.

 

J. Thomas Taylor, President-Elect, is serving his 32st year as Director of Music Ministries at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Allison Park, PA, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh, where he designs worship and directs and oversees a program of 12 singing, ringing, instrumental and drama groups. Tom earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Edinboro State and his Master’s Degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He has served the Fellowship in many capacities at the local and jurisdictional level, including as President of the Western PA chapter and on the design team for several NEJ events. He recently completed a term as Dean of the Pittsburgh Chapter of AGO and has served as clinician and guest director of numerous workshops and festival choirs. Under his direction, St. Paul’s choirs have appeared at Heinz Hall and Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and have been featured with the North Pittsburgh Philharmonic Orchestra; St. Paul’s Madrigal Singers have performed at local and national events.

 

Danton Bankay, Chair, Multi-cultural Committee, is fast approaching his 30th year as a church musician having served as far away as his homeland in Trinidad and now in Massapequa, NY. He has traveled a great deal all over the United States with different boards and agencies of the United Methodist Church working as a worship and music consultant for their national events, and has toured Europe, Canada and the Caribbean both as a soloist and as part of different choral groups.

 

 

 

Laura Jaquith Bartlett, Chair, Chapter Coordinating Committee, Laura is a deacon in full connection who has served in music ministry in several different churches in the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference. Laura has a passion for planning and leading worship, finding ways to empower God's people to sing out their faith. Laura has filled a variety of leadership roles in the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, including chairing the Order of Deacons and serving as Conference Secretary. She has also been involved in camp and retreat ministry, helping to staff the conference's annual Choir Camp for most of its 20-year history. Her writing has appeared in a number of publications; Laura has just finished up a stint on the editorial board of Church Music Workshop. Laura and her spouse, Todd, an ordained elder, have two daughters. They enjoy hiking, canoeing, and Scandinavian folk dancing.

 

 

Rosalie Bent Branigan, Chair, Worship Arts Interest Areas, is a certified director of music, specializing in dance and the worship arts. As a freelance clinician, she has taught and choreographed liturgical dances for the past 30 years, and she has directed UMC dance choirs in California, Louisiana and New Mexico. Past Fellowship involvement includes serving as vice president, convocation chair and jurisdictional representative, and currently she is a Worship Arts columnist. She authored the chapter on dance in Worship Matters: A United Methodist Guide to Worship. Rosalie received the Fellowship’s Roger Deschner Award in 2003. She resides in Placitas, NM, and plans to relocate to Port Townsend, WA in 2008.

 

 

Diana Sanchez-Bushong, Chair, Music Interest Areas, is the Director of Music and Worship at Westlake UMC in Austin, Texas. She is the former Director of Church Music Resources for the Section on Worship of the General Board of Discipleship. She was a consultant to the Hymnal Revision Committee, a consultant to Mil Voces, and a staff member for The United Methodist Book of Worship Committee and has aided the development of a number of other resources now in use in the UM church. She will be serving as the Music Area Coordinator on the National Council.

 

 

 

Nancy Farrington, Recording Secretary, is a music director at Stevensville United Methodist Church, Stevensville Michigan where she directs two adult handbell choirs, the preK-2nd grade choir, accompanies the youth choir and co-directs the adult choir and the praise team. Nancy grew up attending Fellowship convocations as a child with her family. She has been a member of FUMMWA since 1994. She served on the design team for the 2003 National Convocation in Dearborn. Nancy holds Bachelor’s Degree in Music Therapy from Michigan State University, and has worked as a music therapist in Rochester, Minnesota and in southwestern Michigan. She currently lives in Stevensville with her husband Mike and two children.

 

 

William Shortal, Immediate Past-President, is in his 18th year as Director of Music and Worship Arts at First United Methodist Church of Orlando, Florida. He directs 8 ensembles and administrates a comprehensive program of vocal and instrumental music, dance and drama. He is a B. of Music Ed. graduate of Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois, and holds a M. of Music in Choral Conducting degree from the University of Illinois,. He has served The Fellowship as National President and Vice-President and Florida Chapter President.

 

 

 

Frank Shroyer, Chair, Events Committee, began his church music career as an organist while a high school student in his native West Virginia. He is currently in his thirteenth year as Director of Music Ministries at University United Methodist Church in Fort Worth, following a nine-year tenure at Canterbury United Methodist Church in Houston.

Frank has been an active member of The Fellowship in both the Texas and North Texas Annual Conferences. He has attended and assisted with local, jurisdictional and national meetings and convocations of The Fellowship for the past eighteen years. He served as a planner and clinician for “Together We Serve,” an event sponsored by The Fellowship in Oklahoma City in July 2004. Prior to his present position as Events Committee chair, , he served as South Central Representative to the National Council. He is on the Board of Directors of the Texas Conference Choir Clinic and currently serving as Dean Elect.

Beyond the United Methodist Church, Frank has been active in other church and music related organizations such as the Dallas Chapter Choristers Guild having served in various positions including president and chair for two years of the Dallas Chapter Mid-Winter Workshop. He was the meeting planner for the 2003 Summer Seminar in Grand Rapids sponsored by the national office of Choristers Guild. He was part of a group that rejuvenated the Houston Chapter Choristers Guild some years ago. He is a member of AGEHR and completed a three-year term on the Greater Dallas Handbell Association where he served as chair of their Winter Festivals for two years.

Frank is a graduate of Fairmont State College in Fairmont, WV, with degrees in choral music and theatre and a M.A. in Theatre in directing from West Virginia University. His career path took him to New York City for some years where he was affiliated with Columbia Artists Management, Inc. and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Towers before a move to Texas brought him back into the world of church music and worship arts.

 

 

Wes Ward, Chair, Financial Advisory Committee, is presently co-director of music with his wife, Betsy, and organist at Trinity United Methodist Church in North Myrtle Beach, SC. Before moving to North Myrtle Beach, the Wards were the directors of music and organist at the First Presbyterian Church in Lumberton, North Carolina for twenty-four years where they directed seven choirs. Wes was treasurer of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians (PAM) from 2002-2004. He is a graduate of St. Andrews Presbyterian College with a B.A. in business and a B.M. in church music with emphasis in organ and choral conducting. Also, he completed his M.B.A. degree from Wake Forest University. Wes and Betsy have two sons and daughters-in-law, Jay and Kimberly Ward of Winston-Salem, NC, and Mack and Michelle Ward of Greenville, SC, and a new granddaughter, Gracie Ward. The Wards enjoy traveling and taking groups to Europe each summer.

 

 

Dave Wiltse, Worship Arts Editor, has served as Graphic Arts Director of the West Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church since 1977. In this position he is responsible for design and production of interpretive materials for the conference. He joined The Fellowship in 1979, has been secretary and president of the West Michigan chapter, and has been on the design team of many NCJ convocations. In 1985 he was named to the publications board of the national Fellowship and became graphics editor for News Notes (now Worship Arts), the Fellowship’s magazine. In 1991 he assumed the position of editor.

Dave is an active member of Aldersgate UMC in Grand Rapids, MI.

Dave is married to Marjorie, a teacher of private piano. They have a son, Rick, and a daughter and son-in-law, Lyn and Dan Jameyson, who are parents of Ronan.