Polyphony is an organization that aims to foster a thriving community of church musicians, offering them encouragement, support, and resources. Recently I attended the annual Polyphony Music Conference in Nashville with a group of 80 other church music directors and church musicians from across the country.  It was just what I needed. The excellent workshops, concerts, music reading sessions and times of creative worship all fed my soul and enriched my professional development.  But the real benefit was the opportunity to form new friendships with other ministers of music and enjoy times of fellowship and rich conversation that provided a real sense of community and encouragement that I have been craving.  I want to thank Ardmore for allowing me the opportunity to attend this incredible conference.  It was such a blessing and just what I needed.  I returned feeling refreshed, renewed, nourished, and energized.   

This past year I was also invited to be part of a cohort of a select group of church musicians to participate in a Polyphony “Culture of Call” initiative.  The purpose of the cohort is to explore how to develop new approaches to identify and nurture those who demonstrate the gifts and attributes to serve the church through music ministry. Our first meeting was at Gardner Webb this past fall.  We will continue to meet during this year through zoom and in-person meetings to address the calling, challenges, and decline of future church music leadership.  It will be interesting to see what develops as the cohort questions and ponders these issues and explores ways to encourage the calling and nurturing of our young future church music leaders. I hope to share more about this project throughout the year. Again, thank you for allowing me to be part of these experiences with Polyphony!

— Rev. David Fitzgerald