East TN
Worship Summit
Saturday, August 5, 2023
First Baptist, Seymour
11621 Chapman Hwy
Seymour, TN 37865
Conference Leaders
Mark Blair
Track: Worship Leaders/Ministers of Music
Mark Blair has been the Minister of Music at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, TN, since 2007 and has served in full-time music ministry since 1985. He grew up in Hixson, TN and was encouraged at an early age to use his love of music in the church. Originally planning to be a band director, he still carries a love for high school bands and all things Drum Corps International. He directed his first church choir when he was in 7th grade, the “Young Musicians” at Memorial Baptist Church and continued to work with children’s choirs at Hixson FBC during high school. Encouraged by his musical and spiritual mentors he went on to earn a BS in Music Education from UT Knoxville and UT Chattanooga. Feeling a call to ministry, he joined the staff of Central Baptist, Hixson while in college and then full-time upon graduation. Mark has used his love of worship music, pageantry, and the theatrical and performing arts to build diverse musical ministries. Bellevue’s music ministry involves choirs for all ages, orchestra, contemporary bands, theatrical productions, an in-house recording studio and also has a School of Performing Arts offering private instruction along with a Homeschool Children’s choir, a Homeschool Middle and High School choir, and a Ballet studio. He has been married to Mardi since 1986. They have a daughter, Kristen, (Brandon Davis), two grandchildren, a son, Hunter Blair (Amanda), and three dogs.
Dr. Tony Cooper
Track: Worship Bands/Worship Teams
Opening Worship Gathering: Speaker
Tony is the Associate Professor for Worship Studies and Director of the Center for Worship at Union University. Starting with his youth group in Oklahoma when he was 15, Tony has been leading worship for the previous 30 years at churches in OK, MS, and NC. "Being a worship pastor is not just about facilitating worship each Sunday, it's also about making sure your team members lead lives of personal worship too."
Tony is married to his high school sweetheart, Jennifer. They have two children, Jace (senior-University of Oklahoma) and Mackenzie (freshman-Union University).
He double majored in Theology and in Missions at Randall University and spent numerous undergrad hours at the University of Central Oklahoma studying piano and trombone performance. He completed a Masters in Music and Worship and the Doctor of Worship Studies from Liberty University.
Matt Tullos
Track: Creativity in Worship
Matt Tullos has been writing dramatic, devotionals, sermons, videos, poems and humor since 1985. He is a monthly humor writer for Homelife.
He has served Southern Baptists as editor, teacher, consultant, specialist and coach at LifeWay, the Louisiana Baptist Convention and presently the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
Matt has been married to Darlene Tullos since 1986. They have written and performed dramatic vignettes for Fall Festivals of Marriage, The Southern Baptist Convention, Sunday School Weeks, The Drama in Worship Conference, and Winter Youth Celebration. They are the parents of four sons: Isaac, Jacob, Nathan, and Caleb.
He loves Jesus.
Tim Paul
Track: Pianists/Keyboardists
Tim is a passionate follower of Christ who also happens to be a musician, arranger, composer, and orchestrator. Tim attended the University of TN where he studied Music Performance in Jazz as well as Music Education, earning undergraduate and Master’s degrees. Tim served as Director of Bands at Clinton HS for 12 years before being called to the ministry. He currently serves at First Baptist, Concord in Knoxville. Tim has arranged and orchestrated for several Christian music publishers such as WORD, Brentwood-Benson, Semsen Music, Praisecharts and Discover Worship. He has also been blessed to work with several Christian artists including TaRanda Greene, Al Denson, Tiffany Coburn, Jennie Lee Riddle and many others.
Austin Clark
Track: Choirs (Directors and Members)
Opening Worship Gathering: Worship Leader
Austin Clark is the Worship and Missions Pastor at Seymour First Baptist Church, where he has served since January 2021. Austin has a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Union University ('08) and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from The University of Southern Mississippi ('10). After grad school, Austin felt a call into ministry and since then has served churches in Southern Illinois, West Tennessee, and now East Tennessee. Austin is married to Leah, who is currently pursuing a Masters in Arts in Counseling at Johnson University. They have 3 active kids, Elisha, Everett, and Norah.
Katheron Latham
Track: Children's Choir
Katheron Latham has been the Children’s Worship Arts Coordinator at Bayside Baptist Church in the Chattanooga, TN area for 25 years. She is also the full time Choral/Piano Teacher at Chattanooga Central High School. Katheron has been teaching through her private piano/voice studio, local schools, and churches for 34 years. Katheron has a passion for teaching and has shared this passion through writing curriculum for Lifeway and leading various workshops throughout the Southeast. Katheron also believes children’s worship arts are tools that lead children to have a personal relationship with Christ and to live for Him daily. Katheron received her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and her Master of Arts degree in Choral Music Education from the University of Alabama. She and her husband Chad, married 31 years, have 3 children: son Logan, married to Yahna, grandchild Elliott, son, Riley 25, and daughter, Sarah Katheron, 18.
Roger Britton
Track: Bi-Vocational Worship Leader
Roger and Kathy (Howard) Britton have been married for almost 44 years. Roger & Kathy began their ministry at First Baptist, Austinville (Decatur, AL) as children's pastor and bus ministry pastor. After graduating college, God led Roger to music ministry for 15 years and the last almost 27 years Roger has been pastor at White's Creek, Rockwood, TN. Roger & Kathy have two children (Kacie Britton Hicks & Cody Britton) and two grandchildren (Cameron & Kinley Hicks). God has always been faithful to the Britton's in their ministry. For the last two years God has led Roger in his role as Bivocational Ministry Specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (TBMB) where God is using Roger and Kathy to encourage other Bivocational minister's and wives across the state of Tennessee..
Scott Williams
Track: Audio-Visual
Scott is in his 15th year as the Worship Pastor (the last 3 also as the Executive Pastor) at First Baptist Church, Lenoir City. He is a graduate of Carson-Newman University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with continued course work at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Berkley College of Music, and Liberty University. With a passion for audio and tech, Scott has worked behind the audio desk in houses of worship, theaters, and studios. While serving churches in Tennessee and Texas, he has assisted theaters, schools, and churches with technology design and, for more than 30 years, worked behind the scenes helping train technology volunteers.
Sponsors
Special thanks to
Getty Music and Carson-Newman University’s Ball Institute for Church Music for their generous support of the East TN Regional Worship Summit.