Lower East TN Worship Summit
Saturday, August 6, 2022
Dallas Bay Church
8305 Daisy Dallas Road
Hixson, TN 37343
Conference Leaders
Dr. Will Whittaker
Track: Worship Leaders/Ministers of Music
Dr. Will Whittaker is Minister of Music at Ivy Creek Baptist in Buford, GA where he leads a multi-faceted, intergenerational music ministry. He holds both the BME and MME with emphases in voice and choral conducting from Auburn University and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Church Music with specializations in worship and hymnology from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where his dissertation research focused on choral ministries in intergenerational churches. Beyond his local church ministry, Will is a frequent teacher and clinician at worship conferences throughout America and has been an adjunct Professor of Church Music at Truett McConnell University in Cleveland, GA. He is an active member in both the Baptist Church Music Conference and Metro II Music Conference. Will continues to write about his research on intergenerational worship on his blog, www.drwillwhittaker.org. Will and his wife, Deanna, have three sons.
Dr. Zeb Balentine
Track: Worship Bands/Worship Teams
Worship professor for Bryan College (Dayton, TN) and Liberty University (Lynchburg, VA). He has been in worship ministry for over 15 years in Arkansas and Tennessee. He has published 2 books on worship: The Singing Teacher: How the Worship Leader Shapes the Theology of the Church and Worship Vitals: Signs of a Healthy Worship Culture. He and his wife, Michelle live in Dayton, TN with their 3 children.
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.
Dennis Allen
Track: Pianists/Keyboardists
Dennis has served in church music ministry positions in four different states. He and his wife, Nan, have also written hundreds of compositions for children, students and adults in a writing career spanning forty years. They are three-time winners of the GMA Dove Award for their projects and their musicals, collections, orchestrations, dramatic works and individual songs have sold well over three million copies worldwide. Dennis was also a Associate Professor of Worship and Church Music at Truett McConnell University for seven years. He is currently a music associate at Judson Baptist Church in Nashville, playing keyboard in worship services and accompanying the orchestra.
Dr. Brandon Hollihan
Track: Choirs (Directors and Members)
Dr. Brandon Hollihan serves at Assistant Professor Music and Director of Choral Activities at Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee. He is also the music director for First United Methodist Church Jefferson City, and has over 16 years of experience as a church musician. Dr. Hollihan also has substantial experience as a teacher, having taught in Columbus City Schools (Ohio) and also at Indiana University-South Bend and Bethel University. Dr. Hollihan earned his BA and DMA from the University of Notre Dame and has dual Master's degrees in voice and conducting from The Ohio State University. He and his wife, pianist Dr. Junghwa Lee, reside in Knoxville.
Pam Andrews
Track: Children's Choir
Originally from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, music has been a life-long activity for Pam Andrews. She has written and produced over 70 children’s choir musicals and has written over 700 songs for children working with various publishers in the Christian music field. She now has her own publishing company, Pam Andrews Music. Pam also serves as an adjunct professor at Welch College and teaches piano. Pam has been nominated for several Dove Awards for her children’s musicals and was recently chosen by the Grammy Foundation as Top Ten Music Teacher in the United States and Music Teacher of the Year by the Country Music Association. Pam is married to David Andrews and they have two children and four grandchildren.
Logan Latham
Track: Audio-Visual
Logan Latham is the Media Production Coordinator at Dallas Bay Baptist Church. He specializes in multi camera video production and live audio production. He has a bachelor's degree in Studio Production from Lee University and an associate's degree in Mass Communication from Chattanooga State. He has been in Church Production for almost 10 years and has done everything from new system installs to production director.
Dr. Scott Shepherd
Speaker: Opening Worship
Scott serves as Worship and Music Specialist with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. An active educator, worship leader, composer, and conductor, Scott received his education at Shorter University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Webber Institute for Worship Studies. He directs the Tennessee Men’s Chorale and Tennessee Ladies Chorus and served for three years on the adjunct faculty at Union University. Recently, he served as an interim pastor and an interim pianist…but not at the same time. His family of six (The Shepherd Family) were active worship leaders and performers for several years. Scott is married to his college sweetheart, Traci, and they live in a little, West Tennessee town named Henry, just outside Paris. Together they have four children: Jordan, Iris, Gideon, and Grace.
Luke Littrell
Worship Leader: Opening Worship
Follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Blair Littrell, and Father to Madilyn Grace Littrell. Worship Pastor of Dallas Bay Church in Hixson TN. 2014 Graduate of Lee University with a B.A in Music. Experience in leading contemporary and traditional worship services but most importantly leading people to Christ through music.
Campus Map
Coming soon.
Sponsors
Special thanks to
Getty Music and the Music Department of Carson Newman's University for their generous support of the Lower East TN Regional Worship Summit.