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Mary Nelson Keithahn

b. 1934 Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10 Author of "A Mother Lined a Basket" in Time Now to Gather Mary Nelson Keithahn, a retired United Church of Christ ordained pastor and church educator, has been a curriculum writer-editor, journalist, and lyricist for musical dramas and anthems. She still works out of her home in Rapid City, South Dakota, as a free-lance writer. In 2016 she published Elfie: Adventures on the Midwest Frontier, a chapter book for children, and Embracing the Light: Reflectioins on God’s Holy Word, a collection of meditations for individual or small group use. Augsburg Fortress also published Sing the Stories of God’s NEW People, the third in a trilogy of Bible story-based collections of songs for young children, written with her longtime colleague, John D. Horman. The two have written over a hundred hymns together, some of which are included in these hymnals and supplements: Community of Christ Sings, God’s Mission, God’s Song, Hymns of Heritage and Hope, Lift Up Your Hearts, Sing Justice! Do Justice, Sing the Faith, Singing Our Savior’s Story, Singing the New Testament, The Faith We Sing, Upper Room Worshipbook, Voices Found, Voices United, and Worship and Song. They have also published four collections of their hymns: Come Away with Me and Time Now to Gather (Abingdon, 1998), The Song Lingers On (Zimbel, 2003), and Faith That Lets Us Sing (Wayne Leupold Editions, 2017). Mary is a Life Member and former board member of Choristers Guild and a Life Member of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. She is also a member of ASCAP. In 2006 she received a Distinguished Achievement Award from her alma mater, Carleton College in Northfield, MN, in recognition of her work in composing text for religious music. Mary was married to the Rev. Richard K. Keithahn, a U.C.C. pastor, and widowed in 1986. She has three children, eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. --mnk

John D. Horman

b. 1946 Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10 Composer of "WEST MAIN" in Time Now to Gather

Paul Leddington Wright

b. 1951 Person Name: Paul Leddington Wright, b. 1951 Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10 Arranger of "HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD" in Singing the Faith

John L. Bell

b. 1949 Scripture: Exodus 1:8-22 Author of "There Is a Line of Women" in Voices Together John Bell (b. 1949) was born in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, intending to be a music teacher when he felt the call to the ministry. But in frustration with his classes, he did volunteer work in a deprived neighborhood in London for a time and also served for two years as an associate pastor at the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam. After graduating he worked for five years as a youth pastor for the Church of Scotland, serving a large region that included about 500 churches. He then took a similar position with the Iona Community, and with his colleague Graham Maule, began to broaden the youth ministry to focus on renewal of the church’s worship. His approach soon turned to composing songs within the identifiable traditions of hymnody that began to address concerns missing from the current Scottish hymnal: "I discovered that seldom did our hymns represent the plight of poor people to God. There was nothing that dealt with unemployment, nothing that dealt with living in a multicultural society and feeling disenfranchised. There was nothing about child abuse…,that reflected concern for the developing world, nothing that helped see ourselves as brothers and sisters to those who are suffering from poverty or persecution." [from an interview in Reformed Worship (March 1993)] That concern not only led to writing many songs, but increasingly to introducing them internationally in many conferences, while also gathering songs from around the world. He was convener for the fourth edition of the Church of Scotland’s Church Hymnary (2005), a very different collection from the previous 1973 edition. His books, The Singing Thing and The Singing Thing Too, as well as the many collections of songs and worship resources produced by John Bell—some together with other members of the Iona Community’s “Wild Goose Resource Group,” —are available in North America from GIA Publications. Emily Brink

Charlene Nafziger

Scripture: Exodus 1:8-22 Composer of "CLIMBING VINE" in Voices Together

Carol Greene

Scripture: Exodus 2 Author of "Moses" in Songs for Life

Troy Nilsson

Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10 Author of "God's Story" in Sing With Me

Genie Nilsson

Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10 Author of "God's Story" in Sing With Me

Mary Bittner

1938 - 2007 Person Name: Mary R. Bittner Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10 Author of "Miriam's Waiting by the River" in Water from the Rock Mary Bittner was a native of Pennsylvania and received a B.S. in music education from Penn State University. She taught piano, organ, clarinet, and school music, and also served as music director and/or organist in Baptist, United Methodist, and Presbyterian churches and a U.S. Air Force Base Protestant chapel. In 1991 she became organist at Knox Presbyterian Church in Naperville, IL. She was an active member of the Naperville chapter of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association, and honored as Member of the year in 1998. She also participated in recitals and activities of the Fox Valley chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She began writing hymns in 1990 while enrolled in a church music degree program at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She received her Master of Theological Studies in church music in 1993, the same year she began attending hymn writing workshops and conferences of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. Mary died from cancer in 2007. Source: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?pid=93934328