Furthering Education - Which programs are the best?

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Permalink Reply by Andy Bartlomain on March 30, 2010 at 10:35am

I honestly have no idea as to what's out there for a master's in worship arts. Is your current degree in worship arts? I'm sure there are some great places out there that offer what you're looking for in furthering your education. Hopefully someone else will be able to chime in with some actual help. LOL. I have a bachelor's in Church Music from Valley Forge Christian College. I'm guessing if I wanted to further my education I would have to narrow the focus a little more. Like, pursuing a master's on the music side, or a master's on the theology side, but again I just don't know that there are programs that would include a wide range of church music/worship arts areas. It'll be interesting to see.

Permalink Reply by Ivy on March 30, 2010 at 12:12pm

I actually have no background at all in religion or anything related to music (other than experience in the music field). My bachelor's is in news-editorial journalism and my post-graduate work was in documentary and online news (all from WVU).

I found a few online programs, Liberty University seems to stick out the most. Hopefully I'll be able to transfer some of my post-grad credits, but I'm not really concerned about it too much.

Permalink Reply by Matt Hersee on March 30, 2010 at 1:52pm

Hey, try Frontline Music institute!

http://www.frontlinemusicinstitute.com/

Permalink Reply by Ivy on March 31, 2010 at 1:11am

This looks like an amazing program, but I can't travel with a three year old. Do you know if they have an online program?

Permalink Reply by Drew A. on March 31, 2010 at 2:04pm

I'm a residential student at Liberty University's Center for Worship, currently pursuing an MA in Worship Studies. It's an amazing program and there IS an online program. It is more on the theological and philosophical side of the field, however that will obviously be the case in any online program as you can't do a music degree thru distance learning.

http://www.liberty.edu/academics/arts-sciences/worship/index.cfm?PI...

Permalink Reply by Ivy on March 31, 2010 at 3:17pm

Thank you so much! I wish I could travel, but that's impossible with a child. I also wish we had something here, but I'm parked in the middle of nowhere.

Permalink Reply by Scott A. Gorman on July 9, 2010 at 4:27am

Hi Ivy,

As it happens, I just finished my MDiv in Worship at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA via distance education (just this past May)...and it's a GREAT program! They do also have an MA in Worship (60 credits versus the 90 credits of an MDiv). While I was there, Integrity initially taught all of the worship courses...and I really enjoyed them, but about 2 years ago, Regent and Integrity severed ties. I was REALLY skeptical at first, but they brought on David Edwards to head up the Regent University School of Worship (a work in progress in the beginning stages right now).

David has done quite a bit of recording and producing, works for Worship Leader Magazine and Worshipper Magazine, and speaks at the National Worship Leader Conferences. He's also been a worship pastor and senior pastor for a bunch of years...so he's really got some great experience and information to share! Right now, there are about 6 or 7 courses just within the worship concentration, but by the time the School of Worship gets fully up and running, I believe the goal is to have 9 or 10 courses just within the worship concentration.

Basically, you have to do 1/3 of your degree in residence at Regent University, but that is handled by "modular weeks" and internships. A "mod week" means you show up on campus for a week, take one class for 4 to 5 hours a day, and then do some writing and projects before and after the "mod week" from home. I found it very doable...I've got a wife and four daughters and was working as a worship leader since before I started the program. Essentially, I'd fly down on Sunday afternoon/evening and fly back home on Friday night/Saturday morning--didn't miss a Sunday. For the internships--especially in my case (and in yours, as it appears), I was already working as a worship leader, so I simply had to define a project that had to do with leading worship for that semester and I did it right at the church where I was already working. All internship credits are also counted as part of that 1/3 since it's "in residence" where you live. So, all in all, it's really not that bad getting that 1/3 done...it sounds like a lot, but it is pretty easy to accomplish via mod weeks. By the end of my time at Regent...it took me about 10 semesters (I only did Fall & Spring...but took Summer off)...I only went down for 8 of those semesters.

The other element I found quite helpful is the amount of personal interaction even with the distance classes. We did do a lot of discussion questions, but we also did a lot of live sessions via Horizon Wimba--it's very similar to Webex. You have the ability to talk with other students, ask questions of the professor, chat questions to anyone there, and you can raise your hand and answer yes or no to questions just like Webex. The technology is pretty amazing, and it's expanding all the time. So, just in case this is a question, I didn't really feel like I had no interaction...I felt quite the opposite!

If you're looking for information, go to http://www.regent.edu/acad/schdiv/ and poke around for a while. Also, feel free to ask me...I'm always available to answer questions. But I HIGHLY recommend the worship program at Regent...and David especially. He's putting together a GREAT program!