Marlene Kropf
Marlene Kropf (Elkhart, Indiana), longtime Minister of Worship for Mennonite Church USA and Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Worship for the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), served on the Worship Committee and the Hymnal Council for Hymnal: A Worship Book. She also regularly leads the popular Advent and Lent Planners at AMBS, in which pastors and worship and music leaders are introduced to church-wide worship resources.
Ken Nafziger
Ken Nafziger (Harrisonburg, Virginia) is Professor of Music at Eastern Mennonite University. He also serves as artistic director and conductor of the annual Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival (Harrisonburg, Va.), and of the chamber choirs Musica Viva (in Winchester, Va.) and Voce (in Reston, Va.) He was music editor of Hymnal: A Worship Book (1992), editor of its accompaniment handbook, and assistant to the editor of Sing the Journey (2005) and Sing the Story (2007). He is active in the United States and Canada as a guest conductor, workshop leader and clinician. He co-authored Singing, a Mennonite Voice (2001).
Marilyn Houser Hamm
Marilyn Houser Hamm was chairperson of the Music Committee for Hymnal Worship Book, and has been a committee member for the Sing the Journey and Sing the Story supplements. She is the former Director of Worship & Spirituality for Mennonite Church Canada, and is actively engaged in resourcing the wider church in music and worship as leader, clinician, performer, composer, and arranger.
Ted Swartz
Ted Swartz (Harrisonburg, Virginia) is a writer and actor who has been mucking around in the worlds of the sacred and profane for over 20 years. He is the creator or co-creator of over a dozen plays, including FishEyes, Creation Chronicles, DoveTale, What Would LLoyd Do?, with Trent Wagler, Tattered and Worn and Just Give 'em the News, with Jeff Raught, I’d Like to Buy an Enemy, Excellent Trouble with Ingrid DeSanctis, Live at Jacob’s Ladder, and others. Ted is a theologian of a different sort. Both theater and seminary trained, he has found a unique and entertaining discovery; at the intersection of humor and biblical story is often a greater understanding of the text. Or, at the very least, a different understanding.
Allan Rudy-Froese
Allan Rudy-Froese loves teaching, preaching, and listening to words. This last summer, Allan and his family—wife Marilyn and children Benjamin, Jacob, and Abby—moved from Kitchener, Ontario to Goshen, Indiana so that Allan could accept the call to be Assistant Professor of Christian Proclamation at AMBS. A frequent speaker, workshop leader, and worship planner at Canadian Mennonite University’s Refreshing Winds and MCCanada events, Allan is looking forward his rookie year at the Music and Worship Leaders Retreat.