Our Director of Music
Our Director of Music, Judith Sullivan, who joined us in 2022, lives in Cookeville, where she retired in August 2022 from the School of Music faculty at Tennessee Tech University. There her focus was music teacher education, along with music in the general education classroom, music in the early childhood and special education classrooms, music appreciation, and ear training skills for music majors.
In addition to the piano and organ, Judith plays harp, ukulele, guitar, mountain dulcimer, and recorder.
She has been playing piano from the age of six and began serving the Church through music at the age of seven. Her professional service to churches began in 1981. She has served as a singer, choral director, pianist, and organist for several denominations.
Her post-secondary education consists of a Bachelor of Music in Choral Music Education from Michigan State University; a Master of Music in Music Education, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education, both from the University of Kentucky.
Music Program
The music program includes a choir and occasional guest musicians, as well as a most enthusiastically singing congregation, enjoying a wide variety of musical styles. The church provides an excellent acoustical setting for all these groups as well as for three high-quality instruments: piano, organ, and carillon.
Concert Series
Our Diana Riggs Concert Series honors our late Director of Music, Diana Riggs, who brought vitality to this series which features guest artists who perform in a variety of genres, as well as artists from our own community.
Visual Arts
Our community includes gifted visual artists whose work is featured in occasional exhibits.
Our Pastor, Joylynn Graham, creates “fluid art paintings.” She experiences art as a spiritual practice, as she says in her Artist’s Statement: “Art can be quite pleasing to the eye, but it can also be a healing balm to the soul . . . .”
