David Hampton
Director of Worship and Arts at Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN

In his current position as Director of Music, Worship and Arts Ministries at Christ Community Church, David supervises and coordinates all aspects of music and arts within the church.   He was instrumental in the developmentof the Worship of God Conference: a gathering of musicians, worship leaders and pastors from churches across the country to network and collaborate on how to function effectively in our roles as lead worshippers and stewards of the many artistic gifts with which God has entrusted us.

Over the years and under David's direction, the CCC Worship and Music Ministries have produced a series of CDs and songbooks of original worship songs, borne out of CCC.  He has also contributed CCC hymn arrangements to the Worship Team Hymnbook that is available for download at communityworship.com.  David also gathered various recording artists within CCC to write and perform original songs for a CD to benefit the CCC building project entitled Re:newal.  The Art of Community.

When David was a young boy, what started out as "banging" on his grandmother's piano has turned into a full-time career in music.  In his teens, David spent six summers traveling in a contemporary Christian group and began song-writing for the group.  After studying piano performance at the University of Evansville in Evansville, IN and Ball State University in Muncie, IN, David realized his passion for performance was taking a less traditional path.

After submitting music to one of the Gaither Music publishing companies in the early eighties, David was eventually signed to Ariose Music in Nashville where he was a staff writer for three years.  After moving to Nashville in 1987, he went on to write for a variety of publishers independently and eventually signed with Provident Music as a staff writer for three years. He has had his songs recorded by such artists as John Tesh, Kim Hill, Steve Green, Scott Wesley Brown, Sheila Walsh, FFH, Marshall Hall (Gather Vocal Band), Travis Cotrell, and others.  His music has been featured in children's musicals, various worship projects and choral arrangement collections.  His musical version of the hymn text "Jesus I Am Resting, Resting" has been used by numerous artists as well as part of the Beth Moore study series and live recordings.  His song for Promise Keepers, "Godly Men", hit #1 on the inspirational charts, and he also wrote a second song for Promise Keepers entitled "Brothers Keeper" which appeared on their "Breaking Down The Walls" release.  His song, "We Are the Body of Christ", is included in the latest United Methodist Hymnal.

As a keyboard player, David has worked with a number of artists including Steve Green, Michael Card, Twila Paris, Scott Wesley Brown and John Michael Talbott.  David has an instrumental release entitled, "Seasons of a Heart", an acoustic piano project of contemporary piano arrangements including hymns as well as original instrumental pieces.

David makes his home in Franklin, TN with his wife, Tricia and his daughter, Lauren.

Reggie Kidd
Professor of New Testiment, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando

A native of Florida, Reggie Kidd came to know Jesus while a freshman at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. After college, Reggie graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary twice: with the M.A. degree in 1975, and the M.Div. in 1977. He served four years at Spanish River Church (PCA) in Boca Raton, Florida, before returning to the academic world to earn a PhD. in New Testament at Duke University in Durham, NC. While studying in NC, he was involved in the worship ministry at the Chapel Hill Bible Church and eventually was called to become Pastor of Worship there.

In 1990, Reformed Theological Seminary invited Reggie to join the faculty at RTS/Orlando, where he continues to serve as a professor of New Testament. Over the past 15+ years, Reggie has served in worship ministry at the local church level in various capacities while continuing to teach full time at RTS.

Teamed with Carla Waterman, Reggie also teaches at the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies, a program offering doctoral level work for worship practitioners. Beginning with the January 2009 issue, Reggie writes a regular column for Worship Leader Magazine, entitled “One Voice.”

Reggie has authored scholarly articles and reviews, as well as the study notes on Colossians and Ephesians in The New Geneva Study Bible, the Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, and the Reformation Study Bible. His first book was an academic study of Paul’s relationship with wealthy people, Wealth and Beneficence in the Pastoral Epistles.

He wrote his second book for worship leaders, With One Voice: Discovering Christ’s Song in Our Worship. In conjunction with Third Millennium Ministries, Reggie has two DVD series on Paul: The Heart of Paul’s Theology and Paul’s Prison Epistles. A current writing project has the working title “Paul and the Virtues.”

Reggie and his wife, Shari, have lived in the Orlando area for over 18 years, where they raised three (now grown) sons. He enjoys DanceDance Revolution, samurai sword training, guitar playing, reading, and doing crossword puzzles with Shari.

Jennie Schut
Founder of Fly Forward

Jennie has a passion for reconnecting people with their God-given capacity to create. Through her own creative awakening, Jennie has discovered effective tools that are aiding others to identify and follow their God-given creative callings. She has recently synthesized these tools in a book called Waking Up Grey: An Exploration of Creative Awakening. She is also founder of Fly Forward, a company that facilitates creative awakening in God's image-bearers through educational materials, group study, retreats, leadership training and hands-on studio time, to the end that we learn to experience the creative process as a means of worship and revelation of God's glory.

Jennie’s creativity is expressed through writing, painting, drawing, speaking engagements, retreats, and raising a family of four creative daughters. Her artistic development continues through pursuit of a Fine Arts degree at Middle Tennessee State University.  Her exploration has taken her to New York and Peru, and in 2010 she plans to study art in Florence, Italy.

Jennie and her husband live in Franklin, TN, and have called Christ Community Church home for over 15 years. She has been responsible for Visual Art displays at the church and recently spearheaded the formation of a Visual Arts committee.

Randy Thomas
Worship Director, Westminister Presbyterian Church, Fort Myers

Grammy and Dove award winning songwriter Randy Thomas is best known for co-writing the crossover hit “Butterfly Kisses.”

Randy’s first #1 country song was “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That?” recorded by Dolly Parton. Since then, Hank Williams Jr., Englebert Humperdinck, Collin Raye, Ty England, The Wiggans, Highway 101, Lila McCann, Mel McDaniels, and many others have recorded his compositions.

Randy also toured for two years with Shania Twain in support of the phenomenal multi-platinum success of “The Woman in Me” CD worldwide.

In the Contemporary Christian Music field, Randy formed the band ALLIES with vocalist Bob Carlisle. They co wrote, produced, and performed together for nine years. Prior to this Randy wrote, recorded, and toured with one of the earliest Christian rock groups, Sweet Comfort Band. All of this had its roots in the Jesus Movement with Maranatha! Music, beginning with penning the worship choruses “I Want to Praise You, Lord,” and “We Must Wait on the Lord.”

Having spent 18 years in Franklin, Tennessee, Randy is now in Fort Myers, Florida. The Worship of God conference will be a home-coming! As a worship leader and songwriter, Randy hopes to inspire others to write songs for their own churches and worship teams.