THE COMPANY HE KEEPS Technology, worship arts, and hanging out with excellence

Technology, worship arts, and hanging out with excellence

By Carla Morris

Passionate, hard-working, excellent at what they do, good people to be around—Jordan James ’20 values his colleagues who assist with worship arts at Peoples Church in Fresno, California. Each week Jordan, audio director at the megachurch, and his crew apply their expertise in technology, music, and lighting to serve about 4,000 attendees.

Jordan’s appreciation for excellent working relationships began long before Peoples Church entered his life. Those seeds were planted at GU when he learned and worked alongside others who also loved what they did and loved doing it well.

“I think they would’ve succeeded no matter where they were,” he says of his classmates. He’s right. Graduates of GU’s Music Industry Studies and Worship Arts programs consistently and quickly find work in their fields. Jordan landed his job with People’s Church last fall, before formally completing his studies at GU in January. He made at least half a dozen trips to Fresno by air that semester, juggling job responsibilities with coursework.

Since his arrival at Peoples Church, Jordan has designed a new portion of its audio system and addressed the challenge of integrating new and old components. The church’s auditorium seats 2,000 and often accommodates concerts and theatrical productions in addition to worship. Jordan

A u d i o D ir e c t o r J o r d a n J a m e s a t P e o p l e s C h u r c h , F r e s n o , C a li f o r n i a

Daily, Jordan leverages tech "to point people to Jesus." At GU, he received the donor-funded President's Scholarship.

Thank you for giving.

suspects installation of an audio system in the new children’s ministry center will involve his expertise too.

He credits excellent preparation and loads of experience for his smooth transition from college to career. The equipment he used at GU in Whitlock Music Center and The Blackroom provided a good taste of the industry, particularly important for students just entering the field. He calls The Blackroom “the kind of thing you’d find in a small church or club . . . great real-world experience.” As a student, Jordan also picked up field experience working for St. Louis-based, familyowned Kent Audio. “I owe a lot to them,” he says.

When thinking back on those who influenced him most at GU, Jordan names the classmates who worked shoulder-to-shoulder with him, peers who valued excellence and who treated their work as an extension of their faith. Jordan recalls friends using all the resources available to them—knowledge, skills, creativity, inspiration, experience—to encourage others on their faith journeys. Today, he describes his work as simply “leveraging tech to point people to Jesus.”

Jordan’s campus memories, laced with gratitude, reveal friends whose love for excellence yielded beautiful results. If you believe the old proverb—“Show me your friends, and I’ll tell you who you are”—they also reveal much about Jordan’s character and expertise.

If you are interested in seeking a GU worship arts or music industry studies student for an internship, contact Professor Paul Sunderland: paul.sunderland@greenville.edu.

GRADUATES FOR HIRE

Nearly 100 percent of GU graduates who majored in music industry studies and/or worship arts last year secured jobs in the areas for which they trained. Professor of Worship Arts Paul Sunderland unpacks GU’s winning formula:

Faculty talk often about their industry and workplace experiences.

Assignments resemble real work.

Projects require collaboration that mimics teamwork found in most churches.

Projects also regularly integrate multimedia, worship theology, and musical arrangements and transitions.

Students practice leadership by heading teams that lead worship regularly.

They perform administrative tasks similar to those in a work environment.

They grow proficient in using Planning Center Online software, a standard planning tool among churches.

They make decisions, plan, and implement plans in GU’s chapel and other venues. Faculty routinely check the students’ work.

Students also often serve in area churches that practice dynamic worship.