09542
June 26, 2009

Pastoral music

Musician and minister turn passion for supporting clergy into collection of meditations and songs

By John Sniffen
Special to Presbyterian News Service

Steve McCutchan (left), who collaborated with David M. Bailey on a pastoral music project, discusses it with Big Tent event participant Dr. Albert McClain Jr. of Chula Vista, CA. Photo by John Sniffen

ATLANTA — Musician David Bailey and minister/author Stephen McCutchan have combined their talents to record A Deep Well for the Pastor, a CD of spiritual meditations and music designed for pastors.

Its origins lie in Bailey’s and McCutchan’s shared concern for supporting pastors. They met through a meeting of the Presbytery Pastoral Care Network (PPCN), an organization of ministry professionals and volunteers concerned for or engaged in providing pastoral care to ministers.

Bailey, the son of Presbyterian mission workers, developed a passion for songwriting as a teenager. When he was diagnosed in 1996 with a malignant brain tumor, he dedicated himself to a full-time ministry of music and hope. He has since released 17 CDs and performed in 44 states and several countries.

McCutchan, an adjunct professor at Wake Forest Divinity School with 38 years experience in pastoral ministry, used selections from the CD June 12 to introduce and conclude a workshop on sustaining healthy pastors he co-hosted with Carol Allen, a PPCN board member from Chicago. The workshop was a part of the Big Tent event held here June 11-13.

“Pastors and church educators are often resistant to caring for themselves,” McCutchan told the workshop. “We need to determine what presbytery staff and congregations can do to help keep them healthy, emotionally, spiritually and physically.”

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Vocation — a shared ministry of the General Assembly Council and the Office of the General Assembly — teamed up with the PPCN to sponsor and produce the CD.

Partial funding for the project was secured through the Roger Harp Memorial Fund, which the Office of Vocation designated to promote pastoral care of pastors. Harp, a longtime presbytery and synod executive, who died in an automobile accident in February 2007, was known for his mentoring of young pastors.  He was also a founding member of PPCN.

A Deep Well for the Pastor is available for $10 through the Presbyterian Marketplace (Item #OGA08099). All sales benefit the Roger Harp Memorial Fund.

Cover art can be found here.