Christ Church

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c/o Christ Lutheran Church  

3401 South Dixon Road

Kokomo, IN  46902

(765) 210-8788

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Music Director Tom Dearchs

Tom and a friend.

Music Director Since 2009

Mr. Dearchs is an active member of The American Guild of Organists, a member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and an elected member of The Association of Anglican Musicians. His teachers have included Jacoba Seitzma, William H. Brown, Jr., and most recently, Dr. Marilyn J. Keiser, Chancellor’s Professor of Music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana.  For many years, Mr. Dearchs has attended the Institute of Liturgical Studies, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, for continuing education and spiritual enrichment.

In addition to performing recitals and hymn festivals, Mr. Dearchs has also been the clinician for several ELCA Indiana/Kentucky Synod workshops.  Most recently he taught a course on “Introducing With One Voice to Choir and Congregation”.  In the fall of 2000, Mr. Dearchs was nominated by the Bishop to serve on a new hymnal committee, which explored new resources in hymnody and liturgy resulting in the publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship.

Other Experience

Mr. Dearchs was appointed Organist/Choirmaster at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, Indiana from 2004-2009. He held the position of Director of Music/Organist at Christ Lutheran Church, Kokomo, Indiana, from 1995-2004.

Mr. Dearchs served as Dean of the Kokomo Chapter of The American Guild of Organists from 2002-2004.

In 2001, Mr. Dearchs was awarded the Presiding Bishop’s Diploma in Church Music after completion of an extensive two-year study in Church Music. This course was a joint program between the Virginia Theological Seminary and both the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis and the Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the ELCA. The Service Playing Certificate was awarded by The American Guild of Organists in 2002.