Jonathan Rodgers has been a pianist, worship leader, arranger/composer, and choral conductor for over twenty years. He is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Music and Worship Leadership program in Samford’s School of the Arts and Faculty Fellow at Samford’s Center for Worship and the Arts.
Dr. Rodgers has served in churches throughout the Southeast while also maintaining an active clinic and presentation schedule. As a choral conductor, Rodgers has been a guest conductor for honor choirs in Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana. He has also presented sessions at National ACDA Conventions, state MEA conventions in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia, and other conferences including Baylor University’s Alleluia, and YouthCUE Choirs Inc. His choirs have performed at state MEA conferences and collectively he has led over twenty-five extended choir tours across the U.S. and internationally, including Israel and India. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, The Hymn Society, the Global Ethnodoxology Network, and is the current president of The Southern Baptist Church Music Collective.
Rodgers earned the Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Master of Music in Church Music degrees from Samford University, studying conducting and church music with Milburn Price and Paul Richardson. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting at the University of Southern Mississippi, studying conducting with Gregory Fuller and John Flanery. His dissertation examines the choral singing tradition of Estonia and, specifically, the choral folksongs of Estonian nationalist composer Cyrillus Kreek. Most recently, his research agenda has included work to the study of worship practices in Southern Baptist churches across the state of Alabama through grant funding from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship as well as the education and research arm of SBC Worship and the Worship Initiative.
In addition to conducting and scholarly activities, Rodgers serves as Worship Pastor at The Church at Liberty Park. As a pianist and arranger, he has produced an album of his own piano arrangements for worship, “Be Still: Worship at the Piano.” Additionally, his choral works have been published with GIA/Walton Music, Pavane, and Colla Voce and performed by churches, schools, and colleges at honor choir festivals and ACDA conventions across the nation—even Carnegie Hall. Jonathan resides in Hoover, AL with his wife Alicia (Samford alum ’04) and their four children: Savannah, Leighton, Brooks, and Gabe.
