The 2026 Grace College & The Village at Winona Festival of Music will host its eighth annual Worship Arts Faculty Recital on Friday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. at Winona Lake Grace Church. The recital is free and open to the public, and will feature a wide array of performances by Grace Worship Arts professors, including a premier reading of English Professor Dr. John Poch’s poem, “Belief at Cherry Creek,” with an accompaniment composed by Worship Arts Professor Dr. Wally Brath.
“In the School of Arts and Humanities at Grace, we see all of our artistic endeavors as a means to care for culture and point people to the Creator,” said Dr. Kim Reiff, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities. “When someone reads a poem, like Dr. Poch’s, or hears a musical composition, like Dr. Brath’s, and feels that it is beautiful, there is an opportunity to give the glory to God. It is a blessing to see our faculty strive to do this collaboratively and share it not only in the classroom but with the community.”
“Belief at Cherry Creek” was one of the first poems Poch wrote after moving to Indiana from West Texas, where there is little to no moving water for hundreds of miles. The ability to walk a few hundred yards from his house and stand by a clear, flowing creek that feeds a large, beautiful lake was a wonder to him, inspiring him to put pen to paper.
“Additionally, I had a new nature all about me,” said Poch. “I found myself dropped into a Christian workplace at Grace College, where people love me and encourage my faith, and this was a beauty I had never known was possible.”
Not surprisingly, Brath was one of those people.
“John and I enjoyed conversations around poetry and music, encouraging one another in our respective gifts,” said Brath. “I was deeply moved by John’s poem and immediately began imagining a musical soundscape that complemented the prosody.”
While both professors have partnered with other artists over the years, neither has collaborated in this way. Poch, who has often worked with visual artists, said collaborating with a musician is “undiscovered territory.”
In addition to “Belief at Cherry Creek,” the concert will feature classical, jazz and musical theatre selections for solo and small group ensembles performed by various adjunct faculty in the Grace College Worship Arts Department: Scott Workman (guitar), Shana Brath (violin), Kathy Ayoub (voice), Bethany Muck (piano) and Scott Allen (vibraphone/marimba).
For more 2026 Festival of Music Events, visit www.grace.edu/about/community/musicfestival/. Learn more about Grace’s School of Arts and Humanities at www.grace.edu/academics/academic-schools-departments/school-of-arts-and-humanities/.
