Philippines

China

Indonesia

Southern California

Europe

South Korea

Dr. James Melton

Executive Director

Dr. James Melton is executive director of Music Across Borders, an independent non-profit 501(c)3 organization started in 2018. He became acting executive director for Care4M.O.R.E. (formerly CARE Philippines) in 2021.  He has teaching experience at both the college and seminary level for over 40 years, including Western Baptist Seminary, Phoenix Seminary, and Arizona College of the Bible (now Arizona Christian University). For 25 years, James taught at Vanguard University of Southern California (Costa Mesa) where he served as Chair of the Department of Music, as well as Dean of Communication & the Arts during his tenure as Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities. His various ensembles presented concerts throughout the U.S., and toured extensively both nationally and internationally in major concert halls around the world, including Europe, China. Hong Kong, and South Korea.

Most recently his combined choirs were invited to Germany and Austria during 2017 in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.  As a guest maestro for Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, he has conducted major works by Brahms, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Handel, and Vivaldi, as well as world premieres for contemporary composers as Dan Forrest, Ola Gjeilo, and Rosephanye Powell. He was invited to conduct at Carnegie Hall for the seventh time in 2019.  His University Concert Choir has also presented command performances at both Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall and was frequently featured on the Hour of Power’s national and international television broadcasts.  His various choirs and ensembles have over 25 recording projects to their credit.

Dr. Melton has over 45 years of experience leading music and worship ministries in churches of various denominations, most recently at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach. He has composed and arranged music for publishing companies as Brentwood Music (John W. Peterson Music Company) and Tempo Music. Dr. Melton has also produced demonstration recordings for Fred Bock Music, Pavane Music, Jubal House (Hal Leonard Publications).

Dr. Melton has served churches from 500 members to over 7,000 members over the past 45 years as pastor of worship/music ministries, executive pastor, missions pastor, student ministries minister, and church planter. He has been the keynote speaker for the International Worship Symposium in Lisbon, Portugal five times, and has served as editor for “The New Worship”: Straight Talk on Music and the Church, the Leadership Journal, and contributed to 3 yearly devotional books: “New Every Morning”, “Rise Up and Praise Him”, and “Joy in the Morning”, along with writing numerous devotionals and articles on leadership.  James earned his doctorate from Arizona State University, as well his master’s degree, and received his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma Baptist University.

Dr. Melton is passionate about cross-cultural missions, actively partnering with schools, universities, churches, orphanages, and non-profit organizations throughout Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, and the Philippines. 

Jenny (Jee-El) Park

Director

Active in Southern California as soloist, chamber musician, educator, producer and arranger, Jenny Jee-El Park received her B.M. in Piano Performance from Manhattan School of Music and M.A. in Music Education from Teachers College of Columbia University. Since her first public recital at age 15 in Italy, Ms. Park made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1998 as the Winner of Artists International Special Presentation Award, followed by numerous concerts in Europe, Asia and throughout North America. In addition, her compositional work, “Lift High the Cross,” was published in 2017 under the Jubal House imprint, and distributed through the Fred Bock Music Company/Hal Leonard companies. She performs with an experimental trio that combines jazz and classical medium as well as more traditional chamber group called Verismo Ensemble. 

Recently appointed by the Mayor of her city as the Commissioner of Culture and Fine Arts, Ms. Park works in various settings to promote arts in the community. She has worked at the Orange County Children’s Therapeutic Arts Center as music curriculum consultant, and started a volunteer-based music program for the homeless children at the Orange County Rescue Mission. Formerly a faculty member of the United Nations International School, Concordia Conservatory, and Bethesda University, she currently teaches at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California.

Dr. Edwin Willmington

“Composer in Residence” & Associate Conductor

Dr. Edwin M. (Ed) Willmington is the Director of the Fred Bock Institute of Music at the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts, and Composer-in-Residence, at Fuller Theological Seminary.

As the institute director, Ed’s responsibilities include teaching graduate level classes related to music and worship studies and serving as mentor to students who lead the Fuller Seminary Chapel.  He also hosts conferences, concert events, speaks and writes on topics related to worship leadership, and conducts choirs at various churches and conferences representing Fuller and the Bock Institute.

In addition to many anthem publications, Ed’s larger compositional projects include “Jubilate! An Ancient-Future Concert Mass,” and “Reconciled in Christ,” the music written for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, held in Cape Town, South Africa. Impressed by the plight of Christian persecution around the world, he wrote “Consolation for the Suffering,” an expanded requiem intended to musically bring attention to the plight of those who suffer for their faith. He also has a special interest in encouraging the creativity of other musical artists, and developed Jubal House Publications (www.JubalHouse.com) as a means of sharing new works to serve both worshiping communities and concert hall performances.

Ed has a BA in Church Music and Conducting (Bethel University [MN]), MM in Composition and DMA in Music Composition—-both from the University of Arizona. Ed and his wife Mary Lou have two married daughters, Nicolette Kay and Cami Ferreira, two sons-in-law, Timothy Kay and Gus Ferreira, and four wonderful grandchildren.