Thank you for your interest in the music programs at Westover Hills Presbyterian Church.   Please accept my invitation to join us. Our programs are about collective participation and you are welcome to become a part of this congregations worship and music programs.

I am an Arkansas native and the son of a public school teacher and minister.  Growing up, music was at the center of my life both at church and at home. I began playing the piano at a very young age with just one finger and a one note melody.  I would hear it and then work it out on the piano.  Piano lessons started at age six and I still consider myself a student of music.  I attended public schools in various parts of the state as my father served churches in central and southern Arkansas.  Many years were in Lonoke County which is the area of the state I still consider home.  Before graduating high school in McGehee, AR, I was involved in the band program playing trombone, marimba, xylophone, and piano with jazz bands and choral programs.  I loved the opportunity to accompany choral groups, singers, instrumental solos at regional band contests as well as community programs.  Now many years later, accompanying singers may be my favorite musical duty.   My first organist job was at age 15 at Dermott Baptist Church in Dermott AR.  I continued to study music while attending the University of Arkansas in Monticello and the University of Central Arkansas, Conway AR.  I would never have believed that I would currently have the opportunity to serve Westover Hills, the church one of my instructors had served while I was in college.  Over the years my primary vocation has been in business and sales.   However, my gratitude for God’s gift of music, combined with a faith that is nurtured in community, has led me to church staff positions for over forty years.  It has now been my honor and pleasure to be a part of this congregation for two decades.

Again, let me say welcome.  You are especially welcome to become a part of the choir, a committed group of people that share a love and belief that music is a vital to worship.  I believe that all of us are instruments of praise.  Beautiful things happen when we collectively offer our talents and gifts to God.  I would love to help you explore how you might share your gifts with others.  Whether you are a one note player or lifetime student of music, know nothing or a lot, love to sing or have never sung, have a slight or a great appreciation of music, want to sing with the choir or with the congregation, love traditional hymns or spirituals, classical or gospel,  contemporary or bluegrass, country, jazz or R &B, rap or elevator music,  prefer the piano or the organ, accordion or mandolin,  trumpets or French horns, violins or cellos, flutes or tuba, clarinets or castanets, orchestras or dance bands, love J. S, Bach or Fred Bock, Jane Marshall or Bill Gaither, Handel or Hendrix,  a fan of the Beatles or Barry Manilow, Rolling Stones, Counting Crows or Eagles, Lawrence Welk or Brothers Osborne, or if you like a mix of it all, we welcome you.  I would enjoy the opportunity to get to know you as we join together on a spiritual and musical journey.  Join us as we continue “Praising God in the Heights!” Please feel free to contact me at:  501-902-4103, email: davidaustinhomes@hotmail.com