Testimonials

“Worship is more than music.Yet music has the capacity to express the depth of our hopes, dreams, and longings. Too often the church stays with what is comfortable or familiar. Thanks to Stan’s help and guidance, St. Peter’s is daring to venture in new directions of inspired creativity where what we sing and how we sing results in a more faithful expression of our life in Christ. If you’re eager to “sing to the Lord a new song” (Ps. 95:1), Stan can help make it happen.”

Rev. Dr. Steve Wright, St. Peter’s-by-the-Sea, Presbyterian Church, Huntington Beach, CA

”Are you a church in transition? Not sure which way you want to go or how to get there? After decades of innovative, dynamic music ministry, Stan DeWitt has found yet another calling helping congregations discern their future music program needs. I reached out to Stan when our music program was in transition, and needed some guidance to help us move forward. Stan jumped right in, offering his valuable insights and compassionate ear to help me think through next steps. Stan encouraged us to hold a workshop for our congregation to bring more voices from the community into our search. I'm so glad we did!! Stan’s presentation was hugely educational, funny, and energizing for the whole congregation. We had a great turnout and came out feeling more centered in our strengths, aware of our growth areas, and ready to go into our interview process. In the end, we had great candidates and a competitive search, and ended up with a fantastic new Director of Music Ministries. Not only that, we came out with a stronger sense of our program's history and goals for our future. Particularly, we had a new understanding about our need for our music to be relevant and authentic and to better engage our local community. Thank you Stan!!”

Rev. Lissa Gundlach, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church, Long Beach, CA

“When Grace First hired Stan, we knew we had a strong minister of music. Over the 20 years I worked with him, we found so much more. Stan expanded and deepened the Music Ministry beyond our expectations. He is a collaborative, cooperative team player who inspired all of us to do our best in leading worship. Plus he is a fairly nice guy! I can’t recommend him more highly!

Rev. Dr. Steven Wirth, Retired Senior Pastor at Grace First Presbyterian Church, Long Beach, CA

I came to Stan Dewitt through the recommendation of a mutual friend. I was working on an album that needed string and horn arrangements and I also needed some vocal coaching to help me get the very best performance I could get. Stan was able to deliver what I needed on all counts. For strings, I asked for a combination of countrypolitan and Mariachi arrangements and after giving Stan examples of what I wanted and also a little rope to do his thing, he wrote really great strings and even came in to direct the musicians. He also composed an excellent horn arrangement that was equal part Stax records and post modern rock. Stan’s vocal coaching was also super helpful, he re-introduced me to a lot of fundamentals I had forgotten over the years and really helped maximize my vocal performance, I am grateful for that beyond measure.

Stan is musical, professional, warm, and timely and I recommend him without reservation.

Andrew Browning, singer-songwriter