Welcome to the Cox Chapel Worship Staff!
Rev. Jeff Hall
Born in Ohio and raised in San Antonio, Jeff Hall serves as the Cox Chapel Preacher and Director of Adult Ministries. Jeff holds an undergraduate degree in political science and philosophy from Emory University and a master’s in political philosophy from the University of Dallas. During his time in Dallas Jeff joined Highland Park UMC and was active in Sunday school. Before completing his degree, Jeff worked at a public policy institute and a liberal arts college in southern California. After accepting the call to ordained ministry, Jeff attended The Divinity School at Duke University where he graduated summa cum laude with a Master’s of Divinity. While at Duke Jeff served two rural congregations in North Carolina. Before coming to HPUMC in 2002, Jeff spent a year on the Isle of Wight serving as a circuit minister in the British Methodist Church. Jeff is an ordained elder and a member of the North Texas Annual Conference.
Rev. Barbara Marcum
Barbara Marcum serves as the Director of Pastoral Care at Highland Park UMC. Having received undergraduate (B.A.) and graduate (M.Th.) degrees from SMU, Barbara was ordained a deacon in 1979 and an elder in 1981. Prior to being appointed to Highland Park, where she has served for 13 years, Barbara served at Munger Place UMC, New Covenant UMC, White Rock UMC, and the First UMC, Paris, Texas. She has also served as a chaplain for the FBI for twelve years. Barbara is married to Rev. Walt Marcum, and they have one daughter, Melissa, who lives in Dallas. Barbara’s interests include reading, travel, languages and spending time with family and friends.
Chris S. Brunt - Organist/Choir Master
A native of Jackson, Mississippi Chris Brunt holds music degrees from Millsaps College (B.M.) and Westminster Choir College (M.M.), has studied at the Royal School of Church Music (London, England), and has done post-graduate work at the University of Mississippi (where he taught music appreciation courses, and worked as an accompanist). He presently serves as Music Associate-Resident Organist/Director of Cox Chapel Music at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX. Before moving to Texas in May 2001 Chris was a mainstay in the arts scene in Jackson, serving as an accompanist for many area groups including The Jackson Choral Society, The Jackson Little Theatre, The Millsaps Singers, The Mississippi Camerata, and The Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church. During his early college years Chris conducted the first Jackson-area stage performance of Igor Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale, and organized important tribute concerts of music by Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, and Olivier Messiaen..In 1981 Chris moved to Princeton, NJ and joined the music programs of both the Princeton University Chapel and Trinity Church. In 1983 Chris made his New York City debut performing an organ recital at St. Bartholomew's Church, and, that fall, was appointed accompanist for The Westminster Symphonic Choir. He is listed in the 1983 edition of Outstanding Young Men In America. As director of The Handel Society of Jackson (1989-1995) he led Mississippi premieres of several major works including Giulio Cesare, Xerxes, Acis and Galatea, Saul, Esther, Apollo and Dafne, and Purcell's Ode On St. Cecilia's Day. As organist Chris has served United Methodist and Episcopal churches in New Jersey, Mississippi, New York, and Texas, and has performed recitals in Mississippi, Texas, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., New York, and at Princeton University. Chris is past-dean of the Jackson chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and was assistant professor of music history and college organist at Millsaps College from 1992-2001. In 1999 Chris received the Ole Miss Music Department's Music History/Theory Award for his musicological study of Mahler's Tenth Symphony. In 2001 he was featured organist with The Mississippi Symphony in performances of Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 (Organ), and was a worship organist at the 2001 Region IV AGO Convention. He is presently an active member of the Dallas AGO, and is a member of next year's 2007 regional convention steering committee. A former tenor in the renowned Westminster Choir (touring ensemble) Chris’ vocal credits include his work the The Musica Sacra Singers of Jackson, The St. Andrew's Cathedral Chamber Society, Canticum Sacrum of Jackson, The Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music, The Jackson Choral Society, and The Arts District Chorale of Dallas. He has sung the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion, King Caspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, the countertenor solos in Handel’s Messiah, Abraham in Britten’s Abraham and Isaac, tenor soloist in Beethoven's Mass in C Major, and the role of Don Octave in P.D.Q. Bach’s The Stoned Guest. Chris’s teacher-mentors have included Donald D. Kilmer, Donald McDonald, Joseph Flummerfelt, Lionel Dakers, Erik Routley, James Litton, Joyce Avent, Bonnie Jean Coleman, and David R. Davidson.
Chris Brunt plays Messiaen's organ piece Vision of the Eternal Church
