Samford University’s School of the Arts will host a luncheon Oct. 8 to announce the major initiatives of anima, the university’s new Forum for Worship and the Arts. The new program is funded by a three-year, $300,000 grant from the Christ Is Our Salvation (CIOS) Foundation of Waco, Texas.

Samford music professor and anima director Eric Mathis said the luncheon will bring together Samford students and employees, ministers, worship leaders, denominational leaders and anima board members.

Although there are programs exploring worship and the arts in the U.S., Samford alone will house such a program among accredited departments in a school of the arts. No Baptist institution, and no undergraduate university in the southeast, is engaging worship and the arts at the level of anima.

The Oct. 8 launch of anima coincides with the program’s first guest speaker. Christian author Greg Scheer, Minister of Worship at Church of the Servant in Grand Rapids and Music Associate at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, will lead free public events throughout the day, both on campus and at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.

For information about anima and event participation, contact Eric Mathis at emathis@samford.edu.