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AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS APPOINTS
THE REV. DR. JAMES A. FORBES JR. CHAPLAIN
NEW YORK CITY — The AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS (AGO) is pleased to announce the appointment of THE REV. DR. JAMES A. FORBES JR. as Chaplain of the AGO for a term of two years, 2002–2004. The chaplain will serve the diverse pastoral needs of the national council and the international membership of the AGO. The appointment was made by AGO President Frederick Swann and announced at the annual meeting of the AGO on Saturday, July 6, in Philadelphia, Pa. “Dr. Forbes is an extraordinary clergyman widely renowned for his charismatic style of preaching,” noted President Swann. “He is also musically astute. I am very excited that he has agreed to accept this appointment.”
 THE REV. DR. JAMES A. FORBES JR. is well known as a preacher and lecturer throughout the U.S. and abroad. Newsweek named him as “one of the twelve most effective preachers in the English speaking world.” (March 4, 1996) In 1984 and 1993, Ebony also designated him as “one of America’s greatest black preachers.”
Dr. Forbes is senior minister of the Riverside Church in New York City, an interdenominational, interracial, and international church built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1927. His sermons can be heard weekly on WLTW 106.7 FM in New York City.
Since 1992, Dr. Forbes has also been co-chair of A Partnership of Faith, an interfaith organization comprised of clergy from New York’s Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim communities. In October 2000, Dr. Forbes received the prestigious Earle B. Pleasant Clergy of the Year Award from Religion in American Life, where he delivered the Raymond J. Peterson Lecture.
Dr. Forbes holds a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Howard University, a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary, and a doctor of ministry degree from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y. In addition, he has been awarded 13 honorary degrees, including a doctor of divinity and a doctor of law. He has given lectures at Yale University, Warren Wilson College, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, and at the World Pentecostal Fellowship in Nairobi, Kenya.
Dr. Forbes and his wife, Bettye Franks Forbes, a musician, are residents of New York City.
The AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS is the national professional association serving the organ and choral music fields. Founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization, the AGO seeks to set and maintain high musical standards and to promote understanding and appreciation of all aspects of organ and choral music. The purpose of the AGO is to promote the organ in its historic and evolving roles, to encourage excellence in the performance of organ and choral music, and to provide a forum for mutual support, inspiration, education, and certification of Guild members. The Guild currently serves more than 20,000 members in 343 local chapters throughout the United States and abroad. The American Organist Magazine, the official journal of the AGO, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America, reaches an audience of more than 24,000 each month. The official Web site of the AGO is <www.agohq.org>.
This information is submitted by F. Anthony Thurman, Director of Development and Communications at the National Headquarters of the American Guild of Organists and The American Organist Magazine. For further information, please contact Dr. Thurman by TEL (212) 870-2310, FAX (212) 870-2163 or E-MAIL <fathurman@agohq.org>.
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