LARK BALL (M.Div. ’04, D.Min.’10) says she came to Beeson in “a rather round-about way.” While visiting a friend in Birmingham in 1999, she decided to check out the master’s program in church music at Samford University. She discovered that there was a joint degree program between the School of Music (now part of our School of the Arts) and Beeson Divinity School. She enrolled in that program even though its requirements were more rigorous than other alternatives she might have chosen. Lark wanted to serve the church full time in the field of music and worship leadership and this degree program fitted her to a tee. One of the advantages of a divinity school situated in a robust university is the possibility of partnership with other professional schools. In addition to church music, Beeson has forged joint degree programs in law, business, and education. Lark had the advantage of studying with world-renowned hymnologist, Paul Richardson, in the School of Music while also pursuing her theological studies across the sidewalk at Beeson.

Lark came to her vocation from a long line of preachers in her family. Her father, the Reverend James L. Ball, recently retired after serving as pastor of Timothy Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland for forty-seven years. Lark grew up in this church and was active in its music ministry from the age of twelve. Later, after graduating from Morgan State University, she was called to serve in the music ministry of the New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore.

Lark Ball arrived at Beeson during a crisis point in her personal life. She remembers that she was “somewhat scarred as a result of my experiences with domestic violence and uncertain of the direction in which I was to move as I sought to fulfill what I thought was my calling in the ministry.” At Beeson she found the shelter and freedom to receive the healing she really needed at that point in her life. She came to see that, while her own situation was unique, there are many others serving the Lord out of their woundedness. She came to understand, in a way she had not fully grasped before, what St. Paul meant, “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me…for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Lark found a cadre of friends as well as mentors in the Beeson faculty. Dr. Patricia Outlaw, who joined our Beeson faculty just as Lark was beginning her studies here, was a great encourager as she grappled with her classes and tried to balance the demands of ministry. She also remembers with special fondness Dr. Randy Todd who “helped me navigate my way through Greek”; Dr. Norfleete Day, beloved professor of spiritual formation for many years in our school; Dr. Gerald Bray who taught her church history; and Dr. Frank Thielman who “brought the Scriptures alive for me.” And there was also Dr. Robert Smith whose courses on preaching Lark took in her final year. She says of him, “The joke between us was that his class would be the very last “hoop” through which I would have to jump on my way to graduation!”

What does post-Beeson life look like for Lark Ball? Where is she now? On any given Sunday, you will find Lark busy at work in the music ministry of White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is one of the great congregations in our nation and she works there with the pastor, the Reverend William J. Shaw, former president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. We had the privilege of hearing Dr. Shaw preach at Beeson while Lark was a student here. Her work is much appreciated by him and other members of the church staff there. In addition to her work at White Rock, Lark also works with the choirs at the St. Matthew’s Independent Church, serving as a consultant to the pastor.

I should also mention that Lark has just completed her doctor of ministry program at Beeson. She did an outstanding project on “Preserving the Integrity of Music in Worship: Defining and Refining the Process of Selecting Music that Enhances the Corporate Worship Experience.” Dr. Outlaw, who supervised her work, and the other members of her committee (Searby, Smith, Matthews, George) agreed that this project was one of the finest they had seen, reflecting theological depth as well as practical ministry strategies, and they have encouraged its publication.
Dr. Lark Ball is an outstanding musician, a faithful minister of the church, and a trophy of grace in the vineyard of the Lord.