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Stam, music prof, dies after cancer battle
Baptist Press
May 03, 2011
5 MIN READ TIME

Stam, music prof, dies after cancer battle

Stam, music prof, dies after cancer battle
Baptist Press
May 03, 2011

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s

Carl “Chip” L. Stam, professor of church music and worship and the founding

director of the seminary’s Institute for Christian Worship, died May 1 after a

four-year battle with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma He was 58.

“Chip Stam was such a great gift to Southern Seminary and to the church of the

Lord Jesus Christ,” said Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. “He

was a gifted musician, as indicated by all of his musical accomplishments. But

Chip Stam was so much more. He was a warm and faithful friend, an energetic

faculty member and a wonderful worship leader.

To know Chip Stam was to know a

warm-hearted artist with a deep commitment to Christ.

Said Randy Stinson, dean of Southern Seminary’s School of Church Ministries, “Chip

Stam was a gospel witness from beginning to end. He taught us how to live and

maybe more importantly, he taught us how to die. His impact on students at SBTS

will reach generations with the gospel as we worship the Lord Jesus in spirit

and in truth. He will be greatly missed.”

During his time at the seminary, Stam also conducted the seminary’s oratorio

chorus. Stam also conducted the Kentucky Baptist Men’s Chorale for more than 10

years. Beginning 2002, he served Louisville’s Clifton Baptist Church as the

minister of music and worship.

Before coming to Southern Seminary, Stam was pastor of worship and music at the

Chapel Hill Bible Church in Chapel Hill, N.C., from 1991-2000, where he also

conducted the Chapel Hill Carrboro Community Chorus and directed music for The

Raspberry Ridge: The Chapel Hill String Camp. From 1981-91, he was the director

of choral music at the University of Notre Dame.

Stam, who earned both the bachelor of arts and master of music degrees at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and pursued additional studies at

several institutions, also served as the national chair for American Choral

Directors Association’s Repertoire and Standards Committee for Music and

Worship. He conducted several all-state choirs and festival choruses, and

served on the advisory councils for Reformed Worship magazine and the Calvin

Institute of Christian Worship.

Beginning in 1995, Stam published a popular, Internet-based weekly devotional —

Worship Quote of the Week — that shared interesting and

challenging quotes about the nature of worship and prayer in the life of the

Christian church.

“Chip mentored countless pastors and musicians from a distance through his

Worship Quote of the Week, which has been an indispensable resource from my

earliest days in ministry to the present,” said Lange Patrick, music and

worship pastor at Louisville’s Highview Baptist Church. “Chip Stam not only

knew God and loved to praise Him, but his passion for Christ was equally

matched by the integrity of his life. When I think of Chip Stam, I think about

Christ and am spurred on to make that my own legacy.”

A lifelong athlete, Stam played amateur tennis with the United States Tennis

Association. He even earned a second-place ranking as a tennis player in the

state of North Carolina as a high schooler.

Stam is survived by his wife of 35 years, Doris, and their three children:

Michael, Martin and Clara. He is also survived by his mother, Jane Stam Miner,

and siblings Karen, Paul and Billy.

“Chip inspired us all through his life, but he taught us even more about trust

in Christ in the course of his illness and in the grace and trust in Christ he

revealed until his death,” Mohler said of Stam’s battle with cancer. “Chip Stam

will be sorely missed, and we grieve with his faithful wife, Doris, and his

entire family. I am so thankful for all the lives touched by Chip Stam through

his teaching at Southern Seminary and far beyond. His teaching legacy is in

those students, and in the worship they lead.”

Visitation will be at Pearson’s Funeral Home on Breckenridge Lane in Louisville

Friday, May 6. A private graveside service for the Stam family will be Saturday

morning at Cave Hill Cemetery. Southern Seminary will host a public memorial

service in the seminary’s Alumni Chapel Saturday, May 7, at 2 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to

Clifton Baptist Church in Louisville and Southern Seminary.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Compiled by staff of Southern Baptist Theological

Seminary.)

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