Worship Arts Rehearsal Studios Project

Jerry Franks Memorial Project and Scholarship

Worship Arts Rehearsal Studios Project and Jerry Franks Endowed Scholarship.

The Worship Arts Rehearsal Studios Project will be the house for Worship Arts students with the goal of training students to serve... — Jerry Franks Artist in Residence, Instrumental Music Instructor, Conn & Bach Trumpet Clinician Grace College 1966-1978. Jerry developed performers and educators with top professional abilities. His performance knowledge of all band instruments and a highly perfected curriculum were executed with care and precision. Jerry stimulated student improvement at an amazing rate. His “Learn by doing” combined with “hands on” maturing process, were best showcased in his Dimensions in Brass. This group, when reviewed by professional musicians, was rated as a fully developed professional ensemble. Jerry’s knowledge was balanced by his sense of humor during private lessons. He developed professional educators and performers who were highly successful. Jerry’s endless support also developed lifelong relationships. He rejected major personal professional opportunities, choosing to remain at Grace with his students. Jerry’s spiritual influence lives on and is exemplified in his life verse (Isaiah 40:31).

About Jerry Franks

Jerry Franks, a native of Uniontown, PA, joined the Grace faculty in 1966. As a trumpet soloist, and with the group he founded, Dimensions in Brass, Franks had a stellar performing career. It included performances at the Midwest Band Clinic, Disney World, Disneyland, Dodgers Stadium, performing in Washington DC for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and more.

Franks and his group were favorites of Indiana Governor Otis Bowen. They travelled widely representing Grace College in churches and schools. Franks had incredible teaching knowledge about all instruments, and his students were widely successful in instrumental education and performance. He served as a Conn clinician, and expertly designed instruments and maximized his knowledge of jaw and teeth structure and embouchure.

Franks’ love for Christ, and the way he suffered with diabetes yet gave praise in all that he endured, left behind an indelible legacy.

About the Worship Arts Rehearsal Space and Scholarship Project

In the Fall of 2016, Grace College reimagined its music program and launched a bachelor’s degree in worship arts with the goal of training students to serve in the local church as worship leaders and pastors. Grace’s worship arts program equips students to think like theologians, labor like artists, and shepherd like pastors.

The worship arts program resides in the lower level of the William Male Center and previously did not have dedicated rehearsal space. Thanks to the generosity of donors, alumni, and friends the newly renovated rehearsal studio project was completed and dedicated in October 2022. The rehearsal facility will be in use year-round for our current students as well as high school students attending summer worship camps.

In 2022, the Jerry Franks project expanded to include a newly established scholarship honoring Jerry’s legacy: the Jerry Franks Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship will be given annually to a Grace student pursuing a degree in worship arts. Nearly $60,000 has been raised so far towards the scholarship and we hope to invest further in the lives of students through your partnership and generosity!

Will you partner with us as we seek to invest further in the lives of our current and future students through an endowed scholarship is memory of Jerry Franks?

Jerry Franks Memorial Project Info

If you have any questions about giving online, please contact our Office of Advancement at (866) 448-3472