Bruce and Sharon
Howarth have mentored worship leaders and led tens of thousands of
believers in genuine and passionate worship celebrations in local congregations,
conferences, TV and webcast productions, covering the globe.
Together, the Howarths have an interest in fulfilling the postmodern church’s convergence of liturgical worship traditions interfacing with contemporary worship arts and new media expressions of relevant, faith-inspired worship of the living God.
Worship pastors Bruce and Sharon Howarth have been married and in ministry together for 22 years. Bruce began full-time ministry in 1988 as a pastoral intern at Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the nation’s 25 fastest growing churches in the 1990’s.
Sharon is an internationally published songwriter and recording artist with Vineyard Music, she is an independent music producer and has served in domestic and overseas platform worship ministry with Christian leaders from around the globe in countless congregations. Among them are evangelist/preacher Rosie Grier, Evangelical Pastor and National Coalition Against Pornography founder Rev. Jerry Kirk, Servant Evangelism pioneer Steve Sjogren, Christian artist Lenny LeBlanc, as well as many other noted preachers, teachers and evangelists.
Bruce is an award-winning classical composer, having had his
compositions performed at the world renowned Aspen Music Festival, Prisms
contemporary music ensemble in Santa Barbara, California, the Cincinnati
Conservatory of Music, and most recently, several commissioned arrangements and
orchestral works for the Shoals Symphony in Alabama. He is a published writer/reviewer, also authoring program notes for various symphony, university and concert artists or ensembles across the U.S.
Sharon and Bruce have concertized as principal players in the viola
and horn sections of the Shoals Symphony, respectively, since 2003. They both
have extensive experience as private and class music instructors, many of their
former students ultimately serving as worship leaders, missionaries, performance artists and university faculty, published composers,
recording artists and church leaders around the U.S.
In addition to their concert level classical careers, they are frequently invited to perform in jazz, classic rock and contemporary music venues, including the world renowned Handy Blues Festival.
After serving the Lord as itinerant worship musicians and congregational
worship leaders in Cincinnati, the Howarths responded to a ministry call to mentor
contemporary/prophetic worship development in the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama,
beginning in August of 2000.
Their para-church organization, Enkerem Ministries has led others through worship mentoring and theory of worship for years, using curriculum the Howarths have personally developed.
Their para-church organization, Enkerem Ministries has led others through worship mentoring and theory of worship for years, using curriculum the Howarths have personally developed.
Since 2009, they have received distance and group
intensive instruction in a biblically-based model for marriage ministry. Bruce
has preached on this subject and they have personally mentored a growing number
of couples in practical skills for marriage renewal and restoration. They consult
with several couples in leadership over a burgeoning national ministry to
assist others with these tools.
Foundational to their ministry identity, is their discipleship,
training and experience with their former senior pastor, Steve Sjogren as they
served in the Cincinnati Vineyard congregation where Steve developed his model
for ‘Servant Evangelism’ as a practical and missional tool to “love a city into
relationship with Jesus Christ.” Sharon is endlessly creative in
coming up with new SE concepts to love and serve others.
The Howarths continue to practice these principles in their own family as they look for small, daily opportunities to love individuals in marketplace and everyday gathering places. They have a heart to serve the Body of Christ in worship through intentional teaching and example, as well as lifestyle-based, relational evangelism through social encounters with individuals in their city. As a Vineyard pastoral intern under Steve’s mentorship, Bruce personally witnessed and participated in many of the ministry activities included in Sjogren’s revolutionary book, “Conspiracy of Kindness”.
Sharon has been a performance and multimedia producer for 25 years. She is a published journalist and screenwriter and has recently founded Possibilitive Films, previously producing a short documentary on autism family and life issues.
She has several proposed media production projects and is developing a memoir on her life with her autistic family members.
Bruce has developed a body of curriculum on film scoring to instruct courses, by seminar or semester basis, for several film studies programs in the U.S.
Through his Riverbluff Music Company, he offers private music theory, guitar and composer coaching, film scoring instruction and creation, music arranging and notation services, as well as his musicology research and published notes for symphony programming.
Bruce and Sharon are youthful parents of six children and three young grandchildren, who have an affinity to inspire and involve younger generations. They joyously admit they've never outgrown their rock-and-roll roots and their interest in current culture. Their two youngest sons, in their teens, still live at home.
