Dr. James Bates began service as the church’s director of music in July 2010. He has a Bachelor of Music degree in organ from Susquehanna University, did graduate work at Yale School of Music and obtained a Master of Music in choral conducting and a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He conducts certain concerts of the Carolina Baroque in Salisbury and early music concerts with voices and instruments in Greensboro. He previously served several churches as choir director and organist. Jim and his wife, Susan, who met in the organ graduate program at Yale, have two children and live in Lewisville. She is the organist and music associate at Centenary Methodist Church in Winston-Salem.