Herb Brokering was a pastor, author, lyricist, speaker and hymn writer. He graduated from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, in 1945. He earned a master’s degree in child psychology from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, in 1947 and a bachelor of divinity degree in 1950 from the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary (now Trinity Lutheran Seminary), Columbus, Ohio. Brokering pursued graduate studies at the University of Kiel and the University of Erlangen in Germany, and at the University of Pittsburgh. He also taught at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, for several years.
While in Germany after World War II he worked with the Lutheran World Federation services to refugees. Brokering was a promoter of healing, justice and peace, leading more than 100 pilgrimages in his lifetime to places in Europe, the Middle East, China and India. The East German Ministry of Culture presented him with a peacemaking award. He authored more than 30 books and more than 100 lyrics for almost 60 composers. In his retirement Brokering served 11 years as a staff associate for Wheat Ridge Ministries, an independent Lutheran charitable organization that awards grants to health ministries.
Shortly before his death in 2009, Brokering established the Herbert and Lois Brokering Healing Arts Endowment Fund at Wartburg College to support activities promoting the healing arts.
Carl Schalk graduated in 1952 from Concordia University Chicago (then known as Concordia Teachers College River Forest) with a B.S. in Education and received a Masters in Music from the Eastman School of Music and an M.A.R. from Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis.
He is a noted Lutheran composer, author, and lecturer. Between 1965 and 2004 he taught church music at Concordia University Chicago and guided the development of the university’s Master of Church Music degree. He was a member of the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, which produced Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978. He was also the editor of the journal Church Music from 1966 to 1980. Additionally, he is a member of the Music Advisory Committee of Concordia Publishing House and of the board of directors of Lutheran Music Program, the parent organization of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival.
He is well known for his numerous choral compositions as well as his hymn tunes and carols, which number over one hundred. His hymn tunes may be found in modern Christian hymnals of various denominations. He is also the author of several books on Lutheran music and hymnody.
