Maestros of Ministry: Their Legacy in the Department of Music and Worship

22  |  MAESTROS of MINI STRY BACKGROUND Michael DiCuirci, Sr. came to Cedarville University in 1979 at the age of thirty having already completed a B.M. (1971) and a M.M. degree (1977) from the University of Michigan. He had taught music education in public school for two years in New York and six years in Mich- igan. He came to know of Cedarville through Dr. Paul Dixon at the Gull Lake Bible Conference the summer of 1979. DiCuirci had attended for spiritual growth and Dixon happened to be speaking. When Dixon learned of DiCuirci and his credentials, he invited him to apply for a band director position. DiCuirci showed some interest by writing his resume on a napkin, and passing it casually to Dixon. The napkin-resume reached Dave Matson’s desk, and after a very short time, Matson called DiCuirci to interview him for the job. DiCuirci took the job and made a quick move to Cedarville. His home in Michigan sovereignly sold within a week, freeing him to dive into his new position. DiCuirci noted, “God has a way of reordering our priorities.” MINISTRY Shortly after arriving on campus, Dixon invited Mike and his wife JoAnn to share their testimonies together in Chapel. This was a marvelous opportunity for DiCuirci to spread his compelling message to preach the gospel far and wide. The DiCuircis have since given away more than 500 CDs of that testimony. Their testimonies were furthermore recorded by Radio Bible Class and by Unshackled on Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. There is no doubt that, because of the DiCuircis’ faith- fulness in spreading the gospel and due to Mike’s role in Chapel, his influence among the community at large is very significant. When DiCuirci arrived at Cedarville in 1979, he joined three vocal faculty: Chuck Ellington, Lyle Anderson, and Chair Matson. Additionally he joined one organ instruc- tor, Carl Stahl, and one fellow instrumentalist, Charles Pagnard. DiCuirci had an additional degree that quali- fied him to teachMusic Education. Matson taught Music History and Humanities, while Lyle Anderson and Carl Stahl taught theory. The addition of DiCuirci to the Department completed a full offering of courses for the thirty to thirty-five music majors in 1979. The majors for music at that time were Performance, Education, and