John
G. Gage earned his Bachelor's in Music Education
from John Brown University, Siloam Springs Arkansas,
and his Master's in Church Music at Samford University,
Birmingham, Alabama.
After
serving various churches for 8 years as Minister
of Music,
Mr. Gage accepted the first full time
Minister of Instrumental Music position at Shades
Mountain Baptist, Birmingham, AL in
August of 1981. His duties there involved developing
and directing a Sunday morning adult orchestra,
a youth band, music arranging and teaching trumpet
in a church School of Music.
In
January of 1989 he became the Minister of 
Instrumental
Music at First Baptist Atlanta under Senior Pastor
Dr. Charles Stanley, where duties included overseeing
eight graded instrumental classes, music arranging,
and directing the orchestra which was a part of
the weekly international television ministry IN
TOUCH.
In
February of 1997, Mr. Gage accepted the position
of Minister of Instrumental Music at Valley Baptist
Church, Bakersfield, CA, where he directed
the 40 piece Sunday AM service "Praise Orchestra",
the 25 piece Sunday PM big band "Jubilation Brass",
the high school orchestra, a Jr. High School instrumental
ensemble, and the ladies ensemble. In addition,
he was administrator of the Academy of Performing
Arts, and directed the Symphonic Band at Stockdale
High School.
Mr.
Gage has written orchestrations which have been
published with Lifeway Publishing Co., Allegis Publishing
Company, Hal Leonard Publishing Company and the
Dallas Brass,
has written a trumpet/trombone practice method entitled
"Brass Player's Warm Up and Practice Guide", and
has articles published in the Lifeway book "The
Instrumental Resource" and Word's 2004 release "Ultimate
Idea Book For Music Ministry, Vol. 2".
In
June of 2005 Mr Gage assisted Global Missions Project,
Kennesaw, GA, in developing overseas ministry strategies
for church choirs and orchestras. During that time
he traveled 130,000 miles and visited 15 different
countries.
In
March of 2006 he resumed his duties as Minister
of Instrumental Music, Valley Baptist Church, Bakersfield.
In addition, he is assistant band director at Stockdale
High School, where he directs a string orchestra
and a symphonic band.
