Thank You For the Music: Dr. Jan Kraybill to Retire as Antioch’s Principal Organist in April

Dr. Jan Kraybill is retiring from her role as principal organist at Village Church Antioch Campus. Jan was a teenager when she began taking organ lessons and occasionally playing at her home church, Colby Presbyterian, in Colby, Kansas. She would continue to play in worship for the next 50 years.

When Village Presbyterian Church senior pastor Rev. Tom Are reached out to Jan nearly 10 years ago and asked if she’d consider taking on one more part- time job, he couldn’t have known how important her role would be in growing the new church campus. Many members have said that her music making is what attracted them to Village on Antioch.

“It has been a great honor to work and make music with Jan Kraybill. She is not only the complete musician, player, scholar, composer, and arranger, but she truly treats music like a language. There is not just surface meaning—there’s tone, depth, cadence and articulation, and, most importantly, nuance and subtext in each moment. She will be embarrassed by me saying it, but she is nothing short of a musical genius. She has been an unbelievable inspiration to our team and members. The impact that Jan has had on this church could not be overstated. She established a tradition of excellence that will continue to drive our worship for decades to come. I can only hope she is blessed in retirement as much as she has blessed this congregation during her tenure here,” shared Dr. Aaron Redburn, director of music at Antioch Campus.

Dr. Elisa Bickers, co-director of music at the Mission Campus, shares, “Jan has been a source of inspiration for me since the second I met her, and she’s been my musical soulmate ever since. Her thoughtful artistry is such a gift to the community!”

Church member Tim Harrison shared that he’ll miss the fun and whimsy of hearing a few bars of songs such as the Pink Panther theme or “I’m a Jayhawk” (KU’s fight song) worked into the postlude, all because of something that was casually mentioned during the worship service.

Antioch Campus site pastor Rev. Anna Owens remarks, “I’ve said this to friends and colleagues before in a way that sounds like I’m joking, but I truly mean it: I can’t believe I get paid to listen to Jan Kraybill play the organ. Jan is not only a gifted musician, a lovely and kind person, and a consummate professional—she is a musical theologian whose deep faith rings out in every note she plays. She is thoughtful and attentive to the nuances required of hymnody, and she brings music to life as she accompanies our congregational singing. Her preludes, postludes, and other service music uplift, inspire, and encourage us. To have had Jan minister among us for these past years has truly been an embarrassment of riches, and while we are happy for this next phase of her life, we will miss her tremendously.”

Jan will stay busy thanks to her work with the Kansas City Symphony and the American Guild of Organists, as well as a rigorous travel agenda. We are so grateful that Dr. Jan Kraybill, Grammy-nominated artist and organ conservator at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, agreed to share her musical gifts with us these many years. She will be sorely missed, and we wish her and Allan both the very best.