Leadership of the Alliance of Christian Musicians

Philadelphia Regional Director

Martha Alford
Martha Alford holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Houghton College and a Master of Flute Performance from the University of Idaho. She taught elementary, junior high, high school and college level music. She spent 7 years as handbell director at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, and developed a secondary school music theory and history curriculum using bells as practical application.

Currently, Martha directs four handbell ensembles and the instrumental ensemble at Proclamation Presbyterian Church. She also directs the orchestra program at The Baldwin School, and maintains a large private flute studio.

Martha is the Pennsylvania State Representative for the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers. She directs the Main Line Ringers, an advanced level community handbell ensemble.

Pacific Northwest Regional Director

Ron Bechtel
Since 2007, Ron has led ACM's Pacific Northwest chapter. He has served since 1993 as a music staff member at Faith Presbyterian Church in Tacoma, Washington, where he is currently Organist and Music Director. He also serves as Administrator of Resurrection Presbyterian Church in Puyallup, Washington. As an active member of the Washington State Music Teachers Association (Gig Harbor), he teaches private piano and organ lessons. He is also a member of the American Choral Directors Association, American Guild of Organists and a licensed real estate broker.

Education: B.A., Church Music, Cedarville University (Ohio).
Th.M., Dallas Theological Seminary

Ron is married to Ruth and they live just outside Gig Harbor, Washington. Ruth serves with him at Faith Presbyterian as church pianist. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.

Kirk Bentson
Kirk has had a life-long interest in music, participating in church and community choirs in several different locations.

After retiring from the Air Force and a second career with the State Department, he returned to Tacoma, Washington. His interest in music, and especially the use of music in corporate worship, led him to become involved in ACM. In addition to his professional education and training, Kirk has a Master of Theological Studies degree from Chesapeake Theological Seminary.

Bonnie Haidle
Bonnie Haidle has played the piano for church congregations and choirs for over 30 years. She enjoys arranging hymns for the piano and accompanying vocalists and instrumentalists. She considers herself richly blessed to play for God's people in worship.

Sarah Kanz
Sarah has been involved in church music her entire life. Both parents were church musicians and her earliest memories include attending choir rehearsals and "helping" her father, Carl, play postludes on the organ.

Her mother, Ruth, was Sarah's first music teacher, providing instruction in voice, piano, and performance. Sarah also studied piano with the late Mrs. Dorothy Bade; voice with Mrs. Denise Diverso; handbells, voice, and performance under the direction of Mrs. Carol Foss; and hymnody with her older brothers.

Sarah began improvising at the piano as a toddler and played in her first recital when she was 2 years old. She has arranged many folk songs and hymns for piano, as well as a cappella hymns for choir. In her teens, she and her brother, Duane, collected and tuned a 2-octave set of musical glasses and played hymns, with spoons, at a church leaders retreat and other events.

Since 1993, Sarah has managed a small graphic design and printing business from home. She loves to volunteer, and ACM has provided a perfect outlet for many of the skills God has given her.

Sarah is passionate about presenting music that is faithful to the Bible and honors the Lord Jesus Christ at every level—words, melody, harmony, rhythm, tonal color, artistry, and staging.

Vince Treadway
Vince Treadway holds M.M.s in Church Music and Organ Performance from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. In 2002, Vince founded the Alliance of Christian Musicians (ACM) to promote excellence and education for Christian musicians in church music and worship; he served as the Executive Director for eight years.

Throughout his life Vince Treadway has served as a Director of Music, most recently at Proclamation Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. During his 17-year tenure at Proclamation, Vince planned and led the musical portions of the worship service; he also built and directed a choral program comprising of three children’s choirs, which staged a musical each spring; a youth ensemble; and an adult choir. He oversaw a worship team, several instrumental ensembles, and three handbell choirs. Vince is currently the Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Lake Wales, Florida.

Vince composes and arranges, and teaches piano, organ, and voice privately. Vince performs in the United States and abroad, and has given concerts in Tokyo, Japan; Kyiv, Ukraine; and Paris and Aix-en-Provence, France.

He is married and has one child.