Up on the hilltop in this small southern California town sits a group of about 50 college students. Tonight they’re intently listening to Hollywood engineer and music producer Tony Shepperd, a Seventh-day Adventist who has been in this business for more than 20 years. He talks about his experience working with names like Madonna, Kenny Loggins, Whitney Houston, Backstreet Boys and Lionel Richie. And that’s just some of the famous musicians he has worked with.

This semester the La Sierra University class finds itself involved in a first for the school, or for any Seventh-day Adventist school, for that matter. The assignment? Produce and market a music project featuring young Adventist musicians. The marketing method and music compilations are completely up to the students. Young people will also distribute this sampler for free.

Shepperd is here to inform, guide and, he hopes, inspire. “Don’t be afraid to think outside the box,” he tells the class. He repeats this sentence, and adds, “Use your brain. If you think there’s another way to make something happen, make it happen. If you have another outlet for something, bring it to the table.”

These thoughts may well serve the class, who represent an eclectic mix. There are those here solely for college credit; others are here because their college advisor said they need the class to graduate; some are actually here because they have a music background or are musicians; while others are here because they’re interested in marketing a product. One of the students even has a CD coming out.

“They represent the whole spectrum. The challenge is to bring them together and focus on marketing,” says Thomas Macomber, adjunct professor at La Sierra University, attorney, and owner of a music production company, Walkin’ on Water Records.

The project is meant to expose the talent of young Adventist musicians within North America by featuring them on a CD that will be free to anyone who wants one. “Using a college class seems to be the missing ingredient [to making such a project successful]. Who can network among young adults better than the young adults themselves?” says Macomber, who plays banjo in The Summer Church Band, a Christian bluegrass band that has received international praise.

“Our objective is to print 20,000 CDs representing church members who are 30 and under. We’re trying to get exposure for them—bringing music to the listeners and listeners to the music,” says Macomber, explaining that La Sierra University is networking with the 13 Adventist campuses in North America.

Shepperd offers more advice for the project: “Have a long-term projection in mind if you’re really going to run it like it’s a business.” He suggests, for example, that if the CD were to come out in Autumn, which it may, “I would make your first record a Christmas record. Christmas records are perennial sellers.”

And, “Just remember who your target audience is.”

Macomber explains that the class will not produce new music. Instead, they “hope to solicit pre-recorded music.” The curriculum, he explains, includes components of small business start-ups, small business management, marketing, promotion, business law including copyright and intellectual property law and product design. “Students will simultaneously apply these principles to the project.”

“We want to get the hottest, freshest artists and put them on the track,” says one student during the class.

Business management major and long-time musician Michael Stottlemyer says he’s looking forward to the project, which just began last week. “I’m hoping we come together and start getting stuff done. Everything’s very exciting.”

Ryan Wiggan, a marketing major from Jamaica, says he’s not really a “music person,” but this “presents a good opportunity to be something real. ... For me just to be a part of something practical and show future employers that you have actually worked on a project” is a good start.

A committee has been formed to oversee the project. “Ultimately somebody has to make sure it goes with church objectives and standards,” says Macomber, who is working on the project with Dr. John Thomas, dean of the School of Business at La Sierra.