In addition to piano and organ, he plays saxophone, clarinet, flute, and guitar. At FSU he especially enjoyed playing in "ethnic ensembles" and played a sheng, a Chinese mouth organ, in a Chinese music ensemble. He became an accomplished jazz pianist and entered the renowned Eastman School of Music, where he earned a masters degree in jazz and contemporary media.

When an Eastman professor asked, "What do you have musically to offer the world," Keith knew he contributed the most when he played for worship services and moved people spiritually. He entered LTS in 2001. He has taken extra time to experience more types of ministry through the Field Education program. He has been a choir director, a chaplain intern with the Fayette Urban County Jail, and a student minister. He currently is taking Clinical Pastoral Education and serving as a hospital chaplain.

Classroom lessons are just the beginning of acquiring ministerial skills, he says. As a student minister, he often is asked to preach, and the experience adds to what he has read or learned in homiletics classes.

Upon graduation Keith hopes to serve as a congregational minister where one can affect changes in people's lives. "My understanding of the role music plays in worship will be helpful in communicating with choir directors and music ministers," he says.

Keith is married to 2003 alumna Crystal McAliley, associate pastor of First Christian Church, Lawrenceburg, KY. Keith says that he does not know if they will be called to serve as co-pastors or in separate ministries.