Dr. Shelt founded several organizations including The Community of Faith Chorus and The PCA Musician’s Association, and has revitalized many others. Belhaven University appointed Dr. Christopher Shelt Chair of Music in January of 1999 with the commission to revitalize a then seriously struggling music program. Dr. Shelt inaugurated significant changes to begin a successful process of renewal: 1) Refocusing the Music Department vision; 2) Renewing the Music Department facilities and equipment; 3) Hiring new exceptional faculty; 4) Strengthening public performance standards; 5) Introducing strategic curricular revisions; 6) Engaging in collaboration with community arts groups; 7) Consulting in the design of new arts center facilities and transitioning the department; 8) Collaborating with other Belhaven Arts disciplines; 9) Recruiting students resulting in a rapid increase in enrollment; 10) Re-accrediting with the Department with the National Association of the Schools of Music. In four years, The Department of Music had been restored to recognized health after a period of serious decline. National accreditation for Belhaven’s Theatre, Dance, and Visual Arts would follow the Music Department’s success in the next several years.

In 2016, Dr. Shelt was charged with reviving the music major and refocusing and revitalizing Vocal Music at the University of West Alabama.  Dr. Shelt worked together with his colleagues to produce the vision, values, curriculum, and supporting documents needed for a new music major launched in 2020 which includes study paths in :

Classical Voice Performance (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass
Contemporary Commercial Voice Performance (Soprano, Alto, Tenor Bass)
Classical Instrumental Performance (Piano, Brass, Woodwinds, Percussion)
Contemporary Commercial Instrumental Performance
Strategic Music Ministries
Solo Vocal and Choral Studies (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)
Musical Theater Performance (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)
Music Industry and Production

Dr. Shelt is a singer with a baritone voice, a private instructor, and vocal clinician. Dr. Shelt has performed operatic roles in Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Weill's Street Scene and Barab’s A Maker of Illusions. He has conducted professional vocal pedagogy workshops locally and internationally at the Conservatorio Carlos Valderrama in Peru, and for the Conservatory of the Universitas Pelita Haraphan in Indonesia. Dr. Shelt has been a frequent adjudicator in NATS state and regional vocal competitions in both classical and musical theatre genres. Shelt's students have distinguished themselves in professional recordings and performance careers, in teaching roles, in vocal competitions, and in graduate study. As Musical Director of Belhaven musical theater productions, Dr. Shelt led performances of The Fantasticks, Kiss Me Kate, Once Upon a Mattress, The Pirates of Penzance, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, Geraniums and Wrens, and The Gondoliers. He was also the Artistic Director for the Belhaven Opera Arts productions of Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief (2010), The Telephone (2010), and Seymour Barab’s A Game of Chance (2014). He was Artistic Director for a series of childrens opera productions, all composed by Seymour Barab, including Little Red Riding Hood (2012), The Toy Shop (2012), The Pied Piper of Hamelin (2013), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (2014), and The Maker of Illusions (2015). He produced Owen Hartford’s The Frog Prince in 2016. Dr. Shelt’s numerous A Teacher with His Students concerts were well received in recent years. Shelt also researched, scripted, produced, and directed the recent innovative choral drama, William Billings of Boston (2015). Seeking to building bridges to new audiences, Dr. Shelt’s recent performance of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise (2016) was accompanied by an artistic panorama of visual images and poetic meditations.

Shelt has prepared and conducted many classic choral works with collegiate ensembles such as Handel's' Messiah, Pergolesi's Magnificat, Haydn's Missa in Angustiis, Bach's Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland, and Vivaldi's Gloria. He has performed 20th century repertoire collaboratively, staging Britten's Gloriana Dances, Leavitt's Missa Festiva, and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with dance ensembles.

Under Shelt's direction, Belhaven University commissioned and performed the world premiere of John Cheetham's O the Depth. Shelt prepared Belhaven choirs for community performances of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mendelssohn's Elijah; and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. He was invited to be guest conductor of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra performing portions of Mozart's Vesperes de Confessore with the Belhaven Choir in 2004.

At the University of West Alabama, Dr. Shelt has produced and conducted numerous concert performances including Messiah - Handel, The UWA Music Faculty in Concert: Catch the Vision!, William Grant Still: Still Waters Run Deep, The Making of the Drum - Chilcott, Gospel Mass - Ray, Bach and All That Jazz, A British Cup of Tea (with a Taste of Christmas), Hannukah Cantata - Ludwig, A Christmas Garland  - Susa, Carols and Lullabies from the Southwest (Sung in Spanish and Catalan) - Susa..  Shelt was Music Director for Chase Your Dreams: a fully staged Musical Revue production.  Shelt choirs performed medleys from Les Miserables - Lojeski, A Family Christmas Spectacular - Wagner, and Disney Movie Magic - Huff, providing entertainment for the wider campus and community.  Dr. Shelt's performances have encouraged collaboration with UWA faculty colleagies,  UWA student orchestral players, the UWA University Charter School, the UWA Campus School, as well as the Tuscaloosa Christian School choirs.

In addition to 35 years of church experience, and teaching Church Music at the seminary and college level, Dr. Shelt has done numerous Church Music Conferences and Worship Renewal Events in his history. In 2006, Dr. Shelt founded Belhaven Connections, an ambassadorial Christian ministry primarily made up of Belhaven musicians building winsome relational, cultural, and artistic bridges through music performances and educational events. Belhaven Connections visited Peru numerous times, as well as Zambia, Uganda, and Japan. Shelt was invited to Indonesia in 2013 to do a week of consultation, lectures, and master classes. He did presentations on leadership, foundations of a Christian worldview, vocal pedagogy, choral music, and Music Ministry for the Conservatory of the Universitas Pelita Harpahan. He published church related articles in The Christian Observer, Reformed Theological Review, The Southern Baptist Convention Church Music Conference Journal, and Discovery.