This last week has been a hectic one for my family.  Both my wife and my son were down with the flu.  I’ve been trying to pick up some extra design jobs while my

wife was off work to help with this month’s expenses.  This is why I was completely surprised to be standing in the parking lot of my apartment complex in jeans and a t-shirt with a Nigerian pastor in full African garb and a well-dressed gospel singer Saturday morning praying.  I’ve known these guys for awhile and I do random media & video editing work with them when they need it.

Sheldon Mencer is a part of the gospel music trio, “Mencer, White & Cheney”.  The Nigerian pastor is Peter Adigwe who runs an orphanage in Benin City, Nigeria.  He is the guy in the upper right of the photograph above (pictured with the kids from his orphanage there).   They are as far apart in the world as two people can get but they are bonded with a common vision for helping the people & children of Nigeria come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  It isn’t a Compassion International run thing (though Compassion is a great organization).  It’s simply one group of people pulling out the stops and loving others unconditionally.

I love when people get together like this and partner up for something greater than themselves.  Music is great on it’s own, but without the mission it is worthless.  I think this is what defines a good musician from a great one.

Are they reaching beyond themselves?  Who is being impacted by the lives of these people?  How are they being impacted?

When I finish the video editing work that is pretty much bogging my system down right now, I’ll upload the video to youtube and post it here as a separate post.  It’s really an incredible work that I am privileged to be a part of myself.

I just saw this news release about DIRECTV launching a new gospel music channel the middle of next month.

Gospel Music Channel (www.GospelMusicChannel.com) is the first and only 24/7 television network dedicated to the rich history and contemporary sounds of Gospel/Christian music and its many different genres and artists. From rock to rap, country to soul, southern to hip-hop, Gospel Music Channel crosses cultures and generations. From the soulful sounds of CeCe Winans and Aretha Franklin to the country roots of Carrie Underwood and Tim McGraw, and the contemporary stylings of Casting Crowns, Kirk Franklin and Natalie Grant and everyone in between, the Gospel Music Channel’s got it all. The network’s program schedule features artist biographies, music specials, live concerts, and hosted music videos for the entire family.

I think this is great news. I wish someone would setup a Christian Music Channel that was as well produced, relevant and engaging as MTV and VH1. If it would ever happen it needs to look or feel nothing like TBN.

Technorati Tags: gospel music, MTV, VH1, DIRECTV, TV, television, cable TV

You may not immediately recognize the name “Kevin Max”, but you’ve probably heard of the group he started in, dcTalk.

I was browsing around the ChristianMusicDaily website and saw this album posted for Kevin Max. The description alone heightens my desire to go grab this at my local Christian bookstore.

“The Blood is not a classic hymns cover project or a white/homogenized version of black Gospel or soul music. It’s a sensitive and stylized adaptation of the music that was at the root of rock and roll, blues and popular culture.” Says Kevin Max, “The Blood is about the story of redemption and grace, found only in the salvation story of Jesus Christ. There is an extreme sense of respect and sensitivity to the art as we approach the choosing and arrangement of these songs.”

With special performances with Chris Sligh (of American Idol fame), Erica Campbell and Joanne Cash, my interest rises even more.

Anyone out there already own this album? What do you think?

If you’ve got a gift card left over from Christmas for iTunes or just the desire to get  a good deal on some music, go visit the iTunes store by following this link.

You can get two albums for the $14.99 from the story from artists like:

• Rebecca St. James
• Avalon
• Bethany Dillon
• Myron Butler & Levi
• Amy Grant
• Grits
• Jennifer Knapp
• Vicky Beeching
• David Crowder Band
• Jeremy Camp
• Kierra Kiki Sheard
• Kutless
• tobyMac
• Newsboys
• RelientK
• Steven Curtis Chapman

• Made to Love
• Gone

We’ll add “One World” to our list of potential ear worms for 2008.

If you’d like to go hear it yourself, just go to HearItFirst.com – Gospel and look for their featured audio link towards the bottom of the page.

I got the photo above from my friend and old college roommate, Dana Baker, who got to meet Melinda Doolittle at a recent Christmas party. After touching base with him this evening, he also sent me pictures of him with Jordin Sparks as well.

I gotta tell that boy to keep me in the loop next time!

Do you have any photos of yourself with famous singers you’d like to share? I’d love to see them and post them to the site if you’ve got them. If you’ve already posted them on your own site, just let me know and I’ll send a link back to direct people your way as well.

Received an e-mail earlier this week about the I Am Unlimited website that’s a resource for fans of gospel and modern jazz music.

I-Am-Unlimited Records provides the best of gospel music featuring Mary Williams (formerly of Motown’s Shirelles) Pastor Bradford Comer, B.W.R.D., The Real Truth, and Fredrick Stamps.

What websites do you like for your favorite Christian music? Let us know in the comments.

If that wasn’t enough, Mandisa has a Christmas album that will be released on November 20th. It’s a short, four-song album including these four songs:

1. Christmas Makes Me Cry w/ Matthew West
2. O Holy Night
3. Joy to the World
4. What Christmas Means to Me

You can listen to Mandisa sing with Matthew West on Christmas Makes Me Cry on Mandisa’s MySpace website.

Mandisa has a ton of concert dates and appearances on her schedule, you can find them on her MySpace page as well.

McClurkin is a Grammy Award winner who performed at the Republican National Convention in 2004. He told AP Radio in an interview that September that he was “once involved with those desires and those thoughts,” which he attributed to being raped at 8 and 13.

“That’s what thrust me into it, and then God delivered me from that and gave me back who I really am and my true purpose,” McClurkin said.

Without getting into a huge discussion about politics, what do you think of this news?

Source: Group to Obama: Drop singer from tour – Yahoo! News

The problem they say though is that her album doesn’t really feel like there’s much focus. She can sing so well across so many different styles that she’s not held back to just one, but is that a problem?

For someone with such a great voice, is she really missing one at the same time?

Source: Strong Voice But No Niche on Mandisa’s True Beauty