A member of Detroit’s famous Winans gospel music family – Michael Winans Jr., 30, who now lives in Jessup, Maryland — pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges. Winans is the nephew of  Marvin Winans, who gave the eulogy at Whitney Houston’s funeral.

Winans was charged with defrauding investors out of approximately $8 million dollars, United States Attorney Barbara McQuade announced.

Here’s how investigators said the scheme worked: Winans represented the Winans Trust as a company investing in crude oil bonds in Saudi Arabia. Winans initially recruited 11 people, whom he called “shareholders” in the Trust, to invest in the crude oil bonds. Winans required the “shareholders” to solicit additional investors and send the investors’ funds to the Trust.

Over 1,000 victim investors from several states sent over $8 million to the Trust. All of these victims were led to believe they were investing in Saudi Arabian crude oil bonds that Winans well knew did not exist. Winans guaranteed the victim investors that the bonds would yield returns of $1,000 to $8,000 within 60 days.

“In reality, Winans converted some of the victim investors’ money to his own personal use while giving some of his later victims’ money to his earlier victims, and falsely represented to them that it was the return on their “investments” he had promised,” investigators said in a press release.

“Investor fraud schemes like this one are just a fancy way to steal other people’s money,” McQuade said. “Anyone who robs citizens of their hard-earned savings will be brought to justice.”

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who was involved in the investigation, said, “Winans has allegedly fleeced many innocent people and betrayed their trust. This is a significant step in bringing justice to his many victims.”

Winans sentencing has been set for 2 p.m. Feb. 27, 2013 before the Honorable Sean F. Cox at which time he could face a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

This case was a joint investigation with the FBI, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR).

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Abed Hammoud.

Anyone who believes they may have been a victim click here for more information.

Atlanta based Record Label Arrow Records continues to revamp its lineup and management. The label announced today the signing of Grammy Award Nominated artist Pastor Kim Burrell. 

The three time Stellar Award winning artist known for her amazing vocal styling is the second artist to sign to the label after Grammy Award Winning Ann Nesby signed on earlier this year.  

Newly appointed General Manager Cappriccieo M. Scates states,  “We have all been huge fans of her work for many years, and having an opportunity to assist in bringing her music to the world is an amazing honor!  Like most, I refer to her as the greatest voice alive, and I am so excited about working with her!”

The label also carries Shonlock and comedian Akintunde.

Kim Burrell has managed to stay in the news often as vocal coach for Sunday Best contestants, and by appearing on primetime networks like CNN and offering performances on BET.  The singer recently announced a new reality TV show currently being shopped for television.

Pastor Kim Burrell is set to release new music in May of 2013.

Renowned modern worship songwriter/artist Brenton Brown releases his fourth full-length album, God My Rock, today from Integrity, with distribution in North America by Provident Music Distribution. Brenton’s first live solo record and first live worship project since the Vineyard UK’s release of Come Now is the Time and its best-selling album Hungry, God My Rock is receiving wide critical acclaim.

The 14-track album features six brand new songs and new versions of many of Brenton’s worship classics all recorded with his band, The Worship Republic (Daniel Ornellas – bass, Ben Showalter – drums and Scotty Murray – guitar), in Dayton, OH in front of 4,000 energized high school age students at a Dare2Share event. The songs on God My Rock came to life at this youth evangelistic mobilization organization event earlier this year and follows a two-year touring stint for Brenton and his band that started at Hume Lake Christian camps.

As the music begins reverberating around the globe, here is how the critics are already responding to the new offering from Brenton Brown and The Worship Republic:

“True musical art in the genre of worship is found in fresh accessibility…God My Rock keeps Brown’s singular song-crafting approach at its heart, and the result is a subtly resplendent worship release that will be remembered as one of his finest offerings…Both fresh and deep, filled with revolutionary truths, captured with art and congregational skill, God My Rock is a must have for worship leaders.” – Worship Leader

 

“Brenton Brown’s driving rock mixed with Americana worship style along with his sincere vocal prowess and honest writing come through in fine fashion to create an enjoyable collection of worship.” – Worship Musician

“God My Rock…is a wonderful mix of old, new, familiar and fresh. It’s not uncommon to search an album for one, maybe two useable, songs for worship environments, but just about every single song on this album is a song that will be effective and accessible for gatherings by worship ministries everywhere. Worship leaders, we highly recommend this one!” – TheWorshipCommunity.com

“From reflective piano-focused songs to rock infused praise melodies, Brenton’s vast display of musical and lyrical ingeniousness….Brenton’s album is one of the standouts for worship enthusiasts in October 2012.” – IndieVisionMusic.com.

“This is a great collection of worship songs written by Brenton and recorded in a live setting, which I think is where we find Brenton at his best, leading people closer to God… if you’re looking for a worship album to put on and spend time with the Lord, then you can’t go wrong with this one.” – LouderThanTheMusic.com

“God My Rock flowed effortlessly…The Worship Republic shine on this album with tight, effective and well thought out arrangements and musicality enhancing rhythms and melodies.” – M-Brio Music

Leading up to the recording, longtime friends Brenton and Paul Baloche teamed up to pen the anthemic first radio single and title track from the album. Taking a queue from the famous hymn of old, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” the modern day expression in “God My Rock” points to the unshakeable truth of God’s reliability. A compelling lyric video of this song that includes turbulent seafaring footage can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0b2GFdxuVk.

A South African-raised Rhodes scholar who studied at Oxford University, was worship pastor in England’s Vineyard Church and now resides in Malibu, CA, Brenton Brown is one of today’s most prolific writers of modern worship with nine CCLI Top 500 songs that are being sung by millions in churches all around the world. Forty-eight chord charts and lyrics to his most requested songs are available for free at www.brentonbrown.com/songs.html, including “Everlasting God,” which was honored by ASCAP as one of the most performed songs in the USA in 2007 across all genres, marking the first time that a worship song has been recognized with such an honor.

For more Brenton Brown information, including tour dates, go to www.brentonbrown.com.

About Integrity:
Integrity Music is a division of David C Cook, a nonprofit global resource provider serving the Church with life-transforming materials. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Integrity Music’s resources are distributed in more than 160 countries and sold worldwide. Additional information can be found at www.integritymusic.com.

The incomparable Beverly Crawford kicks off a brand new season of Bobby Jones Gospel in high gear this Sunday, Oct 7^th on BET! 

Singing brand new songs from her upcoming CD Oct 30th, as well as a powerful duet with Stellar nominee Earnest Pugh, Grammy & Stellar winner Beverly Crawford is back with a vengeance and you don’t want to miss her electrifying performance!

On the heels of her #1 hits “It’s About Time For A Miracle!” and “He’s Done Enough”, the red-hot Beverly Crawford continues to demonstrate why she is universally regarded as one of the top vocalists in the world!  With a legion of ardent fans including Patti Labelle, President Obama, Fantasia, Natalie Cole, Ochocinco, Ebony Magazine says..

“The incomparable Beverly Crawford is one of the truly great voices of our time!“
Ebony Magazine

New CD & DVD available everywhere – Oct 30^th
JDI / Universal Fontana

Bobby Jones Gospel 2012- 2013 New Season – Full Schedule:

Oct 7, 2012
Beverly Crawford, Hezekiah Walker, Earnest Pugh, and Valerie LaFlore

Oct 14, 2012
Cissy Houston, DA TRUTH, and Earl Bynum & Mt. Unity Choir

Oct 21, 2012
Yolanda Adams, Bishop Paul Morton, Derrick Starks Family & Friends

Oct 28, 2012
Marvin Sapp, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Linda Williams

Nov 4, 2012
BeBe Winans, Tamela Mann, D. Jakoby Washington & Judah Lyfe

Nov 11, 2012

Isaac Carree, William McDowell, Anna Crawley

Nov 18, 2012
Donald Lawrence, Byron Cage, Anita Wilson

Nov 25, 2012
The Rance Allen Group, Shirley Murdock, Amber Bullock

Dec 2, 2012
Vicki Winans, New Life, Ted Winn, Sensere

Dec 9, 2012
Smokie Norful, Jonathan Nelson, Tammy Edwards & the Edwards Sisters

Dec 16, 2012
Kurt Carr, Stephen Hurd, Genita Pugh

Dec 23, 2012
Moses Tyson Jr, Vicki Yohe, William Murphy, James Ziegler

Dec 30, 2012
James Fortune & FIYA, Michelle Williams, Myron Butler, the Wardlaw Brothers

Jan 6, 2013
Israel Houghton, Forever Jones, Jackson Southernaires

Jan 13, 2013
J. Moss, Anthony Brown & Group Therapy, Deanna Ransom

Jan 20, 2013
Vashawn Mitchell, Helen Baylor, Cepeda McKay & No Limits

Jan 27, 2013
Karen Clark Sheard, JJ Hairston, Javen, & special guest Sheryl Lee Ralph

Feb 3, 2013
Dorothy Norwood, Pastor Charles Jenkins, Tasha Cobbs

Feb 10, 2013
Tramaine Hawkins, Chicago Mass Choir, Zacardi Cortez

Feb 17, 2013
Dottie Peoples, Jason Nelson, Bryan Wilson, Mary Glover

Joel Osteen and Rick Warren, two of America’s most popular megachurch pastors, have been confirmed for a live appearance on “Oprah’s Lifeclass” program on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) to be broadcast Friday, Oct. 5. “Watch new episodes before they air! Log on to Oprah.com or Facebook.com/owntv October 5 at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. CT to participate in live tapings with Joel Osteen and Rick Warren,” an ad for the show announced. While fans of “Oprah’s Lifeclass” will be able to watch the tapings live on the Internet when they are streamed on Friday, it is not clear when exactly they will be broadcast on TV.

“Oprah’s Lifeclass” episodes allow viewers to interact with guests and ask important questions, and have been some of the more ratings-successful segments on OWN. Osteen is expected to comment on “positive thinking and dreaming big” while Warren will address “winning the hand you’re dealt,” according to Oprah.com. Both Osteen and Warren have enjoyed far-reaching success in their ministries. Osteen leads the 43,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, is the author of bestseller Everyday a Friday, and his weekly sermons are broadcast to millions of people around the world.

Most recently, while promoting his new book, I Declare: 31 Promises to Speak Over Your Life, Osteen was interviewed by CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and pressed on the topic of homosexuality and whether or not it was a sin. Osteen said that being gay was not “God’s best,” but affirmed that he did not “choose” to be straight, and said that the church should not categorize sin.

Warren, on the other hand, leads Saddleback Church in California, boasting an over 20,000-person weekly attendance, and is the author of The Purpose Driven Life, one of the highest selling Christian books ever written which he will also discuss during “Oprah’s Lifeclass.”

The California preacher recently returned home from the hospital after being admitted for experiencing pain in his arms and numbness in his fingers. Warren’s family declared this week that he was fine and ready to continue working.

“I’m disappointed by this delay since I am super excited about what I have to share at Vision Night,” Warren wrote about an event he had to cancel because of his brief hospitalization. “But I learned a long time ago to always go with the flow and trust God when plans get messed up. His timing is always best.”

Director-actor-screenwriter-producer Tyler Perry is partnering with OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network to develop series programming and other projects for the cable channel.

Two scripted series from Perry are set to make their debuts in mid 2013. He will executive-produce, write and direct both, which will be the first original scripted series for OWN.

The partnership between Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, announced Monday, amounts to the biggest programming bet made by OWN since its premiere in January 2011. The network has struggled to define itself and draw an audience since then, though it has started to show some progress in the ratings in recent months. Winfrey’s partner, Discovery Communications, expects the network to turn a profit in late 2013.

Tyler Perry will take a small equity stake in OWN, though the amount and the other financial details of the deal were not disclosed. OWN called it a “multi-year deal.”

In the future, OWN will be Mr. Perry’s “singular destination for all new television series and projects,” the network said Monday in a news release. The network plans to premiere two new scripted series made by Perry sometime in mid-2013.

Tyler Perry confirmed the deal and had this to say,  

“As I sit here in Atlanta, it’s raining an abundant rain. It makes me think of my mother. She loved the rain and I do too. It is befitting that this announcement would be made on a day like today. Yes it’s true, Oprah and I have joined forces. We’ve formed a partnership for OWN and I’m super excited about it. I’ll fill you in more as we get closer to the airing of my shows. I have a lot of questions for you about this, so stay close, OK? I need your help.”

The deal with OWN signals that Perry has ruled out the creation of a cable channel of his own. Last year, The New York Times reported that Perry and the distributor of his films, Lions Gate Entertainment, were considering creating such a channel, tentatively called Tyler TV. One option for carriage at the time was a takeover of the TV Guide Network. Winfrey and Discovery Communications created OWN the same way, by taking over the Discovery Health Channel.

“You have one of the most talented producers in Hollywood who has walked away from other opportunities, and he is betting his television future on OWN,” said David Zaslav, the chief executive of Discovery, in an e-mail. “In a business where content is king, that is a huge endorsement — and no question that Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey make a pretty powerful consumer and brand proposition.”

Oprah was said to have lost the ability to make creative decisions at the network do to poor ratings and sagging advertising sales.  Majority stake holder Discover Communications made the move a few months back.  Undoubtedly, Oprah hopes that this deal with Perry can help keep the network on the air.  So it appeals all bets are on Tyler.

Perry’s current home on cable, TBS, will continue to broadcast repeats of his shows “House of Payne,” “Meet the Browns” and “For Better or Worse.” 

Writers Charley and Vlas Parlapanides

CBS is getting into the faith business.  The network has given script orders to The Centurion, a high-concept drama about faith and responsibility from Immortals feature scribes Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The drama centers on an elite force recon Marine who, after a near-fatal accident in combat overseas, makes a promise to God to clear the debt of the lives he’s taken if he safely returns home to his family. Once he does return home, he settles back into his former career as a police detective to make good on his promise, guided by the angel of his best friend, who died in the accident.

The Parlapanides brothers created the concept and will write and executive produce the show for ABC Studios, with Revenge consulting producer Bob Sertner and Fast & Furious scribe Chris Morgan also on board to produce.

Read the full story by the Hollywood Reporter

Today is the day that Holly Starr debuts Focus, her third studio project releasing courtesy of Save The City Records/Provident Distribution. Produced by Chris Stevens (TobyMac, Mandisa, Jamie Grace), David Garcia (Group 1 Crew) and Chuck Butler (Royal Tailor), Focus has already been touted as “the perfect find for anyone looking for music with stripped back production and intimate lyrics of confession and praise.”

Media coverage has already been supported by outlets such as New Release Tuesday, Focus On The Family’s Plugged In, Surrender Magazine, Encounter Magazine, The Trades, Christian Music Zine, and much more. Her music has also been added to Sirius XM, Family Life Network as well as major market radio stations across the U.S., such as KSBJ in Houston and Seattle’s KCMS.

Focus‘s first single, “Don’t Have Love,” continues to make major headway with radio. The song is presently at New & Active at both AC Monitored and Indicator and reached #26 at CHR.

Added to SiriusXM’s The Message and Family Life Network, other major market stations spinning “Don’t Have Love” are KSBJ in Houston, Seattle’s KCMS, KLJY/St. Louis, WDJC in Birmingham, WBFJ/Winston-Salem and WMHK in Columbia, SC. In fact, according to Jeff Cruz, PD at WMHK, Starr’s single is a smash and is the next Jamie-Grace “Hold Me.” He shared, “Fun, fresh and exciting is exactly what I thought the first time I heard Holly Starr’s music. I couldn’t wait to share it with the listeners at WMHK. And they have loved it as much as I did!”

And according to Hit Music Research through HisAir.net, Starr’s “Don’t Have Love” was top 3 in a recent survey with AC radio, just behind Building 429 and TobyMac.

The music video for “Don’t Have Love” has been viewed close to 200,000 times on YouTube, was also added to GMC. Be sure to watch the video here. To download Focus, visit Starr’s link at iTunes.

Focus Track Listing 
1. Let Go
2. This Love
3. Don’t Have Love
4. Through My Father’s Eyes
5. Me And You
6. Focus
7. Satisfied
8. Constant
9. I Believe
10. Grace For All

ABOUT HOLLY STARR
Raised in a Christian home on a farm in Quincy, Washington, Holly Starr is living a charming story and also living her dream. Writing songs and creating music ever since she was little, being discovered on the internet, and now making albums and touring the country, Starr hasn’t stopped going. This year alone, she has played the main stage at AtlantaFest, Lifest, Alive, Unity Fest, and more. For Holly Starr’s most updated tour schedule, please visit her site here.

Through it all, Starr embodies a firm desire for ministry and a well-established plan. “If you believe that God is bigger than everything we can see, and that He’s more powerful than anything you’ve experienced, then you know that God’s grace can intervene in any situation in your life. The impossible is not impossible.”

At only 21 years old, Starr has toured the world and has collaborated with some of the most lauded writers and producers in the industry, such as Chris Stevens, Ian Eskelin, David Garcia, Chuck Butler, and Rusty Varenkamp, to name a few. She has released two previous projects, Tapestry (2010) and Embraced (2008), and has played some of the biggest Christian Music festivals, even opening for country star LeAnn Rimes. Now with Focus, Starr showcases her vibrant musical growth and maturity alongside her heart for worship.

A colorful and creative work of art, Heart to Heart is written by author Carolyn MF Brown who has a profound passion for family, love and God. In this compilation of inspirational poems, Brown takes her readers to a rhythmic play of words that articulate the many blessings of the Lord, found in the things that surround every person such as the gift of life. 

In Heart to Heart, readers will uncover the edifying messages that are hidden behind the playful lyrics and artistic words. Awe-inspiring, the poems in this book instill the value of respect for every human being, through one’s words and deeds. Brown also shares a couple of points about sportsmanship, patience and understanding especially when humans are engaging in games. Also, she cites the importance of humility, encouraging everyone to apologize when they feel like they are at fault. She emphasizes how these two simple words “I’m sorry” are powerful tools in building a lasting and healthy relationship between individuals 

Most significantly, this light read shares the unwavering bond of a family. This descriptive and inspirational book shares poems about mothers, fathers and children, profoundly illustrating the genuine definition of a family. Lastly, Heart to Heart connects with its readers in a transcendental level as it encourages them to understand the importance of prioritizing self love above all things, for it is the determining factor of how one can reach out to love others. Stimulating and heart-warming, this poetry book speaks a myriad of truths. 

To read Excerpts and Purchase book click here and visit www.barnesandnoble.com 

 Available Online at Barnes & Noble.com

About the Author

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Carolyn Mae Faison Brown is a nine-year recipient of a kidney donated to her from her sister, Brenda D. Combs on September, 2001. Brown was employed for eighteen years as an EKG/ electrocardiographic technician and had worked part time as an EEG/ electroencephalographic technician. In her spare time, she is exercising at the YMCA with her husband Reginald. She has a daughter, son-in-law and one grand-child. She also has a son, a daughter -in-law, and two grandchildren at Scott Air force Base Illinois.