Three of the faith-based market’s leading companies have joined together to announce the IXIST Tour: urban music label Xist Music, the formidable artist & booking agency Elite Talent Agency, and top Christian media & events group, FrontGate Media. The tour comes as Christian hip-hop and urban music is exploding, evidenced most recently by last week’s Billboard charts milestone: TobyMac’s “Eye On It” debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

IXIST is more than a concert tour. It is a ministry campaign dedicated to helping people share their testimony. The IXIST team believes that God has blessed us all with a purpose, and that purpose has taken us all on a journey of different paths, struggles and victories. Throughout all our life experiences we have made many choices, some good and some bad, but as children of the Most High, we have all come to common ground, that is, we are all here because of His grace.

The IXIST Tour will allow concert attendees to tell their story at each venue. Each night, one local market testimonial will be chosen and posted from an ongoing international YouTube campaign, created to inspire others to share their story and consider the work that God is doing through their lives.

Coming this Winter 2013, the IXIST Tour will kick off in late February, routing across the U.S. through March and then on to Africa, where the tour will travel to six countries. The tour will include IXIST Media Sessions featuring on-site interviews at each location; afternoon IXIST In-Stores in select cities, and of course the IXIST Concert each night.

This year’s IXIST Tour features the Xist Music roster of leading Urban Christian artists & their ministries, anchored by the Billboard and SoundScan best-selling artists The Ambassador and Sean Simmonds. Supporting artists for the tour include Yaves, D-MAUB, UK based artist Jahaziel, and Nate “NF” Feuerstein.

The IXIST TOUR is being routed and booked by ELITE Talent Agency. Dates will be announced in the near future. To book a tour date, contact Jamie Warden at ELITE Talent Agency at 615-983-6600 or online at http://www.eta-live.com.

About Elite Talent Agency
Elite Talent Agency was founded by music industry veteran Mark Claassen (William Morris Agency.) Elite is unique in that we are able to be a full-service agency, focused on more than booking concerts, we have strategic partnerships with agents in the film/TV, literary, commercial/sponsorship areas. Elite also has an in-house tour marketing agent that walks alongside every tour buyer to maximize each individual show’s potential. http://www.eta-live.com.

About Xist Music
Xist Music is the recording label of Xist Worldwide, which produces innovative projects from our award-winning artists, who are leaders in the inspirational urban music industry. Xist Worldwide was founded by Terverius Black and Sean Simmonds to become the leading producer of inspirational urban entertainment, lifestyle and media content. With properties in music, film, publishing and other lifestyle projects, Xist Worldwide acquires, produces, markets and distributes inspirational urban content.http://www.xistmusic.com.

About FrontGate Media
FrontGate Media is the largest internet & event media group and marketing service reaching the culture-engaged faith and family values audience which represents $4.6 billion worth of Christian products purchased by consumers annually according to “USA Today.” The firm has received the Crystal Statue in the Internet Advertising Competition from the Web Marketing Association. The FrontGate Media group creates relationship and reach for organizations and companies to engage their more than 15 million email subscribers, 25 million monthly page views, and 600,000+ attendees at annual events, and though its Audience Delivery Services which include social media, public relations and pay per click marketing. The media group is #1 in reach to several consumer and leadership demographics in the faith and family values audience including event attendees, entertainment fans, music fans, church musicians and worship leaders, and political conservatives. FrontGate plays a key role in the success of faith-based, faith-friendly and family-friendly movie studios, non-profit organizations, publishers and authors, record labels and artists and more seeking to engage the Christian audience. http://www.FrontGateMedia.com.

Sacred steel ensemble, THE LEE BOYS, are set to release the high-energy Gospel CD TESTIFY on October 23, 2012, distributed by RED/Provident. The first single from TESTIFY, “Smile,” is impacting Gospel radio now. The family group, raised in the House of God church, brings its joyous, spiritual sound of sacred steel to the masses with the release of TESTIFY.

“It has been my dream for years to reach a larger audience with the Gospel message, and I feel likeTESTIFY will be the best way to do it,” said Alvin Lee, founder and band leader.

The Lee Boys are one of America’s finest sacred steel ensembles. Brothers Alvin Lee (guitar), Derrick Lee and Keith Lee (vocals) lead the family band, along with their nephews Roosevelt Collier (pedal steel guitar), Alvin Cordy Jr. (7-string bass) and Earl Walker (drums).

“The inspiration and feeling that comes along with our music is the reason that people feel good,” said Alvin. “It is like the new music on the block, and it’s just getting ready to explode.”

In TESTIFY, songwriters Alvin, Keith, and “Li’l” Alvin Jr. repeatedly touch on the comfort that faith has given them in times of family illnesses and death. The new songs also celebrate their joy in spreading The Word as they travel the world. In the past 5 years, The Lee Boys performed for more than 750,000 music fans at festivals throughout the United States and Canada.

“I was called to take this music and His Word outside the church’s four walls,” said Alvin. “When The Lee Boys have Sunday service at a big rock festival, it makes my heart warm to know kids who might not ever have gone to church in their lives are hearing The Word.”

On this CD, the traditional sacred steel sound is transformed into high-energy arrangements leaving fans dancing, shouting and having fun. Stellar production, expanded instrumentation, and notable guests contribute to the captivating mix of Gospel and traditional R&B on TESTIFY. Guest players include Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Allman Brothers Band) on vocals and lead guitar; Gia Wyre on vocals; Matt Slocum (Sixpence None the Richer) on organ, piano, and keyboards; Nate Worth on percussion; and producer/engineer/mixer Matt Grondin on electric and acoustic guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals. Horns were arranged by Mark Mullins.

ABOUT THE LEE BOYS

Born and raised in Miami, Fla., each of The Lee Boys grew up within the House of God church, where their father and grandfather, Elder Robert E. Lee, was pastor and steel player himself. At the church, they each began their musical instruction through a rigorous course of training in a variety of instruments. In 2005, Alvin Lee was called to bring The Word to a mass audience, brought the sounds of the sacred steel out of the church, and started performing at secular events while continuing to play in the church. The Lee Boys have performed with and/or been invited to tour with artists such as The Blind Boys of Alabama, Mavis Staples, Take 6, and The Harlem Boys Choir. They appeared on numerous national television outlets including Good Morning America (ABC), Fox and Friends (FOX News), CNN, Conan O’Brien (NBC), and The 700 Club (CBN).

For more information about The Lee Boys, visit www.leeboys.com.

In a recent meeting with the women’s ministry at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Vanessa Long spoke on the struggles she endured during husband Eddie Long’s sexual misconduct allegations in 2010 and her subsequent filing for divorce in 2011, a petition which she ultimately chose to close and dismiss.

“I was in the middle of a storm, and I got off the ship,” Long metaphorically explained of her marriage struggles to the hundreds of women attending the Heart to Heart women’s ministry on Aug. 21, which is coordinated by New Birth Baptist Church and serves as a speaking forum for Christian women.

Long, an elder at New Birth, told those in attendance that while she struggled with the decision to divorce Bishop Eddie Long after he was faced with multiple accusations of sexual misconduct with male minors in Sept. 2010, she ultimately chose to return to her marriage and to the New Birth family so she could share her experience and offer guidance for others.

“I realized that the best thing I could do was to let you see me as a woman, just like you. A woman capable of making good decisions and a woman capable of making bad decisions,” Long told the audience, struggling to hold back tears as she received a standing ovation.

“Instead of condemning myself, I can use what happened as an opportunity to minister myself to someone else going through a storm,” Long concluded. Long received immense support for speaking to the Heart to Heart ministry, with several congregants on New Birth Missionary Baptist Church’s Facebook page calling her speech “powerful,” “inspiring,” and spiritual.”

“God is and will always be in control. Some of us will leave the boat during the storm, but it takes a true Virtuous woman to get back on and conquer. Love you…First Lady Long,” commented Rhonda Chapman.

Long announced on Dec. 2, 2011 that she would be terminating her marriage to husband Eddie Long, who is the senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church located in Lithonia, Ga., a suburb in Atlanta.

Shortly after her announcement, Long changed her mind several times, releasing a series of statements which both confirmed and denied her plans to file for divorce. Ultimately, on Feb. 13, 2011, the divorce case was “dismissed without prejudice,” meaning the case may be re-instituted or re-filed in the future.

Long’s divorce filing came after her husband was the subject of five separate allegations of sexual misconduct with male minors of his congregation in 2010. Four of the five alleged victims filed lawsuits against Long in Sept. 2010. In May 2011, all four lawsuits were settled out of court with undisclosed terms.

It is worth noting that Vanessa Long chose to speak on her marital struggles nearly two years to the date of her husband’s accusations of sexual misconduct. Long has been married to her husband for 23 years. They share three children together.

Hot off the heels of their successful fourth album, Identity, James Fortune & F.I.Y.A. are set to release their first ever Christmas album, GRACE GIFT on October 16th.

GRACE GIFT is a must-have addition to your Christmas collection and offers 12-tracks of original tunes and Christmas favorites. Kicking off this beloved holiday in a fun, festive and merry way, Fortune teamed with his wife Cheryl to pen several new songs. Among the highlights, are the upbeat “Christmas Time,” the inspiring “Worship The King,” and the beautifully presented “Mary’s Song,” which features Cheryl on lead. Speaking to God’s ultimate gift to us, the Fortunes also offer the sentimental title track “Grace Gift.” This song is precisely what fans have come to love about Fortune & F.I.Y.A. and it can certainly live past the Christmas holiday.

Other gems include Fortune’s re-vamp / redux of the hit song on “I Believe Part 2” bringing back vocalists Shawn McLemore and Zacardi Cortez. The slower version is no less passionate than the first and still packs a punch. The unexpected inclusion of the CCM song “Love Came Down,” with Todd Galberth on lead rounds out the project.

GRACE GIFT, produced by Terence Vaughn and Ayron Lewis, also encompasses classic songs that awaken memories of family, love and all the holidays have to offer. Using this album as a way to highlight his longtime and close-knit group of singers, Fortune paired beloved Christmas favorites with his best singers. Long time F.I.Y.A. member D’Shondra Rideout soloed on “First Noel,” and Lisa Knowles & McLemore blazed on a rousing version of “Go Tell It/Wonderful Child.” The soulful “This Christmas” features Isaac Carree & Minon Bolton.

“Our prayer is that this Christmas album will be a blessing to everyone this Holiday season and remind us of the Gift we received, that we didn’t deserve and we couldn’t earn – that’s why it was a Grace Gift,” explained Fortune. “I’m also proud to be able to feature the amazing vocalists that serve with me every week traveling across the country helping me to advance the Kingdom.”

GRACE GIFT is sure to ignite the Christmas spirit in everyone.

Fortune continues to travel the country to promote Identity, as well as his current UAC, Gospel single “Hold On” featuring R&B singer Monica and Fred Hammond. Fortune is an ASCAP Songwriter Award winner, Stellar Award multiple nominee & winner and top-selling artist who has gained critical and consumer acclaim for his songwriting and musical ability.

Grace Gift Track Listing:

1. Holy Night (featuring Josiah “Jojo” Martin)

2. Christmas Time

3. Grace Gift

4. Gabriel’s Message (interlude)

5. Mary’s Song (featuring Cheryl Fortune)

6. Love Came Down (featuring Todd Galberth)

7. Go Tell It / Wonderful Child (featuring Lisa Knowles & Shawn McLemore)

8. The First Noel (featuring D’Shondra Rideout)

9. Worship The King

10. This Christmas (featuring Isaac Carree & Minon Bolton)

11. Fortune Kids Christmas Interlude

12. I Believe Part 2 (featuring Shawn McLemore & Zacardi Cortez)