The members of the Florida church where Zachery Tims served as senior pastor have announced a special tribute service for the late minister and have invited the public to share testimonies of how Tims impacted believers’ lives.

In an announcement dated Wednesday, Sept. 7, New Destiny Christian Center (NDCC) requested tributes and testimonies on how Tims “motivated, inspired and changed” the lives of those who were exposed to his ministry.

The announcement, which was also issued through NDCC’s Twitter and Facebook pages, reads in full:

On Sunday, September 18, 2011 at the 9:00am & 11:30am services, we are having a Moving Forward Tribute Service for Pastor Zach and his legacy. It would be a honor to have your participation for this event. Please email your tributes / testimonies to charry@ndcc.tv on how Pastor Zach motivated, inspired and changed your life through the word of GOD. All emails are due no later than Thursday, September 15, 2011, Titled: TRIBUTE TO PASTOR ZACHERY TIMS.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you there.

-NDCC Family

The announcement, also shared on NDCC’s official Facebook page for Tims, was made on Tuesday. Visitors to the official Zachery Tims Facebook community page welcomed the tribute service and expressed continued sadness over Tims’ death.

Barbara Wade wrote, “He will [be] missed he had such compassion and love 4 people!”

“I remember my first meeting [with] him at the storefront on Silver Star. I knew I was placed in that ministry by God. He is missed,” wrote Anntoinette Jóynor Florence.

Renessia Fells said, “[W]ords can never express how much [Pastor] Zack has blessed my life, I miss him so very much yet I believe in my heart that he is in a better place 🙂 all of my Love thought’s and prayers are with his fam and loved ones and will remain with NDCC God…”

Tims, 42, was laid to rest on Aug. 20 at Woodlawn Memorial Park & Funeral Home in Florida.

The Florida minister was found dead in his room at the W Hotel in New York on Aug. 12.

Tims served as senior pastor and CEO of NDCC in Apopka, Fla. He founded the 8,000-member church with this then-wife, Riva Tims, in 1996. The couple has four children.

As noted in the NDCC announcement, the tribute service for Tims is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 18 at 9:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. services. It was not immediately clear if the services will be broadcast live on NDCC.tv as Sunday services usually are.

Source: The Belle Report

This week saw minor movement among the Top 10 best selling Gospel albums.  Congratulations goes out to Dorinda Clark Cole, whose new album I Survived, debuts at #3. 

Isaac Carree spent last week at #1 when he debuted with his first solo project ever.  This week he moves to the #2 spot, with Kirk Franklin reclaiming the #1 position for his album, Hello Fear.  Also worth mentioning is Gospel rap artist “Pro” who spends his second week in the Top 10 at #8.  

Next week we’re expecting strong debuts from Le’Andria Johnson who was the Season 3 Sunday Best winner.  You can get more information about her album by clicking here.

Here is the full top 10…

1 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
2 | Isaac Carree – Uncommon Me
3 | Dorinda Clark Cole – I Survived
4 | WOW Gospel 2011
5 | Donald Lawrence – YRM (Your Righteous Mind)
6 | Earnest Pugh – Earnestly Yours
7 | Mary Mary – Something Big
8 | PRo – Dying to Live
9 | Marvin Sapp – Playlist: The Very Best Of Marvin Sapp
10 | Deitrick Haddon – Anthology: The Writer & His Music

James Fortune is at it again chronicling the making of his new CD that’s due out January 17th.  Fortune’s latest YouTube post shows him in the studio with Sunday’s Best winner Le’Andria Johnson and ZaCardi Cortez.

The video was fun to watch.  Looking dead tired, Fortune asks LeAndria Johnson and ZaCardi Cortez to sing their parts in the song.  When it comes to rifts, soul and that good Gospel sound, ZaCardi and LeAndria Johnson are at the top of my list.  

LeAndria Johnson recently released her new CD that you can purchased here.  ZaCardi has a new single out with Gospel legend John P. Kee, and is preparing for his first solo album.  

So far on the new album James Fortune has worked with some of the most notable producers in the business.  Producers mentioned are Aaron Lindsey, A’ron Lewis, J. Drew Sheard and Terence Vaughn.  Wow!  If you know anything about producers you can’t get much better than that!  

Artists so far include FIYA, Kierra “KiKi” Sheard, Niki Ross, ZaCardi Cortez, LeAndria Johnson, Kim Burrell and much more to come!

Freda Battle & The Temple Worshippers, a city wide choral aggregation based out of Boston, MA, prepares to record their 5th project live entitled “How Glorious and Excellent Is Our God”, on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011 in Boston at Morning Star Baptist Church, beginning at 7pm.

“How Glorious and Excellent Is Our God”, which is slated for a 4th quarter release will be the follow-up to Battle’s 2006 highly acclaimed “Here Is Our Praise” project produced by multiple Grammy Award winning artist and producer Israel Houghton.

Battle is widely known throughout the Gospel community as a worship leader and prolific songwriter penning songs for the Gospel Music Workshop of America Mass Choir: Live In Milwaukee project, Grammy-nominated legendary female group Witness “Speak to the Generations” project, the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, Darryl Coley’s “Here II Praise” project on Verity Records, her group The Temple Worshippers and most recently, Rodney Posey’s 2010 “My Praise is Waiting for You” project and Patrick Lundy & The Minister’s of Music 2010 “Determined” project, amongst others.

Tickets can be purchased in Boston at the Sanctuary Bookstore, 1500 Blue Hill Avenue, 617.296.4651 or Nubian Notions, 1131 Tremont Street, 617.859.7007 or online at www.thejhardyagency.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Judy Peterson (617) 291-1802

GMC, America’s favorite network for uplifting music and family entertainment, announced today it has launched on DISH Network. For an introductory period running through Oct. 11, GMC is available to all DISH Network subscribers as a free preview on channel 188.

GMC’s family-friendly programming slate includes the new hit family drama Heartland on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET, with the season two premiere slated for Oct. 6.

The network is also known for its critically acclaimed GMC World Premiere Movies, with the next original production, A Mile in His Shoes (starring Dean Cain), slated to premiere on Sun., Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. ET with an encore at 9 p.m. ET.

Other popular programming on the network includes GMC World Premiere Gospel Plays, a unique blend of music, comedy and drama. The next GMC World Premiere Gospel Play, The Love You Save, will premiere on Saturday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m., with encores at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET.

GMC continues to be the No. 1 destination for gospel and Christian music fans. In addition to featuring music every day, the network is the home for the genres’ biggest awards shows — the Stellar Awards and the Dove Awards.

GMC also features such family favorites such as The Waltons, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, Judging Amy and Sue Thomas F.B.Eye.

Charles Humbard, president, GMC, said, “This major agreement pushes our distribution well past the important 50 million mark, but the real winners here are DISH Network’s customers. In GMC they are getting America’s favorite uplifting entertainment network that upholds their faith and family values.”

In 2010, the Parents Television Council awarded its coveted Seal of Approval to GMC for being “an authentic family-friendly” network, the only network so honored last year.

Do you wonder who is making waves overseas in the Gospel industry?  Allow PATH to introduce you to Muyiwa & Riversongz, one of the UK’s biggest Gospel act’s.  Muyiwa & Riversongz have released their much anticipated album ‘Declaring His Name All Around The World’.

Produced by GRAMMY award winning producer Kevin Bond and with features from Stellar and Dove award nominee and prolific worship leader Mary Alessi and Dove award nominee Darwin Hobbs.

By pre-ordering the ‘Declaring His Name All Around The World’ album you can help Muyiwa & Riversongz but more importantly, Gospel music get into the charts.

Muyiwa & Riversongz travel extensively, which gave rise to the theme of the new album, having visited Canada, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, USA, Slovakia, Poland, Ireland, Ukraine and the Republic of Benin in the past 12 months.

“We traveled so much and experienced so many people, cultures and sounds, it made perfect sense to explore some of these. This album is a journey of the World’s music as seen through our kaleidoscope” says the Riversongz front-man Muyiwa.

“Declaring His name all Around the World” was released on CD and digitally on 29th August 2011 in the UK and 6th September 2011 in the USA. 

While “Blessed & Cursed” the movie continues to receive national television exposure, it has now become available online for a special price of $7.96.  Starting September 9^th, the film, which stars gospel triple threat Deitrick Haddon, will be aired on The Movie Channel (TMC), a premium cable television service that reaches approximately 20 million subscribers in the United States.

Viewers may now purchase Blessed & Cursed the movie for special price of $7.96 online via Wal-Mart.

Blessed & Cursed Walmart.com Buy Link:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/14335833

As the first feature project from Tyscot Music & Entertainment’s newest division, Tyscot Films, Blessed & Cursed was originally released as a straight-to-DVD title.  Despite not having a major theatrical release, the film has continued to gain grassroots appeal across the country.

Blessed & Cursed – The Movie Channel (TMC)-Next Airings All Times ET/PT:

Please check your local listings for the exact air times in your area.  For more information on future airings, please visit www.sho.com .

“Blessed & Cursed” depicts the biblical struggle of Saul and David with a modern day twist.  Haddon plays, Dwight Hawkins, an aspiring and gifted gospel singer who suddenly goes from humble novice to overnight sensation when he is hired as the Minister of Music at one of the Detroit’s most popular churches.  What starts out as a dream come true soon becomes a nightmare as Dwight’s ambitions are thwarted but an unlikely source.

State officials have enlisted Baptist volunteers to support the efforts of workers battling Texas wildfires that have caused four deaths and destroyed more than 1,000 homes.

Texas Baptist Men was asked to cook 5,000 meals per day for firefighters and first responders in the hardest-hit Bastrop area, about 25 miles from Austin. The Tarrant Baptist Association feeding unit began serving meals Sept. 5 staffed by about 30 volunteers.

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention fed about 4,500 emergency responders over Labor Day weekend in Palo Pinto County west of Fort Worth, where wildfires destroyed 39 homes. Wrapping up that operation, the feeding unit also headed toward Bastrop and Montgomery counties.

The Bastrop wildfire is the most severe of more than 180 wildfires reported in the past week across the drought-stricken state. It has destroyed more than 600 home and blackened 45 square miles.

Aided by lighter winds and increased humidity, Texas Forest Service officials said Wednesday the blaze was about 30 percent contained.

Presidential Candidate Govenor Rick Perry shows emotion over wildfires

Texas is home to many Gospel artists including Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams, Myron Butler, James Fortune, Fred Hammond, Kurt Carr, Vanessa Bell Armstrong and many others.  None of whom have been seriously effected by the tragedy.

Read More by Associated Baptist Press

Oprah Winfrey has announced plans for a one-hour Facebook Live streaming video interview at 4:30 P.M. Eastern Time, 1:30 P.M. Pacific this Thursday! Oprah will answer questions shared by visitors to the Facebook Live event wall. Fans are also invited to share their questions now on Facebook, with a chance to hear Oprah answer their question during the live show.

Oprah is no stranger to Facebook. Her official Oprah Winfrey page is liked by more than 6.2 million fans. Oprah has a booming Twitter account as well, where she has 7.2 million followers!

This is also the same date that the NFL season kicks off and President Obama addresses a joint session of congress! September 8^th will be one busy day! 

Source: www.eurweb.com and www.mashable.com.

The sister duo of Mary Mary recently tweeted that they landed the theme song for Pillsbury Grands Biscuit and Egg Scramble.  The TV spots started Monday. The song “Brand New Morning” is the jingle for the new products.

According to the General Mills, fourteen dancing Pillsbury Doughboy’s and Mary Mary gave out free breakfast recently in Chicago’s Union Station to mark the launch of the Grands Biscuit Sandwiches and Egg Scrambles.

Congrats to Erica and Tina!