BMI will honor Gospel artists CeCe Winans, Donald Lawrence and Twinkie Clark at its 10th Annual Trailblazer of Gospel Music Awards Luncheon on Friday, January 16 2009. The invitation only ceremony will take place at Rocketown in Nashville.

     CeCe Winans’ career has generated a trove of top-shelf industry accolades comprising numerous Grammy, Stellar and Dove Awards. Her work with her brother as the duo BeBe & CeCe Winans expanded the boundaries of Gospel music and welcomed new listeners into its fold.

     Her solo projects reintroduced her as an artist comfortable with the spotlight. CeCe has been a BMI songwriter for more than 20 years. Her catalog of compositions including the BMI Christian Award winning song “Say a Prayer,” as well as “Addictive Love,” “Well Alright,” and “Pray.”  Her gold and platinum selling albums fill her resume and her latest effort “Thy Will Be Done” promises more acclaim.

     Donald Lawrence is a producer and BMI songwriter, choir director and singer whose major influences on contemporary Gospel music is unparalleled.

     His original work with the multiple awards winning Tri-City Singers revealed a rare and innovative artist capable of musical brilliance and authentic Christian praise, while his work as a producer embodied projects by Gospel icons including fellow honoree Twinkie Clark, Kirk Franklin and Karen Clark Sheard.  Lawrence has also penned songs for The Clark Sisters, the Tri-City Singers, his own well-received solo projects, and more. His growing catalog includes the 2007 BMI Christian Award winning “Blessing of Abraham” and “Encourage Yourself.”

     Elbernita “Twinkie” Clark has enthralled listeners for decades, both through her acclaimed solo work and leadership of Gospel’s royal family The Clark Sisters.

     A skilled musician dubbed “Queen of the B3 Hammond Organ,” Clark also wields aerobatic vocals only matched by her sublime knack for composition. Clark has two Grammy Awards and has penned songs for The Clark Sisters, Rev. James Cleveland, Al Green, Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers, Esther Smith, James Moss, Dave Hollister, Xscape and Mary J Blige. The legendary BMI Gospel songwriter, Twinkie Clark, has recently recognized alongside her sisters at the 2007 Stellar Awards, where the influential group received the award for Most Noted Achievement.

     BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) is an America performing right organization that represents more than 375,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 6.5 million works. BMI’s latest financial results, $901 million for its 2008 fiscal year, are he highest performing right collections for any copyright organization I the world.

 
At the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency, hosted by Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain were asked nearly identical questions on stewardship, leadership, worldview and America’s role in the world. According to Saddleback pastor Rick Warren, who was the sole interviewer throughout the two-hour event, the goal of the civil forum was to “restore civility in our civil discourse.”

“Now, we believe in the separation of church and state,” Warren said in his introduction before heading into the first round of questions with Obama, “but we do not believe in the separation of faith and politics because faith is just a world view and everybody has some kind of world view.”

“And it’s important to know what they are,” he told the packed crowd of over 6,500 in Saddleback’s worship center, reiterating statements made prior to the forum.

Starting with Obama – who was selected to go first by a coin toss, Warren sat down for a one-hour interview with each of the presidential hopefuls, both of whom the megachurch pastor identified as friends, patriots, and “people who both care deeply about America.”

Warren’s questions – which were drawn from the input of pastors and church leaders throughout America and a team of experts on issues such as religious persecution and AIDS – ranged from personal questions on the candidate’s greatest moral failures and most gut-wrenching decisions they've had to make to “values” questions on issues such as abortion, marriage and stem cells.

While the responses from Obama and McCain contrasted on a number of issues, as expected, such as their opinions of the present Supreme Court justices, the two senators notably agreed on what America’s great moral failure is – the lack of selflessness.

“I think America’s greatest moral failure in my lifetime is that we still don’t abide by that basic precept in Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me,” responded Obama during his session with Warren as McCain waited in “a cone of silence.”

“There is a pervasive sense, I think, that this country is wealthy and powerful as we still don’t spend enough time thinking about the least of these,” he added.

McCain, in his response, said America’s greatest moral failure “has been throughout our existence, perhaps that we have not devoted ourselves to causes greater than our self interest although we’ve been at the best at it of anybody in the world.”

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee urged for greater American participation in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, the military, and faith-based and volunteer organizations.

“The first words of your very successful book is ‘This is not about you,’” McCain said, citing from Warren’s best-selling “Purpose Driven Life.”

“And you know that really also means, serve a cause greater than your self interest,” he added.

Aside from America’s greatest moral failure and the belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, responses from the two presidential contenders were largely divergent.

When the issue of abortion was brought up, McCain succinctly replied that babies are entitled to human rights at the moment of conception and pointed out his 25-year pro-life record in the Congress and the Senate. Obama, on the other hand, stood by his pro-choice platform but reiterated that he is not pro-abortion.

“I don’t think women make these decisions casually,” he explained. “They wrestle with these things in profound ways – in consultation with their pastors or spouses or their doctors and their family members.”

Obama suggested that there were other ways to lower the abortion rate, including the reduction of the number of unwanted pregnancies and the providing of resources that allow women to make the choice to keep a child.

The democratic senator was also put on the spot when asked about his thoughts on faith-based organizations, struggling to answer directly Warren’s question on whether faith-based organizations should forfeit the right to access federal funds due to their policy on hiring people based on faith.

“Generally speaking, faith-based organizations should not be advantaged or disadvantaged when it comes to getting federal funds by virtue of the fact that they are faith-based organizations,” he said.

McCain also had his share of awkward moments.

Most notably, when asked what it means to be a follower of Christ and how faith works out in his life on a daily basis, McCain replied that he’s saved and forgiven and quickly went into telling the story of his run-in with a Vietnamese Christian soldier during his time as a POW.

“I’ll never forget that moment,” McCain said after recalling the moments of solidarity he shared with the Vietnamese Christian soldier.

On the other hand, Obama – who has been noted as more spiritual, though liberal, than McCain – replied clearly that Christ “is a source of strength and sustenance on a daily basis.”

“I know that I don’t walk alone, and I know that if I can get myself out of the way, that I can maybe carry out in some small way what He intends,” he said.

In their conclusions, both candidates claimed their ability to reach across the table as a strength that they would offer to America as the nation’s next president.

“I have a record of reaching across the aisle and working with the other party, and I want to do that and I believe, as I said, that Americans feel it’s time for us to put our country first,” said McCain during his one-minute summary on why he wants to be president.

In addition to his “ability to build bridges across partisan lines, racial, regional lines,” Obama said he feels like the American dream “is slipping away.”

“I think we are at a critical juncture economically; I think we are at a critical juncture internationally,” he added.

On Sunday, Warren was scheduled to deliver a special sermon, entitled “Making Up You Mind: Questions to Consider before the Election," which will be streamed live on the church Web site – www.saddleback.com. The sermon will be delivered twice – first during Saddleback’s 9 a.m. PT service and then again during the church’s 11:15 a.m. PT service.

 
The first picture of the Rev. Timothy Wright taken after he was critically injured in a car accident shows the famed Brooklyn pastor's resolve during a rehab session.

The "Godfather of gospel" still cannot breathe, eat or walk on his own, more than a month after the horrific crash that killed his wife and grandson.

Still, in the most dire period of his life, Wright, 61, wants nothing more than to get back in the pulpit, preaching to his loving congregation.
"Can I go to church?" Wright asked his son Tuesday inside his hospital room at a New Jersey rehabilitation center. "He says that all the time," David Wright, 30, told the Daily News as he stroked his father's shoulder. Wright has been incapacitated since the July 4 accident that took the life of Betty Wright and his 14-year-old grandson, D.J.

Wright, the founder of Grace Tabernacle Christian Center in Crown Heights, suffered a severe spinal cord injury, a broken jaw, broken ribs and multiple fractures in his legs. The
Grammy Award-nominated pastor was moved to the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange on Thursday, but his veterans insurance doesn't cover the $4,033-a-day treatment he needs. His family, joined by the Rev. Al Sharpton, are asking for donations to continue Wright's rehabilitation.

"He was always the one to help everybody else," Sharpton, a decades-long friend of the Wrights, said during a visit yesterday. "Now, it's time for everybody to help the Godfather." Sharpton said his goal is to raise at least $100,000 by week's end, noting that Wright's care at Kessler is likely to end up costing about half a million dollars. "The insurance that he had covered him as far is it could," Sharpton said. "Now, he must depend on the insurance of his friends and his supporters."
The Wrights were returning to the city from a church conference in Detroit when a drunken driver heading the wrong way on a Pennsylvania highway hit their car head-on.

The driver, John Pick, 44, was killed in the crash. Wright has recently regained feeling in his shoulders and is expected to be taken off of a respirator in six weeks, family friend
Laurie Schneider said. Schneider said she has been stunned by Wright's strength and devotion to his church despite his heartbreaking ordeal.

"He was asking to put a tent on the parking lot, so he can hold his services outside here," Schneider added. "That's all he's praying for – to give a service."

BY RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

For a small but increasing number of Americans, the song “Pull Your Pants Up!” by Gospel rap artist Dooney “Da Priest” is not just a song. “It’s a movement,” as the rapper told the Jackson Clarion Ledger of Mississippi last week after his album “Pull Your Pants Up!” released.

And with new laws recently passed or being considered in a handful of U.S. cities, it might be.

In the south Chicago suburb of Lynwood, village leaders have passed an ordinance that would levy $25 fines against anyone showing three inches or more of their underwear in public.

In Flint, Mich., the city’s police chief has directed his officers to arrest people wearing pants or shorts below their waists or buttocks, and issue misdemeanors, citing the city's disorderly conduct and indecent exposure laws.

And in Riviera Beach, Fla., local police are now able to act on the so-called "saggy pants" law that was put on the books in March after a legal glitch was fixed Wednesday night.

The southeast Florida city had adopted the controversial ordinance just months after nearby Opa-locka became one of the first U.S. cities to ban saggy pants in certain public facilities.

"It's going to be a new day, a great day," Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters told WPTV-Ch. 5. "We hope our young people have gotten the message loud and clear that it is against the law in this city to walk around indecently."

Some – such as the Rev. Jerry Young of New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., where an ordinance has been proposed to make it illegal to wear pants below the waistline "as to expose one's underwear" – say it’s a matter of morality.

"It's indecent and improper and our wives, mothers, daughters and sisters in the community don't want to see it," he told the Clarion Ledger.

City Councilman Kenneth Stokes, who proposed the sagging ban in Jackson after talking with Young, further told the newspaper: "Young people are emulating the dope boys, gang bangers and criminals they see and the community doesn't want them to go down that road."

There are some, however, who oppose the “movement.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, for example, said the new policy in Flint gives police authority to conduct unconstitutional searches and seizures, promotes racial profiling, violates due process and interferes with individuals' freedom to express themselves in their appearance.

"Given that Flint has one of the highest crime rates in the country, you would think the police chief would be fighting crime instead of the latest fashion fad," said Michael J. Steinberg, legal director of the state ACLU, according to the Detroit Free Press.

In Jackson, high school senior Greg Sims told the local newspaper he thinks it is “foolish” that the city council is even considering the ban.

Bryan Collins, a sophomore at Holmes Community College in Jackson, also said he didn’t support the ban, though he agrees that those who “get outrageous with sagging” deserve to be fined.

Despite protests and opposition, radio personality Torrez Harris of Hallelujah 95.5 FM in Jackson, one of several radio stations across the nation that plays Dooney’s song, claims support for the “Pull Your Pants Up” movement is strong.

"For every negative person that calls in about the 'Pull Your Pants Up' song, at least 20 positive people call in support of the song and its message," he told the Clarion Ledger.

In South Carolina, the Jasper County Council's proposed sagging pants ban will be up for public discussion Monday during a public hearing and second reading.

The proposed ordinance would ban anyone from wearing their pants more than 3 inches below their hips "and thereby exposing his or her skin or intimate clothing."

The ordinance carries a maximum penalty of $500 and 30 days in jail, reported county attorney Marvin Jones, according to the local Beaufort Gazette.

 
New York, NY — On the group’s sophomore CD, 21:03 continues to demonstrate their musical prowess, which spans the gamut from traditional Gospel melodies to R&B and Hip Hop infused rhythms that garnered the trio a 2008 Stellar Award for Rap/Hip Hop Gospel CD of the year.

On TOTAL ATTENTION the group shows considerable growth and proves that they have staying power and appeal that crosses all generations.  Comprised of Evan Martin, Torrence Green and Jor’el Quinn, 21:03 has a robust signature sound that not only gets bodies moving, but that appeals to the hearts and minds of listeners.   

Replete with production from exceptional mainstays PAJAM, TOTAL ATTENTION includes the powerful first single “Cover Me” that features vocals from Smokie Norful and Fred Hammond.  The fervent ballad is a powerful intercessory anthem which has been an early favorite at radio and has achieved #1 most added status for more than three weeks.

The electrifying “You” has been the #1 digitally downloaded single on iTunes and Napster and its accompanying video can currently be seen on the Gospel Music Channel as well as BET and other outlets around the country.  Additionally, 21:03 was Gospel Music Channel’s “Listen Up” artist of the month.  “21:03’s music, talent, style and grace broadly appeals to the Gospel, R&B, Christian, and POP music fans, while maintaining the integrity of the message.   21:03 is a true definition of Gospel Music Channel’s ListenUp! Artist on the Rise!!” says Alvin Williams, Senior Director, Music Industry Development, Gospel Music Channel.

With styles to suit a variety of musical tastes, TOTAL ATTENTION also includes the hip hop inflected  “Talkin Bout” and the remarkably soulful “Now” and “You Got Me Through,” both which can give any current R&B hit a run for its money.  “Riverside” and “The Power of Christ” find the group at its best with a cappella performances that put their extraordinary vocals front and center.

 Reviving the boy band with a positive message of hope and salvation, 21:03 has the whole package.  “It’s not boring to be a Christian,” Torrence says.  “To be a Christian isn’t wack, it’s an exciting experience when you walk with Christ.  We get so easily distracted by things around us, but God wants your total attention. This is the time to stay focused.”

0A

 
New York, NY– Marvin Sapp continues to experience monumental success as his CD THIRSTY is certified Gold and his hit single “Never Would Have Made It” lands in the #1 position on the Urban AC Chart according to Nielsen reporting.  “Never Would Have Made It” becomes the first gospel song to hit the top urban AC position since Yolanda Adams’ Open My Heart. 

In addition to being #1 at Urban AC, “Never Would Have Made It” has spent a remarkable 42 weeks as the #1 song at gospel radio and is also the top selling gospel ringtone and ringback.  Additionally, THIRSTY has been the #1 CD on the gospel sales chart for a total of 27 weeks. 

“I am happy, humbled and just overwhelmed by the response to this song,” says Sapp.  “At some point, everyone has had a Never Would Have Made It moment and I believe that is why the song is connecting with people in such a profound way.” 

Marvin Sapp can be heard on the Tom Joyner Morning Show this Friday, July 25, at 8:45 a.m. EST and is gearing up for a major tour.  Additionally, he and his wife MaLinda are preparing for the first semester of students at the Grand Rapids Ellington Academy of Arts and Technology (GREAAT), the school they founded in partnership with the Grand Rapids Public School System. 

“Never Would Have Made It” is the first single off of Sapp’s blockbuster 7th solo CD THIRSTY, which was released July 3, 2007.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 07, 2008

Contact Information
Quwania J.
TSF Marketing & Media
757.537.4644
Publicity@thesonshinefaktory.com

Irvington, NJ (July 7, 2008) – With many companies, organizations, ministries and individuals alike feeling the crunch of today's economy, New Brunswick, NJ native and national recording artist, Lance Williams, is poised with the God-given vision of the annual New Jersey-based True Worship Retreat. Designed to bring the industry's most accomplished and respected pioneers together for a weekend of worship and information at minimal cost, the True Worship Retreat is noted as the "must attend" worship event of the year.

This vastly anticipated event, which will feature such artists and instructors as Richard Smallwood, Maurette Brown-Clark, Tye Tribbett, Bishop Liston Page, Nancy Jackson, Kim Burrell, William Murphy, Bob Sorge and many more, will take place at the Christian Pentecostal Church, 971 Clinton Avenue in Irvington, NJ, Thursday, September 11th – Saturday, September 13th. This year's theme is "Worship Beyond Measure: An Intimate Experience."

The retreat kicks off on Thursday, September 11th with a worship experience featuring national artist, Tye Tribbett, with multi-Stellar award winning artist, Dewayne Woods & others. On Friday, September 12th, "The Intimate Place" Concert will highlight the ministries of Lance Williams & True Worship, Maurette Brown-Clark and JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise, along with other premiere Gospel artists. Each nightly event begins at 7:30pm. General admission for each event is free and preferred seating is $15 per person. Preferred tickets may be purchased by logging on to www.TrueWorship.org.

General services are also scheduled throughout the retreat with various presenters. All Workshops/Seminars are for registered attendees only and registration is available for youth, adults as well as groups by logging on to www.trueworship.org.

The first one hundred (100) registrants will receive a complimentary True Worship Retreat gift bag. In addition, vendors and exhibitors will be on hand presenting a variety of services and products. For more information on Lance Williams' True Worship Retreat, log on to www.trueworship.org.

ABOUT LANCE WILLIAMS: Lance Williams, founder of the True Worship Retreat, is known throughout the Gospel music industry as a powerful worship leader and humble servant whose greatest desire and gift merge to produce what has become known as a retreat that provides in depth insight into the practical and spiritual side of worship in its rarest form. Acknowledged by Senator Mendez (NJ), recording industry professionals and clergy alike for his efforts to create better communities through education and enlightenment, Williams has garnered support from near and far.

According to a report by Katie Wang/Associated Press, the Rev. Ron Christian of the Christian Love Baptist Church in South Jersey, received a call on his cell while ministering to his church from 18 year-old Nicole Guyette. She confessed that she had just killed Sujeiti Ocasio hours after Sujeiti graduated from Barringer High School.

Guyette was distressed and was one of Newark’s most wanted when she called the pastor. Rev. Christian met with Guyette for an hour in his office. They talked about remorse, forgiveness and God’s spirit. Then he called the cops who came and took her away in handcuffs.

The report states that the 43 year-old minister has done the same over and over again in the last two years.

In September James Madison, the “Hat Bandit,” had initially rejected an offer to plead guilty to robbing banks. He changed his mind after speaking with Rev. Christian, his pastor, about closure and responsibility.

“I encouraged him to do what was right,” Christian simply said.

Bernard Hoover, a man wanted for murdering his father, contacted Christian through a relative. The 21 year-old wanted to attend his father’s funeral at Christian Love Baptist Church and wanted to see his mother before the police took him into custody. He was arrested at the church.

Parishioners say it is not surprising that those in trouble with the law seek out Christian. A sign is posted at his churches’ front door stating, “All sinners are welcome,” that embodies the pastor’s reputation as a nonjudgmental leader who cares about the community, not just the church.

Original Report:

Suspect in shooting death of Newark grad surrenders
by Julie O'Conner and Bev McCarron/The Star-Ledger

The Newark teen arrested in the shooting death of another teen who 

had just graduated from high school was transferred to the Essex County Detention Center shortly before 2 a.m. this morning, according to the Newark police.

Authorities had issued a murder warrant for the arrest of Nicole Guyette, 18, who lived across the street from the victim, Sujeiti Ocasio, also 18. Guyette turned herself in Saturday night to an Irvington minister, police said.

Saturday night, Guyette, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, showed up at the Christran Love Baptist Church in Irvington and said she wanted to turn herself in, according to Rev. Ron Christian.

"She was crying and expressed a great sense of remorse," Christian said.

Irvington Chief Michael Chase said Guyette was in Christian's office with her attorney. He spoke to her and handcuffed her without incident. She was taken to Irvington headquarters and contacted Newark police, he said.

The mother of the victim, who had just graduated from Barringer High School a few hours before the shooting, had earlier publicly asked for Guyette to surrender to police.

"I just want her to give herself up," Ocasio's mother, Maritza Velazquez, 33, said Saturday. "I just want it to be over with. She took a good child out of this world — a perfect child, to me."

Velazquez said she felt "relieved" upon news of the arrest, and "very happy to hear this."

The arrest warrant issued for Guyette charges her with murder, aggravated assault, and gun charges. Bail was set before her arrest at $500,000.

Ocasio was shot and killed early Friday outside her Lincoln Avenue home, just hours after graduating from Barringer High School.

According to police, Guyette argued with Ocasio moments before shooting her in the neck. A friend of Ocasio's, Jasmine Perez, 15, was hit in the chest by the same bullet, but she survived.

"She got shot for no reason," Perez told WABC news. "So the bullet went through her and hit me."

"I was trying to tell them to stop arguing, but the girl just shot her out of nowhere," Perez told the television station. "They was just (arguing) over nothing. Name calling, over nothing. She got shot for no reason."

A friend of the Ocasio family said Guyette went to her boyfriend's home, also on Lincoln Avenue, and returned with the gun.

Guyette's grandmother called the Ocasio family Friday night, but Velazquez said she was too distraught to talk.

"I couldn't speak," she said. Instead, the victim's uncle took the call. He said the family wants justice, not vengeance.

"Justice, that's all we want," he said, according to Velazquez. She spoke as relatives and friends lit candles and placed photos outside her home.

Perez, injured in the shooting, was among those who paid respects, friends said.

"She can't lift anything heavy, but she's all right. She can walk," said Angeliz Velazquez, the victim's cousin. "She's devastated also."

A wake for Ocasio will be held Monday at Alvarez Funeral Home on Mount Prospect Avenue. Visiting hours for the public will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m.

Guyette was a Barringer High School dropout, according to school officials. Ocasio was the first in her family to graduate from high school, her friends said.

 
Interface Recording artist Micah Stampley will record live his third CD, “Ransomed,” at The Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia on Friday, August 15th at 7:00 p.m.

     Stampley is a minister, husband, father of five, a musician, businessman and community philanthropist who has a multi-octave voice of literally staggering power and sensitivity.

     Micah’s CD/DVD will be produced by Multiple Grammy and Stellar Award winning Kevin Bond who also serves as the Director of Worship and Arts over the music department at the church under the pastorate of E. Dewey Smith, Jr. Bond is CEO of his music production company Bonded Music and has produced some of Gospel music’s most recognizable artists including Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Yolanda Adams, Bishop T.D. Jakes and The Potter’s House mass Choir, and Marvin Sapp.

     Stampley’s debut CD, “The Songbook of Micah,” (Dexterity Sounds/EMI Gospel) hit the music charts as the second highest debut for a Male Gospel Artist in Billboard history and that garnered him success including a Billboard magazine critic’s pick as “one of Top 10 Gospel Music Artists of 2005 and received the online giant, AOL Black Voices’, stamp as one of The Top 11 Gospel Geniuses of 2005. Micah received two 2006 Stellar Award nominations for Male Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year.

     In 2006 Stampley’s sophomore CD, “A Fresh Wind: The Second Sound,” was released independently through Interface Records, a venture he started with his wife Heidi.

     For more information Micah Stampley, please visit www.myspace.com/micahkstampley or www.micahstampley.org.