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The Newsboys 14th studio album, In The Hands of God, debuted in May at No. 1 on the SoundScan Christian Albums chart, No. 1 on the SoundScan Christian Adult Contemporary Albums chart, No. 1 on iTunes’ Christian/Gospel Top Albums chart and No. 28 on the Billboard Top 200. The occasion marks Inpop Records’ biggest-ever street week in its 10-year history and the first No. 1 record for Newsboys since their 2003 release, Adoration. The album features longtime frontman Peter Furler on vocals; dcTalk’s Michael Tait has since taken over as lead vocalist for the band.
Pop rock band FM Static, the side project of Thousand Foot Krutch’s Static singer-songwriter Trevor McNevan and drummer Steve Augustine, has teamed up with Youth Specialties to create a free devotional guide for youth pastors. The “Dear Diary” Bible study guide is based on the band’s latest concept album, Dear Diary, and is designed to be used as a Vacation Bible School or outreach for teens. The study takes 10 days for the youth group to complete, using one song per day from the album. Each teen will listen to one song per day followed by a corresponding verse given by their youth leader via Facebook, Twitter, phone or e-mail. The youth leader then provides a series of questions to ponder about that day’s verse. Youth leaders can go to www.fmstatic.com/devo to download the PDF guide.
Jason Crabb’s self-titled solo debut releases June 30. Crabb made his mark as lead vocalist for the long-time Southern Gospel favorites, the Crabb Family. The group disbanded two years ago so members could pursue other musical interests.
Switchfoot’s Southern California frontman and recording artist Jon Foreman recently joined Congressman Donald M. Payne, actress Mia Farrow, Virgin Group founder and Chairman Sir Richard Branson, artist Peter Gabriel and the entire community of San Antonio, Texas in a three-day fast to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis currently taking place in Darfur. The fast was also to encourage long-term U.S. government actions to bring lasting peace to the people of Sudan. In a press release, Foreman said, “Can it be possible that right now, two and a half million people are waking up in camps and refugee camps having been driven from their homes by violent means? Under the same sun, could it be true that almost half a million people have died of starvation, violence, and disease over the past six years in Darfur? Is this true?! And if this is true, why has the media remained almost completely silent on the issue? Why has our government maintained its current stance of inaction?” You can learn more about Fast for Life at www.fastdarfur.org.
Pop dance group Press Play released their debut album Life Is Beautiful in May on new Dream Records. All proceeds from the sale of Life Is Beautiful will go directly to the Los Angeles Dream Center, which provides shelter, life rehabilitation, education, basic needs, job training and numerous resources through its 273 programs and outreaches in Los Angeles’ most impoverished neighborhoods. The members of the group—Dave Hanley, Tyler Ray Logan, Anthony Rick, Paige Adkins, Tate Huff and Brian Mondragon—are all committed to serving the Dream Centers in New York and L.A., and are actively involved in ministries and service projects at both locations.
Future of Forestry recently released its Travel EP, a six-song collection that’s the first of a three-part series. Travel will be followed over the next 12 months by Travel II and Travel III. “The last few years of my life brought so many unexpected changes, some of them painful and some of them beautiful,” says band founder and frontman Eric Owyoung, whose roots are in San Diego. “The album Travel is my poetic narrative of learning how to listen to my heart and embrace what really matters.” Future of Forestry quickly made a name for itself following the release of its 2007 debut album Twilight. The song “Open Wide” appeared on “Oprah’s Big Give” in April 2008 and the songs “Twilight” and “Speak to Me Gently” were both featured in the ABC Family series “Wildfire.”
Gospel artist the Rev. Timothy Wright passed away in May as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in July 2008 that took the lives of his wife Betty and grandson D.J. He was 61. Wright had been hospitalized since the accident with injuries related to a severe C4 spinal cord injury he sustained in the accident. While he had been making progress and hoped to go home last January, he took a turn for the worse several months ago and remained in a Bronx hospital until his death. Wright was the pastor at Grace Tabernacle Christian Center in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, N.Y. and a Grammy-nominated music artist with more than a dozen albums to his credit. He received a Grammy nomination in 1995 for best traditional soul gospel album for his album, Come Thou Almighty King. His latest project, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, was released in 2007. Betty and Wright were nominated for a 2008 Stellar Award for Song of the Year for the album’s title cut.
For more Christian music news, visit Joanne’s Gospel Soundcheck blog at Beliefnet.com www.blog.beliefnet.com/gospelsoundcheck
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