Mandisa Featured in American Idol Reboot

American Idol made its return to TVs, premiering on ABC after its long home on FOX. Correlating with the start of the season, the show launched its Icon Series, highlighting Grammy winner Mandisa. The beloved season 5 finalist discussed her journey after American Idol, both her musical career as well as her personal life. The series will continue to air throughout this season of American Idol, highlighting select Idol alumni and their achievements since appearing on the show.

Mandisa is currently on the “HITS DEEP Tour,” featuring a blockbuster lineup including TobyMac, Danny Gokey, Ryan Stevenson and Finding Favour. The 2018 "HITS DEEP Tour" is a partnership with K-LOVE, Air1 and Food for the Hungry.

Winter Jam #4 of All World Tours

Once again ranking among the biggest first quarter tours in the world, the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular brought its 2017 Eastern U.S. run to a close earlier this month. Christian music's largest annual tour landed at #4 on Pollstar’s “1Q YTD Worldwide 2017 Ticket Sales Top 100 Tours” chart, it was recently announced, ahead of tours by such artists as Twenty One Pilots, Drake and Guns N' Roses.

Hitting a total of 46 cities from January through April, Winter Jam played to more than 27,000 people at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, marking not only one of the tour’s largest crowds to date, but the last concert ever at the historic venue. In addition, sellouts continued at St. Louis' Scottrade Center; Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis; Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas; and the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, among numerous leading arenas. 

Showcasing 10 Christian music artists, Winter Jam featured Crowder, Britt Nicole, Tenth Avenue North, Andy Mineo, Colton Dixon, Thousand Foot Krutch and NewSong.  The tour was also highlighted by a special appearance from “Duck Dynasty” television star Sadie Robertson, as well as a message from acclaimed author, speaker Tony Nolan.

An array of special guest artists and athletes appeared in various cities during Winter Jam’s first quarter outing, including Matthew West, Lauren Daigle; “Duck Dynasty’s” Willie & Korie Robertson; “American Idol” alum Danny Gokey, Francesca Battistelli, Jordan Feliz, Zach Williams, Atlanta Braves great Otis Nixon; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley; and Nashville Predators captain Mike Fisher.

“This has been such a special year for Winter Jam,” said Eddie Carswell, tour creator and NewSong founding member. “The fantastic lineup, the packed arenas and the special guests who joined us made it an incredible tour, but the best part—as always—is seeing so many people come to Christ through this ministry each year.”

Colton Dixon to Return to American Idol During Series Finale April 7

Colton Dixon will return to the American Idol stage Thursday, April 7 to perform at the 15th and final season of the popular singing competition. The finale will air live on Fox from 8-10:06 pm ET.

American Idol helped launch Dixon’s career when he made it to the top seven on Season 11.

American Idol’s grand finale will be filled with surprise appearances and star-studded performances as the show pays tribute to the past 15 seasons before the final American Idol is crowned. Thursday’s final episode will have all-star performances by former contestants, including Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Ruben Studdard, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, Kris Allen, Scotty McCreery, Chris Daughtry, Clark Beckham, Danny Gokey, Diana DeGarmo, Katharine McPhee, Kellie Pickler, Lauren Alaina, Melinda Doolittle, Pia Toscano, and more.

New Releases on Our Radar for the remainder of 2015

New music excites us!

October 9
MercyMe - MercyMe, It's Christmas!

October 16
Capital Kings - II
Danny Gokey - Christmas Is Here
Stryper - Fallen

November 13
Kutless - Surrender
Casting Crowns - A Live Worship Experience
Natalie Grant - Be One
Phillip LaRue - You


A few bonus ones:

November 2015
DC Talk - Jesus Freak Vinyl
DC Talk - Supernatural Vinyl

February 12, 2016
The Afters - untitled new album

Former American Idol Finalist Danny Gokey Shares Inspiration of New Book

When former "American Idol" finalist, now country music singer, Danny Gokey's first wife Sophia died just a month before he auditioned for the iconic show in 2008, he wanted to wallow in the pain of a loss he thought he would never get over.

"It was almost like, at that point I doubted everything I knew about God, I doubted everything that I've ever walked [spiritually] for because you don't understand that me and Sophia, my first wife, we believed that God was gonna do a miracle and He didn't show up," Gokey told an audience on Sunday.

"It really messed me up on the inside because everything I believed all of a sudden I started questioning," he added. Gokey didn't understand what was happening with his life then because he was in the middle of a story for a book that God had told him he was going to write in 2007.

This fall, Gokey is expected to deliver the book God spoke into his life five years ago titled Hope In Front of Me.

Hope In Front of Me is expected to take readers on a very personal journey into Gokey's loss.

"When I tried out for 'American Idol' it was a month after she (Sophia) passed away. People asked, 'why'd you do that?' Believe me, I didn't want to try out for this show. But I had made a promise to my wife that year that I was going to try out for 'American Idol' and when she passed away, everything inside of my heart said I don't want to try out for the show because I had nothing to say to anybody," Gokey recalled.

"I was so hurt, I wish I could go the next year but if you don't understand my story, is that I was 28 at the time and you only have until 28 years old to try out. So I was placed in a rock and a hard place and little did I know that God was writing my story before I got there. He put me in that place."

"And so I tried out for the show, very broken, very hurt," he continued. "I remember I started going through the 'American Idol' process. I remember when I woke up it felt like this depression came around me, like I was falling in a black hole … I was falling because I had nothing to stand on."

Despite his depression, Gokey soldiered on as he continued advancing on the show, finally making it into Hollywood week. "Hollywood week was probably the most difficult weeks of my depression going through the loss of Sophia. I remember right after Hollywood week, I told God, 'God, I do not want to be on the show. Because I have nothing to say to anybody and I was mad and I was angry," he said.

"I was mad at God and I didn't want to be mad at God. I mean you could accuse me of being a horrible person but that's what I was. And literally, this is what the Lord told me, He said, 'let go,'" noted Gokey.

"He gave me the verse, 'be still and know that I am God.' And I kept hearing it but didn't know what it meant. So I looked it up and saw it in the original Hebrew format that it literally was giving a picture. Sometimes, we hang onto stuff. And sometimes the things that we hang onto are the very things that drag us down."

The word became Gokey's turning point out of depression and put him on the road to recovery and reconciliation. "I remember I sat down on the end of my bed because this thing was destroying me. I sat down on my bed with tears coming from my eyes. I said 'God, I refuse to let this thing destroy me,'" said Gokey who explained that he was literally "hanging onto her casket being buried with her" by holding onto his depression.

Gokey now believes God allowed him to go through what he went through in preparation for writing Hope In Front of Me.

"I'm not trying to be cheesy, but I talk about this in the book, your heart is your real set of eyes and if your heart is poisoned with bitterness you start seeing the whole world through that lens. And the more I started to let it go I had a new look on life," he said.

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Worship Leader in American Idol finale

The two-part finale of juggernaut "American Idol" begins tonight. The show has become such a vehicle to promote Adam Lambert, it has gotten sickening. His competition is Kris Allen, a 23-year-old worship leader at New Life Church in Conway, Ark., who was doing missionary work in Asia and Africa during the years Lambert was building his pop resume.

Allen is one of several actively Christian musicians to make this year's Top 10, most notably being sentimental favorite Danny Gokey who finished third.

Worship Leaders Lead the Way on American Idol

It's interesting to note how many of this year's top 13 American Idol finalists are involved in their church or Christian music.

* Kris Allen - works for his church's worship ministry
* Matt Giraud - has released two indie Christian music CDs
* Danny Gokey - is a music teacher at Faithbuilders Ministry in Milwaukee
* Scott MacIntyre - performs with the Gospel quartet, The MacIntyre Family Singers
* Michael Sarver - leads a praise team at Harvest Church in Jasper, TX