America watched closely as Danny Gokey battled tragedy and won millions of hearts on his way to the finals of American Idol Season 8. His story was no secret: a onetime truck driver from Milwaukee, he’d married his high school sweetheart Sophia only to lose her, a victim of surgery gone bad, just a month before auditioning for the smash hit talent show. He banked his third No. 1 on Billboard‘s Christian Airplay chart (dated March 4), as “Rise,” the title track and lead single from his second full-length, increases 5 percent to 11 million audience impressions in the week ending Feb. 19, according to Nielsen Music.
“Rise” is the 2009 American Idol third-place finalist’s third Christian Airplay No. 1. His genre debut, “Hope in Front of Me,” topped the survey for three weeks in 2014 and “Tell Your Heart to Beat Again” led the June 11, 2016-dated survey.
“I’m Incredibly grateful to see how ‘Rise’ has connected, not only with radio, but with all of [my] fans,” Gokey tells Billboard. “It feels like the song has become a reminder that yesterday’s disappointments don’t have to affect today.”
Matthew West showcases a new book.The world goes out of its way to make you believe you are not good enough. Maybe you aren’t sure you like where you’ve been, or who you’ve become. Maybe someone has made you believe a lie about who you are by speaking damaging words to you. The discovery of our true identities does not begin by looking within ourselves, but by looking to the One who made us. Hello, My Name Is: Discovering Your True Identity (buy) will inspire you to not wear the nametag that someone else gave you, but to wear the name of who God says you are.
As we enter a new year, many people are making resolutions and struggling to find out who they are or where they fit in this crazy world. Award-winning Christian music singer and songwriter Matthew West has a message to those people in his debut book—expected Apr. 18, 2017 from Worthy Publishing—they’re not alone.
Throughout his travels, West has collected thousands of stories from around the world from people dealing with these issues. Well known for communicating these stories through song, he will continue that storytelling theme in his book, taking the stories he has collected over the years to inspire readers to understand their identity isn’t found within, but through Jesus Christ.
Your name may be “Lonely”. . . He calls you Friend.
Your name may be “Failure”. . . He calls you Redeemed.
Your name may be “Broken”. . . He calls you Beloved.
Rock band NEEDTOBREATHE has its ninth Hot Christian Songs top 10, as “Testify” lifts 11-9. On Christian Airplay, it pushes to a new high (7-6; 7.5 million in audience, up 3 percent). Listen below:
Trip Lee dropped his new single “I Can Wait” earlier this month with a song that talks about the truth in purity.”
Trip says:
My new single is available now! Hope you enjoy! It’s a V Day jam. My inner thoughts & wrestles when I met & started pursuing my wife-to-be. It’s a love song. And it’s a song about fighting to honor God when you feel drawn to someone. Fighting for purity,” the rapper shared via Twitter.
Take a listen:
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