BGEA-Dove Connections

Barely a day after celebrating the re-opening of the Billy Graham Library, Franklin Graham was off to Nashville, to participate in the 41st annual GMA Dove Awards at the Grand Ole Opy House, April 21. He made the trip to introduce a special performance of “Come Together Now," which closed Wednesday's awards show.

Nearly 30 artists united on stage for the poignant finale to illustrate Nashville’s distinct and authentic community of musicianship, and most of all to help remind people of the need to help those in Haiti.

Written by Michael W. Smith, David Mullen and Cindy Morgan, "Come Together Now" is the lead single on Healing4Haiti, the compilation album put together to benefit Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Haiti earthquake relief projects.

Healing4Haiti is available for download from iTunes or the Billy Graham online store. Get more information here.

In This Photo: Music from the Healing 4 Haiti relief album launched through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse in cooperation with Integrity Media and the Michael W. Smith Company was the grand finale of the recent 41st Annual Dove Awards telecast from the historic Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Pictured backstage are (l-r): Franklin Graham (President, CEO of BGEA and Samaratin's Purse), Danny McGuffey (Chief Marketing Officer, Integrity Media), JW Clarke (Director of Program, BGEA), Michael W. Smith (President, MWS Co.) and Ken Barun (Sr. VP, Communications and Development, BGEA).

By Your Side
Another BGEA-Dove connection—Tenth Avenue North’s “By Your Side” was awarded Song of the Year. Written by Tenth Avenue North’s Mike Donehey, along with Phillip LaRue and Jason Ingram, the hit single ranked an impressive No. 3 on Billboard’s overall decade ranking of Christian songs.

The BGEA video team produced a special version of the song to raise awareness of the Rapid Response Team's work:




Read our interview with Tenth Avenue North here.

We also talked with Mark Hall of Casting Crowns in 2008, when the band performed at the Franklin Graham Lowcountry Festival. Casting Crowns was named 2010 Artist of the Year by the GMA.

Congrats to all the winners!

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