Perry LaHaieThere are four new inspirational music offerings issued this spring by artists who have West Michigan roots.

Here's a look:

West Michigan Christian News Briefs

Editor's note: Manna Media/West Michigan Christian News continues its new feature of reporting topical information related to the regional Christian community.

God Hears Her, a new podcast from Our Daily Bread Ministries, offers Christian women a place to connect and explore the truth that God hears, loves, and sees them. Hosted by Elisa Morgan, former president of MOPS International and cohost of the radio program Discover the Word, and Eryn Eddy, founder of the lifestyle clothing brand So Worth Loving, God Hears Her debuted May 11.

The first season includes 12 episodes released each Monday on all podcast platforms including Google Play, Spotify, and iTunes, as well as via the website www.godhearsher.org. Each episode runs about 30 minutes and features personal stories from the cohosts and occasional guests. Season one will include guest appearances by Christian thought leaders Margaret Feinberg and Philip Yancey.

Several factors combined to lead officials to call off the 2020 Unity Christian Music Festival.

"It became clear that we were not going to be out of the woods with all the social restrictions anywhere close to festival time," said Unity director Kevin Newton of the four-day Muskegon event originally planned for August.

"The reality is there's no way we could do an event like Unity this summer."

Newton had hoped to wait until June to make a final decision. But to delay making that call would tie up vendors, suppliers, technicians and others who would quickly need to find other options.

Editor's note: Manna Media/West Michigan Christian News introduces a new feature to its website that will report topical information related to the regional Christian community.

Once again, the scrambling of the calendar by COVID-19 has caused havoc in attempting to list coming events.

For May let's mention some events which were originally scheduled for this month and have been either cancelled or postponed. Some have been re-scheduled.
There are some events – especially near the month's end – which were still up in the air at press time and are not listed here.

Dr. Rex M. RogersIt is now virtually impossible in the U.S.A to make a statement—about almost anything—without someone assigning it political or ideological or partisan bias or intention. In other words, everything-is-politics.

This reminds me. A few years ago, on a Middle East trip I engaged in a What if? discussion considering how a Christian ministry should respond to several hypothetical regional incidents. How could a Christian ministry maintain its testimony and advance its mission in its response to current events?

For example, what if—God forbid—the child of a Middle East/North Africa (MENA) country leader suddenly died? What should or could a Christian ministry say publicly about this kind of heart-wrenching development?

At first glance it seems obvious. Shouldn’t we attempt to demonstrate Christian love by grieving with those who grieve? Wouldn’t we share the family’s sadness and communicate public condolences? —Even if the ruler involved was an autocrat or ruthless dictator, clearly not a friend of human dignity, freedom, or the Church?

Peter Hugo Baldwin: “The premise that all lives, all people, matter to God, resonates with how Michelle, my wife, and I understand God’s view of the world.”There are people whose lives have been changed for the better because Christians in Peter Hugo Baldwin's life encouraged him to engage his imagination and create visuals in some out of the ordinary places.

His continual need to sketch could have been frowned on during elementary school and at the church his father was pastor of, Christ Church Presbyterian Church in America, but he was fortunate in more than one way.

On Sundays, Baldwin took with him a "huge" roll of paper that his grandmother sent to him as a present, so he could take it to church and draw on it when his father started to preach his sermon.

And draw he did, to his heart's content, despite askance looks by some parishioners. Today, Baldwin realizes growing up as a preacher's kid has shaped his Christian faith as an adult, and provided him with insights the average person sitting in a pew doesn't ever see.

Brooke Burns (center) hosting the game show “Master Minds”The Game Show Network (GSN) has taken another step connecting with faith-based TV viewers by shouldering a major sponsorship of the new podcast by Christian music maven Bill Gaither.

"More Than The Music," hosted by the Grammy-winning artist, debuted online April 20. It features interviews by the Grammy-winning artist of figures whom he has collaborated with or been inspired by in his long career.

And in previous moves - over the last several months the TV network has welcomed church-affiliated contestants and inserted Bible and similarly-themed questions throughout its original programming line-up.

Singer Mark Schultz performs in his garage as part of the multi-artist “Not Alone Live” benefit for Bethany Christian ServicesJuan Fernandez of Bethany Christian Services knew it would be lot of work to plan and produce a "virtual" fundraising concert for his non-profit organization.

"We started making music artist contacts," said Fernandez, vice-president for marketing and communications for the Grand Rapids-based family service agency.

"My first call was to Mark Schultz," he said of his inquiry of the popular Christian singer-songwriter. "I got three words into it and his agent said, 'We're in,'" Fernandez recalled.

The grand result of all the work was ten different music artists and guest presenters joining in for the April 14 unveiling of "Not Alone Live," an online concert benefitting Bethany's COVID-19 Emergency Fund.

Walk For Good Food will be accomplished with social distancing in mind.The coronavirus pandemic has produced seismic changes in the way people live. But what remains a constant are low-income people's continued need for the basics in life, a reality heightened these days through a loss of income and access to food. The Christian nonprofit, Access of West Michigan (AWM), is working to meet the challenge in helping the vulnerable living in Kent County.

Even so, AWM also has had to make changes of its with its annual Walk For Good Food, scheduled May 3-13.

The former Grand Rapids Area Center For Ecumenism founded the Walk For Good Food when it was known as the Hunger Walk. AWM took over the fundraiser 2011, which sees an average of 700 people to lace up their shoes to hoof it for this worthy cause.

For King & Country performed at a previous Big Ticket Festival In what could be termed a "proactive" move, the organizers of the Christian music Big Ticket Festival (BTF) in northern Michigan have moved the calendar for their event from June to Labor Day weekend.

"The way it's going right now, most all of the major events in June are being cancelled or postponed," noted festival director Drew Spanding of actions to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

"We were blessed to have the last weekend of the summer still open here (Otsego County Fairgrounds in Gaylord), giving us the flexibility to move the dates," said Spanding.

Necia and Jon Ornée are Lady & Gentleman His band AG Silver went on hiatus eight years ago. But singer-songwriter Jon Ornée finally has another musical enterprise. And he didn't have to go far to find a new collaborator.

Jon and his wife Necia have formed Lady & Gentleman, a pop-folk-rock duo which has already debuted its first new song and music video. And they've just released a follow-up tune.

"I just can't not write music," said Ornée, 38, of his artistic orientation. "I've written a lot of songs that are relatable to everybody, but now they impact my own family," noted the father of two.

MAT executive director Timothy Van BruggenLike many other non-profit organizations, Master Arts Theatre (MAT) has been scrambling in the wake of non-essential business closings and shelter-in-place guidelines, thanks to the coronavirus.

One of the casualties: the faith-inspired company's spring production of "Enchanted April" will not take the stage.

"We had a beautiful cast and had just started rehearsals," noted MAT executive director Timothy Van Bruggen. "It's one of the most touching plays I've ever read."

The theatre group, with offices/performance space in Byron Township, had already been forced to cancel its March 20-21 Lenten presentation of the play "The Seven Last Words of Christ."

Lynn Kotecki: “This is about relationships, this is about trust, it’s about authentic conversation.”Lynn Kotecki, executive director of Ottawa County-based Movement West Michigan (MWM), believes in the power of unity.

"What the Movement is attempting to do is unify the Christian body," Kotecki says. "He (God) told us 2,020 years ago to come together. It can take us a long time to learn. And everything our Lord tells us is to come together and we're doing that. The key is: Can we continue and sustain that relationship to move forward to transform the community."

MWM's vision is to have every community in West Michigan flourish spiritually and socially. Leaders serve as the catalyst to spiritually and socially impact their communities through rigorous research, uniting prayer, unified local leadership and powerful collaboration between diverse sectors.

Wimee, a popular robot-like character who visits schools with creators Kevin Kammeraad and Michael Hyacinthe, is making his video debut just in time for kids to tune in from home. Wimee's mission is "helping kids build vocabulary skills through creative storytelling."

"We were scheduled to do 100 workshops featuring Wimee and the book 'Wimee's Words,' but Covid-19 hit and we had to suspend our engagement directly with kids," said Hyacinthe, CEO of Wimage, LLC and a veteran working with veterans at Habitat for Humanity. "So, we developed a web series that continues to engage with kids while schools are closed."

Nate MarialkeNate Marialke is standing on the edge of a new creative venture.

"Resound" is the title of a five-song CD collection crafted by Marialke and worship leader colleagues.

"Water's Edge Worship is really a family of worship leaders and (song)writers, explained Marialke, worship arts leader at Central Wesleyan Church in Holland. "And our church is kind of the hub for that right now."

Leaders from at least ten churches around the world are connected to Water's Edge, although just area artists are part of the new live recording.
The all-original release is the second for the working group, which issued a studio project "Forever Overcome," three years ago.

The songs were to be formally introduced in a CD release concert this month at Central Wesleyan, although that has been put on pause by COVID-19 virus concerns.

Here's the column in which your faithful West Michigan Christian News writer usually surveys the landscape for the area's faith-inspired arts/entertainment/enrichment events over the coming month.

But one of many persistent effects of the coronavirus COVID-19 is: for the entire month of April there are simply no events appropriate to the list that I can be sure will go on as scheduled.

So the "April Picks" headline is a misnomer.

In this time when the world is plagued by fear and is searching for something they do not have, we believe we have an unusual opportunity to lead eyes upwards, and we want to take advantage of the opportunity.

We have multiple billboards in high traffic locations with the message of hope. Please pray that people that see these billboards will discover new peace in Christ.

Newsboys United’s concert in April was one of many postponed or cancelledUsually the announcement looked something like this: "To ensure the safety of our fans, we're announcing the postponement of the remaining dates on the_____ tour effective immediately. We are working diligently to reschedule dates as soon as possible, and we will notify ticket holders immediately of the rescheduled dates."

That was the exact wording used by the promoter in the cancellation of the Newsboys United "Greatness of Our God" tour, which had been scheduled April 18 at Fair Haven Ministries in Hudsonville.

That was just one of a host of concerts – both Christian and mainstream – postponed or outright cancelled in the effort to fight the spread of the Corona virus (COVID-19).

Dr. Rex M. RogersMartin Luther was one of the greatest Christian reformers, the man who in 1517 called the Roman Catholic Church to account by posting "95 Theses" on Wittenberg All Saints Church door.

But enormously important as this is, though, Luther should also be remembered for his actions and thoughtful response to the dreadful Black Plague – and what his wisdom suggests for us today in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the 1300s, the Black Death, also called the Bubonic Plague, swept across two continents, eventually killing half the population of Europe in a short span of four years. Between 75 and 200 million people died and it took nearly two hundred years for the population to return to former levels.

During the 15th and 16th Centuries, various epidemics took more lives in the known populated world. And worse, the Black Death proved episodic, meaning it would die off only to resurge later.

In 1527, the plague came again, visiting Martin Luther's hometown, Wittenberg, Germany. Luther was instructed to leave by his university elector, but he stayed to minister to the sick. Days later, several around Luther had died, while his pregnant wife and others in his household became ill. Thankfully, they survived, as did Luther, but he was asked, even challenged, about the decision he made not to leave ahead of the epidemic.

Randy DonGiovanni: “If there’s ever a time we’ve needed youth pastors, it’s today.”Randy DonGiovanni knows youth pastors of all denominations face similar, uphill struggles. That's what makes the upcoming RandyDon Academy essential.

"I feel leadership today is not being taught in the correct way because everyone wants to be a leader, everyone wants to be a pastor, but no one wants to ... do the biblical principle of serving," says DonGiovanni, who's worked in youth ministry for over 30 years in a variety of capacities and is ordained with Resurrection Life Church in Grandville.