44thnd Annual GMA Dove Awards Winners

Song of the Year – Cat 1
“10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)”, Matt Redman, (writers) Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin

Songwriter of the Year – Cat 2
Matt Redman

Dor de ţară

Anul acesta, de ziua naţională a României, nu sunt în ţară.
Cu toate acestea mi-am rezervat câteva clipe ca să mă gândesc ce reprezintă ţara aceasta pentru mine.
Ştii cel mai bine că iubeşti ţara aceasta când nu eşti acolo.
Atunci îţi dai seama ce înseamnă dorul de ţară.
La mulţi ani România, la mulţi ani românilor!
Dumnezeu să binecuvânteze ţara aceasta şi pe locuitorii ei, dar şi pe cei ce sunt în vreun fel legaţi de ea.

(Music Inspired By) The Story

The Bible. It’s the foundation of our faith, filled with amazing tales of bravery and betrayal, romance and redemption.
These age-old stories teach us valuable lessons about the God we serve and the way He wants us to live, but how well do we really know them?

Award-winning authors Randy Frazee and Max Lucado, who himself has more than 100 million products in print, wanted to make them more accessible and encourage further engagement of the Bible so they partnered with Zondervan to create The Story, which contains 31 chapters (stories) from the Bible told as one seamless story from beginning to end.
Additionally, Randy and Max penned new books built around these 31 key stories from the Bible providing further insight into the characters.
With these resources as a foundation, Dove Award-winning artist Nichole Nordeman and Dove Award-winning producer Bernie Herms teamed up to give those same timeless stories a modern musical voice.
This new two-disc project entitled (Music Inspired By) The Story, is the brainchild of successful artist manager Norman Miller, and features a who’s who of Christian artists, who collectively have sold nearly 75 million albums.
With everyone from Amy Grant, Brandon Heath, Mac Powell, and Chris Tomlin to Francesca Battistelli, Bart Millard, Natalie Grant, and Mandisa taking part, (Music Inspired By) The Story features 18 songs and 24 artists in all. 

Amvonul şi politica

Mâine în SUA e Pulpit Freedom Sunday, ziua în care peste 400 păstori îşi vor asuma riscul de a exprima păreri cu conţinut politic de la amvoanele bisericilor lor.
Prin Amendamentul Johnson, entităţilor nepatrimoniale, inclusiv biserici, li se interzice dreptul de a emite păreri politice, inclusiv susţinerea deschisă a unor candidaţi.
Riscul este de a-şi pierde regimul de scutire de taxe
Pentru noi românii problema e mai greu de înţeles, neexistând prevederi similare.
Totuşi şi în România discuţia despre atitudinea bisericilor şi a păstorilor faţă de susţinerea deschisă a candidaţilor politici este deschisă.

Bringing the Dead Sea Scrolls online

It’s taken 24 centuries, the work of archaeologists, scholars and historians, and the advent of the Internet to make the Dead Sea Scrolls accessible to anyone in the world.
Today, as the new year approaches on the Hebrew calendar, we’re celebrating the launch of the Dead Sea Scrolls online; a project of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem powered by Google technology.

Google Blog