Dove Award Nominees

SONG OF THE YEAR:

"All of Creation" (MercyMe)
"Beautiful, Beautiful" (Francesca Battistelli),
"Get Back Up" (TobyMac),
"Hold My Heart" (Tenth Avenue North),
"Lead Me" (Sanctus Real),
"Let The Waters Rise" (MIKESCHAIR),
"Love Came Calling" (Triumphant Quartet),
"Our God" (Chris Tomlin),
"Sometimes I Cry" (Jason Crabb)
"Starry Night" (Chris August)

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
Doug Anderson
Chris August
Jason Crabb
Brandon Heath
Israel Houghton
Marvin Sapp
Chris Tomlin

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
Audrey Assad
Francesca Battistelli
Natalie Grant
Britt Nicole
Janet Paschal
Kerrie Roberts
Laura Story

GROUP OF THE YEAR:
Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Gaither Vocal Band
Sidewalk Prophets
Tenth Avenue North
MercyMe
MIKESCHAIR
NEEDTOBREATHE

ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Francesca Battistelli
Jason Crabb
Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Natalie Grant
Marvin Sapp
TobyMac
Chris Tomlin

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Audrey Assad
Chris August
Forever Jones
John Mark McMillan
No Other Name
Kerrie Roberts
Kristian Stanfill

Bieber Docu Taps into Christian Audience

There is an article about the new Justin Bieber film in the Boston Herald. Read it here.

Southpark Creators on Broadway

A new play will appear on Broadway starting February 24th called The Book of Mormon. It's the creation of Matt Stone and Trey Parker - the guys behind the satirical TV cartoon South Park. The new musical purportedly tells the story of two mismatched Mormon missionaries preaching in Uganda.

The LDS Church has posted on its website a note about the show, saying, “The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.”

Grammy Winners

• Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album-Hello Huricane/Switchfoot
• Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album-Love God, Love People/Israel Houghton
• Southern/Country/Bluegrass Gospel-The Reason/Diamond Rio
• Contemporary R&B Gospel Album-Still/BeBe and CeCe Winans
• Traditional Gospel Album-Downtown Church/Patty Griffin
• Best Gospel Song-“It’s What I Do” by Jerry Peters & Kirk Whalum, songwriters (Kirk Whalum & Lalah Hathaway)/The Gospel According To Jazz Chapter III
• Best Gospel Performance-"Grace" by BeBe and CeCe Winans/Still

Freshman Religion

An annual survey by UCLA's finds this breakdown of religion among college freshman.

Roman Catholic 26.6%
None 23%
Other Christian 12.6%
Baptist 10.1%
Church of Christ 5.1%
Methodist 4.1%
Lutheran 3.3%
Jewish 2.9%
Presbyterian 2.9%
Other religion 2.9%
Episcopalian 1.5%
Buddhist 1.2%
Muslim 1%
Hindu .8%
United Church of Christ/Cong. .8%
Eastern Orthodox .7%
Mormon .3%
Seventh-Day Adventist .3%
Quaker .2%

Emotional Health of Freshman

A yearly survey of college freshmen finds record-low levels of emotional health. The UCLA survey of first-year undergraduates also gave themselves high marks for ambition to achieve. College counselors say students are putting more pressure on themselves to excel. Depression, formerly at the forefront of students' emotional-health concerns, has taken a back seat to anxiety. 51.9% in 2010 reported good or above-average emotional health. That's down from 55.3% the previous year and the lowest level since 1985.