Christian Music

Whether it's the county fair, the school talent show, singing the national anthem before a football game or performing at Renfro Valley, Cheyenne Jones and Haleigh Lanham have shared many stages. As the Boyle County High School students prepare to compete Sunday in the Coca-Cola Talent Classic at the state fair, they both say Christian music is where they ultimately plan to devote their talents. Jones, a 17-year-old senior, decided how she wanted to use her talents in June at a Christ in Youth Camp.

Ichthus has been canceled. The nation's oldest Christian-music festival that began in 1970 will not be returning in 2013.     According an announcement Saturday on the Ichthus Ministries website, the board of directors decided to close the doors of the organization due to financial struggles. “It's a sad day,” Wilmore Mayor Harold Rainwater said. “It's meant a lot to a lot of people, to the community. I wish they would have come to (the city) for help; I would have done anything in my power to help.” Rainwater said the festival's departure will have an immeasurable effect on local businesses but the city will manage.

Jeremiah Yocom, music ministry director at Redemption Road Church in Lincoln County, is scheduled to perform on Trinity Broadcasting Network's "Praise the Lord" program, which begins at 10 p.m. Friday. The network broadcasts internationally. Yocom's father, Gary, minister at Redemption Road Church, said Christian music group The Freemans visited his church and heard his son leading the music ministry there. A month ago, The Freemans called, saying they had permission to bring a guest on "Praise the Lord.

A free, pre-festival concert, "Mini-Ichthus," is open to the public at 6:45 p.m., Thursday, June 8 on the Ichthus Farm, in Wilmore Appearing in concert are Christian music groups Seventh-Day Slumber and Nate Fancher. Concert hosts are Asbury College, Asbury Seminary and Ichthus. Chick-Fil-A will be open for food sales and performer merchandise will be available. Seventh-Day Slumber performs chart favorites, "Oceans from the Rain" and "Caroline. " Nate Fancher is well known for his worship music that includes, "Awakening Days.

The Ichthus Festival celebrated its 40th birthday in style last weekend, attracting Christian music fans from as far away as New Mexico to its farm in Wilmore. Rap/rock group Family Force 5 got the party started Thursday night. Decked from head to toe in football gear - complete with gold shoes - the band of brothers played to the crowd with their high-energy, over-the-top show. The whirlwind performance culminated with their Ichthus signature - an appearance by several dancing Chick-Fil-A cows.

Forty years down, so many more to go. The Ichthus Festival celebrated its 40th birthday in style last weekend, attracting Christian music fans from as far away as New Mexico to its farm in Wilmore. Rap/rock group Family Force 5 got the celebration started Thursday night. Decked from head to toe in football gear - complete with gold shoes - the band of brothers played to the crowd with their high-energy, over-the-top show. "We're going to party in heaven," frontman Solomon Olds, aka Soul Groove Activatur, said during the band's show.

Phil Keaggy is a guitar legend in his own right. Whether he's blistering bluesy solos on his Les Paul electric guitar or picking away beautiful melodies on his acoustic, Keaggy continues to transform the way people think of "Christian music. " "I've been so long identified as a Christian musician, but that's me," he said, speaking on the phone from his home. "That's who and what I am. " When he plays at Asbury College tonight, he will perform his own set and will most likely sit in with Shake Anderson and the Ascenxion Band, who are also helping Christian music evolve by recruiting renowned mainstream musicians and bringing in their individual brands of rock and roll, blues and funk music.

Turning heads not only on the Christian music scene but also in the renowned Grammy circle, relatively young band Leeland will add Ichthus to its credentials this summer. Described as passionate, progressive and worshipful, the band was nominated for a 2007 Grammy for its debut release "Sound of Melodies" in the category of Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel album. The album also made waves at the Dove Awards, gaining nominations in four categories, with two of the members, Lee and Jack, receiving nods with two nominations each in songwriting categories.

Boyle assistant superintendent takes new position GEORGETOWN - Assistant Superintendent of Boyle County Schools Patricia Putty has been hired as superintendent of Scott County schools. The Scott County Board of Education announced at a special meeting Wednesday night that Putty will start July 1. At the meeting, Putty also signed her contract with the school system. Putty will replace the outgoing superintendent Dallas Blankenship after the board's six-month search for a replacement.

I wrote this column well before the stroke of midnight that will usher in 2013. Like many, I've been asked several times what my New Year's resolution is going to be, and like many, I'm sure if I thought long and hard enough, I could come up with a list that would easily fill this opinion page. But I'm not going to do that, because about a month or two into 2013, odds are I would have forgotten what they were. Instead, I'm doing a retrospect of 2012. I've come up with a brief list of stories I enjoyed working on - this is a brief list; I spent all of five minutes looking through back issues.

Ichthus has been canceled. The nation's oldest Christian-music festival that began in 1970 will not be returning in 2013.     According an announcement Saturday on the Ichthus Ministries website, the board of directors decided to close the doors of the organization due to financial struggles. “It's a sad day,” Wilmore Mayor Harold Rainwater said. “It's meant a lot to a lot of people, to the community. I wish they would have come to (the city) for help; I would have done anything in my power to help.” Rainwater said the festival's departure will have an immeasurable effect on local businesses but the city will manage.

Being in the Christian music business for more than 25 years, Paducah native Steven Curtis Chapman is known for his high-energy performances. But on his first trip to Jessamine County on Feb. 7 as part of the Songs & Stories Tour, Chapman said the setting will be more intimate. “It's kind of a tour idea I've had for a while and was waiting on sort of the right time,” Chapman said during a Jan. 10 telephone interview. “With Nashville being the songwriter-intensive town that it is, a lot of songwriters will gather usually for a charity or benefit concert - sometimes they call it writers in a round or song writers' night - and guys will sit on stools with guitars in hand and go down the line and tell a story and sing a song.”  The singer/songwriter said the setting allows fans a unique experience as they “get an inside look at the songs.” The concert will feature Chapman along with songwriters Andrew Peterson and Josh Wilson.

After taking a trip to Nevada last year to compete for a national singing title only to fall short, Cheryl Roberts of Nicholasville got a second chance this year and made the most of it, winning first place in the country division of Talent Quest National Karaoke Singing Contest in September. Cheryl, 23, won a regional competition at J.D. Legends in Nicholasville to qualify for the national competition in Laughlin, Nev., last year; this year, her qualification was more of an accident.

Phil Keaggy is a guitar legend in his own right. Whether he's blistering bluesy solos on his Les Paul electric guitar or picking away beautiful melodies on his acoustic, he continues to transform the way people think of "Christian music. " "I've been so long identified as a Christian musician, but that's me," he said, speaking on the phone from his home. "That's who and what I am. " When he plays at Asbury College tonight, he will perform his own set and will most likely sit in with Shake Anderson and the Ascenxion Band, who are also helping Christian music evolve by recruiting renowned mainstream musicians and bringing in their individual brands of rock and roll, blues and funk music.

Whether it's the county fair, the school talent show, singing the national anthem before a football game or performing at Renfro Valley, Cheyenne Jones and Haleigh Lanham have shared many stages. As the Boyle County High School students prepare to compete Sunday in the Coca-Cola Talent Classic at the state fair, they both say Christian music is where they ultimately plan to devote their talents. Jones, a 17-year-old senior, decided how she wanted to use her talents in June at a Christ in Youth Camp.

Last summer, more than 600 students and young adults packed George Rogers Clark High School for a night of music and positive messages. Organizers are expecting a similar turnout Saturday night for the fifth annual Summer Slam concert. The goal is to spread an anti-drug, anti-addiction message, but no one would complain if a soul or two gets saved along the way. "We hope to bring in the young people of Clark County through the guise of entertainment," said the Rev. Matt Hall, the youth minister at the Church of the Living God in Winchester and youth committee chairman for Winchester-Clark County Christians United Against Drugs.

The Ichthus Festival celebrated its 40th birthday in style last weekend, attracting Christian music fans from as far away as New Mexico to its farm in Wilmore. Rap/rock group Family Force 5 got the party started Thursday night. Decked from head to toe in football gear - complete with gold shoes - the band of brothers played to the crowd with their high-energy, over-the-top show. The whirlwind performance culminated with their Ichthus signature - an appearance by several dancing Chick-Fil-A cows.

Forty years down, so many more to go. The Ichthus Festival celebrated its 40th birthday in style last weekend, attracting Christian music fans from as far away as New Mexico to its farm in Wilmore. Rap/rock group Family Force 5 got the celebration started Thursday night. Decked from head to toe in football gear - complete with gold shoes - the band of brothers played to the crowd with their high-energy, over-the-top show. "We're going to party in heaven," frontman Solomon Olds, aka Soul Groove Activatur, said during the band's show.