Six time GRAMMY ® winner Amy Grant to host a unique and intimate concert series to benefit worldwide children’s advocacy organization Compassion International for ten shows this fall on the “Pieces of Our Lives” tour featuring a personal concert from Grant along with an exclusive art gallery reception.
 
The “Pieces of Our Lives” art gallery reception will showcase exclusive art, photography, paintings and lyrics reflecting themes found in Grant’s signature songs. Select items will be available for auction after tour. Each event will be limited to only 300 guests.
 
The intimate concert series will benefit Compassion International’s Leadership Development Program. The LDP program is geared towards taking young people out of poverty, equipping them with a college education and empowering them to make a difference within their home community.
 
To find out more about the “Pieces of Our Lives” events, special ticket prices and event concierge service, visit http://www.piecesofourlives.com. A list of tour dates are listed below.
 
“I’m extremely excited about these special evening events,” says Amy Grant.  “I love music, but I love it most in small intimate venues where I get to really connect with the audience.  The structure of these evenings is so unique and elegant.  Anytime you can combine music, art and a great cause, I think you have something very special. The evenings are really about telling stories, singing songs and sharing art – all to benefit the lives of students and children in need.”
 

 
“Pieces of Our Lives” tour
* all dates subject to change, visit www.piecesofourlives.com for most up to date tour info
Sept. 28 Houston, TX - The Hobby Center, Zilkha Hall
Sept. 29 Austin, TX - One World Theatre
Sept. 30 Dallas, TX - The Eismann Center
Oct. 5 Atlanta, GA - The Opera House at Atlanta Events Center
Oct. 6 Orlando, FL - Vision 360 Global Collaboration Ceter
Oct. 12 Chicago, IL - River East Art Center
Oct. 13 Minneapolis, MN - The Metropolitan Ballroom & Clubroom
Oct. 26 St. Louis, MO - Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, Lee Theatre
Oct. 28 Oklahoma City, OK - Oklahoma History Center

With selling over 100,000 downloads and being the No. 1 selling Christian Digital track for an ongoing five weeks, Passion has garnered its first No. 1 single, “Our God.” The hit track sung by multi-platinum selling artist Chris Tomlin, tops the R&R AC Monitored, AC Indicator and National Audience Chart, holding the No. 1 position for three consecutive weeks.
 
Written by Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin, Chris Tomlin and Jesse Reeves, “Our God” is featured on Passion: Awakening, the latest recording from the renowned conference. Recorded live in Atlanta, Passion: Awakening received the biggest debut ever for a Passion album to date, selling over 25,000 units, with Passion event album sales nearing 2 million. The record also took the No. 1 spot on the Christian Albums Chart, No. 15 on Billboards Top 200 and No. 8 on Billboard's Current Digital Albums Chart after its first week in stores.
This spring/summer, sixstepsrecords artists Chris Tomlin, David Crowder*Band, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels and Kristian Stanfill ventured across the globe on the Passion World Tour 2010. The conference attracted more than 23,000 university students in historical landmarks including Kiev, London, Tokyo, Manila and Hong Kong.  
 
This fall, Passion will return to gather students in Sao Paulo and Vancouver. Registration is open now for Passion 2011, which will take place January 1-4 in Atlanta, GA and April 1-3 in Ft. Worth, TX.
 
For more information on the Passion Movement, please visit www.268generation.com and for more information on Chris Tomlin and to view his tour dates, visit www.christomlin.com.

Artist: Passion
Album: Awakening
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Reviewer: Alex Judge

    Boasting an artist roster including worship leaders such as Chris Tomlin, Hillsong United, Matt Redman, David Crowder, Charlie Hall, and Kristian Stanfill, it’s easy to say that “Passion: Awakening” will be a good album even before listening. With eight brand new, previously unreleased songs, this live album from the Passion conference 2010 will expose you to some great new worship material. Each of these unique songs present thematically variant messages that will speak to different places in your life offering encouragement and bringing you to a place of awe in the presence of God.

    Though I am not typically a big fan of live recordings, I must say that a number of these songs have some fantastic content lyrically and musically. A number of them may even make it into my normal everyday listening! Obviously written for congregational gatherings, these songs are easy to learn and to sing along with and will be stuck in your head for days if you aren’t careful (though that may not be a problem)!

    Featuring artists who have pretty much defined the term modern worship music, these musical compositions are very easily classified as typical praise and worship. If you are a worship leader at your local church or youth group, get this album and learn these songs. It’s fresh material that we can sing to God, offering him a new song. Psalm 33:3 says, “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” This is a verse that the Passion conference certainly takes seriously as they release this new album full of skillfully composed and performed music.

Selling over 25,000 units and taking the No.1 spot on the Christian Albums chart, No. 15 on Billboards Top 200 and No. 8 on Billboard's Current Digital Albums Chart, sixstepsrecords’ Passion: Awakening has experienced the biggest street week ever for a Passion record to date.
 
In addition to topping the charts, the latest single from the new album “Our God,” sung by notable worship leader Chris Tomlin, is currently climbing its way up both the AC Monitored and Indicator radio charts.
 
Featuring today’s popular worship artists Tomlin, David Crowder*Band, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, Fee and Hillsong UNITED, Passion: Awakening was recorded live in Atlanta, GA earlier this year with more than 22,000 university-aged young people in attendance.
 
Colleges and critics from across the country have been raving about the new Passion release:
 
“Passion: Awakening is the complete package for anyone seeking a new and refreshing worship album to add to their library. With 12 emotionally-charged selections, including a slightly altered version of David Crowder’s ‘How He Loves Us,’ cover, this album offers an experience that will not be found anywhere else.” – Richland College Newspaper

“The Passion Awakening CD provides an uplifting experience whether listening while walking to class or with a group of friends. It has a little bit of everything: rock, acoustic and eclectic beat. It's not your normal worship album.”-UT Knoxville’s, The Daily Beacon
 
“Colossians 3:1 instructs us to ‘Set our hearts on things above.’ Awakening, the latest masterpiece from Passion’s worship leaders, is the musical application of that verse. It’s a soul-lifter, a worship-in-spirit-and-truth offering to help us raise our eyes and hearts to our King and spur us on as children of His Kingdom. What a gift to the body of Christ!” - Youthwalk

“These are some of the best new original worship songs of the past few years. If you want to experience a worship ‘awakening,’ then you can't go wrong with the biggest names in the business. Tomlin, Stanfill, Crowder, Nockels, Hall, Redman, Fee and Hillsong United are all in top form on this excellent Passion: Awakening album, easily the best in this great series.” – New Release Tuesday

“Overall, fans of the series will surely love what they find on Passion: Awakening.  It features some of the strongest material to ever come out of the Passion camp.” – The Bridge Live

The heartbeat of the Passion Movement is not simply about filling arenas, but a generation mobilized to carry the message of God’s fame to the unreached, oppressed and forgotten wherever they are on the planet.  Over the course of Passion 2010 (held January 2-5), attendees responded to the challenge to wed worship and justice by giving more than 1 million dollars on-site to various causes around the world to help those in need through the Do Something Now campaign.  Do Something Now, a movement launched by Passion in 2007, has to date funneled more than two million dollars to those in greatest need throughout the world.   

Currently, Passion is preparing to set out on it's second World Tour beginning in May, with university gatherings planned in Kiev, London, Tokyo, Manila, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and Vancouver.  Registration also recently opened for Passion 2011, which will take place January 1-4 in Atlanta, GA.  Thousands of university students have already staked their place for the gathering.  For more details on the Passion World Tour dates this year and Passion 2011, visit http://www.268generation.com
 
For more information on Passion and the new album, please go to http://www.268generation.com/.

Sisters Tricia Baumhardt and Melissa Brock of Superchick share some love with their Compassion International sponsored children in Uganda January 18-29, 2010. The two visited four Compassion Child Development Centers in the southern Kampala area, including Nakulabye, Naguru, Kikonda Village, and Kigungu Fish Landing Site. There they saw and experienced the full range of holistic development taking place with children of all ages from before birth through college graduation.

Melissa comments, "Going to Uganda with Compassion really let me see in person how sponsoring a child not only gives them food, water, education and God's love, but it gives hope to the hopeless. It gives them a chance at a future beyond their circumstances. And the people of Uganda showed me what true love for God is in the midst of trials. They were full of joy for their God, and it was evident in their faces. I left with a new joy myself. What a beautiful place, a beautiful people and a beautiful God we have!" For more information about Superchick's involvement with Compassion International, visit superchickonline.com/compassion.php.