Thought Quotient

IndieHeaven, the leading Christian independent artist organization, and Christian child care organization, Mission of Mercy, announce a partnership to sponsor “Will Play for Change”, an 18-city tour featuring independent artists, both on the national level and artists local to each individual city. The two organizations also announce a program where independent artists can build affiliate partnerships and promote child sponsorship opportunities at their performances.

“The main purpose of the �Will Play For Change� Tour is to raise awareness for Mission of Mercy and make child sponsorships available to attendees,� states IndieHeaven founder, Keith Mohr. �Second fold is the goal to bring IndieHeaven artists together to share their talents and help them learn how to impact their communities on the local level.�

Each tour date is sponsored and promoted by an artist from the IndieHeaven roster who lives in that area and other artists from the online community are invited to perform at the event being held in their general area. The anchor artist for the �Will Play For Change� Tour is Iowa-based group, Bread of Stone. In addition to their music ministry in the United States, these brothers also have a heart for countries hit hard by the Tsunami Disaster and have ministry teams in place in their homeland of Jawa, Indonesia.

When asked about their involvement in the tour, the group had this to say: “We are exited about the tour, because we believe it is of God. God has given us the opportunity to use our talents not only for proclaiming His name, but also to help people from other religions. It is a mission of love and it has no boundary.” Mission of Mercy also has relief teams on the ground in areas impacted by the Tsunami disaster and has an excellent child sponsorship program in place that meets the needs of children in developing nations. �We are thrilled to partner with IndieHeaven to sponsor this tour,� says Kevin Donaldson, president of Mission of Mercy. �Our goal is to not only help promote great talent at the independent level, but to come along side them to raise awareness of the extreme need of children in the world today. With just a small amount of effort on their part, these artists can help meet the physical and spiritual needs of children around the world just by encouraging their fanbase to sponsor a child.�

For more additional information about IndieHeaven or to become an IH artist, go to www.indieheaven.com.

Mike Gottfried, ESPN college football analyst and former NCAA football coach, and Team Focus, the program he founded in 2000, are ready to reach out to fatherless boys, ages 9 to 17, at eight camps this summer. Team Focus provides fatherless young men with leadership skills, guidance and an ongoing relationship with a mentor through its summer camps and other events throughout the year.

�Team Focus offers a father�s attention and affection to these boys. Those were the things I missed,� Gottfried says. Growing up without a father, Gottfried understands the need for a male figure to affirm young men who have no father figure in their home. �My father died when I was 11 and I constantly looked for somebody to fill that father role,� he says. �I thought maybe someday I could be, or a group could be, a substitute father for a young man.�

The Team Focus camps consist of speakers, classes, sports and small groups. Boys attend classes on manners and have the chance to learn teamwork while playing basketball, volleyball and softball. �I knew what I wanted to do with the program,� says Gottfried, �to teach them to be better students, to teach them how to tie a tie and how to fish � everything that a father would teach them.�
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GRAMMY-nominated and DOVE Award-winning artists The Crabb Family, along with special guests CrossWay and The McRaes, have launched a 20-city Crabb Jam �05 tour, taking place nationwide over the course of 2005.

The Crabb Family, CrossWay and The McRaes are scheduled to perform in select cities in 15 states. The debut concert, which garnered a sellout audience at the Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tenn, was followed by a performance in Charlotte, NC. Other cities will include Huntington, W Va.; Winchester, Va.; Owensboro, Ky; and Mobile, Ala., among others. Crabb Jam �05 launches in the midst of what is becoming a landmark year for this veteran group and extends the support of their current acclaimed album Driven.

�Our roots are in the southern Gospel musical style, and we look forward to exposing more young people to that,� stated Kelly Bowling, of The Crabb Family, �but we�ll also bring a variety of music to the audience. There are hints of soul, country influences and traditional southern Gospel with a progressive edge. You never know what you�ll hear, but the message will be the same.�

Sponsored by WorldVision in association with Spring Hill Music Group and Daywind Records, Crabb Jam �05 features all of the artists performing on stage individually as well as together, backed by The Crabb Family Band. Numbers will include unique vocal collaborations, allowing the performers of each group to sing alongside each other in various combinations. The event includes a time of audience interaction that features a �stump the band� selection of songs requested by the audience.

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New Beatmart Recordings artist Pee Wee Callins offers listeners straight-up R&B/Soul music with a voice that is rich with color, expression, power and emotion. His debut solo project -Street Soul which released April 19, 2005 - skillfully showcases R&B, giving the genre’s audience what they’ve been craving. The CD’s first single - “Sunshine,” a love song to the Creator - is currently garnering adds on Gospel radio stations nationwide.

Rave reviews are streaming in on the album, and Pee Wee’s peers and fans are making their opinion known. A few notable comments include:

“Pee Wee Callins’ Street Soul is one of the year’s nicest surprises, and shoots to the top of our list.”
– Gospelflava.com

“With a very distinct retro feel, the album plays like a modern addition to the classic Motown collection�it’s a feel-good album full of slow jams that will help pass the summer evenings away.”
– cmcentral.com

“A fine debut, a breath of fresh air amidst the suburban excesses common in
much of today�s Christian music.”
– ChristianityToday.com

Pee Wee Callins’ Street Soul is available on Beatmart Recordings and is distributed by Word Distribution. Additional information about Callins and his music can be found at http://www.beatmart.com.

Logan is the host of ‘The Logan Show’ - you can check www.theloganshow.com to see if it’s on in your area. We met up with him recently and we’ll be posting the interview shortly - keep checking back for that. In the meantime, here’s an update from Logan…

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The brave die never, though they sleep in dust:
Their courage nerves a thousand living men.
~Minot J. Savage