Jason Gray at Bettendorf Christian Church -- March 25.
Thursday, March 25, 7 p.m.
Bettendorf Christian Church, 3487 Crowne Pointe Circle, Bettendorf IA
Performing locally in a special live event hosted by the area non-profit Project 15:12 Love One Another, contemporary-Christian singer/songwriter Jason Gray will headline a March 25 fundraising concert at Bettendorf Christian Church, with the chart-topping Minnesota-based musician a favorite of reviewers and the recipient of two prestigious ASCAP Performance Awards.
Born and raised in southwestern Minnesota and currently residing near the Twin Cities, Gray spent six years in youth ministry before going into full-time music ministry in 1999 as an independent artist. Despite living with a speech disorder as a person who stutters – a challenge that led the musician, through his work, to emphasize the importance of finding strength in weakness – Gray released four independent records before signing with Centricity Music in 2006. Centricity went on to release his first major-label record, All the Lovely Losers in 2007, which led ChristianityToday.com to call Gray one of “Christian music's best kept secrets.”
Gray went on to win two ASCAP Performance Awards for his songs “More Like Falling in Love” in 2011 and “Good to Be Alive” in 2012, and the artist has shared the stage with major artists including Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Sanctus Real. His first number-one single “Nothing Is Wasted” reached the top spot on the Soft AC Chart in May 2013 and remained there for nine weeks, and Gray has gone on to enjoy hit albums with 2013's Lov Will Have the Final Word, 2016's Where the Light Gets In, and his recent release Order, Disorder, Reorder. As Project 15:12 co-director states, “This is a great chance for our community to get out and come together for a night of live music and hear songs with wonderful messages about the hope in the cross. That’s something our world needs to be reminded of so desperately right now.”
Project 15:12, which gets its name from the Bible verse John 15:12, strives to fill a void of services in the Quad City area for those in “the middle place”: individuals or families who are not receiving any other kind of state or federal income based assistance such as food stamps or Medicaid, but who are going through intense life transitions including divorce, sickness or death in the immediate family, loss of job, or natural disaster. Since January of 2016, Project 15:12 has helped over 325 individuals or families including almost 500 children in the Quad Cities by assisting with over $188,000 in aid.
Jason Gray's concert at Bettendorf Christian Chrcuh begins at 7 p.m. on March 25, space limitations will be honored, and attendees are asked to wear facial coverings. Admission is $15-20, and more information on the event is available by contacting the church at (563)355-0124 and BettendorfChristian.com, or visiting the concert's sponsors at Project1512.com.
