c. 1997 Religion News Service
Word Records purchased for more than $100 million
(RNS) Gaylord Entertainment Company has completed its purchase of Word Records and Music, a contemporary Christian music company previously owned by Thomas Nelson, for more than $100 million.
Initially, the purchase price was $110 million, including working capital and other assets, but it has increased to about $120 million due to an unexpected increase in the business’ working capital, Gaylord announced Tuesday (Jan. 7).
With annual sales of about $100 million, Word Records and Music is one of the largest contemporary Christian music companies in the world. It includes nine record labels representing artists such as Sandi Patty, Point of Grace, Shirley Caesar, Petra, Amy Grant, Jaci Velasquez, Crystal Lewis and Anointed. Word also has a music publishing division that contains more than 40,000 songs.
Word Records will become a new operating division of the Nashville-based Gaylord Entertainment Company, an entertainment and communications firm that owns cable TV networks, including The Nashville Network, Country Music Television, and Z Music Television, a 24-hour network devoted to Christian music. It also owns entertainment properties such as the Grand Ole Opry and the Opryland theme park, and broadcasting outlets that include three radio stations and two TV stations.
Thomas Nelson, also based in Nashville, is a publisher and book distributor whose products emphasize Christian and inspirational themes.
Christian son seeks estate of missing atheist O’Hair
(RNS) No one has heard from atheist and activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair for more than a year, so her estranged Christian son has decided to seek control of her estate.
In a court petition filed Friday (Jan. 3), Bill Murray asked to be named guardian of the estates of his mother, his brother Jon Garth Murray, and his daughter Robin, who was adopted by O’Hair. The three mysteriously disappeared in 1995.
Murray’s petition estimated the value of his brother and daughter’s estates at $100,000, but assigned no worth to O’Hair’s.
Bill Murray has been estranged from the three family members since his conversion to Christianity in 1980. Since then, he has established a Christian organization that advocates a constitutional amendment to allow more religious expression in public schools.
O’Hair is most famous for filing the lawsuit _ with her then 14-year-old son Bill as the plaintiff _ that led to the 1963 Supreme Court decision striking down organized prayer in public schools.
O’Hair and her family members vanished in August 1995 amid allegations they used contributions made to their atheist organization for personal expenses, including the purchase of a home, a Mercedes-Benz and a Porsche.”If they are alive and read this (Bill Murray’s petition), there will be holes in the wall because Madalyn will be mad,”said Orin”Spike”Tyson, national director of O’Hair’s Austin, Texas-based atheist organization, according to the Associated Press.
A hearing on Murray’s petition could come as early as Jan. 13.
Mormons to revise plans for controversial temple
(RNS) Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have agreed to revise plans for a huge new temple in an upscale Boston suburb after local residents raised concerns that the proposed plans would create traffic and noise problems.
The local zoning board approved the church’s $30 million construction plans in early December, but local residents protested, complaining that the new temple would overpower their homes.
Under the original plans, the proposed Belmont, Mass., church would have been one of the largest Mormon temples in the world.
Bishop Grant Bennett of the Latter-day Saints Belmont Ward (a local jurisdiction) said church officials had”listened carefully”to public concerns and are now asking the local zoning board to delay its final approval of the construction until plans can be revised.”We believe a modified design can accommodate some of the expressed neighborhood concerns,”Bennett said.
The Mormon church has 49 operating temples, and 15 more are in various stages of design and construction.
Christian artists among nominees for Grammy Awards
(RNS) Some artists well known in Christian music circles have been nominated for Grammy Awards in categories other than gospel.
Among the nominees, announced Tuesday (Jan. 7), are contemporary gospel singer CeCe Winans and pop soloist Whitney Houston for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for”Count on Me,”a track from the”Waiting to Exhale”movie soundtrack. In addition, the a cappella group Take 6 has been nominated for Best Pop Performance By A Duo or Group for”When You Wish Upon a Star,”a track from”Music from the Park.” The 39th Grammy Awards winners will be announced in a Feb. 26 ceremony to be broadcast live on CBS from New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Among the gospel music nominees:
Best Rock Gospel Album:”Bloom,”Audio Adrenaline;”Open All Nite,”Big Tent Revival;”Jesus Freak,”dc Talk;”Take Me to Your Leader,”Newsboys;”God,”Rebecca St. James.
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album:”Shelter,”Gary Chapman;”Signs of Life,”Steven Curtis Chapman;”The Message,”4 Him;”Life, Love & Other Mysteries,”Point of Grace;”Tribute: The Songs of Andrae Crouch,”various artists.
Best Southern Gospel, Country Gospel or Bluegrass Gospel Album:”Steel Witness,”Charlie Daniels;”I Love to Tell the Story: 25 Timeless Hymns,”Andy Griffith;”There’s a Light Guiding Me,”Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver;”How Great Thou Art,”Willie Nelson and Bobbie Nelson;”Don’t Overlook Salvation,”Ricky Van Shelton.
Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album:”New Dawning,”Walter Hawkins and The Hawkins Family;”Face to Face,”Cissy Houston;”Shake the Devil Off,”Dorothy Norwood;”Together as One: A Tribute to the Heritage of Quartet Music,”Various Artists;”Let’s Go Back: Live in Chicago,”Albertina Walker.
Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album:”Live in Washington,”Yolanda Adams;”Love Brought Me Back,”Helen Baylor;”Whatcha Lookin’ 4,”Kirk Franklin and the Family;”Shakin’ the House … Live in L.A.,”Hezekiah Walker, Yolanda Adams and Fred Hammond;”Heart and Soul,”The Winans.
Best Gospel Album by a Choir or Chorus:”All Things Are Possible,”Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar;”Gotta Feelin’,”The Associates;”I’ll See You in the Rapture,”Mississippi Mass Choir;”Just a Word,”Shirley Caesar’s Outreach Convention Choir;”A New Thing … Experience the Fullness,”Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship Mass Choir.
Survey finds decline in German religious belief
(RNS) Overall religious belief in Germany has declined significantly since the reunification of east and west in 1990, according to a new survey published by the prominent weekly magazine Der Spiegel.
The survey found that atheists and agnostics now outnumber religious believers for the first time in the nation as a whole. While 50 percent of residents from western Germany claim to be religious, only one in five east Germans make the same claim, producing a national average of less than half of all citizens.
Two-thirds of western Germans under the age of 30 say God has”no meaning”for them, and even more young easterns give the same response.
Klaus-Peter Jorns, a Berlin sociologist, told the magazine the survey results show that despite the fall of communism, atheism still forms an”important element of eastern German identity.” However, Thomas Kruger, spokesman for the Evangelical Church in Germany, suggested that most Germans are neglecting religion rather than deliberately rejecting it, reported Ecumenical News International, a Geneva-based religious news agency.”While secularization is affecting Germany, like all Western countries, it rarely takes the form of conscious atheism and does not touch questions of identity,”Kruger said.
Kruger added that he does not believe the Christian faith can be measured by merely asking which tenets citizens believe.
The Protestant Church in Germany _ known simply as the Evangelical Church _ has some 28 million members, as does the Roman Catholic Church.
Quote of the day: House Speaker Newt Gingrich
(RNS) Despite his ethical troubles, Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) was narrowly re-elected Speaker of the House of Representatives Tuesday (Jan. 7). In his 20-minute acceptance speech, Gingrich apologized for bringing controversy to the House and called on lawmakers from both parties to acknowledge God as they craft legislation:”I would just suggest to all of you that until we learn in a nonsectarian way _ not Baptist, not Catholic, not Jewish _ in a nonsectarian way, until we learn to re-establish the authority that we are endowed by our Creator, that we owe it to our Creator, and that we need to seek divine guidance in what we are doing, we are not going to solve this country’s problems. In that spirit with your prayers and help, I will seek to be worthy of being speaker of the House, and I will seek to work with every member sent by their constituents to represent them in the United States Congress.” MJP END RNS
