Platinum-selling band Kutless has teamed with Samaritan's Purse on the Military Mission Project. The partnership is through Operation Heal Our Patriots (OHOP), a project of the Christian humanitarian organization that ministers to service members of all U.S. military branches.

After touring around the world and meeting members of the armed forces, Kutless wanted to give back to the troops.

"We have gotten to meet and interact with service members stationed everywhere from Alaska to Germany, and we are grateful for the stories they have shared with us," said frontman Jon Micah Sumrall. "Hearing their struggles and stories of sacrifice has both inspired and encouraged us.

"We hope that our music continues to be a blessing and an encouragement to all of our countries' service members, but we desired to do more to try and help and impact those who have sacrificed so much for all of us," he added. "That is why we created the Kutless Military Mission."

The project is a two-fold ministry, with the band giving away free concert tickets to active and retired military members and their spouses. Secondly, Kutless is donating a portion of all merchandise proceeds to OHOP.

More than 48,000 U.S. service members have been wounded or injured as a result of combat actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"On behalf of Operation Heal Our Patriots, the staff of Samaritan Lodge Alaska and the hundreds of injured veteran families we minister to, I extend our heartfelt appreciation to Kutless for their selfless dedication to this great project," said James R. Fisher, a retired chaplain who was in the U.S. military for more than 30 years who now serves as OHOP's chaplain. "Their support, both through their music and their service, has a direct impact on veterans hearing the gospel and finding healing through Jesus our Lord."

Click here for more information on Kutless' Military Mission Project.

Known as the "father of contemporary Christian music," Ralph Carmichael, 84, will make history in 2013 as the oldest conductor to embark on a 30-city tour.

"This tour is a dream come true for me," Carmichael said. "We want the audience to be entertained, but we also want to present the gospel loud and clear. We will use a big band, a full symphony and a mass choir to accomplish that in every city."

Kicking off March 1 in Austin, Texas, the Ralph Carmichael Legacy Tour will feature 30 major symphony orchestras, the Ralph Carmichael Big Band and the Ralph Carmichael Mass Choir, recruited from local communities. In select cities, the tour will feature guest soloists with members, including Larnelle Harris, Wayne Watson, and members of The Archers and First Call. Holt International, an adoption agency established more than five decades ago, will serve as a sponsor for the tour.

Carmichael is known for his transitory influence on the style of music that was slowly embraced by mainline churches in the early 1960s. But he also worked with the biggest names in music, including Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Tex Ritter, The Carpenters, Rosemary Clooney, Pat Boone, Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald.

Carmichael also composed music for such popular television shows as I Love Lucy, Bonanza, The Red Skelton Show and The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show, and he had a longtime association with pianist Roger Williams, with whom he scored the million-selling hit song "Born Free." He also worked with World Wide Pictures, the production company that produced movies for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

In the 1960s, Carmichael formed Light Records/Lexicon Music to be a vehicle for a new musical genre he had helped to create, which would become known as contemporary Christian music. Carmichael remembers doing church workshops introducing the new material to ministers of music, and the reaction was not always positive.

Despite criticism, Light Records went on to sign and launch the careers of Christian music icons Andrae Crouch, the Winans, The Archers and Resurrection Band, among others. One of Carmichael's contemporary hymns, "Reach Out to Jesus" was recorded by Elvis Presley on the singer's 1971 GRAMMY Award-winning album of sacred songs, He Touched Me.

Carmichael was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1985. In 2001, he was inducted into the National Religious Broadcaster's Hall of Fame.

Click here for more information on the Ralph Carmichael Legacy Tour.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) today announced the winners of the ECPA/dp Book Cover Award program. The publishers' group reported its best year with 101 submissions from 19 publishers for the sixth annual program, which is sponsored by Dickinson Press.

Launched in 2007, the awards aim to educate, promote and recognize superior cover design in Christian publishing. This year, the program presented two awards, one for design and one for research-based marketability.

"We were very pleased to continue the valuable component matching design to consumer behavior—while adding more criteria related to design merits," said ECPA President and CEO Mark Kuyper. "The industry responded enthusiastically and we saw a record number of entries from a record number of publishers this year."

Managed by Faceout Studio and highlighting the art aspect of book covers, the ECPA Book Cover Design Award was introduced this year and focused on the design merits of a book cover, including the level of conceptual thinking, the quality of the execution and appropriateness for the market.

Design winners are: Love Does by Bob Goff and designed by Connie Gabbert (Thomas Nelson) in the Large Publisher category; Daddy, Is That Story True or Were You Just Preaching? by James W. Moore and designed by David Carlson (Abingdon Press) in the Mid-Sized Publisher category; and The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung and designed by Josh Dennis (Crossway) in the Small Publisher category.

Managed by RISC AmeriScan and highlighting the science aspect of covers, the Consumer Research award is based on the consumer-buying research of the Research Institute for Social Change (RISC), which measures consumer motivations as it relates to cover design and book sales. Covers were judged and analyzed on how well their design elements match characteristics of their intended audience.

Consumer Research winners are: Soul Detox by Craig Groeschel and designed by Curt Diepenhorst (Zondervan) in the Large Publisher category; What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him by Byron Forrest Yawn and designed by Koechel Peterson & Associates (Harvest House Publishers) in the Mid-Sized Publisher category; and Spark by Jason Jaggard and designed by Kristopher Orr (WaterBrook Press) in the Small Publisher category.

"The book cover is advertising what the book is all about," said Rick Hamm, director of RISC AmeriScan Research, who pointed out that the judges looked at the full book cover, not just the front.

The art and science aspects of the awards were judged separately and operated independently from each other.

This year winners will receive a black glass plaque with a metal plate exhibiting the colors of the book cover winners.

To view past finalists and winners, go to www.bookcoverawards.com.

Whitaker House is donating 1,200 books to God Day—Awakening a City to Awaken Nations, a revival movement launching today from Central Florida.

Joshua Fowler, apostle and senior minister of Legacy Life Church in Orlando, heads the movement that will include a leadership congress, a solemn assembly of fasting, interceding and rallying believers to evangelize and bring in a great harvest of souls. More than 100 churches as well as businesses and community organizations are promoting the event with its 12 hours of prayer, praise and proclamation.

Evangelist and author Ray Comfort's new online movie about John Lennon, released to coincide with the 32nd anniversary of the Beatles' leader's death Dec. 8, has received more than 100,000 views in four days.

"This is exceptional because this isn't a two-minute clip of grandma's hair catching on fire," said Comfort, producer of Genius. "It's a 34-minute commitment, but it's so fascinating and fast-moving viewers can't look away."

Released Dec. 7, the movie was produced as a companion to Comfort's latest book, The Beatles, God, and the Bible (WND Books).

"Genius is reaching a culture with the gospel through an effective medium; using a fascinating subject—the Beatles, who have crossed generations, selling more than 2.3 billion albums," he added.

Comfort—founder and president of Living Waters ministry and producer of the award-winning, pro-life documentary 180 viewed by millions worldwide—said people will be shocked to learn about Lennon's evolving faith.

Comfort said Lennon made comments such as claiming the Beatles were more popular than Jesus at the group's height because to the artist Christianity in the 1960s was an old, stone church surrounded by a cemetery.

Lennon's hit single "Imagine" "came as a result of a Christian prayer book that someone gave him," Comfort said. "He said 'Imagine' is the concept of a positive prayer. If you can imagine a world at peace, with no denominations of religion—not without religion, but without this my-God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing, then it can be true."

Click here to watch Genius. 

Best-selling author Jon Acuff recently told students at Liberty University what it means to "serve a wild card God." During the Lynchburg, Va., Christian school's convocation Dec. 3, Acuff encouraged students to use their gifts for God's glory rather than assuming that they don't go together, Liberty University News Service reported.

"I don't want you to leave college never daring to dream with God," said Acuff, whose books include Stuff Christians Like (Zondervan) and Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job (Lampo Press). "I don't want you to leave college with a degree that's just good enough to make you money because that gets empty really quickly."

Acuff said as he traveled across the country speaking at several colleges, he noticed a trend among students who try to separate their passions from the work that God has called them to do.

Acuff blended ideas from Quitter and Stuff Christians Like when he talked about the importance of following God's plan, injecting his humorous observations about Christian culture. He also encouraged students to listen for little moments of direction, ignore "the haters" who criticize and get started with their dream.

"What I've learned [is that] figuring out what you're called to do and what God has put in your heart isn't an act of discovery, it's an act of recovery [and] of rescuing something from your past," said Acuff, whose blog has more than 3.5 million followers. "The world is OK with you being average. But God didn't create average, common or ordinary.

"The only line that we control is the starting line," he added. "We have no control over the finish line. God is going to move your story in amazing ways that you don't have control over."

A Christian novel is credited for helping a homeless man find his family. After author Kathi Macias finished the manuscript for Unexpected Christmas Hero—released in October by New Hope Publishers—photographer and designer Michael Lê was assigned by the publisher to find a homeless man who fit the physical representation of Macias' character.

Lê and his wife, Christine, were in Asheville, N.C., last Christmas when they found a homeless man named Willard Parker who agreed to pose for some photos, said New Hope officials. Parker shared with the couple that he lost his house and lost touch with his daughters and grandchildren. Destitute, Parker told Lê that how he longed to see his daughter, but he had no idea where they were or how that could happen.

When Macias heard the story, she prayed the book's cover would help reunite Parker with his family.

"When he posed for the picture, he told us he was homeless and hoped his photo on the book would help him find his family," Macias said. "It worked! We now know where his two grown daughters and four grandsons, whom he's never met, are, but we need to get them all together for Christmas or as soon as possible. We need transportation money, plus hotel and food and any other expenses. None of the family is able to provide this, so I'm trying to help raise the money to make this long overdue reunion take place."

After Unexpected Christmas Hero was published, Parker's 26-year-old daughter, Amber, saw the cover of the novel online. But the mother of Parker's 2-year-old and 5-year-old grandchildren didn't know where to find him. Driving near Asheville, Parker's estranged wife unexpectedly spotted him walking on a sidewalk and picked him up.

"When I had my picture taken for the book cover, all I wanted was for it to help me get back with my family," said Parker, who has acute leukemia. "It worked, and I'm really grateful."

Amber added: "I'm so happy. I can't wait to be together again. You never know how long you have on this Earth and all he [my dad] wants is his family together."

After a reunion by phone with his daughters, Amber and Rebecca, Parker is now in Toledo, Ohio, but the sisters are eager to see their father in person.

To donate, click here to help Willard Parker reunite with his family this Christmas.