News Beat CR May 2009 Print
Written by Eric Tiansay   
Monday, 04 May 2009 12:37 PM America/New_York

Up to three. Rock band Downhere recently won the Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year for Ending Is Beginning (Centricity Records/Word Distribution) during the Juno Awards, Canada’s equivalent to the GRAMMY Awards. Recognized with the group’s third Juno Award during the event, held March 28 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Downhere won its first Juno Award for Best Gospel Album in 2002 for its self-titled debut CD and was again recognized in 2007 with the Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year for Wide-Eyed and Mystified.

Speaking of awards, GRAMMY Award winner Rebecca St. James was presented with the 2009 Arvella Schuller Award—which recognizes artistic excellence in the promotion of Christian values through music, film and the mass mediums of the arts and entertainment—by Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., March 18.

The Cross—a movie about the life and ministry of globe-trekking evangelist Arthur Blessitt—had a modest opening after debuting on 221 screens the weekend of March 28, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Made by Gener8Xion Entertainment, affiliated with Trinity Broadcasting Network and the company responsible for The Omega Code and One Night With the King, the film placed at No. 17 and took in $327,000. The documentary about Blessitt, who has carried a 12-foot cross around the world during the last 40 years, received some positive reviews. The Seattle Times observed that “Blessitt’s story is clearly worth telling.

Millard Fuller—founder of the Christian house-building charity Habitat for Humanity and an author—died Feb. 3 after being taken to a hospital near his home in Americus, Ga. He was 74. Fuller wrote several books, including Building Materials for Life (2007) and The Theology of the Hammer (1994)—both published by Smyth & Helwys Publishing.