A Gift from the Heart

Some of today's top Christian worship artists will donate the revenues from songs written at a special retreat next month to help relieve suffering worldwide.

Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin, Steven Curtis Chapman, Darlene Zschech, Matt and Beth Redman, Tim Hughes, Paul Baloche, Israel Houghton, Graham Kendrick, Andy Park, Stu Garrard and Martin Smith from Delirious? are participating in the retreat sponsored by Compassionart in Perthshire, Scotland Jan. 7 – 11. 2008. The songwriters’ goal is to collectively write 10-12 songs with 100 percent of the proceeds derived from the songs going directly to charity. One half of the monies will go to the songwriters’ charity of choice, and the other 50 percent will go to a charitable project agreed upon by all the songwriters involved.

“Over the last few years I have had the privilege of traveling to some of the poorest parts of the world and seeing first hand the plight of humanity,” said Martin Smith, Delirious?, Compassionart's founder who is organizing the retreat along with his wife, Anna. “As a song writer and a person with a microphone I made a promise to try and do something about it. What better than to call on my friends and do something together. To be people that can make a change rather than just singing about it.”

“They have all waived their rights to see something historic happen: the music business coming together for something great, greater than any individual could achieve,” Smith said.

Please keep these artists and the retreat in your prayers. Merry Christmas!