Here's what's happening TODAY in Christian music...

1. Matt Hammitt shocked the Christian music world yesterday when he announced that he's leaving Sanctus Real in order to better live out the words of his song "Lead Me" by being home with his family. The band, however, asks for prayer and aims to continue on.

2. Jonathan Chu, the violinist for Skillet, went to pick up his lawnmower from the repair shop and the clerk complimented him on his shirt--which of course, said Skillet on it. If only he knew...

3. Garrett Hornbuckle from All Things New doesn't just make music for his own band. This week he spent some time writing songs for a couple of country artists in Nashville.

4. Apple's all-new music streaming service, Apple Music, debuted this week, and Finding Favour was excited to be included in the first-ever playlist of Christian music curated by Apple, called the A-list. Their song "Cast My Cares" was the opening song on the playlist.

5. He's no longer part of tobyMac's Diverse City Band, but it looks like Byron "Mr. Talkbox" Chambers has found a new family as a part of the Capitol Christian artist roster. Congratulations, Mr. Talkbox!

6. Chris August did a mashup of past and present pop pearls "Bye Bye Bye" by *NSYNC and "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift. So there's that. It's on his YouTube.

7. Jonny Diaz just played his daughter, Charlie Grace, one of his new songs, and then she spit up everywhere. Dad is trying to figure out just what that means.

8. They've been going out of business for a while now, but at least for today, we get to enjoy some new music from Falling Up. This week their House Full of Caverns album released on Amazon.
 
Quotes (3)

1. "When you have the love of Christ in you, that becomes the energy and the space where you become unstoppable." - Omega Levine, formerly of Parachute Band

2. "Just like any battle, it's a huge benefit to know your enemy. And in our case, our enemy, the devil, has already been defeated." - Donnie McClurkin

3. "The power of grace is mind blowing. Grateful for what I do not deserve, and at times, understand." - Rapper Tedashii

For more quotes from your favorite Christian artists, click here.