Recently in Christmas music Category

Matthew West is kicking off this holiday season with a mission: to remind others of the true reason for the season wih his "Give This Christmas Away" campaign.

West was inspired by the song "Give This Christmas Away," which he wrote and recorded in conjunction with VeggieTales for its new DVD release, "Saint Nicholas--A Story of Joyful Giving." The campaign calls attention to practical ways we can reach out to those in need around us.

West explains in a press release, "What it means to me to 'give this Christmas away' is to pause long enough to look at the world from a perspective of 'How can I help? How can I give? How can God use me to help meet the needs of somebody else this Christmas instead of just checking off the list of everything I want?'"

In keeping with that sentiment, West, spokesperson for Operation Christmas Child, a division of the international relief organization Samaritan's Purse, is asking fans who attend his fall tour to donate shoe box gifts for children in need this holiday season. The collection will continue on West's "Give This Christmas Away" Christmas tour, kicking off late November.

Furthermore, West offers additional ideas for living out the Christmas spirit via a book release, 101 Ways to Give This Christmas Away, to be published by Tyndale Publishers. The book, along with a Something to Say Christmas Edition featuring the song "Give This Christmas Away" and three new acoustic recordings, will be available in retail stores this month.

Operation Christmas Child is a really fun way to get your entire family involved in sharing hte gospel with a child somewhere in the world. It's easy: you fill a shoebox with toys and other items a child in need might use (the OPC site gives you a list of suggestions). Then you bring the shoebox to a local collection site - this is collection week! - and your box is delivered to a child somewhere around the globe. This year, you can also track your box to find out which country it ends up in.

You can learn more about Matthew West on his website.

You can learn more about Operation Christmas Child on the Samaritan's Purse website.

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Big Daddy Weave has partnered with nationwide radio network KLOVE to honor military families in need this Christmas.

The campaign is centered around Big Daddy Weave's upcoming holiday single "I'll Be Brave This Christmas." The song is off the band's new Christmas album, Christ is Come.

Fans are asked to nominate a military family in need. Eligible families will be selected and then KLOVE affiliate Amazon.com will host online gift registries for each chosen family. Fervent's parent company, Word Entertainment (a Warner/Curb company), will coordinate efforts to help fulfill each registry.

To nominate a family or for more information, visit the Big Daddy Weave website

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I figure most of you are out shopping today, but I thought I'd share a Christmas song that my friend Mark Weber wrote called "Who Wants To Cry At Christmas." I know most of just just had a few lovely days with family, but there are a lot of people out there who are lonely or without loved ones, and I thought this might be a nice message for you. As Mark sings, "There's still a hope at Christmas, that God will find a way, to meet me in my sadness, and help it go away."

Mark and Johnny Juarez, an internationally touring Latin-Christian-pop-rock recording artist, teamed up for a series of Christmas in Spanglish concerts this Christmas. "We sang in both Spanish and English (Spanglish), in a wide variety of venues, including a Presbyterian church in an artsy city neighborhood, a famous chain secular bookstore in the suburbs, a youth-oriented coffeehouse, a soup kitchen, an inner-city Christian Center geared toward kids, and a Pentecostal church in downtown Toronto on the snowiest of snowy nights," Mark told me.

You can see some clips of those shows on Mark Weber's YouTube.com page.

I told you back in October about Scott Krippayne and Jeff Peabody , the songwriters who wrote the "American Idol" song "This Is My Now." Last year, they wrote the song "Crying For A Christmas" for their church's youth group to use in a video project. The song was popular on Seattle's Spirit 105.3, so this year they've been promoting it to other stations through some grassroots efforts. Back in November, the song was picked up for adds on holiday playlists on hundreds of radio stations around the world.

Jeff wrote to me this week and told me, "Just wanted to let you know our little song defied the odds and made the [R&R] charts, coming in at #27 in the Christian AC category (with most new spins last week)."

The song also debuted at #27 this week on Billboard's Hot Christian Adult Contemporary charts.

I wrote back in 2007 that Krippayne is no stranger to Christian music. He's recorded seven albums which have spawned numerous #1 hits, and his songs have been recorded by artists like Point of Grace, Avalon, Sandi Patty, Jaci Velasquez, and John Tesh. Peabody is an advertising exec-turned pastor. But this is still a pretty nice accomplishment for a little song that's not on an album and not released by a label. It's just a simple, lovely song written for Krippayne's and Peabody's church, with a message that's obviously resonating with listeners.

You can get the song at digital outlets like Amazon.com and iTunes. For more about Scott Krippayne, visit his website.

BarlowGirl's Home For Christmas recently received high praises from USA Today and the New York Times, who called the album "stunning" and "delightful."

The song "Carol of the Bells" has claimed over 24,840 downloads since the project released in September, with 7,340 downloads this week alone. The song also reached #18 on the Holiday Songs Chart at iTunes and is currently #4 on the Christian/Gospel Digital Tracks charts.

They might be getting rave reviews from the press, but this cartoon at ChristianityToday.com is ... um ... er ... ridiculous? Apparently it's part of Ignite Your Faith's Heroes of Rock cartoon series. Um ... I'd stick to the girls' Christmas album.