Carrie Underwood, Jelly Roll & Jon Batiste surprised the crowd with guest appearances
The 56th Annual GMA Dove Awards were handed out Tuesday night (Oct 7th), to a live audience at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Brandon Lake was awarded five wins, including Songwriter of the Year (Artist) and Song of the Year for “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” honoring songwriters Lake, Jelly Roll, Steven Furtick, Chris Brown, and Benjamin William Hastings. Artist of the Year went to Forrest Frank, and New Artist of the Year went to Leanna Crawford. CeCe Winans took home two awards, including Gospel Worship Recorded Song of the Year for “Come Jesus Come” with Shirley Caesar. Spanish Language Recorded Song of the Year went to Israel & New Breed, Unified Sound (ft. Israel & New Breed, Unified Sound featuring Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, Nate Diaz, Aaron Moses, Lucia Parker for “Coritos de Fuego.”
The broadcast aired exclusively on TBN and the TBN+ app and was simulcast on SiriusXM The Message. The broadcast will re-air Friday, October 17th, at 7:30 pm and 10 pm ET on TBN, the TBN+ app, and TBN YouTube.
Unforgettable performances ruled the night as For King + Country, with guest Taylor Hill, opened the show with a stunning performance of “World On Fire.” In a crowd-pleasing surprise, Ben Fuller welcomed eight-time Grammy Award winner Carrie Underwood to the stage to sing their nominated song, “If It Was Up To Me.” Newly minted Opry Member Steven Curtis Chapman was joined on stage for a special Opry 100 performance with fellow Opry members Lady A and Vince Gill. Israel & New Breed and Unified Sound welcomed friends Aaron Moses, Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, Alex Campos, Christine D’Clario, Josh and Waleska Morales, Ingrid Rosario, Janina Rosado, Lucia Parker, and Nate Diaz for a one-of-a-kind Latin performance. Tauren Wells with Gio brought the energy on “Let The Church Sing.” CeCe Winans led the arena in a poignant, acoustic version of “Come Jesus Come,” and Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll, with special guest Jon Batiste, closed out the night with a rain-soaked version of “Hard Fought Hallelujah.”
Host Tauren Wells brought out his pastor-side in the opening monologue, encouraging the audience, saying, “There is only one reason that we’re here tonight, one common denominator between all of us and it’s that without Jesus, we recognize we have nothing. Without Jesus, we have no songs to sing, without Jesus we have no stories to tell, we have no scripts to write, no books, we have no platforms, we have no Instagram followers, we have no subscribers, we have nothing to celebrate if it had not been for the Lord who is on your side. But because of Jesus, we have everything to celebrate. Because of Jesus we have songs to sing, because of Jesus we have stories to tell, because of Jesus we have platforms to declare the greatness of our God. It is not about us, it’s not about our songs or our creativity, it’s about Jesus’s songs and about Jesus’s story.”
Winners followed suit, proclaiming the Dove Awards to be a celebration of faith and community. CeCe Winans, accepting the award for Gospel Worship Recorded Song of the Year, shared, “Like Tauren said earlier, we don’t do what we do for this [award], we do what we do for Jesus.” Accepting the award for Song of the Year with Brandon Lake, Jelly Roll said, “I want to give this message as clear as I can right now, the world is hearing about Jesus like they have never heard it before. And while they are hearing about Jesus, I encourage you to put faith on your feet and feet on your faith and walk out of this building and go do for the least. They’ve heard Jesus, now show them Jesus.” Receiving the Jackie Patillo Leadership Award, Al Andrews from Porter’s Call said, “I feel like I get a front row seat to hope.”
ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Forrest Frank
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Leanna Crawford
SONG OF THE YEAR: “Hard Fought Hallelujah”
GOSPEL WORSHIP RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR: “Come Jesus Come” – CeCe Winans, Shirley Caesar
WORSHIP RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR: “I Know A Name” – Elevation Worship, Chris Brown, Brandon Lake
RAP/HIP HOP ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Cry – Hulvey
SPANISH LANGUAGE RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR: “Coritos de Fuego” – Israel & New Breed, Unified Sound (ft. Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, Nate Diaz, Aaron Moses, Lucia Parker)
CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: “God Problems” – Live Breathe Fight – Tamela Mann
SOUTHERN GOSPEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Loving You – The Nelons
INSPIRATIONAL RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR: “The Jesus Way” – Phil Wickham
FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR: The King of Kings – (Director) Jang Seong-ho, (Producers) Jang Seong-ho, Kim Woo-hyung
