Christian Music Stars Sell Guitar, Record Song for Haiti
Some of the Christian music industry's brightest stars have auctioned off a priceless guitar, produced an all-star recording and donated their own money and urged fans to do the same to help Haiti's quake victims.
Singer/songwriter Bebo Norman, known for his hit song "Great Light of the World" among others, decided with his wife Roshare to auction off a cherished guitar he has had for ten years and donate all the money to Compassion International for Haiti relief.
The hand-made Everett Laurel guitar was a gift to Norman by the builder himself, Kent Everett. It is the first production (Number 00-01) in the Laurel Series.
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"This guitar has been the source of quite a few of my songs ("Nothing Without You," "Try," "Borrow Mine"), spent a year on tour with me, and is in absolutely amazing condition," Norman said prior to the eBay auction. "This guitar is priceless as far as I'm concerned. The only way I would even dream of letting this guitar go is for a cause as important as serving the people of Haiti and meeting them in their time of crisis."
After a week of bidding, the auction closed last Friday night at an unexpected price of $51,100.
"[T]he final results of the auction absolutely blew the doors off any expectations I could have ever dreamed of with such generosity from the bidders and the overabundance of God," Norman shared this week. "Obviously, this was not at all about a guitar, but instead was such a beautiful picture of the body of Christ actually being the body of Christ – using whatever gifts they have at their disposal to serve the people in Haiti that are so desperately in need."
Meanwhile, multi-Platinum rock band Third Day pledged $20,000 to World Vision's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund and encouraged fans to also donate to the Christian relief organization.
"We would like our donation to serve as a challenge," reads the open letter by Third Day. "We invite you, as Third Day fans and a community of believers, to match our donation to help our brothers and sisters suffering in Haiti today.
"We hope that you will keep the people of Haiti in your prayers, but we also hope that you will be part of God's answer to their prayers as well."
Likewise, top gospel music artists quickly responded to help raise funds for Haiti relief aid. Kirk Franklin spearheaded an all-star recording to benefit Haiti victims. Dubbed as the gospel community's answer to "We are the World," gospel greats such as BeBe & CeCe Winans, Yolanda Adams, Natalie Grant, Donnie McClurkin, Mary Mary and many more participated in the recording of "Are You Listening: A Love Song for Haiti."
"We see these people as God's children," Franklin said to GospelMusicChannel.com. "We want to do our part and I just want people to know that the gospel community can respond to a powerful natural disaster."
Two weeks ago a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince. The quake left at least 150,000 people dead and 1.5 million homeless. Though aid has been pouring into the island nation, the support is not enough because the country – considered by many to be the poorest in the Western hemisphere – lacks the infrastructure to deal with such a calamity.
Aid agencies and advocates for the rebuilding of Haiti hope that out of the rubble and ashes a new and stronger Haiti can rise. Foreign lending agencies are currently considering not only canceling all of Haiti's debts, but also lending millions of dollars at an interest free rate for a period of time for the country to rebuild.
