Vice President of the United States Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence joined Keith and Kristyn Getty on Saturday evening at the sold-out Sing! An Irish Christmas Concert at the Kennedy Center to present the inaugural Sing!-Lifetime Achievement Award to Joni Eareckson Tada. [ IFA’s  Communications Director Judy McDonough was at the concert to see the performance and presentation first hand. See below!]

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The “Sing!” movement was created out of Keith and Kristyn Getty’s work as modern hymn writers and launched as a conference in 2017, which is now the largest worship conference in North America. As part of the movement, the Sing award has been launched to celebrate individuals who have significantly influenced the world through sung worship.

Joni Eareckson Tada has understood this mission and embodies how singing affects us as individuals, as families, as churches and as communities. Through her singing, integrated into her life and her work, particularly with the disabled community, and she has affected countless individuals and strengthened families and improved people’s lives. She has challenged the church as a whole and has been an advocate to the culture on every level—from government, the arts and to the neediest people groups, including some in the most dangerous parts of our world. But even beyond her work, Joni, at heart, is someone who sings infectiously to her Lord as part of everyday life.

As the leadership at Getty Music talked to many of the church leaders, Bible teachers, artists, worship leaders and participants from over 100 countries who have been a part of the first three Sing! Conferences, there was no one who had more profoundly influenced people than Joni Tada.

Keith and Kristyn Getty stated, “No one has inspired us more in how singing beautifully and critically binds life and faith together than Joni Eareckson Tada. From growing up in Northern Ireland loving her story and listening to her albums as a family, to then having the privilege of meeting her, working with her and calling her a friend—that has profoundly shaped so much of how we understand the gift of singing is to all of us. Her very real love for the Lord has anchored the song of her heart and voice we all enjoy and want to join. She embodies life, life in all its fullness, and is the model to the next generation of those who are leading church music.”

The Sing! An Irish Christmas tour will be making stops at the Chicago Symphony Center, New York City’s Carnegie Hall along with dates in Missouri, Michigan, Indiana and culminating on the 23rd in Nashville at the Schermerhorn Center. On Friday, Dec. 20, please tune in to TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) to Sing! An Irish Christmas—Live at the Grand Ole Opry House at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. PT/ 1 p.m. ET. A special showing in the U.K. on Christmas Day will air at 5:00 pm GMT.

(Excerpt from Charisma News.)