Talent such as Jordan Smith, winner of “The Voice,” and Grammy winner Michael W. Smith graced the stage at the GMA Honors and Hall of Fame Ceremony, which was held in Allen Arena on Tuesday, May 10.
GMA continues to host its big events at Lipscomb, as it also hosts the annual Dove Awards in Allen Arena in the fall.
2016 honorees include Jars of Clay with their ministry Blood: Water Mission, Catherine Brewton with her ministry Hope For Harvest, Michael W. Smith, founder of Rocketown and the Gospel Music Trust Fund.
Michael W. Smith, who has won more than 40 Dove Awards, received three Grammys and had two No. 1 hits, was recognized for founding Rocketown, a youth outreach ministry located in downtown Nashville.
Smith said he is always trying to grow Rocketown, but he is still focused on the ministry aspect of his outreach.
“It seems like we keep having expansions; we now have an art studio, dance studio, music studio and after-school programs,” Smith said. “We’re talking about expanding our space. We’re already at 45,000 square feet, and we’re thinking about adding an indoor gymnasium and making skatepark bigger, but the expansions I love are the ministry focused ones like Skatechurch on Tuesday nights.”
“Five or six years ago, we found out that some of these kids had not eaten in two or three days, so we decided to start a food program.”
After this realization, Smith started Rocketown Potluck, which is a family-style dinner held on Thursday nights.
2016 inductees to the GMA Hall of Fame were Russ Taff, Howard Rachinski, The Nelons and Hezekiah Walker.
Past inductees include Fanny Crosby (1975), Bill Gaither (1983), Billy Graham (1999), the Oak Ridge Boys (2000), Elvis Presley (2001), Pat Boone (2003), Dolly Parton (2008) and Johnny Cash (2010).
During the event, there were performances by Jordan Smith, Amy Grant, Jason Crabb, Selah and more.
Jordan Smith, who attended Lee University and is the recent winner of NBC’s “The Voice,” season nine, also led the prayer for the event.
While on “The Voice,” Smith was very outspoken about his faith.
“During the show, I didn’t even realize that I was doing it,” Smith said. “The show is very supportive of you being the kind of artist that you want to be, and they want to highlight who you are. For me, that was my faith since that’s such a big part of who I am. While others [on the show] weren’t necessarily as outspoken about their faith, they were definitely believers, so it was great to have that kind of support system.”
Despite “The Voice” competition ending, Smith said things have not slowed down for him, as he is about to go on tour and also get married.
GMA will return to the Lipscomb stage for the Dove Awards in October.