Hello 2016!

The January 1, 2016 edition of CCM Magazine

Happy New Year! It’s been an amazing year in Christian music. Some brief highlights off the top of my head—A memorable night at the Dove Awards in October (how about the red carpet, Lecrae and Lauren Daigle?!), CCM United in January (wow, will an event like this ever happen again?), Audio Adrenaline’s live webcast, experiencing a really (really) long night at the annual K-LOVE Fan Awards at the Grand Ole Opry, hanging out at Natalie Grant’s house to listen to her latest album Be One, Colton Dixon on the cover of CCM with his mom (and getting engaged at Disney World!), and getting a sneak peek of the Winter Jam 2016 tour lineup at Nashville’s Adventure Science Center’s planetarium (with Newsong, Matthew West, Crowder and so many more).

I can’t believe we’ve gone through an entire calendar since I wrote my first Editorial Letter for CCM Magazine. In early 2015, I used this particular piece of real estate to hint at new things to come for CCM. Since then, we have launched an entirely new website at CCMmagazine.com—our main objective for this past year— and have only begun to scratch the surface of bringing you the latest in Christian music news, stories, photos and videos in an exciting new way.

None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for an awesome group of people working behind the scenes, making this thing “go” every two weeks. A humble thanks to my colleagues at Salem Publishing Nashville—Mike Miller, Smitty Wheeler, Ross Cluver, DeDe Donatelli-Tarrant, Joel Stombres, Jon Edlin, Tammy Phillips, Martina Ahlbrandt, Joshua Jamison, Shaun Helton, Amy Lee, and Jason Lloyd. At Salem Music Network—Doug Griffin, Wade McShane, Caryn Cruise, CJ McKay, Jaci Velasquez, Jeremy Sweat, and Vance Dillard.

To our contributing editors, contributors, and freelance writers around the country—Andy Argyrakis, Matt Conner, Andrew Greer, Lena Ziegler, Caroline Lusk, Lindsay Williams, Melissa Riddle-Chalos, Grace Aspinwall, Christina Fox, Rebekah Bell, Justin Sarachik, and Jamie Walker. To our web team, old and new—Barry and Je French, Tim Trudeau at Syntax Creative, and Nathan Markey at Seablaze Web Studios. Also, thanks to Britt Edwards and Chris Cameron at Center Street Recording Studios for your time, expertise, and laughter (invoices are being fulfilled!).

Of course, many thanks to Brian, Emily, Janet, Stacie, Kirsten, Lori, Brian, Courtney, MacKenzie, Rick, Velvet, Celeste, Maureen, Christina, Jules, Shannon, Lori, Aaron, Susanne, Jackie, Lynn, Tracy, Gina, Paige, Jeff and Steven—you know who you are, thanks!

Here’s to an exciting 2016!

Blessings,