‘A Beautiful Opportunity’ – Jason Gray to Perform at FFTP Virtual Concert to Help Starving Families
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (July 28, 2021) Christian recording artist Jason Gray knows all about hardship and struggle.
As a child, he developed a speech impediment known as stuttering after his parents divorced and a custody battle ensued. As an adult he went through the pain of his own divorce. His son, Jacob, was diagnosed with leukemia.
Yet, Gray’s faith remains strong as is his commitment to helping others in need.
He believes God doesn’t need us, but wants us.
“When somebody is talking to me about the needs of the poor, if I have a sense that God doesn’t need me, then I’m not responding out of obligation or a sense of duty. And actually my heart can open up to the wonder that God doesn’t need me, but he is offering an opportunity for me to be involved,” Gray said in a recent interview with Food For The Poor.
“It’s helpful for me to remember this an invitation,” he added. “It’s a beautiful opportunity being presented to me.”
Gray is one of the featured performers for FFTP’s National Celebration – We Are One Virtual Concert, which will be streamed live from the charity’s new broadcast studio at its Coconut Creek headquarters at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, Aug. 12.
The goal is to raise funds to provide 10 million meals for families in desperate need.
Other scheduled performers include Grammy Award winners Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Michael W. Smith, with a special performance by international recording artist Glacia Robinson.
Gray has won several American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Performance Awards. His work emphasizes finding strength and weakness.
In addition to his work as a musician, Gray has been an advocate for children facing hardships, especially children orphaned by AIDS in Africa and other developing countries.
“Our responsibility, our part in becoming a Christian and becoming a healthy and whole spiritual person is by seeking out the things that will help us be more awake,” Gray said.
“When I talk to my audiences about child sponsorship or giving to the poor, I say, yes, it’s going to help the poor. The other thing it’s going to do is make you more awake to reality and what God is doing in the world. That is very invigorating. It is a gift and it is exciting.
“I don’t know that God needs us. But He wants us. And He invites us to be involved in these things.”
FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine expressed his gratitude to Gray for accepting the invitation to help families who face extraordinary challenges and dire hunger due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Honduras and Nicaragua, devastating back-to-back hurricanes last November compounded the misery. Haiti, meanwhile, has been rocked by months of civil unrest, gang violence and a spike in COVID-19 cases, culminating in the assassination of the president of Haiti on July 7.
“If you add the challenges of unemployment and all the people desperately seeking food, the scale of the problem is enormous,” Raine said. “This has only underscored our efforts to do even more, all made possible because of our generous donors.”
To register for the event, and receive notifications and a link to participate when the auction opens, go to www.FoodForThePoor.org/one.
The We Are One Online Silent Auction will open Monday, Aug. 9, at 6 p.m. Eastern time and will close at 9 p.m. Eastern time on the night of the event, Thursday, Aug. 12.
Banded is the event’s presenting sponsor. Salem Media Group and GGFM 90.1 FM are radio sponsors. Boca Raton Community Church is the community sponsor. Other sponsors include The Calmark Group, Hormel Foods, McFFE Group and Seaboard Marine.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]