Ushering in a paradigm shift in the way college music business programs educate their students, Steorts and Visible Music College recently teamed up with Ardent Records to integrate Visible Music College students into the real work of the recording industry, assigning Student Managers from Visible Music College's Madison Line Records to work on the day-to-day promotion of Agnew's critically acclaimed project, From Grace to Glory: The Music of Todd Agnew.     

Thrust into the deep end of the pool, the Student Managers learned first-hand the challenges and exhilaration of real-life work experience in the music industry, and were able to acquire a wealth of knowledge and experience in the process.  

The Student Managers incorporated the project into Constant Attention™, a proprietary system of Visible Music College and Madison Line Records which allows Student Managers to tend to the six sequential areas of music industry for artists (artist development, publishing, audio production, marketing, events, and sales). The system, which is based upon decades of artist development experience and encouragement, allows the Student Managers to plan, execute, and evaluate artists and their products and careers by paying attention to each step along with the artists, thus building a cycle of progress and development. Next, they ran Agnew's social media metrics, established and delivered communication protocols online, answered fan inquiries and booking opportunities, shot video, did interview prep, worked with online marketing, interfaced with Ardent Records and other leaders in the contemporary Christian music industry, and tended Todd's peripheral marketing efforts and fan management. The Student Managers quickly gained a reputation for representing the professionalism of Madison Line Records and the entire recording industry program at Visible Music College.

"We are very pleased with our Student Managers' work on Todd's new album," says Steorts, president of Visible Music College. "It has long been our vision to train and equip musicians, technicians, and business professionals in craft and Christian character, for effective service in the music industry and in the Church. I believe that vision has been realized as our students have gained record deals (Carolina Story), and radio airplay (Luminate), and are touring the world in music (Sarah Simmons). Our partnership with Ardent Records and Todd Agnew (who is also a faculty member at our Dallas campus) has allowed our students to gain real world experience in the industry." 

For more information about Visible Music College, visit visible.edu.

About Todd Agnew's Latest Single, "Glory to Our Great Redeemer":

A steady buzz has been surrounding Agnew's new project, From Grace to Glory: The Music of Todd Agnew, since the release of the first single, "Glory to Our Great Redeemer." Called a "spine tingling new hymn" by UK publication CrossRhythms, the single has gained traction at Christian Soft A/C and INSP radio formats, showing up as one of the Most Added songs on Billboard's Christian Soft A/C chart, and landing in the Top Ten on both the Christian Music Weekly's (CMW) Worship and INSP charts. Another song from the new project, "When Love Comes to Town" (Agnew's U2 cover from the benefit album, In the Name of Love: Artists United for Africa) landed in the Top Five on the CMW Christian Country Chart. 

Agnew's studies at Dallas Theological Seminary (where he is nearing completion of his Masters degree) led him to pen "Glory to Our Great Redeemer." The song reflects Agnew's deepening spiritual, theological, and musical maturity through the process of getting married, embracing fatherhood, moving to Texas and delving deeper into the formal study of God's Word at seminary.

"The song talks about ransom, redemption, adoption and more," Agnew explains. "Our worship grows deeper as we understand more fully all God has done on our behalf."

"There are certain artists whose voice seems to cut through the clutter of our lives and stop us in our tracks," says James Riley, VP of Promotions, Shamrock Media Group. "Todd Agnew is one of those artists for me and I'm honored to help bring this new single, 'Glory to Our Great Redeemer,' to radio. From the opening moments of the song, you're engaged. I couldn't even respond to the email asking if I'd be interested in working it to radio for a while, as I was too busy hitting 'repeat.' It's so great to have Todd back in front of radio!"

For more information about Agnew, "Glory to Our Great Redeemer" and From Grace to Glory: The Music of Todd Agnew, visit toddagnew.com.

About From Grace to Glory: The Music of Todd Agnew:

From Grace to Glory is a musical chronicle of singer/songwriter and worship leader Todd Agnew's journey of faith and ministry. It is a time capsule of moments, both profoundly intimate and exuberantly bold, that captures the essence of walking out the gospel hand-in-hand with friends and family, through good times and hard times. It is the journal of one man's transformation from a young singer/songwriter to troubadour theologian. 

Along the way, Agnew has emerged as a seasoned scholar and mentor in the fields of worship theology and worship leadership. Adding "college professor" to his list of titles, Agnew joined the faculty of Visible Music College's Dallas campus in 2015 and was recently tapped by Dallas Theological Seminary as a guest lecturer for its 2017 Shaped by the Future conference. He is increasingly sought after as a guest speaker at churches and conferences across the country.

Family and friendship have always played a huge role in Todd Agnew's life, music and ministry, and those relationships run like a thread throughout From Grace to Glory. In addition to "Glory to Our Great Redeemer," Agnew collaborated with his long-time friend Chris Collins (Agnew's co-writer on "Grace Like Rain") on the other new song on this project, "Nearer Home."

Along with the new material, the prolific singer/songwriter layers into From Grace to Glory a collection of some of his most cherished songs which are not part of his Ardent Records discography, most of which have not been previously released. He includes "Beautiful," the original version of a song written by Mercy Me's Nathan Cochran, which Agnew rewrote and originally recorded in 2005 as "Unchanging One" during the Reflection of Something sessions. He pulled another unreleased track from the vault and invited talented Visible Music College student Trulah Maloy to join him for a duet, making "His Eye Is On the Sparrow" a truly special addition to an already exceptional project.

Additional unreleased or alternate tracks include:

*    "On A Corner in Memphis" (original demo from the Better Questions sessions)

*    "Martyr's Song" (original Matt Bronleewe production of a song Agnew wrote as an accompanying piece for best-selling author Ted Dekker's novella, The Martyr's Song)

*    "This Is All I Have to Give" (alternate version from the Do You See What I See? Christmas record with Agnew on lead vocal)

*    "When Love Comes to Town" (U2 Cover from the benefit album, In the Name of Love: Artists United for Africa).

Finally, the cornerstones of From Grace to Glory are four immensely popular songs from Agnew's first two records. "Grace Like Rain" and "This Fragile Breath (The Thunder Song)" from his debut project, Grace Like Rain, both hit Number 1 at Christian radio. Agnew was honored with Dove Award nominations for New Artist of the Year, Best Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year and Best Rock Contemporary Song for "This Fragile Breath (The Thunder Song)." "In The Middle of Me" and "My Jesus," both from Agnew's sophomore project, Reflection of Something, also garnered significant radio airplay.

Agnew builds on that foundation with four more fan favorites:

*    "Isaiah 6" (a breathtaking worship song inspired by Isaiah's vision of the Lord)

*    "Did You Mean Me?" (a confessional ballad about what it means to be chosen, called, and loved)

*    "The One That You Want" (co-written by Agnew and multi-Dove Award winner Jason Ingram)

*    "Our Great God" (written by Fernando Ortega and Mac Powell, featuring a duet with Grammy winner Rebecca St. James).

From Grace to Glory: The Music of Todd Agnew is the story of God loving and leading one man to accept the grace given him and teaching him to extend that grace to others. "From Grace to Glory is the gospel," Agnew declares. "We come to faith by grace. We live our lives by grace. We enter eternity by grace. And--from first to last--it's all for God's glory...that His character and mercy might be revealed and worshiped, both now and evermore."

For more information about Agnew, "Glory to Our Great Redeemer" and From Grace to Glory: The Music of Todd Agnew, visit toddagnew.com.

About Todd Agnew:

Todd Agnew exploded onto the contemporary Christian music scene in 2003 with a pair of Number 1 radio hits, "This Fragile Breath (The Thunder Song)" and "Grace Like Rain," the title track of his debut Ardent Records album. Ironically, Agnew never set out to be a national recording artist. He just wanted to record a custom project for the camps and conferences where he was a frequent minister.

More than a dozen years and seven albums later, Agnew is still focused on ministry, using his music to proclaim the gospel. In addition to being a chart-topping singer/songwriter, worship leader and minister, Agnew has recently added "college professor" to his list of titles. Since 2015, he has

been a faculty member of Visible Music College's Dallas campus, teaching worship theology and worship leadership. He was recently tapped by Dallas Theological Seminary as a guest lecturer for its 2017 Shaped by the Future conference.

Agnew's newest CD, From Grace to Glory: The Music of Todd Agnew, released May 26, 2017 from Ardent Records and Provident/Sony Music Distribution. For more information about Agnew and From Grace to Glory: The Music of Todd Agnew, visit toddagnew.com.   

About Ardent Records:

Ardent Records is a Memphis, Tennessee-based record label founded by legendary music industry visionary John Fry in 1959. In the 1960s and 1970s, Ardent artists helped define the style known as power pop. In the 1990s. the label moved into the nascent Contemporary Christian market, fostering such artists as Skillet, Smalltown Poets, Todd Agnew, Big Tent Revival and Jonah33.
For more information, visit ardentrecords.com.

About Visible Music College: 

Visible Music College is a global, spiritual community of musicians, technicians, business professionals, and educators serving the Church and society with our collective energy and talent, fostering an environment of creativity, worship, and innovation in artistic endeavors for the glory of God. At the intersection of spiritual, professional and academic, Visible Music College offers three bachelor degree programs that provide rigorous education in music business, music production and music performance, designed to equip students for effective service in the music industry and the Church. We believe that Christian musicians, producers, managers and industry professionals must be well developed equally in these three areas to find success in life, career and ministry. Our intentionally small artist communities are focused on balanced spiritual, professional and academic growth For more info, go to visible.edu.

For more info on Todd Agnew, visit the JFH Artists Database.

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