by TM Staff
CLEVELAND, Ga., (TMNews)) –Dennis Allen, an Assistant Professor of Worship and Church Music at Truett-McConnell College, and wife Nan Allen, are three time Dove Award Winners;
in August, they were nominated by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) for a fourth Dove Award for their student choir project called ‘10,000 Reasons.’
“The nomination is always an honor, and we try not to forget that,” Allen told TMNews. “It is certainly a thrill to hear your name called out from the stage, to walk up together, to be handed a statue, to actually “win.”
It was after Dennis and Nan met and married that Dennis began serving as a Minister of Music. During this time, the couple began to write music; they sent their work to publishers and for the next 25 to 30 years, the two spent time writing and producing music. “Our greatest blessings include our salvation and upbringing, God’s call to ministry, and His putting us together to fulfill that calling,” Allen said. “His blessings to us would include the opportunity to touch lives, both in the local church and beyond through music publishing.”
In a new season of ministry at Truett-McConnell, Allen continues to view God’s path for he and Nan as a blessing. Despite the thrill of recognition, Allen said the most important thing is for God to be glorified through him and his wife’s ministry: “We want these projects we write to be effective tools in God’s Kingdom, for His Church. The honor and glory is not to us as writers, it’s to the Lord,” Allen said. “What a privilege it is to be able to communicate God’s Truth through a song, or a dramatic sketch. It’s actually very humbling to think about some choir, or some student we might never meet, singing one of our songs and being brought closer to the Lord.”
The ‘10,000 Reasons’ project was created by the Allen’s for Lifeway Worship and is a one of several student choir projects created for the SonPower Conference, a week-long event where thousands of students come together for Bible study, worship and musical training. This upcoming summer will be the Allen’s seventeenth year leading the conference.
“We do a live recording of the group which becomes the demo CD for the project, and each collection features the best of contemporary worship songs,” Allen said. “Creating this music resource for the churches is a privilege, but actually being with 1,000 students for a week, seeing God work in their lives through the music is even better,” he said.
10,000 reasons includes songs from Paul Baloche, David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Jesus Culture, Kristian Stanfill, Keith and Kristyn Getty and many others.
The 45th annual GMA Dove Awards will be held October 7 at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn.
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