Made in Manitoba

A Winnipeg musician is releasing a short video drama that highlights the comedic human element of the disciples who followed Jesus.

D. Bruce Moore is a musician and voice teacher in Winnipeg. He also writes and sings to his own songs, including this short drama being released called 'Ye of Little Faith.'

"I felt like it was time to write another song and I could feel some creative juices flowing. The Psalms, the Bibles songbook, are predominately laments. I don't think I've written a lament before."

'Be My Defender' is the new single being released by five-time Covenant Award winner Jordan St.Cyr, in response to an awful month his family had.

"This song was the first song I wrote after we heard about Emery's diagnosis," says Christian artist Jordan St.Cyr. 

St.Cyr's youngest daughter Emery was diagnosed with a rare condition called Sturge Weber Syndrome when she was 6 months old. 

The song came out of continual negative circumstances that happened to the family all at once. 

Canadian band The Color is giving their fans a chance to worship together online Thursday evening.

"Worshiping together has been lost for so many people during this pandemic, so let's worship together"

The band has been performing a series of concerts online called "Past | Present | Future" with each event taking a special look at the music for a certain stage in the band's life. People had been buying tickets for the previous concerts, but the band says that they want to give back and bring people together during this time.

An author from Winnipeg is embracing change himself, the theme of his book, by releasing a book during a global pandemic.

Dr. Dele Ola is the Director of the Technology Access Centre for Aerospace and Manufacturing at Red River College in Winnipeg. 

This book is his first published work, Be a Change Agent: Leadership in a Time of Exponential Change.

"It's an action title and that was deliberate because it's a call to all the leaders to be a change agent. It's a call for everyone that this is our time to rise."

Sharalee Smith is releasing a new single and using what she learned while at Hillsong College in Australia. 

Smith grew up in Manitoba but did a bit of world travelling before settling down again in Manitoba with her husband and their four kids. 

"We went to Hillsong International Leadership College back when we were first married. We headed off to Australia and did a couple of years of school there. In the first year of marriage, we moved across the world together and just had a great experience and establishing roots in our faith together," says Smith. 

A new video for Jordan St. Cyr's single, 'Fires,' is a powerful visual testimony of God's goodness in the face of uncertainty, using actual people and their stories as the actors.

A virtual Christmas choir was put together with people from multiple congregations to create a video spreading joy.

Brendyn Dyck, the Worship Pastor at the Word of Life Church in Niverville, put out an invitation for singers from any church in the town to be a part of a virtual choir video.  

"Five different churches in Niverville are represented in the video. I sent out an invitation to all the churches in our town and said whoever wants to be apart of it, we welcome your voice. The churches stepped up," says Dyck.

A man from Steinbach recently started a ministry that helps church worship leaders hone their skills,  helping them be effective in their local church. 

"We were trying to think of ways that we could get more involved in music ministry in Steinbach and Southeast Manitoba. We saw a real need for a worship band for hire," says Jeff Neufeld. 

Thus, Rescue Story was created. 

"We started about a year ago getting together and working towards that goal. I started playing music with Island Breeze myself."

Island Breeze is a division of YWAM in Manitoba. 

Made in Manitoba band, The Color, had to get creative to release a new album in 2020.

Jordan Janzen, lead singer of the band, says they received the green light from Public Health to fly a producer to their home studio in Plum Coulee where they quarantined together as a group and got to work recording their latest album.

“It was a dream,” Janzen says. “It was intense, we recorded for 12-15 hours a day, but the experience allowed for a more creative process.”

Marie Joy is spreading just that, the joy this Christmas season with her new EP. 

Joy's Christmas EP was released on December 12, 2020, includes three songs, and it's simply called Christmas Vol. 1. She sings her own versions of 'Silent Night', 'Mary Did You Know', and 'We Three Kings'.

"I'm hoping to release every year and record more," she says.

This past summer Joy released an EP called Let Go with four originals.