ROCHESTER AREA PRAYER BREAKFAST TO FEATURE
AMERICAN MUSIC ICON AMY GRANT

Rochester, MI – Celebrating its 35th annual event, the Rochester Area Prayer Breakfast announces Amy Grant as its featured speaker.  With six Grammys, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and numerous other accolades to her credit, Amy Grant is an American music icon that has erased lines between genres and earned the respect of fans and peers with her honesty, vulnerability and ceaseless creativity.  Scheduled for Thursday, May 5, 2016 from 7:00 – 9:00 a.m. at Oakland University Athletics Center O'Rena, Grant will share her personal faith story and the challenges she faces as a Christian in the music industry.

Born in Augusta, GA and raised in Nashville, the youngest of four daughters, Grant began her career in her teens, a young singer/songwriter with a guitar and an intense desire to share her faith with the world. Her talent took her beyond contemporary Christian music circles and she became a mainstream pop star in the 80s, her crossover success opening the door for every Christian artist wanting to share their faith from a broader platform.

Grant’s artistry has continually resonated with audiences since she first hit the national spotlight as a fresh-faced teen with a guitar three decades ago.  Amy Grant's latest effort, Somewhere Down the Road, reflects an accomplished artist at a time of renewed creativity and also echoes the life of a woman who is not afraid to write and sing about life’s most heart-wrenching moments as well as the sublime joys.  Somewhere Down the Road finds her enjoying several first time experiences – among them recording in the new studio she and husband Vince Gill built in their Nashville home, contributing one of her own paintings as part of the cover art, and for the first time recording a duet with her 17 year old daughter, Sarah.

"We are very excited that Amy Grant will inspire us with her faith journey through song and story at next year's Prayer Breakfast", said Michael Bylen, 2016 Prayer Breakfast chairperson.  Bylen expects the Prayer Breakfast will sell out the new location, Oakland University Athletics Center O'Rena in Rochester.  
      
The Rochester Area Prayer Breakfast is an annual, non-denominational event held in recognition of the National Day of Prayer, instituted in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress and then-President Harry S. Truman.  To learn about sponsorship opportunities or to make a reservation for the event, please visit the Prayer Breakfast website – www.rochesterareaprayerbreakfast.com or contact the Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce at (248) 651-6700.