MFT: Adia Remembers Her First Time Falling On Stage
Black America Web Featured Video
CLOSE Erika Goldring
For those who believe in His word, it will always be understood that God makes things happen with perfect timing.
Take rising Christian R&B singer Adia for example. Even though she released her first and only album to-date over a decade ago, it's the work she's done in recent years alongside the Stellar Award's current 'Album Of The Year' reigning champ, Pastor Mike Jr., and in her own relaunched solo efforts that show just how talented she truly is.
RELATED: My First Time : When Ne-Yo Met Beyoncé
In a special segment of 'My First Time' that we're sure will garner a few laughs, Adia shares her humbling experience of falling on stage while on the come-up as part of a teenage gospel girl group. Most people would be mortified to get caught slipping while going up the steps, but thankfully our girl used it as the ultimate motivation in understanding how to keep pushing forward when life throws the unexpected your way. Also, it never hurts learning how to laugh at yourself. Watch the latest 'My First Time' below for a slippery story by way of rising contemporary gospel singer Adia:
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Christian Music Star Michael Tait Confesses to Unwanted Sexual Advances on Men and Cocaine Use: ‘I Was Living Two Distinctly Different Lives'
Michael Tait, who became a Grammy-winning star in the Christian music world as a member of DC Talk in the '90s, and continued that hit streak in recent years with a long stint as lead singer for the group Newsboys, has issued a 'confession' on social media in which he admits that allegations of unwanted groping of young men and drug use contained in a recent investigative report were largely true. 'Recent reports of my reckless and destructive behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse and sexual activity are sadly, largely true,' Tait wrote in a post on his Instagram account. 'For some two decades I used and abused cocaine, consumed far too much alcohol, and, at times, touched men in an unwanted sensual way. I am ashamed of my life choices and actions, and make no excuses for them. I will simply call it what God calls it — sin. I don't blame anyone or anything but myself. While I might dispute certain details in the accusations against me, I do not dispute the substance of them… 'I'm ashamed to admit that for years I have lied and deceived my family, friends, fans, and even misled my bandmates about aspects of my life,' Tait continued. I' was, for the most part, living two distinctly different lives. I was not the same person on stage Sunday night that I was at home on Monday. I was violating everything I was raised to believe by my God-fearing Dad and Mom, about walking with Jesus and was grieving the very God I loved and sang about for most of my life.' Tait abruptly quit Newsboys in January, setting off a round of speculation about what went down that escalated over the past five months. His former band has tried to soldier on with a replacement singer for a new album and tour, while some fans balked at the prospect of concert dates proceedinn without Tate, asking questions about the abrupt departure of a singer who'd been the face of the veteran group for the last 16 years. The mystery came into clearer focus on June 4 when a Christian site that publishes investigative stories, the Roys Report, published a lengthy article about what it called 'Nashville's worst-kept secret,' saying that a two-and-a-half-year investigation involving interviews with more than 50 sources showed a pattern of 'predatory grooming' as well as drug abuse on Tait's part. The day after the Roys Report story exploded through the Christian music world, Newsboys issued a statement on the band's Instagram, writing: 'When he left the band in January, Michael confessed to us and our management that he 'had been living a double-life' but we never imagined that it could be this bad.' The remaining group members said they had not heard from Tait about the exact allegations, but wrote that 'our hearts were shattered when we read the news alleging drug abuse and inappropriate sexual actions… First and foremost, our hearts are with the victims who have bravely shared their stories. If you are a victim, we urge you to come forward. We absolutely do not condone any form of sexual assault.' Adam Agee, a band member who stepped into the lead singer role, wrote separately on Facebook that the group members 'heard rumors over the years,' but that 'each time something came up we tried to find the source and no one would tell us.' In his Instagram statement, Tait said that he had entered treatment following his exit from Newsboys and was now clean and sober. 'When I abruptly left Newsboys in January I did so to get help,' he wrote. 'I was not healthy, physically or spiritually, and was tired of leading a double life. I spent six weeks at a treatment center in Utah, receiving help that may have saved my life from ultimate destruction. I have been clean and sober since, though I still have lots of hard work ahead of me.' The initial Roys Report story said that three men who had spoken with the reporter 'alleg(ed) that Tait befriended them individually on Christian music tours in 2004, 2010, and 2014. They were all 22 years old at the time… Two men stated that they were drinking alcohol with Tait and later woke to him fondling their genitals. One alleged Tait also offered him cocaine while on the Newsboys tour bus. The third told TRR that Tait gave him a back massage while skinny dipping and later invited him to share his king-size bed. There, Tait allegedly non-consensually massaged his anal region.' On Monday, K-LOVE, the nation's biggest Christian radio chain with 400 stations in 48 states, announced that it was putting a pause on airplay for all releases from Newsboys (including, apparently, records the band put out before and after Tait's tenure) and DC Talk. 'We are aware of the allegations against Michael Tait, former frontman of the Newsboys,' a K-LOVE rep was quoted told the Roys Report. 'As the investigation proceeds, our prayers are with all those involved. In the meantime, our programming team is resting Newsboys and DC Talk music on our stream.' A handful of other Christian stations had preceded K-LOVE in pulling music by the two groups. Newboys recently publicly traded blame with a promoter about the cancellation of a Canadian tour, with the group claiming the promoter was in over its head and the company that canceled the outing indicating in return that ticket sales were suffering after Tait's sudden exit. A U.S. tour was still on the books for summer as of Tuesday, with fans online offering mixed responses about whether they were eager to see the group continue with another member of the band taking over lead vocals or not. Representatives for the band and Tait could not be reached for comment. DC Talk was one of the most popular acts in the history of CCM (contemporary Christian music), as the genre is often called. The hip-hop-inflected pop group's most popular album, 1995's 'Jesus Freak,' was certified triple-platinum and spent 79 weeks on the Billboard 200. The trio officially went on hiatus in 2001, with Tait, Kevin Max and Toby Mac all moving on to successful careers apart from one another. Newboys had a record of decades of success before Tait joined. With Peter Furler as their original lead singer, they formed in Australia in the mid-'80s and moved to Nashville in the early '90s. Furler left the group and was replaced by Tait in 2009. With their new singer bringing over much of the DC Talk fan base, Newsboys managed to have four No. 1 albums on the Christian charts during his tenure. The group was featured in the evangelistic theatrical drama 'God's Not Dead,' named after their 2011 hit album. The complete text of Tait's statement on Instagram follows: 'Recent reports of my reckless and destructive behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse and sexual activity are sadly, largely true. For some two decades I used and abused cocaine, consumed far too much alcohol, and, at times, touched men in an unwanted sensual way. I am ashamed of my life choices and actions, and make no excuses for them. I will simply call it what God calls it-sin. I don't blame anyone or anything but myself. While I might dispute certain details in the accusations against me, I do not dispute the substance of them. 'When I abruptly left Newsboys in January I did so to get help. I was not healthy, physically or spiritually, and was tired of leading a double life. I spent six weeks at a treatment center in Utah, receiving help that may have saved my life from ultimate destruction. I have been clean and sober since, though I still have lots of hard work ahead of me. 'I'm ashamed to admit that for years I have lied and deceived my family, friends, fans, and even misled my bandmates about aspects of my life. I was, for the most part, living two distinctly different lives. I was not the same person on stage Sunday night that I was at home on Monday. I was violating everything I was raised to believe by my God-fearing Dad and Mom, about walking with Jesus and was grieving the very God I loved and sang about for most of my life. By His grace, I can say that for the past six months, I have lived a singular life-one of utter brokenness and total dependance on a loving and merciful God. 'I have hurt so many people in so many ways, and I will live with that shameful reality the rest of my life. I can only dream and pray for human forgiveness, because I certainly don't deserve it. I have even accepted the thought that God may be the only One who ultimately and completely forgives me. Still, I want to say I'm sorry to everyone I have hurt. I am truly sorry. It is my hope and prayer that all those I have hurt will receive healing, mercy, and hope from the Merciful Healer and Hope-Giver. 'Even before this recent news became public, I had started on a path to health, healing, and wholeness, thanks to a small circle of clinical health professionals, loving family, caring friends, and wise counselors -all of whom saw my brokenness and surrounded me with love, grace, and prayer. Sin is a terrible thing, taking us where we don't want to go; keeping us longer than we want to stay; and costing us more than we want to pay. I accept the consequences of my sin and am committed to continuing the hard work of repentance and healing-work I will do quietly and privately, away from the stage and the the extent my sinful behavior has caused anyone to lose respect or faith or trust in me, I understand, deserve, and accept that. But it crushes me to think that someone would lose or choose not to pursue faith and trust in Jesus because I have been a horrible representative of Him-for He alone is ultimately the only hope for any of us. 'King David's prayer of repentance in Psalm 51 has been my prayer this year: 'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness… Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me… Create in me a new heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.' 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USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
Minnesota exhibit uplifts Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ voices in Indigenous art
Minnesota exhibit uplifts Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ voices in Indigenous art Arnold Dahl-Wooley, who grew up in northern Minnesota's small towns and is a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, realized as early as kindergarten that he wasn't crushing on girls like other boys his age. When he got older and heard his voice played back on a cassette tape for the first time, he panicked. He didn't want his voice giving away his secret. School history textbooks referred to Indigenous people as 'savages' and discussed them in the past tense. The Catholic Church, which ran mandatory Indian boarding schools into the 1960s to eliminate Indigenous culture and language, considered homosexuality an abomination. To be Native and Queer invited harm and ostracization, and the likely loss of friends and family. Dahl-Wooley, who's now 54 and an advocate for others who are Indigenous and LGBTQ+, wasn't ready to risk that. 'I changed the way I talked. I made sure I walked right, sat right and did what was typical heterosexual male,' he says. That included dating girls and joining school sports. He graduated from Cass Lake High School, but pretending to be someone else was exhausting, and he felt like he was breaking until he came out to his family at age 19. 'This is who I am, and I'm ready to walk away if you're going to stop loving me,' Dahl-Wooley remembers telling them. 'It was one of the most freeing moments of my life.' Learning more about Ojibwe heritage at Bemidji State University changed the colonial and Christian narratives he had been taught. Most notable was discovering that long before Europeans arrived, Indigenous nations across North, South America and the Caribbean had roles for people who didn't identify as exclusively male nor female. The term 'Two-Spirit' (2S) term was decided in 1990 during the Annual Intertribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference in Winnipeg, Canada to cover these historically honored and respected tribal citizens who often served in roles such as healers, medicine people and visionaries. 'The Two-Spirits are people who can see through the eyes of more than gender,' says October, he opened an office in Bemidji, Minnesota for Two-Spirit Advocacy, a grassroots organization that helps other Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ members to find community resources, make connections and to see their strengths and gifts. Find your medicine Artist and activist Penny Kagigebi, who just turned 60, lives in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, about 80 miles from Bemidji and close to the White Earth Reservation where she grew up. It's one of 11 tribal nations in the state. Like most of them, it's in a largely rural area. Like Dahl-Wooley, she had no community supports or role models for being anything other than a heterotypical female while growing up. She always felt out of step with peers, she says, and then had her first relationship with a woman at age 26. They were open about their relationship, and Kagigebi faced workplace discrimination. When what became a four-year legal battle took a toll on her health, she found vital support through PFLAG in Fargo, North Dakota, and turned to Native knowledge for healing. In the 2000s, she learned to make Ojibwe porcupine quillwork and birchbark basketry with elders. She puts her own twist on her baskets and containers with designs that tell of finding your own path, and depicting rainbows of color through quills, beads and ribbon. On one birchbark basket, she depicts her tribe's origin story with blue and red ribbon representing the men and women who came from the stars. In between those, she has other ribbons representing Two-Spirits who also came from the stars. She's realized the importance of being visible as an 2SLGBTQ+ elder for others who crave role models or someone to talk to. In Native culture, it's important for each person to find and share the gifts they have. 'What is that medicine and superpower each of us has in us?' she asks. For her, it's being able to collaborate with others. She uses her art and workshops to spark meaningful conversations and to connect with people. Kagigebi curated what may be the first show of its kind in the country. Called 'Queering Indigeneity,' it opens Sept. 18, 2025 at the Minnesota Museum of Art in St. Paul and runs through Aug.16, 2026. The exhibit brings together visual art, videos and other works from 16 Indigenous artists ages 20 to 73 from the Upper Midwest and Manitoba. Each explores identity and shares perspectives as Two Spirit, gender fluid or Native Queer creators. 'We're all meant to be different,' Kagigebi says. 'That's the joy.' Helping others feel less alone The connections and support can be vital, especially when processing experiences with homophobia, racism or both. Dahl-Wooley had moved to Oregon after college graduation, worked in a corporate career, fell in love and returned to northern Minnesota about 20 years ago to run his family's fifth-generation Big Winnie Store, RV Park and Campground At first, the move back was a shock. When they'd lived on the West Coast, medical staffs treated he and his partner, Matthew, like a couple, but when Dahl-Wooley ended up in a Bemidji emergency room, the staff wouldn't acknowledge them as such and weren't going to let Matthew, now his husband, be at his bedside when he was sick. Dahl-Wooley and Matthew were the first same-sex marriage sanctioned by the Ojibwe nation in 2013. That opened the door for other couples to follow. When he was asked to talk about his experience as a Two-Spirit person at a community center in Cass Lake, Dahl-Wooley was surprised that 30 people showed up. Invitations to talk to other groups followed, and he began speaking to health care organizations, law enforcement groups, schools and colleges, and other organizations to help them better understand and support the 2SLGBTQ+ population. The Trevor Project's 2023 report on Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ young people showed that more than half of them seriously considered suicide in the past year. Almost half have also experienced food insecurity and more than a third have experienced homelessness. 'My goal is suicide prevention, anti-bullying, no self-harm and cultural inclusion,' says Dahl-Wooley. He keeps a database of churches, therapists, health care providers and more who are welcoming to the 2SLGBTQ+ community. He'll schedule Queer Tea events where people can come to have tea, play games, talk and be themselves. They might discuss ways to stay safe or use humor to cope with traumas many have experienced. Additional events might include an art show or gender-affirmative wardrobe clothing drives. He recalled a teen calling him one day, crying with gratitude because he saw Dahl-Wooley and his husband together in the community, laughing and living normal lives, which gave him the ability to see a future for himself. He was also recognized in an Oregon grocery store line by a young man who had needed help and found a video of Dahl-Wooley giving one of his talks online. 'People are paying attention whether you realize it or not,' he says. 'Sometimes just a little difference can save a life.' Kagigebi and Dahl-Wooley each hope that more visible 2SLGBTQ+ elders and younger 2SLGBTQ+ people such as the artists in the upcoming exhibit will make it easier for others to find their way and to better embrace the unique gifts they bring to the world. 'I want the Two-Spirit population to know how important and powerful they are — just as they are,' Dahl-Wooley says. 'We're sacred. We're honored, and we're respected. A lot of people need to hear that.' More information Two Spirit Advocacy Dahl-Wooley shares his story across the country, works with businesses and organizations to be more welcoming to 2SLGBTQ people and hosts events in Bemidji such as Queer Tea. Queer Indigeneity This exhibit opens Sept. 18 at the Minnesota Museum of Art in St. Paul and features 16 Indigenous artists who identify as Two Spirit, queer or gender expansive, including Giiwedin, a young artist and activist who made GLAAD's 20 Under 20 list of changemakers presented in Teen Vogue. The show will run through early 2026.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Chris Tomlin, Matthew West announced as headliners for RiseFest
SHELDON, Iowa (KCAU) — Ready for music festivals this summer? For Christian music-lovers, there's a music festival coming to Sheldon, Iowa. RiseFest, this year, is June 20 and 21. On Friday, June 20, the main stage will feature the following artists: Matthew West, Rend Collective, Patrick Mayberry, and Allison Eide. The following day, June 21, the main stage will welcome: Chris Tomlin, Crowder, KB, Megan Woods, and a few worship services. Interested in more festivals? Learn about Saturday in the Park by clicking here! The artists' genres include contemporary, pop, folk, rock, and hip-hop. Other than music, RiseFest offers camping options, food vendors, seminars, a kids' zone area, and a Prayer Tent. General admission to RiseFest is $68, and kids under 10 years old are free. It's a rain-or-shine event, but if there is severe weather, the festival may be delayed. If you're interested in learning more about RiseFest, click here to visit their website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
