The minister of worship at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church in Fayetteville, N.C., is London-bound after winning a worldwide worship music contest.
Giles Blankenship
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On Aug. 6 Integrity Music Europe named Giles Blankenship’s You Are There winner of its 2013 “Search for a Song” competition. Blankenship, 39, who is celebrating his 10th anniversary at Snyder Memorial this month, told the Fayetteville Observer he received notification of his winning entry while working at the church and was flying to London to record the song for future use by the company. During July more than 280 songs were submitted to WeAreWorship.com. Entries submitted from across the globe attracted over 1.2 million Facebook likes and shares. The top five vote-getters went before a panel of performers and music engineers, who selected the winner.
John Cook, pastor of Snyder Memorial, said, “Giles has a voice from heaven and a heart to match it. We are so blessed by his ministry with us every week and we know other local churches will be blessed as his song is shared more widely.”