Four-time GRAMMY, multiple Stellar and Dove, and Soul Train Award winner Israel Houghton will share the stage for the very first time with peers Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp and Donnie McClurkin on The King's Men tour. The 15-city major market US tour begins Sept. 16 at Comerica Theatre in Phoenix and travels coast-to-coast through Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Washington, DC and more before culminating in Brooklyn, NY at Barclays Center Oct. 14. Tickets for the tour are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com.  (See full tour itinerary below.)

Having individually headlined sold out concerts internationally, the four music celebrities join forces in what Live Nation Entertainment, the world's leading live entertainment and ecommerce company, is banking to be a hit for the fall touring season.

"In the Gospel world, this is like Springsteen, McCartney, Prince and Elton hitting the road together," said Kevin Morrow, Senior Vice President of Touring at Live Nation, in a recent news release.  "It's going to be a once in a lifetime event for music fans." 

For Houghton, the tour follows two back-to-back Billboard Top 200-selling, GRAMMY Award-winning solo studio albums, as well as his first live recording in five years with New Breed, Jesus At The Center, which releases Aug. 14 on Integrity Music.  Recorded live over four days in front of more than 29,000 worshippers at Houston's Lakewood Church, this double-CD, 18 song album with three additional studio singles features Israel & New Breed returning to their roots, delivering new anthems for the modern day church.

"We purposely wanted to emphasize being a resource to the church worldwide," says Houghton.  "As we embark on the second decade as a cross-cultural worship movement, we pray these songs speak life, love, hope and favor over you... and most importantly place Jesus at the center of His global church."

Joining Israel & New Breed on the studio version of the Gospel single from Jesus At The Center, "It's Not Over (When God Is In It)," are acclaimed vocalists Jason Nelson and James Fortune.  The single, which is available on iTunes® July 3, has already garnered the No. 1 Most Added status at radio, and debuted atNo. 22 last week on the Billboard Gospel Songs chart.  The Christian AC single produced by hit maker Ed Cash (Chris Tomlin, Britt Nicole), "Your Presence Is Heaven," is available on iTunes July 17.

Other guest vocalists featured on the live recordings are Aaron W. Lindsey,Michael Gungor,T-Bone, Bishop Michael Pitts, Jeremiah Woods, Daniel Johnson, Charlin Moore, Adam Ranney, Tina Baker, Onaje Jefferson, Krystle Harper and Israel's daughter, Mariah Houghton.

In addition to the Jesus At The Center two-disc album, a companion DVD was recorded live in high-definition and features all 18 songs along with behind the scenes footage, story-behind-the-song vignettes and other bonus material. 

In 1995, Israel and Meleasa Houghton founded New Breed Ministries, an organization they continue to run and that is comprised of noted musicians and singers who serve within their respective churches and together serve the Church at large.  Since then, Israel & New Breed has amassed a legion of followers that crosses generational and African American, Latin and Caucasian listener lines. While blasting down barriers, Israel has been fittingly graced with 2 Gold-selling albums, 4 GRAMMY Awards, 12 Dove Awards, 2 Stellar Awards and a Soul Train Award.

Active as worship leader in his local church, Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church (Houston), Israel has served as worship leader at Hillsong conferences and Franklin Graham crusades. He has written or co-written 11 CCLI Top 500 favorites, been featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,accompanied Alicia Keys at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards for a performance of George Michael's "Freedom '90," and performed at the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards. He uses his own multi-cultural upbringing as a reference point with a desire to draw people of all races, ages and cultures together. More information on Israel & New Breed is available at www.newbreedmusic.com.

Israel Houghton's tour itinerary follows:

DATE                          CITY                           VENUE

Sat, Jul 14                    Olathe, CO                   Night Vision Festival

Sat, Jul 28                    Tallinn (Estonia)          A. Le Coq Arena

Tue, Aug 7                   Tacoma, WA               Champions Centre

Wed, Aug 15-18          Auburn Hills, MI         Joyce Meyer Conference at Palace of Auburn Hills

Fri, Sep 14                   Fairfax, VA                 Grace Covenant Church

The King's Men Tour:

Sun, Sep 16                 Phoenix, AZ                Comerica Theatre

Wed, Sep 19                Los Angeles, CA          Gibson Amphitheatre

Sat, Sep 22                   Concord, CA               Sleep Train Amphitheatre

Tue, Sep 25                 Dallas, TX                   Verizon Theatre At Grand Prairie

Wed, Sep 26                Houston, TX                Reliant Arena

Fri, Sep 28                   Atlanta, GA                 Chastain Amphitheatre

Sun, Sep 30                 Miami, FL                    AmericanAirlines Arena

Tue, Oct 02                  Tampa, FL                   USF Sun Dome

Thu, Oct 04                 Norfolk, VA                Constant Convocation Center

Sat, Oct 06                   Washington DC                       Verizon Center

Sun, Oct 07                  Philadelphia, PA          Liacouras Center

Tue, Oct 09                  Cleveland, OH             Wolstein Center

Wed, Oct 10                Chicago, IL                  United Center

Fri, Oct 12                   Detroit, MI                   Fox Theatre

Sun, Oct 14                  Brooklyn, NY              Barclays Center

About Integrity Music:

Kingsway and Integrity Music compose the music division of David C Cook, a nonprofit global resource provider serving the Church with life-transforming materials. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Kingsway and Integrity Music's resources are distributed in more than 160 countries and sold worldwide. Additional information can be found at http://kingswayworship.com and www.integritymusic.com.