[1] NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The music of Amy Grant will remain in LifeWay
Christian Stores although she and her husband, TV host Gary Chapman, have separated after 16 years of marriage.
LifeWay Christian Stores is an 81-store chain operated by LifeWay Christian Resources (formerly the Sunday School Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“We regret to hear the announcement and we will pray for them, as they have requested,” Bruce Munns, LifeWay Christian Stores’ vice president for operations, said in a statement released to The Tennessean in Nashville for a Jan. 1 story about the couple’s separation.
No further statement from LifeWay officials is being made, according to a spokesman for the agency Jan. 4.
Roland Lundy, of Word’s Myrrh music label, told the newspaper Grant “was originally a Myrrh artist, she’s still a Myrrh artist, and she will remain a Myrrh artist.” Grant, who became a leading contemporary Christian music performer during the 1980s, has been with the Myrrh label more than 20 years.
Chapman is a Christian singer-songwriter and host of The Nashville Network’s weeknight show “Prime Time Country.” He wrote one of Grant’s early hits, “My Father’s Eyes.”
Grant and Chapman have three children, a son, age 11, and two daughters, ages 9 and 6.
The two-sentence announcement released Dec. 30 by their management company in Nashville states: “Gary Chapman and Amy Grant regretfully announce their separation after sixteen years of marriage. They both ask for your prayers during this sad time and hope that you would respect their privacy.”