V81 Radio had the pleasure and honor of being invited to witness a night of beautiful Christian music held last March 7 at The Upper Room – A Christian Coffee House in Orange County, Mission Viejo, California. Headlining the show was the captivating tandem of multi-awarded Christian musicians, Don Moen and Lenny LeBlanc, with an equally glorious opening performance by promising Fil-Am singer/composer Felson Palad. Felson started the show on a good note literally with his rendition of all-time favorites “Love Is The Answer” and “Take Me out of the Dark”, to name some. It was an opening set that was warmly welcomed by a largely Filipino crowd, thrilled to listen to a kababayan who is also a brother in faith. Shortly after, Don and Lenny took to the stage and serenaded The Upper Room’s populace with some of Christian music’s greatest songs like “Give Thanks”, “Somebody’s Praying for Me”, “Above All Powers” and “Love Came Down”. The duo’s soulful performance, peppered with friendly banter between “The Grumpy Old Men” and Don’s short talk about his inspiring life journey, made for a blissful evening of praise and worship.

Don Moen
World-renowned singer-songwriter, pastor, and producer of Christian worship music, Don has been spreading the Good News through music since his college days at Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. As a prolific and highly-gifted musician and praise and worship leader, he has received countless accolades for his albums aside from the massive sales worldwide. The latter has allowed Don to sustain his global charity work and further advance the gospel of Jesus Christ in the hinterlands.
Notable Recordings: Moen’s first album for Hosanna! Music, Give Thanks, became the label’s bestseller. Produced by Tom Brooks, Give Thanks went on to be certified Gold by the RIAA. Moen followed this with a number of albums of his own including two, En Tu Presencia and Trono De Gracia, in Spanish. God with Us won the Dove Award for Best Musical. On an Asian tour in 1999 he recorded The Mercy Seat at Singapore Indoor Stadium and Heal Our Land at Yoido Park in South Korea, which was released in 2000. One of Moen’s albums, I Will Sing, was recorded at Christian Broadcasting Network. (Wikipedia)
God Will Make a Way: The Best of Don Moen was released in 2003 and features 19 greatest hits. The title song was written for his sister-in-law and her husband, whose oldest son died in an auto accident while their other three children survived but were seriously injured. Moen’s Hiding Place became his first studio album which was recorded at Paragon Studios in Franklin, Tennessee, and was released in the autumn of 2006. I Believe There Is More released in late 2008. His third studio recording titled Uncharted Territory (funded successfully through Kickstarter) released on March 27, 2012.^[5] His new Christmas album, Christmas: A Season of Hope, was released on October 22, 2012, and some songs were recorded at a studio in Czech Republic.^{[citation needed]} Moen has released a new album titled Hymnbook as a celebration of reaching over 1 million likes on his Facebook page. (Wikipedia).

Lenny LeBlanc
Though Lenny had initially gained fame as a background musician and singer in the early ’70s, his first flight as a solo performer in 1975 paved the way for his solo, self-titled LP and later as half of the popular duo, LeBlanc & Carr. Fast-forward to 1980 and several Top 40 hits later, Lenny was born again into the Christian faith. Henceforth, the Billboard heavy-hitter began using his talents for Christian music ministry. Lenny has blessed us with such songs as “There Is None Like You” and “Praise Him.” His album, Above All, is written in the approachable style that he has become known for and contains the unique elements of the fiddle, penny whistle, mandolin, and upright bass. Recorded at Harvest Church (pastored by Greg Laurie) in Riverside, California, it focuses on songs to God. The touching sacrifice of “Above All” and the heartfelt dedication of “Love You Forever” will call you strongly to your faith and lead you to worship God. Presently, Lenny continues to wear both the performer’s and producer’s hats as well as serving as a Worship Leader at Faith Church in Florence, Alabama.

Felson Palad
This tenor hailing from Cavite, Philippines, now based in California, had grown up together with his equally talented sister, Sheena, in a home that fostered their love for music. Even as a young man, Felson had already used his God-given talents to serve in their local church as well as helping the underprivileged. He was busy with directing benefit concerts and volunteering in medical missions from 2014 through 2016. His selflessness and talent paved the way for him and his sister to be invited to the United States in 2017 to try out opportunities as Gospel Recording Artists. This was how Felson became the resident artist of The Upper Room.

The Upper Room’s audience that evening was a lively medley of people from all walks of life that came together for the ministry/venue’s well-known brand of entertainment that is geared towards the presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the performing arts. As if the celebrities up on the stage were not enough, within the evening’s crowd was Grammy award-winning music producer, arranger, engineer, and conductor Tom Brooks. Tom was the founding producer of Integrity Music, a direct-to-consumer music club and label which pushed the popularity of contemporary worship music worldwide.

We would like to thank The Upper Room and its founder, Ron Strand who was also the gracious host of the event, as well as Felson who had made it possible for us to take part in this very special event and get up close to some of Christian Gospel music’s greats.
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(In the picture from Left: Don Moen, Tom Brooks, Felson Palad,
Papa Gio / V81 Radio, Ron Strand / The Upper Room).