The Ryman Auditorium is often called the Ryman Theater. Without regard for the name, the venue is one of the most historic theaters in the US. It is found in Nashville Tennessee. The Ryman Auditorium was first opened as the Union Gospel church in 1892. It was assembled by a person named Thomas Ryman who was a businessman in Nashville at the time.

From 1943 to 1974 the Ryman Theater was the home of the Grand Ole Opry. After 1974 the locale sat lifeless for many years. In the early 1990’s country singer, Emmylou Harris, help to kick start the re-building of the theater with a series of concerts at the venue.

In 2001 the Ryman Auditorium was designated a state historical Landmark lots of the most famous acts in the world have performed at the Ryman Theater. The acts are not just limited to country music also. Some high profile performers over the last couple of years include Bruce Springsteen, the Black Crowes, Norah Jones, Ryan Adams and Kings of Leon. Neil Young filmed his picture titled Heart of Gold at the Ryman Auditorium.

The venue is widely known for some of the best acoustics in the country. Many patrons insist that there isn’t a bad seat in the house. The Ryman Theater is open for tours each day of the week. You can actually stand on stage and pretend that you are a rising star.

Tickets for the Ryman frequently sell out in seconds due to the fact that many artists that would fill bigger venues decide to play here instead of somewhere with a bigger capacity. The capacity of the Ryman is only 2362 seats.

For current event listings and tickets to all shows at the venue please visit Ryman Theater

.

When it comes to Pastor Jackson Senyonga, there’s more than meets the eye or even some of the few stories that you have heard.  Pastor Jackson Senyonga is not just a leader and humble servant but a visionary and transformation agent with a big heart to impact not only communities but nations. 

Pastor Jackson Senyonga was born in Uganda, a small, landlocked country in East Africa.  Once known as the “Pearl of Africa,” Uganda is a beautiful stretch of land with abundant natural resources; however, it is more known for its struggles with political turbulence, disease, and war.  It was in this small country that Pastor Jackson Senyonga’s story began.

Pastor Jackson Senyonga was abandoned by his mother as a baby, his father was murdered during the Idi Amin regime, a time characterized by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, and extrajudicial killings.  Although tragedy-ridden, Pastor Jackson Senyonga was able to overcome the emotional and mental obstacles that were laid forth.  He was able to find hope and strength in Jesus Christ.   Jackson’s mantra throughout his pursuits in life has been, “If Christ is in you, you are doomed for victory.”

As history would have it, overcoming life’s limitations and spiritual restrictions was not enough for Pastor Jackson Senyonga.  He needed to make a difference.  He needed to direct people in succeeding in life, in achieving the impossible. 

Pastor Jackson Senyonga founded the Christian Life Church in Kampala, Uganda.  His message was strong and inspiring to a people that needed hope, and his church skyrocketed from seven people to 2,000 in just two weeks.  Within the first seven months, the church grew to over 7,000, and today, the Christian Life Church presents God’s word and grace to its over 40,000 members with a weekly attendance of 25,000 people each week.  The Christian Life Church has planted over 1,000 churches throughout four countries in Africa and continues to grow each day.  Pastor Jackson Senyonga quickly became a messenger of God’s word and a symbol of hope to people throughout Uganda and surrounding countries. 

Pastor Jackson Senyonga feels God wants to transform churches, cities, and nations in our generation.  He feels the sense of mission to inspire hope in the hearts of leaders and churches to not only believe God can transform their churches and cities but that He will.  Therefore, he created Christian Life Ministries, an outreach ministry designed to challenge, encourage, and equip God’s people to fulfill their destiny and be catalysts through prayer to transform and impact their churches, cities, and nations.  Pastor Jackson Senyonga now operates the ministry throughout the U.S. with offices held in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, Texas. 

Pastor Jackson Senyonga has shared this message of transformation on some of the largest platforms in American churches and city-wide meetings.  Whether it’s a city-wide pastors’ meeting, political leaders or marketplace people, the message has found fertile ground in the hearts of men and has been implemented in many cities. People are refreshed, encouraged, and their hope inspired as they hear firsthand of what God has already done in Uganda and is now doing in the United States.

His ministries have set high goals and accomplished so much since its development.  Aside from his Evangelical mission, to convert, church, and disciple 150,000 souls in Uganda and Africa, Pastor Jackson Senyonga and Christian Life Ministries have set forth other missions as well.

The most notable accomplishment, and the one that is most dear to Pastor Senyonga’s heart, is the orphan ministries.  Years ago Pastor Jackson Senyonga had a vision and realized that it was his duty as a human being to help orphans of Uganda, Africa.  Being that he grew up as an orphan himself, he saw the necessity to help others that were dealing with the same situation he did as a child.  Pastor Jackson Senyonga became devoted to transforming the lives of orphans while instilling Christian Family Values in the homes of the Orphans they take under their wing.

He has built 88 orphan homes in the villages of Seeta and Lira, with plans on the drawing board to build another 100 homes and a vision to build 500 in all.  Due to the disease outbreak and civil unrest and persecution in Uganda, many children are left to defend themselves.  Pastor Jackson Senyonga has worked tirelessly to provide these children with essentials like food, water, and shelter, but more than providing nourishment, he has created a program that provides nurturing as well.  His program helps children feel at home by designing each home to accommodate no more than twelve children each.  Each home also has a House Mom, a source of guidance and care for the children.  Each House Mom is trained to raise these precious children in a godly way, instilling hope and faith in Jesus Christ into each heart.  The children are given love and optimism in addition to education, clothing, medical care, etc. 

Other prominent goals include building a 60-bed hospital and surgery center in Uganda.  This hospital affordable treatment to both the body and the soul.   Pastor Jackson Senyonga envisions a saintly atmosphere characterized by the Christian music that fills the air, the auditorium-style waiting room complete with a messenger of Christ, and an all-Christian staff concentrating on physical and spiritual well being of each patient. The hospital will be more than just a humanitarian center; it will be a salvation station.

Pastor Jackson Senyonga and Christian Life Ministries are also working toward development of a mobile clinic that can pay visit to refugee camps and orphanage villages.  These clinics will be staffed with local medical professionals as well as short term medical missions personnel. 

Fulfilling the medical needs is not the only goal Pastor Jackson Senyonga has in mind.  He is working to fund education facilities.  He holds great value in the role of education and feels it is absolutely essential to transforming today’s orphans into tomorrow’s leaders.  These education centers will combat illiteracy while teaching the principles of Christianity and God’s word.  It is only after receiving these lessons that Pastor Jackson Senyonga believes each child is equipped to succeed in life.   

Pastor Jackson Senyonga is also working to continue expanding the Christian Life Church in Africa to carry on the good news of Christ.  He hopes to plant many more additional churches.   He is also working toward building a much larger auditorium in Kampala City.  He hopes to fill this necessary space several times a week as the number of converts grows.  Pastor Jackson Senyonga not only hopes to build buildings, but he is also working to educate and grow church planting teams. 

As you can see, Pastor Jackson Senyonga has a lot on his plate.  A man of unbelievable faith and incredible strength, Pastor Jackson Senyonga fights each and every day for support.  He asks other concerned citizens of heaven to contribute financial donations to build homes, churches, hospitals, schools, etc.; sponsor a child; spread the news of his ministry and its importance; and general prayer for his purpose.  You can find him online at http://www.christianlifeministries.org. 

THE ADVENT OF NEW SPRIT

Venue: Russian Culture Center Auditorium

HIP HIP HURRAHHHH; HIP HIP HURRAHHHH; HIP HIP HURRAHHHH; was the sound all around! Guess what! Yes it is Aagman; the fresher’s cultural of the IIPM Chennai. On Friday the 18th of July, the Spring Summer batch of 08-10 gathered at the Russian Culture Center Auditorium to take up stage. They did exactly what they wanted to do.

The evening began with a Bharathnattiyam, a fitting salute to the tradition of Tamilnadu. The performance was a perfect blend of tradition and modernity. It started off with the Alarippu(a traditional song) and ended with Alaipayuthe ( a song from the movie Alaipayuthe), a hybrid cinematic form of bharathnattiyam. The two dancers, Uma and Janani perfectly complemented each other in performance and expressions.

After the opening dance, came the welcome speech from Mr. Vivek of batch SS/0709 who shared with the juniors a few of his learnings at IIPM, Chennai. This was followed by the English Skit with a sensational script which made the crowd burst into laughter.

Hip Hop dance and the performance of the Fusion Dance team maintained the fast pace of Aagman. They tangoed; they free-styled and they danced their way into the hearts of the audience, ending to a huge applause. A stylish folk performance made both the traditionalists and trendy groups happy. Dance, music and laughter all were mixed up in the Tamil Skit which came next to entertain the entire audience.

Next major attraction was IIPM-Planman dance team. The dancers took the stage to prove that anything the students can do, they can do better. Although the outcome of the competition was unclear, the winners were definitely the audience who were taken to dizzying heights of excitement.

The fun didn’t stop there. As the audience paused for breath and IIPM Band was setting up on stage, the spot light was taken over by Shivakarthikeyan. He was declared by Vijay TV as the king of comedy and he proceeded to show the audience that it was a well-deserved title.

The rock band was the next to perform on stage. The song list comprised of all crowd pleasers like “Om Shanthi Om”, “Where’s the Party tonight?”, “Kutti Pisase”. There were also special performances from the faculty members; Prof. Abesh and Prof. Debojit. Last but not the least was the grand finale of the night “the fashion show”. But all good things must come to an end and so too did Aagman ’08 but only after everyone satisfied their appetites with a delicious culinary from the Chef.