NASHVILLE, TENN. (ANS) -- American Leprosy Missions and the IXIST Tour are partnering together for an upcoming 2013 tour.

Tour promotional

According to a news release made available to the ASSIST News Service, the tour hopes to recruit attendees to serve as a channel of Christ's love to persons affected by leprosy and related diseases, helping them to be healed in body and spirit, and restored to lives of dignity and hope.

Coming in Winter 2013, the IXIST TOUR will kick off in late February, moving across the U.S. through March and then on to Africa, where the tour will travel to six countries.

IXIST is more than a concert tour. The news release said it is a ministry campaign dedicated to helping people share their testimony. Each night, one local market testimony will be chosen and posted to an ongoing international YouTube campaign, created to inspire others to share their story and consider the work that God is doing through their lives.

The tour will include IXIST Media Sessions featuring on-site interviews at each location; afternoon IXIST In-Stores in select cities, and the IXIST Concert each night.

According to the news release, the tour features the Xist Music roster of leading Urban Christian artists & their ministries, anchored by the Billboard and SoundScan best-selling artists The Ambassador and Sean Simmonds. Supporting artists for the tour include Yaves, D-MAUB, UK based artist Jahaziel, and Nate "NF" Feuerstein.

Three of the faith-based market's leading companies have joined together for the IXIST Tour: urban music label Xist Music, the Elite Talent Agency, and Christian media and events group, FrontGate Media.

According to the news release, the tour comes as Christian hip-hop and urban music is exploding, evidenced most recently by a Billboard charting milestone: TobyMac's "Eye On It" debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Founded by missionaries in 1906, American Leprosy Missions is a global organization dedicated to serving Christ by healing people and communities devastated by leprosy. American Leprosy Missions is the oldest and largest non-profit organization in the U.S. working to cure and care for people with leprosy and Buruli ulcer. For more information, visit www.leprosy.org

Xist Music is the recording label of Xist Worldwide, which produces innovative projects from award-winning artists, who are leaders in the inspirational urban music industry. For more information go to www.XistMusic.com.

Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City." Additional details on "Homeless in the City" are available at http://www.homelessinthecity.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net.