American Leprosy Missions and the IXIST Tour are honored to announce a partnership for the upcoming 2013 tour.   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.

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.

Every two minutes, someone is diagnosed with leprosy. Often believed to have been eradicated, leprosy, also known as Hansen's Disease, still occurs in more than 100 countries worldwide. The good news is that leprosy is curable!

Leprosy Statistics:

• 130 countries reported cases of leprosy in 2011.
• 3 to 4 million people have disabilities as a result of leprosy.
• Nearly 250,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, and many more go undetected.
• Approximately 10% of all new cases are in children.
• 17 countries in Africa, Asia and South America accounted for 95% of all new cases of leprosy in 2011.

With unparalleled expertise, American Leprosy Missions' world-renowned experts, including award-winning doctors and consultants to the World Health Organization (WHO), focus on empowerment: re-weaving marginalized people into their community, healing them physically, and restoring dignity and hope.

IXIST is more than a concert tour.  It is a ministry campaign dedicated to helping people share their testimony.  Each night, one local market testimonial 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.

Coming in Winter 2013, the IXIST TOUR will kick off in late February, routing across the U.S. through March and then on to Africa, where the tour will travel to six countries. The tour will include IXIST Media Sessions featuring on-site interviews at each location; afternoon IXIST In-Stores in select cities, and, of course, the IXIST Concert each night. 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 to for the IXIST Tour: urban music label Xist Music, the formidable artist & booking agency Elite Talent Agency, and top Christian media & events group, FrontGate Media. 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.

About American Leprosy Missions

American Leprosy Missions is the oldest and largest non-governmental organization in the United States working to bring a cure and ongoing care to people affected by leprosy and related diseases. Motivated by Christ's love, American Leprosy Missions works in some of the world's most impoverished places to bring healing and hope to some of the world's most ostracized people. American Leprosy Missions is a member in good standing with Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and the Better Business Bureau.  For more information, visit http://www.leprosy.org.

About Elite Talent Agency

Elite Talent Agency was founded by music industry veteran Mark Claassen (William Morris Agency).  Elite is unique in that we are able to be a full-service agency, focused on more than booking concerts, we have strategic partnerships with agents in the film/TV, literary, commercial/sponsorship areas. Elite also has an in-house tour marketing agent that walks alongside every tour buyer to maximize each individual show's potential. http://www.eta-live.com.

About Xist Music

Xist Music is the recording label of Xist Worldwide, which produces innovative projects from our award-winning artists, who are leaders in the inspirational urban music industry. Xist Worldwide was founded by Terverius Black and Sean Simmonds to become the leading producer of inspirational urban entertainment, lifestyle and media content. With properties in music, film, publishing and other lifestyle projects, Xist Worldwide acquires, produces, markets and distributes inspirational urban content.  http://www.XistMusic.com.

About FrontGate Media

FrontGate Media is the largest internet & event media group and marketing service reaching the culture-engaged faith and family values audience which represents $4.6 billion worth of Christian products purchased by consumers annually according to "USA Today." The firm has received the Crystal Statue in the Internet Advertising Competition from the Web Marketing Association, and WebAwards in the Marketing and Faith-based categories. The FrontGate Media group creates relationship and reach for organizations and companies to engage their more than 15 million email subscribers, 25 million monthly page views, and 600,000+ attendees at annual events, and though its Audience Delivery Services which include social media, public relations and pay per click marketing. The media group is #1 in reach to several consumer and leadership demographics in the faith and family values audience including event attendees, entertainment fans, music fans, church musicians and worship leaders, and political conservatives. FrontGate plays a key role in the success of faith-based, faith-friendly and family-friendly movie studios, non-profit organizations, publishers and authors, record labels and artists and more seeking to engage the Christian audience. http://www.FrontGateMedia.com.