One and done

The Stellar Awards used to be one of the highlights of the year for me when I was growing up. I remember making a whole night of it. This year's Stellar's just came on Sunday and to be quite honest, I just watched Celebration of Gospel last month and have thus surpassed my quota for the amount of awards shows I plan to watch this year. (This coming from someone who didn't watch the Oscars, SAG awards, BET Honors, or any other ridiculously long show featuring today's top entertainers/talent/intellects.) I guess I should've held out for the show that honors gospel music artists rather than the one that showcases talent (even though both line-ups were about the same).

The other thing is, if you're following your favorite artists on social media, you already know who won what.

In case you're not in the know, here's the link to see all of this year's winners.


Blessings

Why I loved Celebration of Gospel (much to my surprise)

I'm not a big awards show fan. You end up watching to see 2 or 3 of your favorite artists and the rest of the 40 hours is spent hearing from people you're just not that into. For me, it's not worth the amount of time invested in front of the tube.

For this reason I had not planned to watch BET's Celebration of Gospel. It's not an awards show, but it's the same type of deal. Sure, most of the artists have a song that I like, but I'm an equal opportunity hater so I wasn't going to automatically watch just because COG is a gospel show. (Hopefully that shows I have integrity. lol) Nonetheless, I happend to be flipping through channels and ended up watching the last half and really enjoyed it.

I LOVE that the show is about celebrating gospel. This isn't the "if you're saved and you know it clap your hands" show. This is the "if you love gospel music and you know it clap your hands." I love that pop culture celebrities, R&B, and hip hop artists are there - some of which are performing to rep their love for gospel and the message that it brings. Honestly, most black artists got their start in church. Let's celebrate that! So cheers to Taraji P. Hensen, Chaka Khan, Tank, Bryshere Gray, et. al for participating. Everyone was making a joyful noise.

I love that COG is an opportunity for pop artists to show that they do indeed listen to, enjoy, and recognize the talents of gospel artists. Y'all know one can sing like church folk! Yasssss Tamela Mann, Yolanda Adams, and Jessica Reedy (she sounded phenomenal!) And in case pop celebs' fans didn't know they believe in an almighty God - now they know.

COG also shows that gospel is not just a traditional church choir. Hello Travis Greene and Kirk Franklin. We have a message and a sound for lovers of music and it doesn't only consist of old classics like "I-iiiiii love the Lord, he heard my cry-yyy-yyyyyy."

I love that COG is a platform for the gospel community to worship together and commemorate our legends. The Andre Crouch tribute was really nice. Shout out to Be Be Winans!

Finally, I love that others can hear the true message of gospel thanks to songs like Worth by Anthony Brown and Group thereAPy.

So Kudos, BET, for getting it right and keeping it classy... this time. :)

P.S. If you missed Celebration of Gospel 2016 and want to check out the performances here's the link.

Best things 2015

I love making lists. Every year in my personal journal, I come up with a list of the best things that happened in the year. Here's my list of the 10 best things related to praise and worship in 2015 in no particular order.

1. Finding Planetshakers
2. Tiff Joy's self-titled album
3. Singing one of the songs I wrote at one of our district church services
4. The iLead Escape frontliners calls
5. Listening to K-Love
6. Attending Chicago's Gospel Fest
7. Crushing my New Year's goal to consistently update this blog
8. Being able to attend a culturally different church and experiencing P&W there
9. The funny memes
10. Getting a church musician. God is still in the miracle business!

Here's to a great year and an even better 2016 - in Jesus's name! :)

I love me some hymns (in my Toni Braxton voice)

Don't you just love it when you go to church and the leader says, "turn to page 109 of your hymnal and let's sing I Come to the Garden Alone"? Man, I love me some hymns!

The funny thing is, the church I came from, didn't sing them as they were written. We remixed them until they sounded Pentecostal. And then when I went to a predominately white church down south and heard how they were really written, I was like "Oh, that's kinda lame."

You know what else is funny about hymns, everybody uses the lyrics. I've heard preachers preach hymns and singers ad lib using hymns. They're like the Christian version of Kyle Korver. You pull them off the bench and it's a score! (Go Bulls! I know KK is with the Hawks now.)

The other thing that's funny is that no one is really coming up with new hymns. I'm not sure why. Total Praise by Richard Smallwood made it in the New National Baptist Hymnal, but I can't think of very many other game changing, tried and true, new songs. And Total Praise is like 20 years old so I guess it's not new. Then again, I'm not a hymnal connoisseur. Maybe there are more.

So, why aren't we making new songs that fit in this genre? These are the songs we sing at funerals to comfort families, at Christmas to celebrate the true meaning of the holiday, and during worship services to reflect on the many aspects of God. I think it's time to dust off those books and bring them back en vogue.

I pitched long ago that we should have an "old school" Sunday where we give the hymns some play. After all, these oldies but goodies deserve their props, much like Kyle Korver.

A Tiff Joy Takeover

Hey Guys,

My Godsister, Tiff Joy, is dropping her solo album in a few days and I know you're going to love her work. You already know her from the Stellar Award winning song "Amazing" and she's been putting in a lot of work hitting the road and getting her song out "The Promise." Thought I'd help get her name out there cuz she's the truth! Support a talented, anointed, and Chicago-based artist with strong roots and a humble heart.

Follow her on twitter and instagram @1tiffjoy and on FB!

Pre-order the album Tiff Joy - I sure did. ;)

Byron Cage - Great & Mighty

I love this worship song. Enjoy!