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Gospel Entertainment News

 

 

 

 

                                    

 

 

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Gospel Insights

By Tonya English

The nominees have been announced and here’s a peak at what you’ll see on the 41st Annual Dove Awards.   Included in the nominees for Traditional Gospel Song of the Year are Bishop Paul S. Morton for Don’t Do it Without Me and Queen Latifah for Oh Happy Day.  Relatives dominate the Urban Song of the Year category with Be Be and Ce Ce Winans for Close to You, competing with their nephew MarvinWinans Jr. for You Never Let me down.  In Contemporary Song of the Year category is Fred Hammond with Awesome God and Isreal featuring Mary Mary for Every Prayer.  Newcomer Crystal Akin is vying for New Artist of the Year along and her one of her competitors is Brian Courtney Wilson.  Group of the Year includes Hezekiah Walker and LFC.  Heather Headley and Mandisa compete for the title of Female Vocalist of the Year while Donnie McClurkin and Smoke Norful go head to head in the Male Vocalist of the Year.  Among those hoping to take home the coveted award for Artist of the Year, is non-other than the dynamic duo, Mary Mary.  The show will air on the Gospel Music Channel (GMC) on April 25th.

Erica and Tina Campbell, the sisters who make up Mary Mary, is once again making ready for a new season of “Sunday Best”.  The Mary’s and host Kirk Franklin are executive producers of the show and in an effort to make improvements, this season brings about some chanWomen
 ges.  Donnie McClurkin is replacing Be Be Winans as a judge and talent is being recruit in Nigeria, West Africa. The online casting call has revealed some great talent and one of the winners is DeShonda Payton Smith of Bryan Texas. The show has made its way back to the states and auditions will be held February 27th at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.  The Sunday Best will premier on April 4th on BET 

April 4th has a couple of other interesting facts associated with it.  The date not only marks the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is also the day that Dr. Maya Angelou celebrates her birthday.  

Did you know that Maya Angelou’s birth name is Marquerite Johnson and that she quit high school to become the first African American female streetcar conductor?  She went on to write the screenplay and compose the score for the 1972 film Georgia, Georgia which became the first script by an African American woman ever to be filmed.  For film she also received a Pulitzer Prize nominated.   In 1993 Dr. Angelou received a Grammy award in the Spoken Word Album category for her On the Pulse of Morning poem that she wrote for President Bill Clinton’s inauguration.   This year Dr. Maya Angelou will celebrate her 82nd birthday on Easter Sunday.

Women
It is time to engage

Beautiful Daughter of the Most High, your time of recovery is at hand. You hold the power of ancient truths and faithful weapons, which cannot fail because they were forged in love. Embrace wisdom, courage and beauty. Reveal heaven’s splendor in the daughter you were created to be, for the Earth has need of you. Women, it is time to engage. 

What does a daughter of God look and sound like? How does she behave? What does her presence bring to a lost and dying world? What is her role in the House of God? What is the legacy she leaves? How does she touch the lives, which surround her? 

She is beautiful. 
She is authentic. 
She is unique. 
She is young. 
She is well along in years. 
She is wise. 
She is free.

God is awakening His daughters young and old to arise and take their place alongside the sons of God. All creation watches for your revelation and leans near to hear the sound of your voice. As a fellow daughter it is my deepest desire to uphold, equip and accompany you as you realize this pursuit.
With love,
Lisa Bevere

 

 

 

A Moment in Black Entertainment History:
It’s a little known fact that Denzel Washington’s father was a Pentecostal minister and his mom was a gospel singer. Washington is the second African American actor to receive in Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, an honor that was first bestowed upon Sidney Poitier.  Denzel Washington has not received less than $20 million for any role since his Oscar worthy performance as Alonzo in 2001’s Training Days. 
On a sad note…on Tuesday Gospel Insights reported being in attendance at a breakfast with the Rev. Jesse Jackson that called for a ministerial team to work together in changing the practice of lending institutions in African American community.  Among the supporters with Rev. Jackson was Bishop Larry McGriff pastor of The Church of the Living God in Dallas TX. On Thursday morning, we received word that Bishop McGriff had died from an aneurysm. This past December, in a ceremony which included many dignitaries, Bishop McGriff married Dr. Karen Hollie, pastor of Lifeway Church. We extend our most sincere condolences and prayers to the McGriff family in their time of mourning.