Gospel News
1. Holy Hip-Hop is not dead!! Gospel rap is steadily gaining in popularity as this article explains. As a mother, this is great news to me. It is great to have an alternative to the “other” rap music that is out there. When our music store was open we had many parents bring in their children for popular rap music played on the radio only to balk at purchasing because of the Parental Advisory Label. The kids got upset because they said the clean CD “didn’t sound the same” and many parents would not buy the regular CD. Gospel rap was not as popular then. It is great that there is gospel rap with beats that sound just as good as any other CD. Some gospel rap artists I like are Canton Jones, T-Bone and Shei Atkins.
2. North Texas is becoming a popular area for Gospel artists to live. According to this article, many artists such as Fred Hammond, David & Tamla Mann, Beverly Crawford and Kirk Franklin make North Texas home. Fred Hammond chose Dallas because he enjoyed the teaching of Bishop T.D. Jakes. Houston is also a popular spot for Gospel artists. Steve Crawford and Da’adra Greathouse of the duo Anointed, Kurt Carr and Yolanda Adams call Houston home.
3. Complete list of Gospel music nominees for the 49th annual Grammy Awards, to be presented Feb. 11 in Los Angeles.
gospel music gospel rap canton jones tbone Shei Atkins Fred Hammond Tamla Mann Beverly Crawford Kirk Franklin Bishop T.D. Jakes Kurt Carr Y Yolanda Adams
Notes From My Church
PLACE: Lakewood Church-Houston, Tx
Joel Osteen, Pastor
DATE: Saturday, Dec. 30, 2006
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
THE MUSIC: The worship service was led by Cindy Ratcliffe, Steve Crawford, Da’dra Greathouse and Israel Houghton. Among the songs sung this week were “Turn It Aroundâ€, “How Great is Our God” and “What a Wonderful Maker”. The brother and sister team of Steve and D’Adra sung “God is All Around Us” during offering. They have such chemistry between them it is wonderful to watch them perform together. They are totally in sync with each other. Da’dra hit some notes during this song that had me in total awe.
THE MESSAGE: Scripture reference: Romans 12:2, 1 Tim. 1:7, John 8:44
This week Pastor Joel’s brother, Associate Pastor Paul Osteen, was the speaker. He started his sermon with an answer to fellow minister Marcos Witt. On the previous Sunday, Rev. Witt challenged him to sing. Well, he took the challenge and sung a song to his wife. He sounded very nice and the audience loved it.
Rev. Paul’s sermon was about overcoming the critical voice within. He stated that thoughts of negativity and defeat lead to destructive patterns if left unattended. These thoughts could produce thoughts that told us that we were not good enough and that we are destined to fail. He emphasized that if a thought produced fear, it was not from God. He said negative thoughts placed limitations on our lives and dictated our future. Examples of negative thoughts he gave were: you will never get out of debt, no one will ever love you or your life can never change. He said that some of these thoughts can come from people that have a large influence over us such as our parents and other family.
Rev. Paul said to have a changed life you have to have a new pattern of thinking. Replace the lies that you tell yourself with the Word of God. He said that through effort, discipline and training you could change your life. Below are some examples Rev. Paul gave to change thinking patterns:
1)Take inventory of your thoughts. Think about what you are thinking about.
2) Begin to identify the pattern of negative thoughts that are holding you back. (1 Peter 5:9. 2 Cor. 10:5).
a) Find scriptures that say what God says about you. Meditate on these scriptures.
b) Personalize what God says about you by writing affirmations.
c) Speak these affirmations out loud first thing in the morning.
d) All throughout the day capture bad thoughts and replace them with the Word of God.
THE ATMOSPHERE:Full of Hope, Faith and Love!!
……..and that is what happened in my church this week. You can always watch live and archived services at http://www.lakewood.cc/ or http://www.joelosteen.com/.
What was it like in your church this week? The entire universe is filled with God’s love and grace. We would love to hear about your church service. Post a comment or e-mail me at dominique@1800gospel.com and tell us all about the music, the message and the atmosphere at your church.
Dominique
