Sunday, October 11, 2015

In Performance at the White House: The Gospel Tradition 2015




    In Performance at the White House: The Gospel Tradition 2015




http://www.pbs.org/inperformanceatthe...
“The Gospel Tradition: In Performance at the White House” showcases an evening in honor of gospel music and its profound influence on American music. Featured performers include Bishop Rance Allen, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Rodney Crowell, Aretha Franklin, Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris, Darlene Love, Lyle Lovett, Tamela Mann, the Morgan State University Choir and Michelle Williams.

T Bone Burnett - executive musical director
Robin Roberts - host
Tim Carmon - keyboards
Nathan East - bass
Colin Linden - guitar
Bill Maxwell - drums, musical director
Carl Wheeler Jr. - B3
Helen Baylor - vocals
Melodye Perry - vocals
The Morgan State University Choir

In Performance at the White House: The Gospel Tradition, April 14, 2015

Friday, September 25, 2015

Catholic Choir Music




     

            Catholic Choir Music Playlist


       Catholic boys choir brings its music to the masses


     Soulful and Sacred: Celebrating the Black Catholic Experience


PRAYER OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi


Regardless of our respective faiths (or lack thereof), may we all live the words of this prayer in our words and actions."

Make me a channel of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love,
Where there is injury, Your pardon Lord,
And where there's doubt, true faith in You

Make me a channel of your peace,
Where there's despair in life let me bring hope,
Where there is darkness - only light,
And where there's sadness, ever joy

Oh Master, grant that I may never seek,
So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood, as to understand,
To be loved, as to love with all my soul

LORD...
Make me a channel of your peace,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving to all men that we receive,
And in dying that we're born to eternal life

AMEN.


   

LORD make us insrument of your peace

 

 

     

PRAYER OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

 





































Sometimes Christians are called to turn the world upside down. To bring the exact opposite of what we find in our world. St. Francis' prayer is a bold one, asking for strength to give of ourselves to meet the needs of others. He recognizes that it "is in giving that we receive", that as we give of ourselves, we receive the peace and blessing of our risen Lord Jesus. We cannot earn eternal life, but that we are pardoned from the sins that block our claim on it.

 

     [

Think about the situations that you are involved in that require peace, consolation, hope, light and joy. Then, if you're bold enough, pray the prayer!

Monday, May 18, 2015

I love You God




        I love You God Playlist




Sunday, March 1, 2015

Shekinah Glory Ministries




     Our Mission is to reach men, women and children with the glorious message of Jesus Christ.

Shekinah means "the presence of God" and relates to the Holy Spirit. Shekinah is the visible manifestation of the divine presence of God.
           Shekinah Glory Ministry Praise God Playlist


Shekinah Glory Ministry’s ultimate purpose is reflected in the meaning of its name — to usher listeners into the “very manifest presence of God.” Shekinah Glory Ministry (SGM) is not comprised of “recording artists,” but servants that worship every Sunday as the praise and worship aggregate of Valley Kingdom Ministries International, a non-denominational church in the
Chicagoland area where Apostle H. Daniel Wilson serves as Senior Pastor.

To establish a Spirit filled, Word church where people are taught who they are in Christ and how to walk by faith and not by sight.  We desire to prepare an atmosphere where the Glory of God can be experienced in its richest manifestation and power.

 Shekinah Glory Ministries International is a Non Denominational church which preaches the Full Gospel with a mission to magnify the Lord, strengthen believers, and Evangelize the world. We are a Word Church. We are a Apostolic Church which recognizes the 5 Fold Ministry Gifts. We are a Worshiping Church and a Prophetic church. Jesus is the head of this Church, the Holy Ghost is His representative here and the Pastor is His under-shepherd. 2 Corinthians 3:17 declares, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." However things must be done decently and in order.(1 Corinthians 14:40). Therefore according to the Bible, Jesus is the head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23).He simply decrees what he wants, and it's up to us to hear and carry it out.

Bishop G. E. Patterson Praying

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Mississippi Mass Choir Praising God




                   Mississippi Mass Choir Praising God Playlist


Frank Williams, founder of the group, began singing gospel music in churches as a child, spending his evenings immersed in the sounds and ways of the gospel under the guiding hand of his father, Leon. Frank performed with his brothers in an act know as The Williams Brothers, later joining the Jackson Southernaires.

 After many years of touring as an artist, Frank had a vision that the great and soulful voices of Mississippi needed to be captured in choir. For nine years this idea grew in his mind until he could contain it no longer. He approached his gospel-writing friend, David Curry, with his ambitions and the rest is history! The two sent audition announcements via radio across the state of Mississippi and tapes began pouring in. With great enthusiasm, the people of Mississippi thrust themselves into the mission of this choir, to serve God through song. Redefining the choir experience, each concert is like a rousing church service, with a Reverend at the helm. Skillfully weaving a scriptural message into the soul-stirring, roof-raising gospel sounds of the singers, Reverend Benjamin Cone, the choir's spiritual advisor, delivers with the authority of one who knows God personally. His presence on stage commands attention, his deep articulate voice bears listening. By the end of the concert, there is no one left who has remained in their seat throughout, no voice unsung, no hands left hanging limply at anyone's side, and no one who hasn't felt a mountain move within them by what they have just experienced. The Mississippi Mass Choir moves the masses.

The Mississippi Mass Choir was one of the most influential gospel groups of the late '80s and '90s. Under the musical direction of David R. Curry, the 100-voice choir served their Lord with a sound that made them a constant presence on Billboard's gospel charts. Each of their recordings have reached the top position on the charts. Their debut album, Live, recorded during a 1988 performance at the Jackson, MS, Municipal Auditorium, remained on the charts for 45 weeks and earned the group James Cleveland GMWA awards as contemporary choir of the year and best new traditional artist of the year. Their second album, God Gets the Glory, reached number one two weeks after it was released in 1990. The Mississippi Mass Choir's most successful album, It Remains to Be Seen topped the charts for 12 months and received a Soul Train music award as best gospel album of 1993. The album was the choir's last with founder Frank Williams (June 25, 1947, to March 22, 1993), a member of the Jackson Southernaires and an executive  in the gospel music division of the Maleco record label. Determined to bring together the best gospel voices in Mississippi, Williams had convinced Jerry Mannery, the head of Maleco's gospel division, to sign the band to a record deal and serve as executive director. With their albums released since Williams' passing, I'll See You in Rapture, Praise the Lord, and Emmanuel (God With Us), the Mississippi Mass Choir continues to dedicate itself to its self-described mission of "serving God through song." ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide

Serving God Through Song" is the motto and the mission of The Mississippi Mass Choir. Although striving to succeed in the gospel music industry, the choir's purpose is to help establish the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Vashawn Mitchell



              Vashawn Mitchell Playlist
 

VaShawn Mitchell was born and raised in Chicago, IL, a city known as the birthplace of Gospel music, an art form that has been indelibly imprinted on his life. When he was a teenager, Mitchell became the assistant music director of St. Mark Baptist Church. Then for nearly a decade he went on to serve as Minister of Music at Bishop Larry D. Trotter’s Sweet Holy Spirit Church. As the youngest Minister of Music in that church’s history, Mitchell successfully merged the contemporary themes he composed with the traditional choir vibe that marked the church’s worship services

Throughout the years, VaShawn’s artistic vision has grown, shaping him into a mature worship leader and a recognized Gospel songwriter. In 2010, his passion and talent for songwriting, producing and singing led him to to release Triumphant which became his best selling album to date. Soaring to the top of the charts with his mega-hit single “Nobody Greater,” Mitchell amassed numerous awards and nominations. In 2011, he received 11 Stellar Award nominations (the most received by any artist that year) and took home 6 trophies. He also earned two GRAMMY Award Nominations and two GMA Dove Award nominations for both the Billboard magazine declared “Nobody Greater” the #1 Most Played Gospel Song of 2011 and Mitchell was named Billboard’s #1 Gospel Radio Artist of 2011 and Triumphant was among the Top 5 Gospel Albums of 2011. The single held the #1 position for nine consecutive weeks on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart and crossed-over to the Urban Contemporary Adult charts.

Mitchell continued to stretch his creative talents in 2012 Executive producing Anthony Brown & group therAPy’s debut album and producing Tasha Cobbs’ Grace which generated two Dove Awards and a Grammy. In January 2015, Mitchell will formally launch Walkway Music Group to support the development of aspiring artist in the gospel music industry.

Mitchell continues to expand interests in community service and philanthropy. He is currently the National Faith Based Spokesperson for the Big Brothers Big Sister organization and recently started the Norman Youth & Arts Foundation, named in memory of his grandfather. Mitchell has performed for the NAACP as well as partnered corporately with Denny’s on several health care initiatives.

VaShawn was honored by his hometown of Harvey, IL when they named the street where he grew up “VaShawn Mitchell Street.” He believes that he is a role model for young people, and that it is part of his calling. It’s a role that he is both proud and happy to take on.

Bio from: http://vashawnmitchell.com/about/




Sunday, January 18, 2015

Martin Luther King, Jr.








       
         The music of  Dr. King Playlist









Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. Although Dr. King's name was mistakenly recorded as "Michael King" on his birth certificate, this was not discovered until 1934, when his father applied for a passport. He had an older sister, Willie Christine (September 11, 1927) and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel (July 30, 1930 – July 1, 1969). King sang with his church choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie Gone with the Wind. He entered Morehouse College at age fifteen, skipping his ninth and twelfth high school grades without formally graduating. In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in sociology, and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) degree in 1951. In September 1951, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) on June 5, 1955 .



In 1953, at age 24, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to comply with the Jim Crow laws that required her to give up her seat to a white man. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, urged and planned by E. D. Nixon (head of the Montgomery NAACP chapter and a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) and led by King, soon followed. In March 1955, a 15 year old school girl, Claudette Colvin, suffered the same fate, but King did not become involved. The boycott lasted for 381 days, the situation becoming so tense that King's house was bombed. King was arrested during this campaign, which ended with a United States Supreme Court decision outlawing racial segregation on all public transport.





King was instrumental in the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, a group created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform. King continued to dominate the organization. King was an adherent of the philosophies of nonviolent civil disobedience used successfully in India by Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, and he applied this philosophy to the protests organized by the SCLC. In 1959, he wrote The Measure of A Man, from which the piece What is Man?, an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived.

Attributing his inspiration for non-violent activism to the example of Mahatma Gandhi, he visited the Gandhi family in India in 1959, with assistance from the Quaker group, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The trip to India affected King in a profound way, deepening his understanding of nonviolent resistance and his commitment to America’s struggle for civil rights. In a radio address made during his final evening in India, King reflected, “Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.”





The FBI began wiretapping King in 1961, fearing that Communists were trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, but when no such evidence emerged, the bureau used the incidental details caught on tape over six years in attempts to force King out of the preeminent leadership position.

King correctly recognized that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as Jim Crow laws would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality and voting rights. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily deprivation and indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights workers and marchers, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that made the Civil Rights Movement the single most important issue in American politics in the early 1960s.



King organized and led marches for blacks' right to vote, desegregation, labor rights and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted into United States law with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

King and the SCLC applied the principles of nonviolent protest with great success by strategically choosing the method of protest and the places in which protests were carried out in often dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities. Sometimes these confrontations turned violent. King and the SCLC were instrumental in the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia, in 1961 and 1962, where divisions within the black community and the canny, low-key response by local government defeated efforts; in the Birmingham protests in the summer of 1963; and in the protest in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964. King and the SCLC joined forces with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Selma, Alabama, in December 1964, where SNCC had been working on voter registration for several months.





On several occasions Martin Luther King Jr. expressed a view that black Americans, as well as other disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical wrongs. Speaking to Alex Haley in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of US$50 billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups. He posited that "the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils." His 1964 book Why We Can't Wait elaborated this idea further, presenting it as an application of the common law regarding settlement of unpaid labor.

Starting in 1965, King began to express doubts about the United States' role in the Vietnam War. In an April 4, 1967, appearance at the New York City Riverside Church — exactly one year before his death — King delivered Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. In the speech he spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, insisting that the U.S. was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony" and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." But he also argued that the country needed larger and broader moral changes:“ A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just.





King was long hated by many white southern segregationists, but this speech turned the more mainstream media against him. Time called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi", and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."

With regard to Vietnam, King often claimed that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands." King also praised North Vietnam's land reform. He accused the United States of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children."


The speech was a reflection of King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, sparked in part by his affiliation with and training at the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center. King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation. Toward the end of his life, King more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice. Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism:“ You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry… Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong… with capitalism… There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.





King had read Marx while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."

King also stated in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech: "True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." From Vietnam to South Africa to Latin America, King said, the U.S. was "on the wrong side of a world revolution." King questioned "our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America," and asked why the U.S. was suppressing revolutions "of the shirtless and barefoot people" in the Third World, instead of supporting them.




In 1968, King and the SCLC organized the "Poor People's Campaign" to address issues of economic justice. However, according to the article "Coalition Building and Mobilization Against Poverty", King and SCLC's Poor People's Campaign was not supported by the other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including Bayard Rustin. Their opposition incorporated arguments that the goals of Poor People Campaign was too broad, the demands unrealizable, and thought these campaigns would accelerate the backlash and repression on the poor and the black.

The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C. demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States. He crisscrossed the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would descend on Washington—engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol, if need be—until Congress enacted a poor people's bill of rights. Reader's Digest warned of an "insurrection."


King's economic bill of rights called for massive government jobs programs to rebuild America's cities. He saw a crying need to confront a Congress that had demonstrated its "hostility to the poor"—appropriating "military funds with alacrity and generosity," but providing "poverty funds with miserliness." His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of racism, poverty, militarism and materialism, and that "reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced."







Sunday, January 11, 2015

Pastor Andrae Crouch





Andraé Crouch, a gospel musician who bridged the worlds of church and mainstream music for more than 50 years, Andraé Crouch died Thursday, January 8,2015 at the age of 72.

Crouch, sometimes called "the father of modern gospel music," led the choirs that sang on such hits as Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror and Madonna's Like a Prayer. As a songwriter, he wrote several gospel favorites, most notably The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power, My Tribute (To God Be the Glory) and Soon and Very Soon, a song sung at Jackson's public memorial service.
The seven-time Grammy winner was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

His songs were recorded by Elvis Presley and Paul Simon, he collaborated with Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Elton John, Quincy Jones and Diana Ross, and he was a backup singer on several Michael Jackson songs.
He also received an Academy Award nomination for his composition work on The Color Purple.

Andraé Crouch got his start in music at his father's small church, which was opened in a garage in the San Fernando Valley in 1951. His father needed a piano player for the church, prayed on it, and three weeks later Crouch was working the keys. .

            Andraé Crouch Soul Gospel Playlist  


"I think that some people still think that the formula other than gospel still is not strong enough to get that crossover appeal to people enough that they would play it all the time or nonchurch people would accept it, but I disagree. I think that if something's really good and it touches that part of their heart that has been
untouched, or maybe it has been touched but they never wanted to admit it, I think that when they get back to that, I think that we are still in a place that people enjoy it the way it's supposed to be enjoyed.
"And I think that when we like songs in gospel and it hits that part of the soul or the mind that brings back familiarity to the person or to the listeners, I think we zero in on something that will always be needed."

        Andrae Crouch


         Appreciate what God has given to you - Pastor Andrae Crouch speaking


         We Are Not Ashamed - written by Andrae Crouch - recorded by The New CMC Choir


     "We Are Not Ashamed" recorded @ New Christ Memorial Church under the direction of Sandra Crouch  .... on 2/1/06. Featured soloists are Tony McLendon & Valerie Doby. Rickey Grundy at the piano.

Friday, January 9, 2015

"Goin' Up Yonder" Walter Hawkins & The Love Center Choir

Andrae Crouch Through It All & more

 
Praise God for the life and music of Gospel Artist and composer, Andre Crouch who has just passed to the Great Beyond after years of creative song-writing and singing Glory to God.  May his spirit rest in Peace and Joy. Andrae Crouch.
   
    My Tribute 1984. To GOD BE THE GLORY . . . .
           

 For Andre Crouch and his Awesome Music created for the Glory of God!  Andre, we'll never forget you. . . . You have earned a rich place in Gospel Music History.

 

            Soon and Very Soon [Live]

. . . . No more dying there -- we're going to see the King! . . . . .   Cece and Andre featured singers.
 Through It All / Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus / Soon and...

 A Medley of Andre Crouch Songs, featuring CeCe Winans.

 Andrae Crouch *Soon And Very Soon* "Live"

Early in 2015 Gospel Great Andre Crouch went on his way to "See the King".  In his honor we can listen to him give his beautiful rendition of "Soon and Very Soon" -- we're going to see the King!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!