We can also call this post “EJ’s Rant About ‘Lift Every Voice,’ Part Deux.”
WHAT?! Who saw it on Sunday?
Featured guests were Dorinda Clark-Cole and Teena Marie. Cuz, you know, that goes together as well as the Marvin Sapp/LL Cool J thing they did a few weeks ago (click here to read my previous post on that). 
As usual (I think), Dorinda interviewed well. She spoke to viewers about the healing power of Christ at work in her daughter’s life, following a coulda-been-fatal car accident. Great testimony.
Then, they went to juxtaposing again.
Teena Marie, who we saw recently on the Celebration of Gospel (click here to be reminded), apparently got baptized a couple of years ago and re-dedicated her life to Christ. I LOVE that! 
But her interview seemed almost defensive at times. She immediately volunteered the fact that her real name is Mary Christine, “Mary after the virgin, Christine after Christ.” When CoCo Brother said “I see you wear a cross around your neck,” she quickly replied “Yes, I wear it always.” She also said “I’ve always been saved, I just didn’t know it.” But when CoCo Brother asked her, later, about being “saved at a young age,” she said “I wasn’t always saved, like I said.”
She concluded her interview with an impromptu reprise of her Celebration of Gospel hit, “His Eye Is On The Sparrow”…
The short and sweet of it: I am not understanding the new format of Lift Every Voice. And maybe it’s my fault for expecting certain things from it. They took a break from production for a minute, but I didn’t expect that the entire direction of the show would shift, or that the new focus would be like “Betcha didn’t know HE’S a Christian!”
And I don’t mind learning that various entertainers love the same God that I do. It’s great to know who our brothers and sisters in Christ are. But, I didn’t know we were doing that on THIS show. It’s all getting to be a bit strange to me.
Anyone else?
I'm definitely not feeling the new format. My main problem is that they try to make it so serious. When they had the old host, Gerard and the artist would do something fun, and you would still have a serious/ministry aspect to it as well. Now the format is rather boring. Feeling like I'm watching Lift Every Voice with Tom Brokaw.
@luda: OMG, you're hilarious. Not Tom Brokaw. LOL
LOL! Luda! You're hilarious whoever you are! I love it! I think you're right, too. This format is strange. Plus, I kinda can never find the melody when Teena Marie sings that song. And EJ, you're hilarious, talking 'bout, "...betcha didn't know HE'S a Christian!" LOL. This is great.
I thought I told you yes -- THIS IS EXACTLY the New Angle of the show ... Betcha' You Didn't Know ... that's why my friend a publicist quit the show
Teena Marie did contradict herself. !st off all how can u always be saved and not even know it?! Call me slow but somebody exlplain that one to me, please 4 real!
I'll save my real comments for the imaginary people in my living room but for now I must say @#@^%@&!^#%&^@#%^!@$#^&@# :)
Normally I'm at church, but happend to be off this Sunday and went to another church where they start a little later in the day (lol). However I happend to catch the show...Teena Marie...HAWT MESS!! I mean, cmon now!! She was all ova da place wit her 'theology/salvation.' EJ summed it up well!! smh
I don't like the new format either, especially because they aren't allowing CoCo Brother to be himself, I agree with Luda he's acting like Tom Brokaw, and he's way more animated than that on his radio show.