WOWWWWWWWWWW!

Last night, my wife and I went to a taping of TBN’s hit show Praise The Lord, hosted by Pastor A.R. Bernard of Christian Cultural Center.  First of all, if you don’t know about his ministry, you may be missing out on some VALUABLE jewels of knowledge and teaching.  He’s so refreshingly transparent, educated, humorous, compassionate… he’s got an awesome heart and an even greater gift.

The show featured a bunch of folks, including Freddy Rodriguez, who is creeping his way up my “favorite worship leaders” ladder… he had a great interview with Pastor Bernard before leading the audience in worship with his hit single, “I Will Run.”  He’s just soooo not an “artist” in the traditional sense– in his mind, he’s a worship leader who happens to be signed to a record deal.  And that influences the way he approaches ministry– humble, laid-back and in full “servant” mode.  It was awesome!

Also on hand was CCC’s own Malissa Redmond, a worship leader at the church.  You’ve probably seen her quite a few times on broadcasts of Gospel SuperFest on Gospel Music Channel.  I always thought she was cool on TV, but last NIGHT… wow!  She’s got a beautiful voice, some really great original material, and a great stage presence– think I’ll try to do a feature soon so y’all can see what I mean.  Visit her MySpace page in the meantime.

As if the music wasn’t incredible enough, the SPEAKERS had such powerful testimonies and words to share.  First came Dr. David Ireland, pastor of Christ Church in NJ (click here to visit their site).  He’s recently written a book addressing FAITH, called Why Drown When You Can Walk On Water?.  I don’t want to give away all his material, but he outlines three practical components to faith– knowledge, belief and assent– and he asserts that we often make mis-steps because we’re wrong from jump– our knowledge is faulty.  It was so powerful… gotta get the book!

Pastor Bernard also spoke with journalist and media personality Jacque Reid.  You’ve probably seen her on BET, where she used to host BET Nightly News, or on CNN or NBC or… everywhere.  She talked about her faith and her refusal to compromise in journalism and media, where the temptation to do so is often strong.  She also launched a new website, as she’s branching out into her own thing as a speaker, mentor, etc.

Finally, Pastor Bernard interviewed retired NFL player Curtis Martin (he was with the New England Patriots and the New York Jets before retiring in 2007).  He shared his testimony of growing up in a very violent community and lifestyle before giving his life to Christ 16 years ago.  The passion with which he spoke of God, though, was as fresh and strong as someone who just gave their life last year– and we need to see more of THAT.  I know that I, for one, don’t always consider the Gospel nearly as shiny and special as I used to.

So, THAT’S THAT.  It was incredible and you’ve gotta watch for it on TBN.  I’ll try to let you know the airdate soon.  And shout-out to Freddy Rodriguez, Point5ive Agency, Grant Jenkins, Integrity Music and Jeremy Castro.  You rock.

My DUDE Grant Jenkins, of Point5ive Agency, invited my wife and me to an awesome event at Sony’s offices in Manhattan last night– an “Hour Of Power” with Integrity Music recording artist Freddy Rodriguez.

By now, y’all HAVE to know how much I enjoy Freddy’s ministry– I’ve done an album review, album giveaways and a bunch of other features on him at GospelPundit.com.  He’s a great artist, with great music and an inspiring calling.  So, I was super excited to attend the shindig.

It was an intimate “getting to know Freddy” type of deal in which he shared his heart, his testimony and his music with some local industry folks and church leaders.  A very awesome concept and an inspiring time.

Freddy started the event with “No Other Name,” a rousing praise track from his album, Light In The Darkness.  He chatted with us about how he came to know Christ and his passion for inspiring people to worship through music… it was great.  Then, he ministered with his hit single “I Will Run” and the presence of God was practically tangible in the room.  INCREDIBLE.

Among those in attendance were Jeremy Castro of Integrity, Andree Farias (you’ve undoubtedly seen his great album reviews at ChristianityToday.com) and vocalist extraordinaire Melonie Daniels.

A coupla pics for your viewin’ pleasure (please pardon the quality– I used my camera phone cuz I was TwitPic-ing the night away):

Guys, I cannot stress enough that YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT THIS ARTIST!  Visit his website at http://www.freddyrodriguezlive.com and listen to his tracks.  I really think you’ll be blessed by the music, but even more, blessed by his entire ministry.

Well well WELL!  Israel Houghton’s newest release, The Power Of One, has debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums AND Top Christian Albums charts.

I’d like to think that all the press, reviews and giveaways at GospelPundit.com had a lil’ something to do with it, but the reality is that his album is, hands-down, one of his greatest to date and it was BOUND to do what it did.

PEOPLE.  If you don’t have it yet, you are missing out (TERRIBLY) on some really great music.  He takes musical risks that return double and he never sacrifices his message while he does it.  I LOVE that.  (Sidebar: I have been JAMMING HARD to “Saved By Grace”… it may be one of my anthems this year.)

Congrats to Iz and the whole team at Integrity Music (special shout-out to Jeremy Castro).  Good work!