Word has it that Karen Clark Sheard’s fifth solo album, All In One, will be available for pre-order from iTunes beginning on March 23rd.  The project will be in-stores everywhere on April 6.

Featuring guest vocals from her sister, Dorinda Clark Cole, daughter Kierra Sheard and niece Angel Chisholm, keys by her cousin Bill Moss Jr., and production by both her son, J Drew Sheard II, and cousin J Moss, this project is definitely a family affair.

The lead single, “Prayed Up,” is already doing well at radio (and you can hear it on the Pundit Player here, too).  Make sure you call your local stations to request it.

What do you think of the album cover?  What do you think of the single?  Who’s gettin’ excited???

More details are surfacing about the upcoming Stellar Awards Mother’s Day Gospel Music Festival I mentioned last year, hosted by Central City Productions.

The 3-day celebration will take place in Orlando, FL from Friday, May 7th through Sunday, May 9th.  Hosts for the weekend will be Vickie Winans and comedian Akintunde.

Featured performers include Byron Cage, Deitrick Haddon, James Fortune, Kierra Sheard and Jonathan Nelson on Friday; Shirley Caesar, Yolanda Adams, Vickie Winans and Crystal Aikin on Saturday; Karen Clark Sheard, Kevin LeVar and Endurance on Sunday.

In addition to your travel and hotel, you’ll have to buy tix for the big gathering.  A 3-day pass to all events can be purchased for about $162.50 from Ticketmaster.  Click here for more info on the event.

Word has it that Isaac Carree isn’t the only gospel artist taking submissions from aspiring musicians via Blazetrak.com.

Paul “PDA” Allen of the hit-making production camp PAJAM recently created a profile on the music site, in which he requests submissions from male and female artists, as well as songwriters.

PAJAM has gotten award-winning placements and production work on albums across music genres, for everyone from N’Sync and Destiny’s Child to Karen Clark Sheard and Shirley Caesar.  If you’ve got an opportunity to partner with them, or at the very least, get some feedback about your craft, you should prayerfully consider it… it might be a worthwhile investment.

Whatd’ya think???

***BREAKING NEWS***

The 52nd annual GRAMMY Awards are being held tonight, but the winners in the gospel categories were JUST ANNOUNCED at the pre-show.

My predictions were pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.  I was 5 for 7 in the gospel categories!!!

The winners in the gospel-related categories are highlighted in GREEN below (if I was wrong in my prediction, my earlier predictions are still there in yellow).

The winners are…

 Best Gospel Performance

“Free To Be Me” by Francesca Battistelli
Track from: Free To Be Me

“Jesus Is Love” by Heather Headley feat. Smokie Norful
Track from: Audience Of One

“I Believe” by Jonny Lang w/ Fisk Jubilee Singers
Track from: Oh Happy Day

“Wait On The Lord” by Donnie McClurkin feat. Karen Clark Sheard
Track from: We All Are One

“Born Again” by Third Day
Track from: Revelation

 Best Gospel Song

“Born Again” - Tai Anderson, David Carr, Mark Lee & Mac Powell, songwriters (Third Day)

“City On Our Knees” - Cary Barlowe, Toby McKeehan & Jaime Moore, songwriters (TobyMac)

“Every Prayer” - Dayna Caddell, Israel Houghton, Aaron Lindsey & Ricardo Sanchez, songwriters (Israel Houghton & Mary Mary)

“God In Me” - Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell & Warryn Campbell, songwriters (Mary Mary)

“The Motions” - Jason Houser, Sam Mizell & Matthew West, songwriters (Matthew West)

Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album

The Big Picture - Da’ T.R.U.T.H.

Crash - Decyfer Down

Innocence & Instinct - Red

Live Revelations - Third Day

The Dash - John Wells-The Tonic

Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album

Speaking Louder Than Before - Jeremy Camp

The Power Of One - Israel Houghton

The Long Fall Back To Earth - Jars Of Clay

Love Is On The Move - Leeland

Freedom - Mandisa

Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album

Jason Crabb - Jason Crabb

Dream On - Ernie Haase & Signature Sound

The Rock - Tracy Lawrence

In God’s Time - Barry Scott & Second Wind

Everyday - Triumphant Quest

Best Traditional Gospel Album

God Don’t Never Change - Ashley Cleveland

The Law Of Confession, Pt. 1 - Donald Lawrence & Co.

Oh Happy Day - Various Artists

The Journey Continues - The Williams Brothers

How I Got Over - Vickie Winans

Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album

Audience Of One - Heather Headley

Renewed - Sheri Jones-Moffett

Just James - J Moss

Smokie Norful LIVE - Smokie Norful

Bold Right Life - Kierra Sheard

Congrats to all of ya!

Aaaaand, just FYI– in a poll asking who YOU wanted to win for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album, you guys picked Kierra Sheard.  The full break-down:

Kierra Sheard - 41% (90 votes)
J Moss - 23% (51 votes)
Smokie Norful - 20% (44 votes)
Sheri Jones-Moffett - 10% (21 votes)
Heather Headley - 7% (15 votes)

Gospel Artists Nominated In Non-Gospel Categories:

I was 3 for 3 in these predictions!!!

Tonex was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for his single “Blend” (Unspoken), but as I predicted, it went to India.Arie.

Ann Nesby’s “Sow Love” (The Lula Lee Project) was nominated in Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.  As I predicted, it went to Beyonce for “At Last.”

Robert Randolph & The Clark Sisters were nominated in the Best R&B Performance By Group/Duo with Vocals category for their performance of “Higher Ground” (Oh Happy Day), as were Ann Nesby & Calvin Richardson, but as I predicted, it went to Jamie Foxx and T-Pain for “Blame It.”

That’s the full deal, folks!  What do you think of the winners list???

Okay, buddies, it’s that time of year again.  The GRAMMY Awards telecast is this Sunday, January 31st at 8pm ET/PT on CBS.

With that, it’s time for my predictions.  These were REALLY tough and I changed ‘em numerous times over the course of the past two weeks.  I’m finally at peace about them (for today), so I’m posting them before I change my mind again. LOL

Before I give ‘em, I wanna make two disclaimers–

(1) My predictions do NOT necessarily reflect my preferences, nor do they reflect who I ACTUALLY voted for on the GRAMMY ballot this year.  They’re predictions… and nothing more.

(2) The winner is often based on popularity.  Plain and simple.  Now, NARAS (the voting body) has gotten much better about this, even making all of the nominated music available for online listening so that we can make educated votes, but it’s still an uphill climb.  My predictions are based on how I believe the majority voted and that requires consideration of who’s most popular within the entire music biz.

Without further delay, here goes…

 Best Gospel Performance

“Free To Be Me” by Francesca Battistelli
Track from: Free To Be Me

“Jesus Is Love” by Heather Headley feat. Smokie Norful
Track from: Audience Of One

“I Believe” by Jonny Lang w/ Fisk Jubilee Singers
Track from: Oh Happy Day

“Wait On The Lord” by Donnie McClurkin feat. Karen Clark Sheard
Track from: We All Are One

“Born Again” by Third Day
Track from: Revelation

This is a tough one, fresh out of the gate.  I’m thinking it’s gonna go to Heather Headley and Smokie Norful for a couple of reasons– folks adore “Jesus Is Love” and the song has carried mainstream significance for decades.  Similarly, Heather Headley carries mainstream voting power with her, despite the fact that it was a gospel project.  And, all that aside, their duet was quite good.

 Best Gospel Song

“Born Again” - Tai Anderson, David Carr, Mark Lee & Mac Powell, songwriters (Third Day)

“City On Our Knees” - Cary Barlowe, Toby McKeehan & Jaime Moore, songwriters (TobyMac)

“Every Prayer” - Dayna Caddell, Israel Houghton, Aaron Lindsey & Ricardo Sanchez, songwriters (Israel Houghton & Mary Mary)

“God In Me” - Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell & Warryn Campbell, songwriters (Mary Mary)

“The Motions” - Jason Houser, Sam Mizell & Matthew West, songwriters (Matthew West)

I’m betting on The Marys for this one.  The success and popularity of “God In Me” was like a runaway train– it was played everywhere, performed everywhere, talked about everywhere… and with good reason.  I expect this GRAMMY to be the culmination of over a year’s worth of rather deserved acclaim.

Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album

The Big Picture - Da’ T.R.U.T.H.

Crash - Decyfer Down

Innocence & Instinct - Red

Live Revelations - Third Day

The Dash - John Wells-The Tonic

As much as I enjoy Da’ T.R.U.T.H.’s project, I don’t think he’ll nab this one.  I’m actually torn on this, between Third Day and Decyfer Down… ultimately, I chose Third Day cuz they’re more of a household name.

Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album

Speaking Louder Than Before - Jeremy Camp

The Power Of One - Israel Houghton

The Long Fall Back To Earth - Jars Of Clay

Love Is On The Move - Leeland

Freedom - Mandisa

Another REALLY hard one for me… Jars Of Clay, Jeremy Camp and Israel are established artists with great music and big followings.  Mandisa and Leeland are newer, but just as popular in many circles, and also making some great music.  I have NO PEACE about this, but I’m predicting Mandisa.  She has a good project and her widespread exposure (added to her lingering American Idol popularity) may tip the scales in her favor here.

Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album

Jason Crabb - Jason Crabb

Dream On - Ernie Haase & Signature Sound

The Rock - Tracy Lawrence

In God’s Time - Barry Scott & Second Wind

Everyday - Triumphant Quest

I never have ANY clue when it comes to this category, cuz it’s just not my thing.  That said, I do know that Jason Crabb is one to watch right now, and I believe it’s because of this project.  That said, my money’s on Jason Crabb.

Best Traditional Gospel Album

God Don’t Never Change - Ashley Cleveland

The Law Of Confession, Pt. 1 - Donald Lawrence & Co.

Oh Happy Day - Various Artists

The Journey Continues - The Williams Brothers

How I Got Over - Vickie Winans

This is another tough call.  Donald Lawrence is simply incredible and he definitely deserves an award, in my opinion, but I fear that voters may not have agreed with his placement in the “traditional gospel” category… on that grounds, is it the best traditional project?  Maybe not… I predict the Oh Happy Day compilation.  It successfully brought together heavyweights in gospel and mainstream music to commemorate one of the most popular gospel songs in history.  It’s hard to ignore that.

Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album

Audience Of One - Heather Headley

Renewed - Sheri Jones-Moffett

Just James - J Moss

Smokie Norful LIVE - Smokie Norful

Bold Right Life - Kierra Sheard

First of all, shout-out to EMI Gospel for having 4 of 5 the artists in this category.  That said, I’m QUITE unsettled about this one.  Ultimately, I predict that Heather Headley will grab it– she has a nice voice, an album that lots of folks enjoyed, and popularity in the mainstream.  In my opinion, her album was not the best out of this group and I didn’t know that so many people would vote for it.  But I’m inclined to believe that if she got enough votes to get a nomination, she just may have gotten enough to get the win.

Gospel Artists Nominated In Non-Gospel Categories:

Tonex was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for his single “Blend” (Unspoken), and he might win that, but I also see an India.Arie nod in the same category and she will probably nab the award.

Ann Nesby’s “Sow Love” (The Lula Lee Project) is nominated in Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance (dunno why), but I’m fairly certain that Beyonce’s rendition of “At Last” will win in that category.

Robert Randolph & The Clark Sisters are nominated in the Best R&B Performance By Group/Duo with Vocals category for their performance of “Higher Ground” (Oh Happy Day), as is Ann Nesby for a Bobby Womack collabo, but I kinda expect the win to go to Jamie Foxx and T-Pain for “Blame It”.

OKAY.  Those are my predictions for the 2010 GRAMMY Awards.  For the full list of nominees in all categories, visit the GRAMMY website here.

What do you think???

One of the most widely discussed events of the Stellar Awards weekend was not really planned at all; rather, it came suddenly, in response to the earthquake in Haiti.  Kirk Franklin successfully brought together the gospel and Christian music communities to record a new song that he wrote, the proceeds from which will be donated directly to the relief efforts in Haiti.

Though Franklin wrote and produced the track, entitled “Song For Pain,” he’s not getting a cut, nor are any of the dozens of artists and musicians who participated.  And I mean DOZENS.  Some of the artists and musicians who rolled through the session include Mary Mary, Natalie Grant, Donnie McClurkin, J Moss, CeCe Winans, Kierra Sheard, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Marvin Winans, Micah Stampley, Karen Clark Sheard, Smokie Norful, Shirley Caesar, Amy Grant, BeBe Winans, Brian Courtney Wilson, Stephen Hurd, Nicole C. Mullen, and MORE.  Every penny is going to Haiti.

Over the course of several recording sessions throughout the weekend, Kirk (who also co-hosted and performed at the Stellar Awards, and had to attend rehearsals and run-thru’s for the same) spent every moment of his “spare time” in Nashville’s Quad Studios, generally until around 6am.  I don’t think he got any sleep all weekend.

Let’s continue to pray for Haiti, that the offering of our music community would be used greatly to take Christ and His healing power to that nation.  And, let’s pray for our own artists and musicians, especially Kirk Franklin, who selflessly gave of their time and energy for this cause.

AAAAND, when the single hits the internet stores this week, BUY IT.  I’ll be sure to let you know when and where.  Deal?

Aside from the actual taping of the Stellar Awards, folks eagerly anticipate the BMI Trailblazers Awards each year.   In fact, people often say that the BMI event features greater and more memorable performances than the Stellar Awards taping, though, this year… that MIGHT not be the case… I’m gonna call it a TIE!

In any case, BMI annually honors folks in gospel who’ve made significant contributions to the genre.  This year, Donnie McClurkin and Andraé Crouch were honored.  The celebration consists of a great lunch and some incredible tribute performances.  It went a lil’ something like this…

Before the honoring went down, Dorinda Clark-Cole came to the stage to perform her hit single “Take It Back,” which received a BMI Song Of The Year award (songwriter, Derrick Starks).  You already know that Dorinda brings it like none other and I was on my feet before I could even finish my salad.

Following that, we got a surprise performance from Jessica Reedy, who sang “God Has Smiled On Me” like a seasoned professional.  She really holds her own in this game and it’s great to see how welcoming the industry is of her.

The vocal production for the afternoon came from the incomparable Donald Lawrence and DeWayne Woods.  In the background– Tobi Darks, Dawn Jordan, San Franklin, Latrice Pace, Blanche McAllister and Anita Wilson.  YES!  The band– Joe Wilson on keys, Stanley Brown on organ, Kevin Stancil on bass, Jonathan DuBose on guitar, Marvin McQuitty on drums and Lloyd Barry on horns.  GOOD LORD!

The formal program began with the tribute performances to Donnie McClurkin, hosted by Byron Cage.  The background vocalists did a snippet of “That’s What I Believe” before Latice Crawford came to deliver her rendition of “I Call You Faithful.”  After that, Micah Stampley sang his heart out on “Speak To My Heart.”  McClurkin’s best friend and pastor, Marvin Winans, set the room ablaze with his performance of “Stand” (for which he also brought up BeBe Winans) before Yolanda Adams came to the stage to perform “We Fall Down.”

The McClurkin tribute performances were great, but I wish they had done some more songs for him– they could’ve dug a little deeper into the New York Restoration Choir days, pulled some more tracks from the Live In London album, or even focused a little more on songs that he’s written for other artists (like, “This Is The Gospel Of Jesus Christ” for Hezekiah Walker or “It Is To You” by Byron Cage).  Still, awesome job and I’m glad he was honored for his great contributions to the game.

After McClurkin accepted his award, it was on to the Andraé Crouch tribute, which was hosted by Yolanda Adams.  First, Donald Lawrence led the singers in a mindblowing medley of classic Crouch tunes including “Right Now” (led by Blanche McAllister), “Quiet Time,” “Soon And Very Soon”… it was just incredible.

Up next was the one and only Táta Vega, a longtime friend of, and singer with, Andraé Crouch.  She did an intro of “Speak Lord,” (which she recorded for The Color Purple decades ago) before transitioning into a soul-stirring performance of “Oh It Is Jesus.”  It was at THAT moment that the atmosphere of the entire room shifted from tribute to worship, and the event wasn’t the same again.

After that, Yolanda Adams couldn’t even regain her composure to introduce the next performance– BeBe & CeCe Winans singing “The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power.”  They just came on stage and took us to new heights, followed by Mary Mary’s staggering performance of “We Are Not Ashamed.”

Finally, Marvin Winans returned to the stage and shared some great stories about how instrumental Crouch was to the career of The Winans, even down to changing their stage name from “The Testimonial Singers” to simply, “The Winans” (thank God!).  He wrapped his segment with a performance of “Jesus Is Lord,” for which he simply had to call the legendary Karen Clark Sheard to the stage!

Andraé Crouch accepted his award and shared how he had been recently diagnosed with diabetes.  His doctors wanted to amputate his toe after discovering a large hole in it, but he shared that he had been miraculously healed!  He asks for continued prayer from the industry… great speech.

Finally, Marvin Winans led an impromptu segment of EVERYONE singing some classic Crouch songs that weren’t even on the program.  He called up Shirley Caesar, J Moss, Marvin Sapp, Donnie McClurkin… there are no words!

That’s that, essentially.  Dunno how much of it will make the edited televised program, but look for it on February 21st on Gospel Music Channel.  I’ll remind you as the time comes closer!

Soooo… whatd’ya think?!

I love great music.  Even more, I love a great live performance.  You’ve GOT TO be able to sing to pull it off and, if you can’t, it shows.

This year, a lot of great live performances were captured and broadcast across the nation.  Then, folks uploaded ‘em to YouTube.

Here are my 5 FAVORITE televised performances of 2009, in order:

5.  Donnie McClurkin & Karen Clark Sheard - “Wait On The Lord” at the 2009 Stellar Awards
The first single from Donnie McClurkin’s anticipated project did not disappoint. Aside from being a soaring ballad with an encouraging message, it featured one of the greatest voices the gospel industry has ever heard– that of Karen Clark Sheard. The duo gave one of the most thrilling performances of this year’s Stellar Awards telecast, with Karen soaring into the rafters in a way that any music lover could appreciate (and die-hard KCS fans were simply drooling over).

4. Kirk Franklin, Myrna Summers, Milton Biggham - Tribute To Rev. Timothy Wright at the 2009 Stellar Awards
At the time, the late Rev. Timothy Wright’s health was on a roller coaster– good days followed by bad ones. Kirk Franklin produced a moving segment, blending some of his hits with classic songs from the incomparable “Godfather Of Gospel Music.” With featured appearances by Myrna Summers and Rev. Milton Biggham, Kirk’s set was an incredible tribute to an incredible man.

3.  Fantasia & Diane Barrino - “He’s Done Enough” on Bobby Jones Gospel
Everyone knows that Fantasia was ACTUALLY s’posed to have signed a gospel contract win she won American Idol. But 2009 finally brought a bunch of gospel performance opps for her and gospel consumers cannot get enough of her. In every case, her signature singin’ and squallin’ brought audiences to their feet and prompted one recurring question from gospel consumers - “when is FANTASIA gonna do a gospel album?!”

It kinda all began in the beginning of the year, when she was featured on BET’s Bobby Jones Gospel, with her mother, Diane Barrino. She ministered like a seasoned pro and gave a performance like only she can.  Even more, she took the topic of her salvation off the table (though, it shouldn’t have been there to begin with) and demonstrated a real relationship with Jesus Christ.

2. Jessica Reedy - “Brighter Day” on BET’s Sunday Best
In my opinion, it was the most incredible performance of the entire season of BET’s Sunday Best.  Jessica stepped from possible underdog to frontrunner with one sweet, flawless, jazzy arrangement of Kirk Franklin’s “Brighter Day.” Channeling the style and finesse of Anita Baker, Jessica utterly floored the judges, Kirk Franklin and the viewing nation.

Though she’s not signed to a record deal yet, she promised ME she’d do her best to re-record THIS cut for her debut album.

1. Kim Burrell - “Bless Me (Prayer Of Jabez)” at the 2009 BMI Trailblazers Of Gospel Awards
Each year, one of the greatest events during Stellar Awards weekend is the BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Awards, at which gospel greats are honored with an award and tribute performances that are second to none. The most gifted vocalists and musicians in the industry participate and, often, attendees can only describe how good the show was by shaking their head in disbelief.

Enter Gospel Music Channel, which secured the rights to nationally broadcast the event for the first time. And what a year to do so– Kim Burrell performed “Bless Me (Prayer Of Jabez)” in tribute to honoree Donald Lawrence. The rest can only be stated by watching the video. LOL

Of course, I couldn’t pinpoint all of the great performances… there were too many.  From Celebration Of Gospel, to the Stellar Awards, BMI Trailblazers Of Gospel Awards and Sunday Best, we saw some dynamic performances from some of the world’s most gifted musicians.

Which TV performances made your list of faves?

In the gospel music industry, collaborations are BIG.  You wanna create a crazy buzz about your project before it hits the stores?  Tell folks you’ve got an exciting collabo on it.  You wanna kick up your television performance a notch?  Perform a collabo.

This year was a great year for collaborative work.  But I’ve decided to narrow the list down to my 5 favorite collabos.  In order, they are:

5.  “You Bring Out The Best In Me” - Vanessa Bell Armstrong feat. Rance Allen (from Vanessa Bell Armstrong’s The Experience)

When Vanessa Bell Armstrong decided to remake her own 80’s hit on her latest album, she prolly could’ve just done it herself and knocked it out of the ballpark.  But she’s a kind and gracious woman, apparently, because she gave us the gift of some classic Rance Allen moaning and groaning that took this live performance to a whole… ‘notha… level.  Their two voices grooving over some Donald Lawrence-produced background vocals– you kinda don’t want the track to end.

4.  “The Joy Of The Lord” - Coko feat. Israel Houghton (from Coko’s The Winner In Me)

Coko is a masterful collaborator in gospel.  It’s like she reads our minds and gives the mic to the VERY folks we’re aching to hear.  On her debut album, she featured everyone from Faith Evans to her mama (Lady Tibba).  This time around, she kept her mama, plus grabbed Kelly Price and Canton Jones.  My fave collabo on the album, though (and, thus, one of my faves of the entire year), was with Israel.  It’s a feel-good track with great vocal performances from both of ‘em… a true treat.

3.  “Available To You” - Melinda Watts feat. J Moss (from Melinda Watts’ People Get Ready)

After a much buzzed-about debut album, Melinda Watts entered the gospel scene with a project that had a little something for everyone.  Perhaps one of her strongest tracks was this duet with J Moss.  Kudos for taking a song that is performed too much at midnight musicals and making it fresh for us again, and double kudos for enlisting the vocal assistance (not that Melinda was at all in need) of one of the best male vocalists in the game.

2.  ”Every Prayer” - Israel Houghton feat. Mary Mary (from Israel Houghton’s The Power Of One)

When I saw that the Marys did a song with Israel, the last thing I thought I’d hear was a jazzy contemporary gospel track.  But they mastered the performance like the pros that they are and it quickly became one of my favorite songs on his album, if not of the entire year.  And there’s a GRAMMY nod to show for it.

1.  “Wait On The Lord” Donnie McClurkin feat. Karen Clark Sheard (from Donnie McClurkin’s We All Are One)

I hear that Karen Clark Sheard wasn’t actually the original choice for this song– it was gonna be Tramaine Hawkins.  That, too, would’ve been an incredible performance, but God does all things well and He knew that this duet was gonna dominate the charts and our iPods.  On this song, Donnie stays true to his strengths– his a classic vocalist who can render a soaring ballad like few others– while Karen gives, arguably, one of her greatest performances in years.

Which collabos were among YOUR faves this year???

The incomparable Karen Clark Sheard took a quick minute from her schedule to catch up with me about what she loves most about Christmas.  She also weighed in about her Christmas plans and… I kinda wanna hang out with the Sheards during the holiday season! LOL

Here’s what she had to say…

“My favorite part of the Christmas holiday (and this is a tough one, because there are so many parts of this holiday season I love and enjoy so much…), but to try and narrow it down, I’d say it’s the how the “atmosphere”, collectively, and nationwide, seems to change to that of kindness, peace, and love… and the desire to give, in all facets, at this time, seems so much stronger.

As Christians, of course we know, believe, share, and primarily celebrate God’s greatest gift to us: His son, Jesus.  Although there are those who don’t agree, believe, or even know this, for the most part, the Christmas holiday is the only holiday, I know, where people still (no matter their background or personal beliefs) seem to come together and really make a valid effort to at least “practice” some of what our Savior came to earth for.

Also at this time, it appears most people will at least acknowledge the awesome truth which I and my family consistently rejoice over:  He (Jesus) came to earth, born in a manger… just for “lil ole us.”  And so during this short time/season, the world, for the most part is just a little ‘different’, in a “positive way…”

Some of my plans for the Christmas holiday include: spending time with my wonderful family, who I love and adore, at home… enjoying each other and just having good ole’ fashion fun!

We love to laugh and we also play games.  And we’ll go to various events together over the holiday season (such as going for family drives looking at various lights and holiday decorations in the city, holiday shopping, holiday shows/musicals, etc.), where a lot of times, because of all of our hectic schedules, we don’t get a lot of time to do, as frequently as we’d all like, during the year.

My daughter, Kierra, and I also cook together, and have extra “girl” time! As 1st Lady of Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ, where my husband, J. Drew Sheard, is pastor, I also look forward to attending and supporting, with my family, the special holiday events we have at our ministry, such as:  our music dept’s annual Christmas concert, our Christmas productions/plays, our many auxiliaries’ community outreach programs, and other various celebrations for our youth and young adults.

This is also a time where I honestly do try and relax a little and get some much needed rest!  I’ll also be “gearing up” to promote my new, upcoming project, All In One, which I am so excited about, and I also hope you all enjoy!

I’m always ready for another new year of ministry and I am truly so grateful to God for each new year.

Happy holidays to everyone and God Bless you! Remember Jesus, celebrate Him this season, and all year long.”