Returning to BET Networks for the sixth consecutive year on February 2, 2019 is the 20th Annual Super Bowl Gospel Celebration! This year’s celebration is hosted by national radio and TV personality Rickey Smiley and singer and TV personality Adrienne Bailon Houghton. The annual NFL-Sanctioned event, which took place during Super Bowl LIII week (and which I was able to attend 🙂 ), will air on BET Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 8PM ET/PT!
The one-hour special features performances by Kirk Franklin, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, The Winans, Lecrae, Hezekiah Walker, Tamia, Koryn Hawthorne, and the Super Bowl GospelNFL Players Choir. The special also includes appearances by Cam Newton and NeNe Leakes and honors Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller with the annual “Faith in Action” Award for his work with his charity Von’s Vision.
Below are a few pictures of what I saw last night and what you will see when you watch tomorrow!
From the Red Carpet:
Kirk and Tammy Franklin…
The Winans and Deborah Joy Winans…
Deborah Joy Winans and her husband Terrence Williams…
Grant Hill & Tamia…
Tasha Cobbs Leonard…
Koryn Hawthorne…
Lecrae…
Gregg & Nene Leakes…
Hezekiah Walker…
Cam Newton…
Melanie Few, founder and executive producer of the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration…
From the Celebration:
Co-Hosts Rickey Smiley and Adrienne Bailon Houghton…
the NFL Players Choir…
Tamia along with The Winans as Rickey & Adrienne clown…
Von Miller…
To see more from the celebration, you have to tune in to BET Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 8PM ET/PT!
He may be the self-proclaimed Pied Piper of R&B, but the Gospel/Christian community gets down with R. Kelly too, quiet or not as quiet as kept actually. But after the three-day-in-your-face, testimony after testimony riddled exposé aptly and tragically titled “Surviving R. Kelly,” will those who claim to have a higher calling such Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp & more mute the man who sings “Your Body’s Callin?”
And I won’t be a hypocrite. I’m including myself in that community. As I’ve communicated here before, I came of age in the golden era of the ’90s. I graduated from high school in 1992 which was also the year that “Born in the 90s” debuted. This was when R. Kelly was still with his group Public Announcement. Man, I loved that album. “Dedicated,” “Honey Love” and “Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)” were my three favorite songs from that album. His voice was earnest, sensual and melodic plus he was fine too. It was a no brainer for the pastor’s daughter who was exploring her newfound freedom as a college freshman. I remember dancing to his songs at parties, which I couldn’t attend when I lived at home with my parents. The next year, he went solo with his album “12 Play,” and I loved that one too. Whereas his first album with Public Announcement was more sensuous, sex and plenty of it was the theme of “12 Play.” The man knew how to blend his sexuality and artistry, and songs like “Bump ‘n Grind was the perfect backdrop to “Freaknik.”
In 1994, his collaboration with teenager Aaliyah as the producer for her debut album “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number”produced some instant hits as well. I LOVED the jeep remix of “At Your Best (You Are Love).” Me and my girls most definitely bumped (old school word) that song in my girl Keet’s pink and white Geo Tracker jeep when we went to see and be seen at Greenbriar Mall after reuniting back in the A from our various college campuses. It was genius to make an Isley Brothers song jeep worthy “bump”able. Now back then, we didn’t have social media but slowly through magazines like VIBE, I learned that the close vibe between 27-year-old R. Kelly and his 15-year-old protégé Aaliyah may have more than an older brother/younger sister scenario…much more. VIBE writer Danyel Smith’s Dec. 1994/Jan. 1995 article “R. Kelly: The Sex, The Soul, The Sales And The Scandalous Marriage to Teenage Superstar Aaliyah” made that clear. Me and my girls discussed the issue, but by then, adulthood as in play-time-is-over-and-now-it’s-time-to-find-a-job- after-college-graduation was ahead of me and what R. Kelly did or did not do with one teenage girl would not deter me. I went on with my life following college graduation, but R. Kelly had earned himself a spot on my college days playlist. And when I was feeling nostalgic, I could and would listen to his songs to take me back to when my most serious issue was deciding if I should start partying on Wednesday night after three days of classes or postpone partying till Friday when I could party without worrying about getting up for class in the morning.
But I didn’t have to be nostalgic about his music because the hits kept coming and not all of them were raunchy either. “I Believe I Can Fly” debuted in 1998 and became an instant hit worthy of being played at anywhere from church services to preschool graduations.
That’s probably around the time that the gospel and Christian communities took notice.
That was also around the time that I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ as well. I tried to clean up my playlist and no longer listen to certain kinds of music, but I was happy that R. Kelly didn’t necessarily have to be banned. “Lean on Me,” Kirk Franklin’s song featuring R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, Bono and came out at that time and I loved the collaboration. I thought “I Wish” was a beautiful inspirational song.
As it turned out, R. Kelly, the self-proclaimed Pied Piper of R&B , could turn out a gospel hit as easily as he could an R&B hit. That’s talent, I tell you. Whitney Houston’s last gospel song (written by the R) “I Look to You” before she passed in 2012 was haunting considering all that she had been through. And the way R. Kelly sang his rendition of the song he gave to her at her homegoing…chills…
And since then, more gospel artists have employed his services from Isaac Carree’s 2013 hit “Clean This House” to Marvin Sapp’s 2017 hit “Listen.”
And yet even as he helped people praise God and presumably praised Him himself, the Pied Piper of R&B was allegedly luring young girl after young girl into his virtual harem according to what was revealed in Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly.” It may have began with Aaliyah in the ’90s but sadly it did not end there. If what has been revealed in the three-day documentary is true, R. Kelly is a pedophile – plain and simple. Last year, when #MuteRKelly movement began here in Atlanta, I FINALLY began to come to grips with the alleged facts as they have been presented. He allegedly operated what amounts to a sex cult up in Johns Creek, which is a suburb of Atlanta, my hometown. I couldn’t look away anymore. I couldn’t recall my college days bumping “Bump ‘n Grind” at Freaknik, praise the Lord with R. Kelly plus Kirk Franklin with “Lean On Me,” “Step in the Name of Love” at a grown folks’ party, reminisce about my single days with “Feeling Single” and on and on in peace. And now, after surviving “Surviving R. Kelly,” I’m muting R. Kelly.
If you are a Christian, today, Easter Sunday, is the most triumphant and glorious day of the year…The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the bedrock of our faith…It is how we know that we know that we know God.loves.us…
If, by chance, you are a unfamiliar with the story – I pray that those who have never heard of the story somehow find their way to my humble space on the Internet – let me tell it to you in simple terms…
Holy God, creator of this universe, wants to have a personal relationship with us, the sinful human beings that He created…But because of our sin, which is essentially our willfulness or inclination to doing things our own way without God’s guidance, He cannot tolerate what we have done to ourselves and how we have desecrated our beings…However, he allowed his Son, Jesus Christ, a perfect being to die, to sacrifice himself on the cross and bridge the gap between us and our Holy Father…And Jesus Christ was resurrected three days later proving that God conquers death!!! If you would like to read the official story, please see Luke 24 in the Bible…
While the Easter story is confined to a few chapters, the Easter message is scattered throughout the entire Bible from the beginning to the end…
1. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20…This verse comes from the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers because they were jealous of him and his close relationship with their father. Years later, however, Joseph, who had been given a position in the government in the country where he had been enslaved, was reunited with his brothers…
Despite what had been done to him, Joseph assured his brothers that God used their evil deed to allow Him to be in a position of authority. And that position of authority enabled him to do good for many under him…
Again, what may be negative, God can and will change it to a positive for us and many others if we would give Him the opportunity…This is what happened with Jesus on the cross…
2. “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;I will surely defend my ways to His face.” Job 13:15…Job was a man who had been blessed spiritually and materially, but God allowed all of his materials blessings to be taken away to prove to the devil if Job would still serve God.
This verse was Job’s declaration that in spite of His feelings that God had deserted him, he would still trust Him…Jesus, God’s son, felt that way as well…Although He chose to die for our sins, there was a point that He felt God was not with Him because He was dying…
And yet, He went through it because His ultimate hope was in God…And we can claim the same when we are going through tough situations…In spite of whatever seemingly hopeless situation we find ourselves in, God can turn it around…He did it for Job, Jesus and He can and will do it for us…
3. “Trust in the Lord with all your heartand lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6…Sometimes there are things that happen to us that no matter how long we think about them or who we talk to about them, we cannot make sense of what happened…But we don’t always have to understand because God can straighten it all out…Those who lived with and loved Jesus didn’t understand why Jesus had die although He tried to explain it, but three days later, they understood…and were blessed…
4. “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer,and though the Lord makesHis life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days,and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered,he will see the light of life and be satisfied…” Isaiah 53: 10-11 With God, suffering can have a purpose…Jesus’ suffering enables us to have life with the Father…
5. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28…This verse is a testament of how God operates…God can and does take anything and bring good out of it…Death is vile…But Jesus’ death is how we are able to be reconciled to God…That is good…
6. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:12-13…As Christians or followers of Christ, we will be tested…But even as we are tested, we can have inexplicable joy knowing that we are being tested because we do believe in Christ….
7. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:3-5 The ultimate message of Easter is that death is not the end of the story…And one day death as know it will be done and over with…
I wrote this Easter post because God has a track record of bringing the biggest blessing out of tragedies…I wrote this post for me, but I hope it blesses you…
Happy Easter! Jesus is Risen! Blessed be the name of Jesus!
One of my favorite gospel songs of all times…Wonderful Easter Message…
