By the time the near three-hour long service had come to an end, more than three dozen youth had accepted Christ, and Franklin had apologized to any parent who might have been offended by the often-graphic way in which he spoke to their kids.


The program, dubbed the “Takeover,” the mission of which is to recapture lost youth, has transformed the lives of a growing number of kids throughout the Los Angeles area in services like these—without music. It’s just this sort of ministry that Kirk Franklin, gospel’s biggest selling music star, is most passionate about these days, and its one of the main things taking up his time. 


“It’s about all the issues Christians face in life,” Franklin said. “Very honest. Very street. It’s my voice and the way that I see them as being wrong and then my approach on how to make them right.

And while it has been keenly effective with youth, Franklin’s ministry is hardly limited. “Surprisingly enough. I get calls from everywhere, white, black, young and old,” Franklin reveals. “I speak at schools like Pepperdine and Baylor University, at youth events, churches and major Christian music events like Creation Festival. I don’t want to limit what I say or do. I just want to be a vessel and love who I’m doing it for more than what I’m doing.”

Read entire article by Lisa Collins at GospelMusicChannel.com

Back in the day I was a lunch line rapper / after that I guess I was a punch line rapper / then I got saved and sometime after / ya boy came back as a frontline rapper… I’m out here preachin’ Christ on the frontlines / and no it ain’t about rockin’ stages / ‘coz some of my engagements are out on the pavements.

These words from Lecrae’s “After the Music Stops” signify an underground movement that in the last several years may finally be coming into its own. And if that is the case, the artist behind those words is one of the reasons why, or so his record sales say.

In just shy of five years, Lecrae Moore (better known as “Lecrae”), has seen two out three of his albums chart in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart. With multiple sales chart appearances, his third CD, Rebel—released in September of 2008—soared to the top of the Billboard charts, becoming the highest debuting album in the Christian rap industry.

Read entire article at GospelMusicChannel.com