I thought his performance was outstanding. It apppears that people around the country thought the same thing too. Shortly after the song was over, “Smokie Norful” started trending on Twitter. Here are some of the comments people posted on Twitter:

“I Need You Now by Smokie Norful. Thank you Stefano Langone for introducing it.”

“Stefano from #americanidol almost brought me to tears when he sung “I need you now” by. Smokie Norful”

“Personal Bookmark: Smokie Norful. Never heard of him before this episode of American Idol.”

I said this on Twitter last night and I’ll say it again. No matter what happens in this competition, I’m sure that Stefano Langone will be offered a record deal from a Christian/Gospel label.

I’m not sure what this exposure will do for Smokie Norful. I’m sure that many people went and downloaded “I Need You Now” off of iTunes. No matter what happens it was a pretty enjoyable experience, even if it was for one night.

[img credit: americanidol.com]

In the past, Butler has produced artists like Smokie Norful and Tamela Mann. Let’s not forget the work that he put into his own quality projects like Stronger, Revealed and Set Me Free.

It is a good thing anytime you can get Myron Butler to produce your CD. He is quickly becoming one of the top producers in the Gospel industry.

The live recording will take place on Friday, July 23, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at The Ginghamsburg Church, 6759 County Road 25A, Tipp City, Ohio 45371. Admission is FREE. For more information visit www.kingdomrecordsinc.com.

Have you ever listened to Tonya Baker’s music? What do you think about it?

Stand 2010 is part of The Stand Campaign that CoCo Brother launched in 2007. The purpose of The Stand Campaign is to promote Jesus Christ through love and evangelism.

When you listen to Stand 2010, you quickly realize that CoCo Brother does not sing on the project. Instead, he gathered artists like Joann Rosario Condrey, Isreal Houghton, Tye Tribbett, Kevin LeVar, and James Fortune to participate on the project.

This album features a number of quality worship songs. I listened to Prophetic Worship and Joann Rosario Condrey sounds different. Not in a bad way, but in a good way. I could be crazy but there is a certain authority in her voice that I never noticed before.

Kevin LeVar gives good performances with Moving Forward and Such An Awesome God Let’s Come Together. Tye Tribbett and Joann Rosario Condrey make a very nice pairing in the song Moving Forward.

If you’re the type of person that needs to hear lively and energetic songs you’ll need to wait towards the end of the album to hear them. However, when you do hear them, you won’t be disappointed. Stand And Take The City and My Name Is Resurrection are really good songs. They feature tons of energy and catchy hooks.

A little bit of spoken word is also sprinkled in this album. Paula White, Smokie Norful, Darwin Hobbs and Bebe Winans all offer special moments of inspiration throughout the album.

Overall, Stand 2010 is a unique album. I highly enjoyed it. The worshiped touched my heart and the spoken word inspired me. You can get your copy of Stand 2010 on Amazon.com or iTunes.

After listening the CD first hand, I must say that the many reports I was getting were accurate. Revealed is good.

The first song on the album is Revealed. It is likely that you have heard this song on the radio many times. In my opinion, Myron Butler has carved out a nice type of sound. I like to call it a Gospel groove. These are songs that have a smooth, upbeat tempo. These aren’t over the top, head banger type songs. Songs like Set Me Free and Stronger are really good songs to get your body moving a little. I would put Revealed in that class also.

This album features a couple of guest appearances. Kirk Franklin and Smokie Norful lend their talents to I Can’t Live and Run to the Cross, respectively. Both artists deliver classic performances. You won’t be disappointed by what you hear from either one of them.

In my opinion, the surprise of the album was the song Time After Time. Depending on your perspective, this song is a remake or cover of the song made popular by Cyndi Lauper. I must admit, when I listened to the beginning of the song my initial thought was, “this is going to be cheesy.” Then, I really listened to the lyrics. This song does a great job at illustrating how God is and always will be there for us.

Myron Butler has delivered once again. Revealed: Live in Dallas is a high quality album. I encourage you to buy it, because it will bless your soul. Go get your copy on Amazon.com or iTunes.

I love it when an artist does new and different things. With Worship and A Word, Smokie Norful shows us his other side. Many of you know Smokie Norful the singer. Worship and A Word is three separate albums that allow you to see Pastor Smokie Norful the preacher.

Many pastors record their sermons and make them available for purchase through their church. I don’t know of many pastors that make their sermons available through other distribution channels like Amazon.com. In addition to a powerful word from God, each album also includes a signature Smokie Nofrul song at the end.

Worship and A Word: According to Your Faith
This sermon explains the importance of faith and the role that it plays in our lives. Our faith is what gets God to move in our lives. In this message Pastor Norful reminds us that works or actions must be matched up with our faith.

Worship and A Word: The Myth of Unmet Needs
It is important for us to trust God and walk in his will. While we may not get everything we want, it is God’s desire for use to have everything we need. Many of us get caught up in a situation where we chase the things of this world (money, cars, houses). This sermon explains what happens when we actively chase after God.

Worship and A Word: Matters of the Heart
According to Pastor Norful, this sermon is rated “X” for extra real. As some point in our lives most of us have or will search for love. We may each go about it in a different manner. This sermon discusses why the character of God must clearly be present in whomever we align ourselves with.

The Bottom Line
These are three powerful and extremely relevant messages. No matter where you are in your life. I am confident that you will be able to take something away from each message.

According to Your Faith is my personal favorite of the three. I highly recommend listening to these messages. Once you do, let me know what you think about them. All three Worship and A Word albums are available on iTunes and Amazon.com.

The Music
Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that there was a time when Celebration of Gospel was used as a showcase to display artists that have released recorded music at least within the last two years. It didn’t seem like that was the case this year. I think the BET producers got together and said “who do we want on the show this year”.

They have every right to include whomever they want on the show. I wonder if they attempted to book artists like Israel Houghton, J. Moss and Smokie Norful. All of these artists released albums within the last year. Instead, they decided to go with Rance Allen, Yolanda Adams and Fantasia who all sung older songs.

The Best Moment of the Night
Generally BET does tributes very well. They honored Steve Harvey since he has been the only host is the history of the show. This was an extremely touching moment. What was really great was how Steve seemed to be really blessed by the words and music from Donnie McClurkin and Marvin Sapp. Seeing Steve get blessed in that way made the whole night worth if for me.

A Few Surprises  
We really didn’t hear a lot from Steve Harvey throughout the night. I’m sure some of that was due to the tribute. Editing could also be a factor. Overall, it seemed that his role as the host was slightly diminished compared to previous years. 

I was a little surprised to see Tye Tribbett there. Usually when an artist experiences challenges in their personal life they stay away from public appearances for a while. I understand that we all handle things differently. Let’s continue to keep him and his family in our prayers.

On another note…by all accounts, Celebration of Gospel 10 was the last time we will ever see Greater Annointing minister. It has been widely reported that Tye has decided to break the group up. 

Where Was God
A lot of people that I am connected to on Twitter and Facebook were disappointed about the editing job that BET did. By many accounts, there were many time where you could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in the theatre. However, we never saw those moments. This caused one of my friends to make the following statement, “Where was God? Did I miss Him? I think He showed up for a few minutes then left, came back, left and then left for good!”

The Bottom Line
Over the last couple of years BET has been getting a lot of criticism for their programming, but Celebration of Gospel is one of the shows that the network does very well for the most part. Donald Lawrence, Fred Hammond and Tye Tribbett all gave very good performances. I walked away from the broadcast feeling encouraged and uplifted.

Did you see Celebration of Gospel? What did you think about it? What was your favorite performance?

Smokie Norful is clearly one of gospel’s create vocalists. “Live” definitely reinforces that notion.

Tye Tribbett teams up with Smokie on the lead track entitled “He’s Gonna Come Through”. The result is pure fire! The instrumentation and energy were outstanding. This is definitely the type of song you can blast during the summer with your windows down.

Over the next couple of weeks you’ll be at a service or a concert and a male or female vocalist will be singing a solo chances are they will be singing “Dear God”. There will be many soloists using that song as their “A” selection.

Heather Headley joins Smokie in “Jesus is Love” and together, the two of them create a lovely duet. They lay down some powerful and inspiring vocals.

“Live” may be Smokie Norful’s best album to date. I highly recommed you conisder you buying this one. I am really looking forward to checking out the DVD when it comes out.

You can experience “Live” by Smokie Norful here:

Amazon.com