It wasn’t announced on air, but Marvin Sapp won the award for Best Gospel Artist. Nominees in the category included Tamela Mann, Vicki Winans, The Annointed Pace Sisters and Kirk Franklin presents Artists United (Are You Listening).

I must admit that I am a little disappointed, because I’m probably one of the few people that watches awards shows to actually see people receive awards. I know that most people watch for the performances.

Alicia Keys performed a medley featuring a number of the songs that she made popular. The big shock came is when she started singing If I Ain’t Got You and Kim Burrell came out and joined her on stage. Kim gave us what I call the Christian version of this song by replacing the word “baby” with “Jesus”.

In true Kim Burrell fashion, she delivered an outstanding vocal performance. The crowd definitely responded positively to Kim’s presence.

The main Gospel music moment came when Kirk Franklin performed Are You Listening: A Song 4 Haiti. Marvin Sapp, Fred Hammond, Yolanda Adams, Kim Burrell and Karen Clark-Sheard joined him on stage to perform the song.

I would argue that during this song, five of the top 20 singers in the theater were all on stage together. I thought their performance was great. Karen Clark-Sheard was absolutely amazing with the ad-libs. Even Prince seemed to love by her singing.

If you missed the performance you can view it below.

Did you see the BET Awards? Post a comment and share your opinion.