Grand Rapids, Michigan -- The week long anniversary celebration that kicked off last Sunday to mark Pastor and Grammy-nominated Gospel music singer, Marvin Sapp’s 20 years in ministry and his Lighthouse Full Life Center church’s sixth year ended on an extraordinary high note as Pastor Sapp recorded his live CD/DVD.

The recording took place at Resurrection Life Church, 5100 Ivanrest Ave. SW. in Grand Rapids, Michigan in front of a crowd of close to 2,000.

“Com on somebody and put your hands together for Jesus,” those were the opening words for the night from Melinda Sapp, Pastor Sapp’s wife as she greeted the crowd. Her energy was high and her praise was strong as she told everyone, “I brought a praise with me this evening.” Truly a lover of the Lord, she had everyone on their feet worshiping the Lord and setting the atmosphere for what was come. Before heading back to the production booth where she would also play a key roll in the production of the CD and DVD recording, she said “We want to make sure the house is ready for worship,” and by the time she left the stage, it was.

Followed by prayer and praise, the host for the evening, Ray Bady finally made his way to the stage. He greeted everyone and gave a few shout outs before introducing the opening act for the pre-show, which was Henry Sapp a.k.a. DOC which stands for Doctor of Comedy. 

 
From left to right; Melinda Sapp, Gospel Comedian Henry Sapp

Henry, also Pastor Sapp’s brother, kept his jokes in the church, but also kept them very real as he told the crowd, “You know your breathe is bad when you need to power wash your mouth.” He said, “When it comes to praise dancers there should be an age limit,” as he gave an example of and elderly woman with a walking cane attempting to praise dance. It was a site as the crowd laughed along with him.

After an extremely funny set, the atmosphere gradually shifted as musicians got into position, background singers took their place and the music started to flow, with Gospel music’s most heralded singer, Pastor Marvin Sapp taking center stage.

As he proceeded to record the follow-up to his runaway hit Thirsty, you could tell from the first note, this recorded was taking a different direction and would stand alone as Pastor Sapp performed each song with the grace and purpose God intended them to have.

Songs including “Freshwind”, written by Jonathon Dunn, “He Has His Hand on You” written by Stan Jones and Here I Am’ had the congregation on their feet, and disappointed only when Pastor Sapp and his singers stopped singing.

One of the top favorite songs for the evening, “He Saw the Best in Me,” could have lasted for hours. The lyrics included these lines;

He saw the best in me, when every one else around me, only saw the worst in me

He’s mine, And I’m His and it doesn’t matter what I did, He only sees me for who I am

These two lines alone had the crowd, feeling as though the Lord was cradling them in His arms as the saints held their hands lifted towards heaven.

Ironically, the birth of this song came in the same fashion as “Never Would Have Made it,” which held the number one spot on Billboards Gospel chart for 49 record breaking weeks.

Sapp told The Belle Report, “It was about three years ago, after church service when I started singing those words, He saw the best in me. Before I knew it, as I kept singing the song, it began to take life. The saints also started to join in and started praising the Lord and running around the church.” He also said, just like “Never Would Have Made It,” he had no intentions of recording it and said he had planned to give the song to a Quartet Group. But it never got that far, thanks to Sony Records Joseph Berney, who told him to “keep it.”

Another song on the CD that’s also sure to catch the attention of listeners included Comfort Zone, written by Ted Winn, who was also in attendance. However Pastor Sapp made it clear, this new project, currently planned for a 2010 release, with “Here I Am,” as the working title was a team effort. He recognized Jason Henderson, Aaron Lindsey the Music producer for the project and Myron Butler the Director of the Vocals for their collaboration.

While recognizing so many who had assisted him and contributed to his efforts, he thanked, Michael Brooks, one of the original members of Commission along with his wife, Lisa for taking the time to attend his recording.

Also making the trip to the recording were Chicago Gospel Announcers Guild President Dennis Coles, along with Debra Pollard, Snoopy, Chicago’s own Clear Channel Diva Effie Rolfe, Jody Mainello, Gerard Bonner, Neechy, E.J. Gaines, Jeff Grant, Jazzy Jordan, Kimberly Northsworthy, Citadel Broadcasting Corporation’s own J’Michael, The Belle and thousands of Marvin Sapp fans.

Additionally, for the first time in the Gospel music genre, fans were invited to take part in the recording through a live stream, at www.verityrecords.com.

Before the night ended, the crowd coaxed Pastor Sapp into singing “Never Would Have Made It,” which was simply incredible. However after hearing some of Pastor Sapp’s newer songs for his upcoming CD/DVD, including “He Saw the Best In Me,” going number one with this single and staying even longer at the top of Billboards Charts, would be no surprise.