Gospel honors are back after two years

Bridge Awards are 'shot in arm' for local gospel community

By Mark Jordan

Thursday, June 18, 2009

A joyful noise will ring forth from Minglewood Hall Saturday night as local churches celebrate the return of the Gospel Bridge Awards.

"The whole Gospel Bridge Awards is a shot in the arm of the gospel community in this area," says Billy Rivers, leader of the acclaimed Angelic Voices of Faith, who are nominated for Community Choir of the Year and slated to perform at the awards ceremony. "It helps boost the morale of the artists to keep doing what they're doing and to encourage them to stay faithful to what God has called them to do."

The awards were established in 2002 for just that purpose. Noticing a lack of recognition for the city's rich gospel scene, Alex Goodwin, a local concert promoter and choir director at World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church, conceived of the Gospel Bridge Awards to nurture local gospel artists and give them a platform to achieve greater recognition.

"There's a great rich gospel heritage here. We're just trying to carry on that legacy," says Goodwin. "Memphis has so many churches but everybody was doing their own thing at different individual churches. So we wanted to unite the gospel family, the gospel community of Memphis, by recognizing preachers, singers, directors, and all the different gifts they use that benefit Memphis."

The awards recognize achievement in 19 categories, including organist, praise team, radio personality and Christian business of the year.

The ceremony also singles out two people for its Trailblazer and Lifetime Achievement Awards. This year's Lifetime Achievement Award is being presented to Marshel Killebrew, owner of the Tennessee Regular Baptist Book Store, which has been a hub for the area gospel scene for decades. Pastor Charles Cartwright of Mt. Gilead Baptist Church will receive the Trailblazer Award for starting the Divine Messengers, one of Memphis' first community choirs.

Scheduled to perform at the awards show alongside the Angelic Voices of Faith are a couple of young groups, Adayjo and the all-female Purity, as well as Christian rapper Mr. Del, and female soloist of the year nominee Carla Tolbert-Taylor of Bountiful Blessings Church of God in Christ. Also performing will be former Memphian and best-selling gospel artist Ernest Pugh and Kansas City singer Chrystal Rucker, a favorite at COGIC convocations.

With so much talent on stage -- and support from local churches -- Goodwin is hoping for a sell-out for Saturday's show, but it will take more than a full house if the Gospel Bridge Awards are to have a prayer of returning next year. This year's ceremony marks a return after a two-year hiatus.

"I was sponsoring this myself for four years because I believed in the purpose of it," says Goodwin. "We didn't get the funding, so I laid out for two years, and I came back and decided to fund it again to get it started."

With a deal to tape this year's awards for later broadcast on the PAX network, Goodwin is hoping he can attract a long-term sponsorship partner for the event. But even if that falls through, Goodwin is optimistic he will find a way to keep the show going.

"It uplifts a lot of people," he says. "Those two years we didn't do it, I got a lot of calls asking why don't we do this again because it made people feel great."

2009 Gospel Bridge Awards

7 p.m. Saturday at Minglewood Hall, 1555 Madison. Tickets: $28, available at the Minglewood box office and online at minglewoodhall.com. For group sales of eight or more, call 901-281-6917. For more information, including the list of award nominees, visit gospelbridgeawards.org.