♪ Look at somebody and say Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus!

♪ ♪ C'mon put your hands together everybody.

♪ ♪ One verse, come on.

♪ ♪ (scatting) ♪ ♪ Yea ♪ ♪ Jesus comes along and makes me strong ♪ GATES: It's 1993 at the Azusa Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The popular venue for preaching and singing was a critical stop on any gospel tour, and this year's performers reflected the full range of the dramatic changes happening in gospel's sound.

(applause) JAKES: Lift your hands in worship.

Every daughter who needs a mother, every mother who needs a daughter.

Every woman who's ever been through a crisis and somehow you've survived, begin to worship.

Every woman who needs answers, every woman who has answers, oh we've got to get together!

(applause) (singing) GATES: A new generation of musicians and preachers raised on the live, choral sound of James Cleveland and the lyrical dexterity of hip hop was bringing gospel into the platinum age.

Their embrace of mainstream popular culture was an unmistakable sign of the times.

JORDAN: By the time we get to the 90's, you've got an African American community that is trying to exert its identity.

They don't want to sing mama's gospel.

They want to sing the gospel that would speak to them.

(clapping) GATES: By the 1990's, the sacred sounds of the Black church were reaching millions, through radio, cable television and box office powerhouses like "The Preacher's Wife" and "Sister Act Two".

♪ CHOIR: Power before me ♪ GATES: And with the bevy of its own award shows, magazines and ever proliferating conferences, the Black church became firmly entrenched in the lucrative entertainment business.

♪ CHOIR: Giver of immortal gladness ♪ ♪ Fill us, fill us... ♪ GATES: Many African Americans are not attending church with the same regularity that their parents and grandparents did.

Nevertheless, these gospel albums are selling at platinum levels.

LAWRENCE: Well, I think they wanted the good news without the rules.

WALTON: The gospel music industry is growing exponentially, so profits are getting higher, and whenever profits get higher, we have to ask ourselves if we're comfortable with the kingdom of God being a brand.

♪ So we sing ♪ ♪ Joyful joyful ♪ ♪ Lord, we adore thee ♪ ♪ God of glory ♪ ♪ Lord of love ♪ ♪ Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee ♪ GATES: By the early 90s, the gospel industry was experiencing a frightening moment of transition, losing so many to a global plague.

REPORTER: The community faces an ominous problem.

The Center for Disease Control, the CDC, reports African Americans are contracting and living with HIV/AIDS at alarming rates.

HADLEY: I remember watching choir directors, in my neighborhood, grow gaunt.

Young men literally fading away in front of us and passing away.

WARWICK: It was devastating.

We were losing so many people.

In our churches we were losing choir members, losing piano players, organists, nurses, deacons.

I mean, it was just running rampant.

FLUNDER: For the most part, the church was the worst possible place to go if you needed help.

I have seen people who had Kaposi's, rashes and things like that be turned away at the door and asked not to come into the church.

GATES: Then, in 1991, the gospel music industry suffered a catastrophic loss.

James Cleveland, the renowned choir leader, and founder of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, passed away after an undisclosed illness.

♪ Lord do it ♪ ♪ Lord ♪ GATES: The King of Gospel was now an ancestor.

HADLEY: I remember the day that James Cleveland died, and I remember thinking, there's a piece of this puzzle that is missing.

♪ Lord do it for me ♪ GREENE-HAYES: There were rumors surrounding his sexuality.

Later on, it's revealed through a legal case by Christopher Harris, who was his foster son, that Cleveland died of AIDS, and his church and those who were close to him chose to bury those secrets along with him.

♪ Do it for me ♪ SHELLEY: James Cleveland's legacy is complicated.

A person on the one hand who is clearly a transformative musician and a person who exists in a complicated relationship to church, to power, to various questions of identity.

♪ So here's my little problem, Jesus ♪ ♪ Do it for me ♪ ♪ Fix it for me right now, right now ♪ GATES: The passing of the legendary James Cleveland was a crucial turning point for many young gospel musicians, some of whom felt alienated from the church, and wanted to push the gospel sound in dramatically new directions.

(It's Time, The Winans Feat.

Teddy Riley).

♪ Yo, what's up?

♪ ♪ I'ma kick it The Winans, y'all know ♪ ♪ Yo Slim, can I kick ♪ ♪ Here we go ♪ ♪ It's, it's, it's ♪ ♪ Well, it's time.

♪ ♪ About that time.

♪ ♪ Time to make that change ♪ HAROLD: Gospel artists have always built from the totality of African American culture.

You can't understand the "glory, hallelujahs" of the gospel without the pain of the blues, the history of the spirituals, and the complexity of jazz.

And so, Gospel artists, many gospel artists have always operated with the understanding that there's no one gospel sound.

♪ Well, it's time to make that change ♪ ♪ People of the world today are fading ♪ ♪ All of us have our ups and downs ♪ ♪ You better think about it or you won't be around ♪ ♪ What we need is a little bit of love ♪ ♪ Sent by One from Heaven above ♪ ♪ Take it from "T.", it's simple and plain ♪ ♪ This ain't no game, you know what I'm sayin'?

What?

♪ ♪ It's time ♪ ♪ Yep yep ♪ ♪ Time to make a change ♪ ♪ Here we go ♪ ♪ ♪ GATES: As new flavors of R&B and hip hop dominated the airwaves gospel artists started experimenting with studio wizardry and high-end production techniques, attempting to reach a younger audience outside the church.

♪ I can't hide what I feel inside ♪ ♪ Everyone should know ♪ ♪ So, just let it show, baby ♪ ♪ All of your problems, yes I'm aware ♪ ♪ And when you're down, I'll be right there ♪ SHELLEY: Gospel has always had this promiscuous relationship to musical styles: soul, blues, hip hop, whatever is happening in the world is also happening in gospel.

("1999" by Prince) JORDAN: The sound of gospel starts to take on that kind of flavor: the drumbeats, the beat machines... ♪ ♪ (similar instrumental beat).

JORDAN: Hezekiah Walker, John P. Kee, they were all putting forth music that had that sort of beat to them.

The sounds of organ and synthesizer start to take on a whole new role.

♪ Yeah ♪ CARPENTER: It represented the shift in the music taste of the audience.

Enough with this highway to heaven stuff, you know, we're ready to dance and feel good and enjoy life through our music.

♪ ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ GATES: Alongside these young artists, was a new crop of Black record producers and music executives eager to help usher in this new gospel sound.

How did you get interested in producing gospel music?

LATAILLADE: I had an internship with RCA records.

There was no Black music division when I started, actually.

The thing that was most important was country music.

♪ I've been down in Mississippi ♪ LATAILLADE: Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson.

And they were working on crossing it over.

It was kind of, why can't gospel do the same thing?

Vicki Mack Lataillade launched her own gospel label in the early 90s, concerned that the pop music playing on the radio was, to her ears, less than uplifting.

LATAILLADE: When I started my label it was really for my daughters.

I remember my daughter was just in her little underpants and her little t-shirt and she was going around singing do I think I'm a nasty girl... ♪ Do you think I'm a nasty girl?

♪ ♪ Tonight, don't you want to come with me?

♪ ♪ Do you think I'm a nasty girl?

♪ ♪ Please, please ♪ LATAILLADE: And I was like oh, wait a minute, this is not what we want, and my daughter said to me mommy, if... You're in the music business do something about it then.

GATES: Mm-hm.

But what did you see in terms of the market potential?

Did you see this new generation of gospel lovers out there that you could reach?

LATAILLADE: Absolutely.

Um, I remember listening to "Oh, Happy Day" and that song was transforming for me, and that's what I wanted to do because we needed to give people hope.

♪ Tell me that's a heaven oh Lord ♪ ♪ Oh happy day!

♪ LATAILLADE: We need something that's uplifting.

♪ Oh happy day!

♪ (cheering).

GATES: Lataillade named her label Gospocentric and began searching for artists to record.

♪ Since I laid my ♪ ♪ Burdens down ♪ ♪ Burdens down ♪ ♪ Burdens down ♪ ♪ Burdens down ♪ ♪ Burdens down ♪ ♪ Since I laid ♪ One of the first demo tapes she received was from Donald Lawrence, a songwriter and music producer raised in the Pentecostal church.

♪ Since I laid my ♪ ♪ Burdens down ♪ ♪ Burdens down ♪ LAWRENCE: I gave her this demo and she was speechless.

She said I've never heard anything like this.

This is the sound that I want my label to have.

I want my label to have a cutting-edge sound, and it set the tempo for this new urban contemporary gospel kind of thing.

LATAILLADE: When songs are very complicated, the church is not going to get into that.

They need something very simple that they can sing while they're washing dishes, cleaning the car that they can keep in them when they wake up to give them faith and hope.

Some music it was just too clean.

It was so pristine.

I'm like I don't want that.

I want to hear people breathing.

I want to hear somebody say aha, yes, oh hallelujah, because then you get the essence of what the music is really all about.

I, I.... That's what I would call the anointing.

I need this church one to sound like this.

♪ ♪ GATES: Then in 1992, Lataillade came across a 22-year old songwriter and choir leader from Texas.

His name was Kirk Franklin.

(applause) HOST: Brother, it's nice and good to see you.

You were, kind of, uh, I guess, a child prodigy.

I mean 11 years old you were a music minister?

FRANKLIN: Yeah, yeah, I was like 11 directing choirs.

Growing up, you know, I was labeled as a church boy, you know.

I was always in church, always working with music.

We feel as young people, especially in the 90s is that the church does a lot of criticizing.

But... but nowadays, what the church needs to do is reach out, and the young people need to hear that testimony.

GATES: As a young choir leader, Franklin was inspired by what he was hearing on contemporary Black radio and cleverly remixed those sounds into church services.

Every great artist has influences.

FRANKLIN: Yeah.

My influences were Prince, Michael Jackson, uh, uh, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway.

Something that you'd probably hear on Sunday morning is me maybe taking an R&B song and flippin' it with the kids' choir, you know, like "Benny and the Jets".

GATES: Franklin pitched a song to Lataillade that sampled the classic church hymn "His Eye Is On The Sparrow."

LATAILLADE: When I first heard the demo of Kirk Franklin's "Why We Sing", Kirk's genius in the writing was definitely there.

Production wise it was not there, but I called Donald Lawrence, who is absolutely brilliant man.

LAWRENCE: She said this is gonna be my second release and uhm, I just need it to sound right.

It's a little bit more traditional um and I don't like the mix.

Can you remix it for me?

I thought it was okay.

Uh, it was just clean, and I had learned in doing live recordings that you want to recapture the live.

The perfection takes away all of any emotion that we had.

So, I went back starting to try to find the emotion.

I'm just going to play a little bit.

GATES: Okay.

♪ Someone asked a question ♪ ♪ Why do we sing?

♪ (audience shouts) LAWRENCE: Those moments weren't there when I first heard the mix.

GATES: I was wondering.

Because you had... it was clean, so you put it all back in.

LAWRENCE: I wanted to put that stuff back in because then you feel the energy of the room, see you hear a little bit of feedback.

The original producers wanted to clean all of that stuff up, but I said you got to, you got to choose one or the other.

I go for the feeling.

The imperfection is okay.

GATES: You put the call and response in.

LAWRENCE: Yeah.

I put everything back there.

There was, that's the real audience that was there.

GATES: Oh it is?

♪ I sing because I'm happy ♪ (applause) ♪ I sing ♪ ♪ I sing because I'm free ♪ ♪ His eye's on ♪ ♪ His eye's on the sparrow ♪ ♪ You're the reason ♪ ♪ You're the reason why I sing ♪ ♪ Why we sing, family ♪ (applause) BARRON: The song is very powerful.

It communicates passion for the gospel.

It speaks to the hope that we find in Christianity and in gospel music.

♪ What do we really mean?

♪ ♪ Someone may be wondering ♪ ♪ Someone may be wondering ♪ ♪ When we sing our song ♪ FRANKLIN: I narrate more than I sing.

I'm not a singer.

All I was doing was doing what happened every Sunday at the Black church.

The pastor gets up and he kind of narrates the song, and the choir says the line after the pastor says it.

GATES: Right.

♪ His eye's on the sparrow ♪ ♪ That's the reason why ♪ ♪ That's the reason why I sing ♪ HADLEY: In a way it's a throwback to lined hymns.

It's a song appropriate for a worship service, and it's a song that your momma's gonna love.

Your daddy, who's a pastor, is gonna to love it.

♪ You're the reason why ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ CARPENTER: Vicki Mack, being the marketing genius that she is, she went into, to her marketing mode.

♪ ♪ JOHNSON: I remember her saying, I'm going to promote him just like we would promote the secular artists.

And so, she would send them out to the same phone list, the same listening parties.

CARPENTER: And that's how it was getting to a new audience.

They won't come to church to see these people, but they'll go to a club, they'll go to a park.

He was coming outside of the church and taking it to the world.

MAN (over radio): You're listening to Power 107.5 FM, WGCI Chicago's number one radio... CARPENTER: At WGCI, Tom Joyner, started playing it.

MAN (over radio): Number one and having fun... CARPENTER: Not on Sunday, every day, throughout the day, in between Boyz II Men and Mary J. Blige.

It just went through the roof.

It crossed over.

It went to the top on the Billboard R&B chart.

LATAILLADE: I was going to be happy if we did a decent 20,000 and big time was going to be 50,000.

GATES: And how many did it sell?

LATAILLADE: Last I heard it was about a million, three million, four.

We said we wanted to reach millions with the good news of Jesus Christ and uhm...

It did that.

♪ For those of you that think that ♪ ♪ Gospel music has gone too far ♪ ♪ You think we've gotten too radical with our message ♪ ♪ Well I got news for you ♪ ♪ You ain't heard nothin yet ♪ ♪ And if you don't know, now you know ♪ ♪ Glory, glory ♪ GATES: The success of "Why We Sing" put Franklin squarely on the map, but it was his 1997 remix of his hit song "Stomp" with God's Property that would propel him to superstardom.

With its funk samples and rap cameos, "Stomp" was the ultimate fusion of gospel and hip hop.

♪ Turn my life around ♪ ♪ Oh, I feel like having some church up in here ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ I can't explain it ♪ LATAILLADE: What I wanted to do was have music that was more contemporary because the most popular music in church was rap.

I said well of course it's rap.

The pastor raps every Sunday.

♪ Come on ♪ ♪ Salt, can you help me?

♪ ♪ When I think about the goodness ♪ ♪ And the fullness of God ♪ HADLEY: It is meant to live outside of church.

Nobody was really using "Stomp" in their worship service.

You weren't going to sing that on youth Sunday.

"Stomp" is in a gymnasium.

Folks have on like jerseys, and you have all this like hip-hop influenced dancing, and it's meant to speak to a young perhaps unchurched population and say God can still be for you.

♪ All my people say ♪ ♪ Stomp ♪ ♪ All my folks say ♪ HADLEY: So of course, it rankles some folks.

What?

You doing all this hip-hop stuff?

You got people rapping, and these children don't even have on choir robes, like where is God in that?

(Stomp, Kirk Franklin).

♪ Hallelujah now ♪ ♪ What does it do now?

♪ GATES: So, the church leaders listened to Kirk and they go uhhh.

LATAILLADE: I knew I was going to get some pushback, but I had no idea.

♪ ♪ (applause) FRANKLIN: Come on, come on, come on, come on!

HAROLD: Gospel music is a contested art form.

And the criticism often intensifies as the music crosses over and enters other spaces.

♪ I'm telling you that ♪ ♪ You are the reason, Jesus ♪ ♪ I'm alive breathing ♪ HAROLD: But there's no one way to make a joyful noise.

There's no one way to spread the good news.

♪ And when I do, there's just one thing I wanna say ♪ ♪ Sing it with me ♪ ♪ Gotta say, yeah ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord, for helping me... ♪ HAROLD: And that's the best to me of the tradition.

The tradition in gospel music is change.

♪ I've got, got the victory ♪ ♪ I've got the sweet, sweet victory in Jesus ♪ ♪ For me he died but he rose on the third day ♪ ♪ That's why I have true victory every day ♪ GATES: By the turn of the century, as female vocalists like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Destiny's Child were topping the Billboard pop charts, gospel artist, Yolanda Adams, began actively carving out her own space in the music business.

♪ But all my bills got paid ♪ ♪ Because I called on Jesus' name ♪ ADAMS: My gospel music is based on my love for God, the message of kindness, the message of mercy.

That's what it's all about.

It should be global, and it should have global impact.

Every decade someone was making strides to make gospel music bigger.

♪ ♪ BARRON: I define the platinum age as this period from '93 to 2013, in which gospel artists see an amazing amount of commercial success.

JOHNSON: And so that's when we see Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary and Donny McClurkin and Yolanda Adams all going platinum, when for a while it took people decades to go platinum.

It took Aretha Franklin decades to get platinum from her gospel record.

HAIRSTON: A&M Records, Virgin Records... they picked up gospel music.

So, people were able to find gospel music in numbers that they had not been able to find it before.

Artists were intentionally performing and... orchestrating their sounds not to sound like they belonged in church.

MAROVICH: You would hear songs like that that weren't maybe overtly religious, but they had the sort of sense that they were inspirational, and they sounded a lot like what Mary J. Blige was doing or other artists were doing, at the time, deliberately to bring more attention and become more popular.

GATES: When the church is not the center of our cultural being, you are selling more and more platinum records.

Explain that to me.

LATAILLADE: Because the people needed something.

We wanted to give people an alternative to what they were listening to, that, you know... We're Black people but we don't all do the same thing.

We've got other kinds of people too, and they may only go to church twice a year, you know, Easter and Christmas but they... they love the Lord, too.

♪ Bright as the morning star ♪ ♪ That little lily is in the valley ♪ ♪ And it's bright as the morning star ♪ ♪ There is a lily ♪ ♪ In the valley ♪ GATES: As gospel artists found success in the marketplace, by laying down God's message to hip hop's harmonies and beats, a new generation of megachurch pastors also decided to modernize their art form.

JOHNSON: These are large churches that have members and memberships that in some cases require multiple services.

We have basically thousands of people coming to a church several times on a Sunday.

When I think about African Americans and the church experience, if they don't like what you're singing, if they don't like what you're playing they will leave.

And so, oftentimes your megachurches are trying to meet the needs of a lot of people at one time.

♪ ♪ GATES: Founder of the Potter's House, his cavernous megachurch in Dallas, pastor and tele-evangelist, T.D.

Jakes, brings a deep intelligence, mastery of the tradition, sonic dexterity and a unique, captivating style of performance to the Black church experience.

For T.D.

Jakes, the pulpit is a stage.

(T.D.

Jakes preaching/vocalizing on stage).

♪ ♪ GATES: The gospel preached by T.D.

Jakes is an irresistibly righteous and energetic, transformative experience.

To witness Bishop Jakes in action is akin to watching a masterful music performance that activates, inspires and uplifts.

JAKES: Your eyes have not seen, nor your ears heard the things that God has in store for them that love him.

I want you to lift your hands right now right where you are.

SORETT: He is building on this long tradition of Black preaching in terms of the aesthetics but also a message that fits within the sort of inspirational, pop culture, spiritual guru, right, that I'm going to provide practical advice to help you move into your new you.

HAIRSTON: Bishop Jakes' ministry is a ministry of healing.

Healing, uh, what's broken, and not only, um, in the spirit, but in the mind.

GATES: His popular bible study sermon, "Woman, Thou Art Loosed," resonated deeply across the country with female congregants, the foundation of most Black churches.

JAKES: I want to talk to some real women, who've been through some real stuff.

Where my real sisters?

Some been in the fire, some been in the flood, some came out of distress, some came out of peril, but through it all, through it all... God brought ya, God taught ya, God fed ya.

He led ya, Give Him some glory tonight.

Give him some some glory.

I'm a brand-new man!

I'm a brand-new woman.

This is what I mean: woman thou art loosed!

FREDERICK: T.D.

Jakes preaches about women who've been abused.

He preaches about women who've been sexually assaulted.

There are certain things you don't talk about.

You would never talk about, he says, what your daddy did, right.

You would never talk about the ways in which women have been abused and violated, but he does that.

JAKES: In the name of Jesus, loose that woman.

Loose that man.

I command the liberty right now.

I break the chains of bondage.

In the name of Jesus, In the name of Jesus.

FREDERICK: I think one of the critiques of Jakes is some people feel like it's a commodification of women's pain and women's trauma.

There are women preachers and there are women preachers preaching about this issue... BYNUM: And all of that to let you know that the people that's out there in the world ain't got nothing on you.

But you gotta come on and stop acting like you're less than they are and begin to grab a... JAKES ROBERTS: What if I told you, had there never been a teen pregnancy in my life that there wouldn't be anointing?

(applause) What if I never had to cry out to God?

Then I wouldn't understand the desperate cries of worship.

What if?

What if this storm is teaching you something?

FREDERICK: They just don't have the same platform that T.D.

Jakes has when he preaches this message.

And so, I think that, too, speaks to the dynamics and the inequities in the system for Black women preachers versus Black male preachers.

That there are spaces that Black women are talking about this, but they are not on the main stage.

(preaching, applause) GATES: The sermon's popularity encouraged Jakes to pioneer imaginative entrepreneurial methods to expand the reach of his message through a best-selling book, a stage play by Tyler Perry and a Hollywood feature film.

SORETT: He is an especially savvy businessman.

Like C.L.

Franklin before him, T.D.

Jakes is capitalizing on the explosion of a contemporary Christian culture industry.

And it's there, right, that he actually does move to another sort of level in his ministry.

(applause) FREDERICK: He starts the Woman Thou Art Loosed Conference.

(applause) Tens of thousands of women in, say, the Georgia Dome.

As you enter, there are all kinds of tables setup with people, ministry, materials, all kinds of books and tapes and trinkets that you can purchase, and you walk into this auditorium and there's a main stage, and then at some point, the preaching of the word starts.

And that's an electric kind of moment.

♪ ♪ GATES: The Woman Thou Art Loosed brand became an unprecedented commercial success.

But in September 2022 after a 30-year run, Bishop Jakes announced that the conference would be entering a new chapter.

In front of a rapturous standing room only crowd, Bishop Jakes lovingly passed the mic, turning over leadership of this multimillion dollar enterprise to his daughter and fellow pastor, Sarah Jakes Roberts.

JAKES: When you stand and walk to the stage.

You are walking into your destiny.

The time has come, (audience cheering) That I must decrease, (cheering) That you might increase.

That Woman Thou Art Loosed must evolve.

(applause, cheering) ♪ ♪ JAKES ROBERTS: Well, I guess it's just the beginning of a breakthrough then.

I guess it's just the beginning of the next dimension then.

I guess all things really do work together... ♪ Is to, to our God ♪ ♪ Tell ya now, every word of worship ♪ ♪ with one accord ♪ GATES: Offering a full concert experience with the sounds of preaching and music in stadium sized arenas, Black megachurches have become massive gospel venues appealing irresistibly to the throngs of congregants walking through their doors.

♪ You are God ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ To our God ♪ ♪ Is to our God ♪ ♪ Clap your hands everybody, come on ♪ ♪ God my Savior ♪ JOHNSON: You also have some of the megachurches getting involved and starting their own music companies or record...recording companies.

They have their own studios in some cases, and they self-produce.

♪ ♪ ♪ Come on, let's give him glory, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ GATES: By the first decade of the 21st century, many Black megachurches, like West Angeles Church Of God in Christ in California, had embraced a popular form of gospel music known as praise and worship.

♪ I will clap my hands before Him ♪ ♪ Praise Him all day long ♪ MAROVICH: Praise and worship is not unlike the Pentecostal songs of the 1920s.

Simple melodies, easy to remember, easy lyrics, congregational.

The difference is that they're trying to appeal to a multi-cultural audience.

And so, how do you have a music that blends to appeal to all of these people?

JOHNSON: It's very much chorus driven as opposed to a whole bunch of verses, a couple of choruses and you got it.

And so, this idea of praise and worship allows people who may have just found out about Jesus five minutes ago could be a part of this kind of collective group singing event.

♪ People from every nation and tongue ♪ ♪ From generation to generation ♪ ♪ We worship you ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ JOHNSON: It's about Black believers or believers in general speaking to God, speaking to the higher power in the room.

♪ Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah ♪ ♪ We worship you ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ BARRON: A criticism develops that the music is too simplistic and that the theology doesn't speak to the racialized history of, of suffering that Black people have experienced and that it becomes codified as white.

♪ ♪ ♪ I'll never be more loved than I am right now ♪ ♪ Wasn't holding You up ♪ ♪ So there's nothing I can do to let You down ♪ GATES: After the hopeful, post-racial politics of the Obama era, some gospel artists shifted their sound in an attempt to break down the racial boundaries within church music and crossover to the mainstream white Christian market.

♪ You would cross an ocean so I wouldn't drown ♪ GATES: One of the best examples is Maverick City, a Grammy winning collective of young Christian singers from Atlanta.

♪ You are Jireh, You are enough ♪ GATES: Released in 2021, their signature Christian ballad with elevation worship is called "Jireh."

♪ I'm already loved ♪ ♪ I'm already chosen ♪ ♪ I'm already chosen ♪ GATES: The music video featured songwriter Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine, with a multicultural choir.

The song blended soul, gospel, R&B and indie rock.

Its title means "god will provide."

♪ That is enough ♪ ♪ It's enough for me, oh ♪ MOORE: Maverick City was a space created for those who were marginalized, unheard, rejected in this space, to be heard and have a space.

All of us on this stage represent that.

And this was a collab so I know we've only got 25 seconds... JORDAN: One of the things that's really difficult for gospel artists today is that you have to be so versatile.

You can't just sing old school style.

You can't just sing golden age.

You can't just sing an urban style of gospel.

You've got to be able to shift.

Then you've got more non-denominational and white-led churches bringing in that sort of contemporary Christian music sound.

♪ ♪ ♪ Purify ♪ ♪ You take whatever you desire ♪ JORDAN: And the molding of the two becomes what we start to hear from Maverick City.

It's a different kind of sound.

♪ That your will be done on earth ♪ GATES: From Grammy stages and NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, to the Barclay's Arena in Brooklyn, Maverick City is taking gospel into new spaces with the help of Uncle Kirk on their hit song "Kingdom".

♪ And every wound we carry will be healed ♪ ♪ Our eyes are on the Son ♪ ♪ Your will be done ♪ ♪ Thine is the Kingdom ♪ ♪ Yep!

♪ ♪ The power, the glory ♪ ♪ Forever and ♪ ♪ Forever and ever ♪ ♪ He finished my ♪ ♪ He finished my story ♪ ♪ We're singing freedom ♪ SMITH POLLARD: Now there are plenty of people who will say, well, it doesn't sound like Black music, but the music changes from generation to generation, and whether they like Maverick City, um, or not, there are a lot of young people who do.

♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Whoa, all hail the Kingdom ♪ ♪ I'm gonna take y'all to Black church ♪ ♪ Put your hands together ♪ ♪ We're going to Mama's church ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ If you wanna know what Heaven looks like ♪ ♪ Looking like me and you ♪ ♪ Come on LA!

♪ ♪ If you wanna know what Heaven looks like ♪ ♪ ♪ (humming) REPORTER: The breaking news, stay at home.

That is the order tonight from four state governors as the Coronavirus pandemic spreads.

New York, California, Illinois... GATES: Despite the optimism about creating a post-racial gospel sound, another global pandemic would spark a massive racial reckoning and a radical rethinking within the Black community about the role of the sermon and the song.

REPORTER: Tonight, the outrage in Minneapolis is mounting.

George Floyd repeatedly told the officers that he could not breathe.

Now after the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd, the unarmed Black man who died... Breonna Taylor was killed during the execution of a search warrant... Taylor was killed in her own home by police in Louisville who were serving a no-knock search warrant... Taylor's boyfriend says he had no idea it was police who were barging in and fired at them in self-defense... GROUP: Black lives matter!

Black lives matter!

Black lives matter!

Hands up!

Don't shoot!

Hands up!

Don't shoot!

Hands up!

Don't shoot!

FREDERICK: The murders of so many young Black men and women unarmed by police officers, and then being forced to watch the execution of George Floyd, that traumatized everybody.

I think it caused this reckoning... this reckoning around this issue of race and justice that forced, I think, all ministers, all ministries to reevaluate and ask what are we doing, right?

What are we doing?

CALLAHAN: I think we're in a moment of transition for Black preaching because the world has changed around us and it.

If you went to your church and they weren't saying anything about that, this happened particularly to Black folks who were going to churches that presented themselves as multicultural and multiethnic and multiracial but really were white spaces, white controlled spaces, and they discovered that the people who they were relying on for spiritual care didn't actually care about them.

HAYNES: I've had so many members during this time say, I need something to speak to what I'm dealing with out there.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

We've all got to get involved to make America what America should be.

This is what democracy looks like, and they said this is what theology looks like.

I'm not up preaching the word.

I'm getting arrested standing up for the meaning of democracy, and they said this is what theology looks like.

And I need to hear what God is saying, you know, do your best to give me a word from God about what's going on out here.

(chatter, piano music) (background chatter) (background chatter) GATES: To reach a population of young Black millennials motivated by digital activism, married pastors Gabby and Andrew Wilkes began their ministry in Brooklyn.

They aptly titled it the Double Love Experience.

WILKES: Re-envision a Jesus movement... CUDJOE WILKES: A Jesus movement.

WILKES: Committed to Black lives... CUDJOE WILKES: Committed to Black lives... WILKES: An equitable economy... CUDJOE WILKES: An equitable economy... WILKES: For all God's creation... CUDJOE WILKES: For all God's creation... WILKES: And a spirit led... CUDJOE WILKES: We're named after the double love commandment in scripture.

You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul, neighbor.

This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as you love yourself.

♪ ♪ CUDJOE WILKES: The Movement for Black Lives is a clarion call for our generation, in particular, many of us were becoming, at the time of Trayvon Martin and so many others being slain at the hands of vigilantes and police officers, and this was our way of declaring that our lives mattered.

WILKES: I think fundamentally being a Jesus movement for Black lives is about recognizing that Christianity's very much a flesh and blood religion.

It's significant that our connection to Jesus isn't we happen to be Black.

It's an intentional decision on the part of God to root us in our culture, our race, our ethnicity, and so, we try to center the religion of Jesus as intrinsically affirming of and celebratory of Black lives.

GATES: In November 2019, the Double Love Experience officially launched with weekly church services, but during the pandemic, pastors Gabby and Andrew, like other Black preachers, were forced to expand their digital presence.

CUDJOE WILKES: Double Love, it's Pastor Gabby.

Listen, I am so excited.

I am on my way to the church right now.

WILKES: Giving you all an update, we're gonna be registering voters, registering folks for the census, and we're gonna educate... PASTOR: And you can deal with almost any circumstances, when you know who you are, and whose you are.

A lot of us are... CUDJOE WILKES: Many folks who found us, found us online.

At the top of the pandemic, we became a highly searched church, and so, a lot of folks gave us a try, gave us a shot, and began to worship with us.

We were able to connect with people digitally through Instagram, through our direct messages, through our YouTube stream.

PIERCE: The technology has allowed for access.

The technology has allowed for demand, but it has really shifted the relationship between preacher and congregation.

How does it change the Black preaching moment when there's no longer call and response, which has been a staple of Black preaching all of this time?

CUDJOE WILKES: I think that what the pandemic has taught us, it has taught us the importance of connection.

I think that what people craved more than sermons or songs was connection.

(chatter) So, we started doing some pop-up worship experiences for folks.

We partnered with our community park.

We called it DLE Outside, and we modeled it around Brooklyn summers.

We have to reclaim the kind of justice imagination that gives us songs and psalms in the key of life.

Where there's a psalm for everything you are facing, and yet the psalm it still turns the corner and decides to trust God anyway.

Anybody in here got some faith?!

Because there's a psalm for that, and when you reach into your Bible and pull out a justice imagination you too can say...

There's a certain sound that African Americans expect in church that reminds them of home: from the organ, to the worship leader, to the preacher.

♪ ♪ ♪ One, two ♪ ♪ From the top, two, three ♪ ♪ Clap those hands ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, hey ♪ ♪ You purchase my salvation ♪ ♪ I belong to you ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh you paid ♪ ♪ You paid my debts, you paid for me yea ♪ ♪ I belong to you ♪ ♪ Hey here we go, sing I'm yours ♪ ♪ I'm yours, everything ♪ WILKES: What I love about, being outside is that it's harkening back to the original conditions under which the Black church is birthed.

When you think about the brush harbor and folks stealing away after a hard day of work to get down by the riverside, by the trees, under the open heavens, having moments of intimacy not only with God, but with one another.

BARRON: In this post-COVID, Black Lives Matter era, we see this return to the roots, in a sense, a kind of revival happening within gospel to help speak to, not only the contemporary issues, but also call us to building on this long tradition of gospel music.

♪ One more time so they understand the gospel ♪ ♪ You purchase my salvation ♪ ♪ This is the good news, ya'll ♪ ♪ I belong ♪ ♪ I belong to you ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, Jesus ♪ ♪ You paid my debts ♪ GATES: Just as W.E.B.

Dubois noted long ago, the sermon and the song retain their power as vital sources of cultural affirmation and spiritual sustenance for all of us seeking comfort in a time of great uncertainty.

In the darkest days of the lockdown, communities across the country turned to a powerful gospel song, based on the 121st psalm.

Like Thomas A. Dorsey, Richard Smallwood composed it at a profoundly challenging moment in his life.

His song, "Total Praise", has joined the ranks of gospel's masterpieces, speaking its message of healing across the generations.

♪ ♪ ♪ Lord, I will lift ♪ ♪ My eyes ♪ GREENE-HAYES: The gospel sound is a Black sacred sound, then it reemerges as a freedom song.

And so, we can't divorce the political and social circumstances surrounding the sacred sound.

♪ Is coming ♪ ♪ From You ♪ CASSELBERRY: The sound still connects people, the sound still gathers people, the sound still is a magnet for people.

♪ You give me ♪ ♪ In time ♪ ♪ Of the storm ♪ ♪ You are ♪ GATES: The beauty of gospel is its ability to summon the full weight of the sacred into the everyday urgency of Black lives, a message our people still need as we face an uncertain future.

Gospel is a prayer.

It is a chant.

It is a praise song.

It is our hearts' cry to God, rendered collectively and sublimely in lyrics and song.

♪ Praise to You ♪ ♪ You are ♪ ♪ The source of my strength ♪ ♪ You are ♪ ♪ The strength of my life ♪ ♪ I lift my hands in ♪ ♪ Total praise ♪ ♪ To You ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ A... ♪ ♪ men ♪ (music plays through credits) NARRATOR: Scan this QR code with your smart device to immerse yourself in all things "Gospel" with exclusive interviews, a music playlist, a companion concert performance and more.

To order "Gospel" on DVD, visit ShopPBS or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

Also available with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video.

♪ ♪ ♪ Oh let it be ♪ ♪ Dear Lord ♪ ♪ let it be ♪ ♪ ♪