The Mormon Voice

One morning in mid-July, I got up early to bid my husband good-bye before leaving for work, then headed back to bed. As I lay resting on my pillow, all cozy in my bed, the Spirit distinctly told me to "get up and get up NOW!" I was tired and since I am a not a morning person, I rolled over and attempted to go back to sleep. Again, the prompting came, "Get up NOW and send an email to the Houston Chronicle." Then without warning, I felt myself being pushed out of bed, a similar feeling that I had experienced when "moved by the Spirit" to bear my testimony on Fast Sundays.

A few weeks before, I had been called to serve on my stake's Public Affairs Committee. They were overjoyed to learn that I had a degree in Journalism and was quickly assigned to write articles for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which were sent to many local media outlets--one of which was the Houston Chronicle.

My first assignment had been to write about the conversion story of a lady in my ward who found the Mormon Church while serving in the Army. My Public Affairs director and I prayed all week that the Houston Chronicle would publish that story.

On that morning in July, the Spirit told me to submit that story to the Houston Chronicle via email. Although I would be breaking the protocol of my calling since I was normally supposed to submit all my work to my stake director before any publication, the Spirit told me not to worry and that I should go ahead with the email.

With faith in my Heavenly Father, I submitted the email to the Houston Chronicle's Religion editor and waited. Just 24 hours later, I heard back from the Chronicle, only it was from a different editor who happened to be the editor and producer of the paper's online Belief section. She invited me to write a Mormon blog. While I was thrilled for her invitation, I told her I first had to get permission from my Church leaders.

From there, my local leaders sent word to our regional leaders who sent word all the way back to Salt Lake. After three weeks of waiting, I finally got permission to write the blog--which we named the Mormon Voice--under the direction of my stake and local leaders (http://blog.chron.com/mormonvoice/).

Now I know it was a great blessing to the people of our area to have Mormon blog to teach and inform our community about the Church. My leaders told me that it was a miracle because the paper had refused to publish anything of ours for years. Now with a new, young online editor with a Master's Degree in religions studies, the door had been opened to us. Annnd, that initial story about my Army friend, was one of our first posts on the blog and was read by many more people online.

In spite of receiving much opposition to destroy this work, I have experienced the sweetest joy and have gained a fulfillment that my life was lacking.

While I enjoy donating my time to write for the Church, I know that the Mormon Voice blog does not belong to me, but to our Savior, Jesus Christ, since it is His Church. It reminds me of the scripture from Moses, "For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

Although I do not know if this blog will help or convert anyone, I at least know it has changed me.

Gladys Knight , the Gospel-Singing Mormon

Gladys Knight, the Grammy-winning singer, has a heart of gold with a golden voice. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a concert given by Gladys Knight and her 55-member choir, Saints Unified Voices. The choir put on nine shows over the course of four days in two LDS churches in Houston. I attended an evening performance at a chapel that was filled to capacity of 1500 people, most of whom were not members of our church.

For Gladys Knight and the SUV Choir to visit us in Houston was a miracle! The Choir has a very long waiting list for their visits and given Gladys Knight’s schedule, they only visit a handful of cities each year.

Besides, her lively version of Because I Have Been Given Much, the Choir's music consisted of many Gospel favorites such as Jesus Loves Me, His Eye is on the Sparrow, Blessed Assurance, and Via Dolorosa. I loved that she was a Mormon, singing Gospel songs to the Baptists and Catholics!

Gladys got the idea for her choir a few years ago when she sang at a concert commemorating President Gordon B. Hinckley's 90th birthday. When he teasingly confronted her about not liking the Church's music, Gladys answered that she did, but that it "needed just a little more energy." He told her, "Do something about it!" and ever since she has been singing in cities across the United States and around the world.

The Choir’s gospel music, which was all arranged by Gladys Knight, was beautiful and it was an awesome sight to see the audience connect with her as she and her Choir received several standing ovations. A woman sitting near me had tears streaming down her face throughout the two-hour performance!

My favorite part of the night, however, was when Gladys spoke of how she found our Church. Her son, Jimmy, was the first to be baptized and he "sneaked and did it." Being worried about her son, she studied our faith at first to make sure he had not "walked into the lion's den."

Gladys Knight's daughter, Kenya, followed Jimmy’s example and was next to accept our faith. She watched her children's families' spiritual progression and wanted more spirituality in her own life. Kenya told her mom that she needed to meet with our missionaries, who Gladys described as "respectful," and "all dressed up and crisp with pants (up) where they need to be." She was impressed with how they did not try to sell her our church, but rather told her that she should ask God what she should do and that He would answer her prayers. After receiving that answer, Gladys Knight was baptized by her son, Jimmy.

After her own baptism, Gladys wanted nothing more than to be a missionary. The audience laughed when she said, "Somebody get me a bike!" Now, she has her wish as she is a set-apart missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Investigators who come to her concert are invited to fill out a pull-apart card from the program so that they can receive the free gift of the CD One Voice, which contains music from the concert, a DVD of The Restoration, and a Book of Mormon.

I loved how she said, "It has been a wonderful journey. I am a brand new person."
Then, as she exited the stage, she briefly shook a few people's hands. I was close enough to touch her, but she was quickly whisked out the door by her security guards.

I cannot imagine a world without Gladys Knight! While some may have come to hear Midnight Train to Georgia, this concert's music and message was more than crowd-pleasing as it was dedicated to feeding people's souls. We love you, Gladys!