Kirk Franklin: The gospel superstar talks about his involvment in the Kingdom Come movie

Saturday 1st September 2001

Gospel superstar KIRK FRANKLIN fielded a few questions.

How did you get involved in the Kingdom Come movie?

"A producer of the movie was going through a Variety magazine a few years ago and heard about me and my music. He felt that the music that God was working through me would be a good marriage for the movie. So, he reached out to the record company and they sent me the script. It was the first time that I've ever read a script I actually felt like I could be a part of. Because of my faith, there are a lot of scripts I can't be married to. I prayed about it and talked to my pastor and wife about it and began getting connected to the film. I was involved through the first part of shooting. That was a really good experience for me."

Although there are plenty of R&B/pop stars involved - Deborah Cox, Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men), Jill Scott - there are also plenty of gospel artists on the soundtrack.

"I think that it's very important to include Christian artists. When we were able to include Mary Mary, Trin-i-tee 5:7 and Crystal Lewis, that was a wonderful place for me, because that's my people! Christian music people, that's my camp. I didn't just include them; I honestly thought that they would bring validity to it."

With so much money floating about the gospel scene at the moment isn't the whole thing getting out of hand?

"I think that gospel music could be too commercial. There's potential for anything to be commercialised, once the mainstream gets an appetite for it. There's always that potential to water it down. That's the enemy's job - to take away from the integrity of anything that has the Kingdom agenda. I believe that it's up to that vessel that is participating in that situation to have the heart of the Kingdom. He or she has to say, 'I want to be God-led in all of these decisions."

So working on the Kingdom Come movie was a positive experience?

"I can honestly say that working on this soundtrack was a real wonderful experience for me because God was included in every aspect of it. Nothing ever came to challenge my integrity. The secular artists that came in wanted to surrender to whatever environment was there. They didn't bring any soulful, ignorant stuff into the procedure. Fox never once said anything about watering down anything. It was a real cool situation. I believe those are the ones God allows. He just lays situations in your lap and then he orchestrates from the beginning to the very end." CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.
 

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