Tom Whitman reports on the life and times of Michigan-born gospel star MARVIN SAPP

Marvin Sapp

Marvin Sapp this week went to the top spot in Billboard's Top Gospel chart with his 2007 release 'Thirsty'. The seventh album from the Grammy Award winning gospel singer achieved record breaking sales. Yet this commercial success ignores the challenges that brought him to the album's theme, and the sorrow that surrounded the recording process.

The Michigan-born Sapp is best known for his music career firstly as lead singer with '80s gospel super group Commissioned, and secondly with a solo venture that started with his self-titled release in 1996. And though he started singing before preaching, it is clear where the priority lies for the man who began to hold services in his backyard at the tender age of eight, as he told journalist Andrea R Williams: "I always tell people that I'm not a singer that happens to preach, but a preacher that happens to sing. Because singing is a gifting while preaching is a calling. The Bible declares that the gifts come without repentance. I've learned that you can be gifted and anointed and not live in accordance to the Word of God. In order for you to be successful in your call, you must be tapped into the source. Not only do you have to be tapped into the source but you have to live a life that's holy and acceptable. I never put my gift before my call; I always put my call before my gift. I understand that my gift enhances my call. They have two distinct personalities and intricacies, but they work together."

When Lighthouse Full Life Center church was set up in October 2003, it was clearer than ever how Sapp's primary challenge of leading a church influenced his latest release, and how God spoke through music at this time: "'Thirsty' is a song that speaks to God refocusing me. During the time while I was starting my church, I went through a lot of opposition. It's difficult when you're raised up in a city, step out and start to do the will of God. Sometimes when you make the decision to do the will of God, you face opposition. That was extremely different for me. As I travel, I've always been celebrated. For the last 17 years, from Commissioned to solo artist to multiple Grammy, Dove, etc, I've always been celebrated. So finding myself in a position of not being celebrated, I found myself trying to do things to receive the applause of the people in my city. I felt like it didn't make sense; I'm a son of this city. I've excelled in the area that I am now facing opposition in because of making the decision to do the will of God for my life. It didn't feel good.

"Then God shared with me and said, 'Marvin, you're thirsting for the wrong things.' He took me to the Psalms where the story of David talks of when he was so focused and busy doing the work of ministry that his son Absalom and his most trusted advisor began to come against him. God began to say to me, 'Marvin, you can't be so focused on the work of the ministry that you lose focus of the God of the work. You're thirsting for the wrong things. You're thirsting for the applause of the people. If you thirst for me, I will turn the hearts of the people.' And that's what I began to do; I began to thirst for God. And that's where 'Thirsty' came from."

The recording process for 'Thirsty', which was recorded live at Resurrection Life Church in Grandville, Michigan, was equally challenging amidst a sorrow filled time when three of the most important people in Sapp's life died in the space of three months. The first of whom was his father: "At the beginning of the recording process, my natural father passed away. He wasn't only my father, but he was a member of my church. I went through the whole process of eulogizing him, burying him and trying to encourage the family when I needed encouragement. After that, my musical mentor passed away, L Craig Tyson, who co-founded Tyscot Records. And 30 days after that, my spiritual father passed away, on the day before my live recording. So after doing the live recording, a week later, we had to be back at the same church to eulogize him as well. It was really traumatic. But honestly, these songs, every last song, gave me the strength I needed and really kept me encouraged while losing three major men who helped to shape who I am today."

One of the particular songs that came out of this time and was then recorded for 'Thirsty' is the powerful "Never Would Have Made It": "It was actually written the Sunday after my father's funeral. We had eulogized him. And it was difficult for me. I had to throw the blanket in the casket. I had to close the casket. I had to stand up and say 'arth to earth, ashes to ashes.'I had to preach the message and drop him off at the cemetery to be buried. But the Sunday after that, I went into the church and everybody was functioning normally. The ushers and the deacons were where they were supposed to be. And I was standing there thinking, 'What's going on? Don't these people see that I'm in pain? Don't they see I am hurting?' Then I said, 'God, I'm not preaching today. I can't do it. I don't think I can make it.' God said to me, 'Marvin, there's something you need to understand. Although your father isn't with you physically, I will never leave you nor will I forsake you. I will be with you always even until the end of the earth.' Then I walked into the pulpit with my Bible. When God began to assure me that he was there for me, I stood up. I grabbed the microphone and started singing, 'Never Would Have Made It'. The song came just like that; the whole entire song. Needless to say, I didn't preach that Sunday. I can't even sing that song at my church anymore. We've traveled all over the nation and I sing it everywhere. It really wrecks every church because it's simple and it speaks to everybody."

His focus on preaching, with approximately 200 preaching dates each year, means that the amount of dedicated music concerts he can do is limited. Yet he does combine the two, and often finds himself ministering in the Spirit when he plays his songs live: "I like to feed off the energy of the people. The audience is already there; I like to reach out and touch the people. I like to touch them, not physically. But I like to feel what they feel, draw off their emotions and see their tears. It really helps to direct me as to how I can minister to them. Not everyone can really do that. You have to be sensitive to the move of the Spirit."

The levels of professionalism exhibited in Sapp's soulfully emotive voice translate to the church he leads with his wife and administrative pastor MaLinda: "Our total membership is about 1,500 members total. It's a four-year old church which started with 24 people. We are a cutting-edge church and the reason we call it Full Life is because we're a holistic ministry. We deal with the mind, the body and the spirit. The mind - is teaching people to elevate their thoughts and to change their outlook on life. We encourage people to empower, not enable. We have all types of programming that speaks to empowerment from financial empowerment and help with budgeting. For our young people, we have ACT practice testing; that's one of our educational components. We take them on Black family tours. There are a whole lot of things we do to empower people. We also deal with the physical component. We have a fitness ministry. We have fitness classes in the church with strength training and building and those types of things. We deal with the Spirit man as well. We have our own Bible school. We have a lot of different things. We wanted to be a church that was really 21st century in its application."