You Can Make It Youth Crusade - Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Israel Houghton

Israel Houghton is known for injecting contemporary gospel and worship with a blazing, youthful energy that has made him among the most influential tastemakers in his field. As a singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and worship leader, he has created a canon of songs that have become standards in houses of faith around the globe. He has accomplished this largely as the leader of “Israel and New Breed,” a Grammy, Stellar and Dove Award-winning musical ensemble and ministry organization that has amassed gold-selling albums and critical platitudes reserved for the best of the best.

Over the past 6 years, Israel has amassed a legion of fans while blasting down musical barriers, and drawing together people of all races, ages and cultures through worship. He has been fittingly graced with 2 Gold-selling albums, 6 Dove Awards, 2 Stellar Awards, a Soul Train Award, and 2 Grammy® Awards – one for “Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album” for A Deeper Level and one for “Best Traditional Gospel Album” for Alive In South Africa. Ironically, there is very little that is “traditional” about the way Israel approaches music and ministry, defying categorization with an ease that other artists envy.

“It’s not a white sound or black sound, it’s a Kingdom sound,” explains the songwriter and producer. And it is because of this progressive connection to now-generation believers that Israel’s music has been fanatically embraced around the globe.

For his most current musical offering, Israel steps away from the members of New Breed, who are themselves active in their own ministries, to record a solo project that is his most personal effort to date. The album, The Power of One, challenges people to change the world. “I strongly believe that those of us who consider ourselves worshippers need to have a heart for social justice,” says Israel who penned the CD’s title song specifically around that theme for the album.

As part of his personal effort to change the world, Israel supports a variety of compassion-focused ministries including the international relief and aid organization World Vision and a medical missions ministry birthed out of Houston’s Lakewood Church where he serves as a worship leader.

Since his debut, 1993's Kirk Franklin & the Family, Kirk Franklin has been one of the brightest stars in contemporary gospel music. The album spent 100 weeks on the gospel charts (some of those on top), crossed over to the R&B charts, and became the first gospel debut album to go platinum. His second album, Kirk Franklin & the Family Christmas, became the genre's first Christmas album to make it to number one, and his 1996 album Whatcha Lookin' 4 went gold as soon as it was distributed. With such phenomenal success, it is small wonder that some have hailed him "the Garth Brooks of gospel." Still, despite all the adulation and brouhaha, Franklin remains a humble, devout Christian, eschewing the title "entertainer" in favor of labeling himself as just a "church boy."

Franklin's road to the top, though quick, was far from smooth. Abandoned by his mother and never having known his father, Franklin was reared by his Aunt Gertrude, a deeply religious woman who raised him as a strict Baptist. When he was four, she paid for his piano lessons by collecting aluminum cans. The lessons were money well spent, for Franklin was a natural musician who could sight read and play by ear with equal facility. At age 11, he was leading the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir near Dallas. Despite, or because of, his church background, Franklin began rebelling in his teens and getting into trouble until one of his friends was accidentally shot and killed at age 15. Realizing that he had chosen a bad road, Franklin returned to the fold and began composing songs, recording, and conducting. Since 1991, he has been backed up by his 17-member choir, the Family, a group comprising friends and associates from his younger days (interestingly, one member of the Family, Jon Drummond, made it to the semi-finals heat of the 100-meter sprint at the 1996 Olympics). Support from his pastor, his wife Tammy, whom he married in early 1996, and the two children they brought to the marriage help keep Franklin close to his religious core, and he returned in 1998 with Nu Nation Project. The album topped the Billboard Top 200 charts (peaking at number seven) and remained on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart for 49 weeks, paving the way for Franklin's third Grammy (Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album).

Over the course of the next few years, Franklin worked on the soundtrack of the movie Kingdom Come (contributing the single "Thank You") and released another album, 2002's The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin. Making good on the success of its predecessor, the disc soared to number four on the Billboard 200 chart and spent 29 weeks on the Gospel Albums chart. Two more chart-topping albums emerged out in the next four years, Hero (2005) and Songs for the Storm, Vol. 1 (2006), both of which topped the gospel charts at the time of their release. Hero went on to win two Grammys in late 2006. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Music Guide (bio as presented on aol.music.com)

Canton Jones

Part singer, songwriter, producer, and vocal arranger, Canton “CJ” Jones, a Deerfield Beach, Florida native, has entertained over 500,000 people in the past year few years, sold nearly 100,000 units independently; and has several songs in regular rotation in the U.S. and abroad, including the steppers groove “Love Song,” the cleverly penned “Stay Saved” and the uncompromising street anthem “The Password.” On any given day he can be found sharing the stage with hip hop heavyweights like T.I., David Banner and Ludacris to name a few; established creative geniuses like John Legend, Kirk Franklin and Patti LaBelle; and Gospel powerhouses like Smokie Norful, Dr. Bobby Jones and Kiki Clark-Sheard – the youngest member of the Clark dynasty. Canton’s unlimited repertoire, massive crowd appeal, and global fan base have set him on a course destined to shake the very core of hip hop, urban gospel, and R&B. Jones is signed to Arrow Records, a label owned and operated by Pastor Taffi Dollar, World Changers Church International in College Park, GA.

And his crossover appeal is undeniable. From urban youth with their pants sagging low, to progressive ministries that support Canton’s unique blend of hip hop, urban gospel and R&B, to middle age music lovers who remember how it was “back in the day, ” fans have embraced Canton’s lyrical edginess and warmed up to his heart felt ballads. On Kingdom Business, he gets down to business with his most creative album to date. Impacting radio with the smash hit “My Day”, Kingdom Business is an eclectic mix of undeniable street anthems and melodic story lines that take listeners from the streets to the suites to handle the business of life. The new album, distributed by Arrow Records, boasts Jones’ best work to date. With My Day currently climbing the charts, Canton recently dropped the gritty, urban riders’ anthem Living Clean (Riding Mean)spinning in heavy rotation on popular mix tape shows and creating a major buzz on Myspace and YouTube.

Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III

For 26 years, Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes, III has made it his mission to empower changed people to change the world. His message is clear: If Christians are to positively impact the world they must be willing to minister beyond the walls of the church.

As senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church since 1983, Dr. Haynes leads one of the largest church congregations in Dallas. Under the leadership of Dr. Haynes, Friendship-West has grown from approximately 500 members to over 12,000 members. The church currently has over 50 full and part-time employees and more than 45 ministries that emancipate the oppressed, equip the masses and exalt Jesus Christ. The church has two worship services, two corporate Bible studies, and weekly concentrated areas of study for men, women, youth, children, seniors, singles and married couples.