Together, Jennifer Holliday – The Original Dream Girl and Two-Time Grammy Award winning recording artist, with the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock (pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta – the spiritual home of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ), have collaborated on their first inspirational CD, Goodness and Mercy (Euphonic Records). The project is a new form of ministry with a collection of sermons and songs that both Holliday and Warnock have written together to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ through word and worship to the world. This powerful duo will be ministering together at the historic Sixth Avenue Baptist Church (where Warnock was ordained as a minister) located at 1101 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW in Birmingham, AL on Sunday, February 27, 2011 during the 8:30 and 11 a.m. worship services. Miss Holliday will be guest psalmist and Dr. Warnock will be preaching for this event that serves as the national kick-off for the rousing radio single, “God Is Faithful” that is now available as a digital download on CD Baby : http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/JenniferHollidayAndRevRaphael1 . The full “Goodness & Mercy” CD will be released later in the spring.
On Tuesday, March 1, 2011 @ 7:00 p.m. EST the duo will be in-studio guests for the on the nationally syndicated “Coco Brother Live” on the Radio One network.
As Warnock reflects on his own childhood with his father waking him up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning because no man should be laying in bed during daylight, Pastor Warnock opens the collection with an invitation to “Get Up!, Get Dressed, Get Going!” Over the eleven tracks comprising this unique project, Warnock and Holliday take turns providing listeners with inspiration to get them through life’s daily ups and downs.
Miss Holliday is most famously known for creating and portraying the dramatic role of Effie White in the original Broadway production of “Dream Girls” and her show-stopping signature song, “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going.” Holliday has since recorded five solo CDs and two Broadway and movie soundtrack recordings. She has also made numerous guest TV appearances as an actress, most notably for playing the role of Lisa Knowles for five seasons on the hit Fox TV show, “Ally McBeal.” Today, she continues to perform around the world in concerts and Symphony Pops Orchestra engagements, as well as, guest Broadway appearances.
Since 2005, Warnock has served as pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. A graduate of Morehouse College, Warnock later earned Master of Divinity, Master of Philosophy, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He interned at the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church where he eventually became a youth pastor prior to holding pastoral positions at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City and Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore. Warnock, known as a liberation theologian, is very passionate about Social-Justice. He is an “Activist-Pastor” and is constantly sought after as a speaker and guest commentator for CNN, ABC’s “Good Morning America” and the CBS Evening News.
