I've been a part of the Atlanta West Pentecostal Church (AWPC) choir for quite some time now and I've seen this ministry of our church grow steadily over the past 14 years and Saturday, November 7th, the choir went to a whole new level.

AWPC Choir has been a part of the Verizon Wireless competition called "How Sweet The Sound" and has had the opportunity to participate in the 2008 event and the 2009 event.

In 2008, we were chosen out of a number of choir videos submitted to sing in the regional event at Philips Arena in Atlanta Georgia. The scale of the event was greater than we could have imagined and what God did was even greater. At the end of the evening we walked away with the V-Cast People's Choice award, the Best Large Choir award and the Best Overall Choir. We then performed in the How Sweet The Sound Finale that was held in Atlanta, Georgia and won the V-Cast People's Choice Award.

In 2009, the choir submitted again and waited for the yes or no, unfortunately we received an e-mail saying we were not accepted in the 2009 competition. THE NEXT DAY, we received a phone call saying that a choir had dropped out of the competition and we had been asked to take their place in the competition. We went to the Regional Event and what happened that evening was nothing, but God. There was an outbreak of praise and worship after the choir sang their selection "Anthem of Praise" and everyone was on their feet including the judges as a spirit of worship broke out in the arena. God smiled on AWPC choir and we walked away with yet again, the V-Cast People's Choice award, the Best Large Choir, and Best overall choir. We were on our way to Detroit to compete in the Finale for the Best Church Choir in America.

We flew in to Detroit on Friday, November 6th. We celebrated making it to the Finale with over 800 choir members from 11 cities across the country. The cities were: Oakland CA, Los Angeles CA, Detroit MI, Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, New York City NY, Houston TX, St. Louis MO, Memphis TN, Chicago IL, and Atlanta GA.

On Saturday morning choirs started making their way to the COBO Center and Joe Lewis Arena to start sound checks and making sure everything was in order for the sold-out concert that evening. Verizon Wireless provided an amazing lunch and dinner for everyone and we waited for the concert to begin.

AWPC Choir was choir #10 and sang in the second half of the Finale. The judges for this evening were Byron Cage, Dorinda Clark Cole, and Marvin Sapp. The Clark Sisters also performed that evening as well as Marvin Sapp who tore the place apart with his song "Never Would Have Made It" along with a medley of old hymnals.

We took the stage and began our song "Anthem of Praise," and God took over from there. At the end of the song, a powerful move of God began to take place in Joe Lewis arena and people were on their feet worshiping. The judges could barely keep their composure and Byron Cage was asked to comment and he says "How can you judge the Holy Ghost?" and began shouting as crowd shouted with him. Dorinda Clark Cole could not stop speaking in tounges and kept commenting on the "anointing." Marvin Sapp was ready to preach and he would have if there was time!

After the choir sang we lined up and waited in anticipation for the people's choice award and the judges' decision. We were floored as they announced "Atlanta West Pentecostal Church Choir" as the V-Cast People's Choice award and we ran on stage to hear the outcome of the Runner Up and Best Church Choir. As they announced I couldn't believe what I had just heard, Atlanta West Pentecostal Church choir was the BEST CHURCH CHOIR IN AMERICA and we would be singing with Donald Lawrence in January 2010 at the 25th Annual Stellar Awards! But that wasn't all, as we went backstage into the media room, out in Joe Lewis Arena people were being filled with the Holy Ghost and being healed as the staff tried to get them out of the arena.

The whole event was amazing, all the choirs were insanely talented and just to be sharing the stage with these choirs was such an honor. But, what God did and the opportunity He has given us to spread the Gospel through singing has blown my mind, and I cannot wait to see what He is positioning us for.