Praises to God fill the air at Brenda Marshall-Mitchell Gospel Stage!
The presence of the Lord was in full force at the Taste of Soul (TOS) Brenda Marshall-Mitchell Gospel Stage. The largest crowd in the history of the stage lifted praises, shouts, and holy dances in response to the spirit-filled performances by an array of local and nationally known artists.
Pastor Kelvin Sauls and Holman United Methodist Church returned for a second time to produce the event. Joining Holman’s effort were the Black McDonald’s Operators of Southern California Association, who sponsored the company’s Inspiration Celebration Gospel Tour.
“This stage is a labor of love in honor of Brenda Marshall-Mitchell and we wanted to be sure her legacy lives on,” said Sauls in reference to Marshall-Mitchell, who founded the gospel stage and diligently nurtured it for eight years before her passing in 2014.
“One of her visions was to bring together national and local artists and this year, we were able to do it through the partnership with the Black McDonald’s Operators. They were courageous in seeing how we could find synergy between local talent and the Inspiration Celebration Tour,” noted Sauls.
Christian comedian, J Redd, and KJLH gospel broadcaster, Aundrae Russell, served as hosts for the first half of the program. They introduced performers from Los Angeles and the Inland Empire who delivered a range of rousing, uplifting selections along with traditional, contemporary and jazz-influenced gospel.
The line-up included Jubilant Voices, Holman Quartet, Linda Broadous-Miles, Brent Jones and the KJLH Community Choir, Kevin Henderson and Redefined and Karen Wiggins and the Inland Empire Explosion Choir.
Gospel artist and deejay Lonnie Hunter hosted McDonald’s Inspiration Celebration, which featured several Grammy and Dove award-winning artists. Gracing the stage were Yolanda Adams, Donald Lawrence, Dorinda Clark Cole, Tasha Page-Lockhart, Ricky Dillard, Dewayne Woods and Christian comedian, Small Fire.
In addition, Danny Bakewell, Sr., creator of Taste of Soul and Sentinel executive publisher; Pamela Bakewell, Sentinel chief operating officer; California Attorney General Kamala Harris and California State Senator Isadore Hall greeted and thanked Pastor Sauls, McDonald’s Black Operators and the crowd for its support of TOS and the Brenda Marshall-Mitchell gospel stage.
