Recently the St. Louis North stake hosted Gladys Knight and the Saint's Unified Voices Choir.

Yes, that's right, Gladys Knight, from Gladys Knight and the Pips. Only this time she wasn't singing with the Pips and she wasn't singing “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Instead, she was performing with a 100 person multi-cultural choir made up of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who live in the Las Vegas, Nevada area.

We had 6000 tickets, free and by invitation only, for four performances that could better be described as praise worship events. Someone called it a “Mormon revival”.

The packed events were much more spirited and lively than anything our church typically does. The musical heritage of our faith finds its roots in those of its early converts, many of whom were white and from the eastern United States and Europe . They brought with them a rural heritage of many faiths, but the influences of African American have been slow to take root.

That is changing as the Church demographics change. There are now more members of our faith living outside of the United States than in, many bringing into the church their rich spiritual heritage and a real melting pot is resulting uniting God's children. Most members of our faith today are converts whose parents were not members.

Gladys Knight is one of those converts, having been a member of our faith for more than 10 years now. Using her celebrity, she has a personal mission to reach out to those unfamiliar with our doctrines and beliefs.

Her platform: The Saints Unified Voices  (SUV Choir), a multi-cultural choir that predominately shares the rich African American heritage of music along with music from other areas.

Often, when I invite someone to our events, he or she might express trepidation, because I am Mormon or because it is a Mormon event. Those who know Mormons typically like us and are not concerned.  Those who are wary of Mormons feel the way they do mostly because of misconceptions they have about us.

The choir president, Ron Strobelt, in a humorous and pointed message addressed those misconceptions. The top misconception he addressed right out: “We do NOT worship Joseph Smith, we regard him as a prophet like Moses, the prophets of old.”

When I invited people to this event any walls came down as soon as I mentioned Gladys' name. It was the easiest missionary work I have ever done. People I didn't even know were calling me to acquire tickets. My husband and I personally gave out over 150 tickets and could have given more, but we ran out.

How is it that celebrities can tear down barriers? I can only believe it is because Gladys Knight has a degree of trust and interest from her fan base. That is a powerful platform of influence.

Sister Knight (we fondly call her sister and address members of our faith as “brother” or “sister”) brought them in for four packed meetings. She preached and sang with the choir.

Sister Knight said the real evidence of her faith is in its power to change lives and related how it has influenced hers beyond measure.  She invited people to visit with the missionaries and to read the Book of Mormon.

She recognized many Christians in the audience, including ministers of other faiths and talked of the good all faiths do to bring people to Christ. She offered her testimony that if one is a student of the Bible and loves Christ, then there is more to complement the faith one already has, and that the Book of Mormon provides yet another witness of Christ.

Sister Knight said, “You know me, I was raised to love Christ and His Gospel, I would not believe something that doesn't testify of Him.” She spoke how joining a church that is largely misunderstood could have been disastrous to her career. It is her interest to help people understand that joining this church was the result of much study and serious contemplation. She asked questions, lots of questions of the young missionaries who taught her and she encouraged and invited others to do the same.

The events generated much interest, several hundred attendants filled out cards afterwards, inviting missionaries to contact them, and I saw a few new faces at church the next week.

For me, the events were simply amazing, a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be just a few pews away from Gladys Knight singing “His Eye on the Sparrow”. Her voice is, as ever, powerful and engaging. You know her, she is powerful. But imagine that same spirit of performance coupled with a strong witness for Christ; it is unlike anything else I have ever experienced.

It made me think about my own personal mission and the missions of others and how we all have unique ways to share our witness of God. We have reasons for our faith, reasons I hope we can feel ready to share with others.

I will not soon forget the choir and Sister Knight. And my friends won't either. Chris King, Editor in Chief for the St. Louis American, wrote about the experience: click here.

You can learn more about the SUV choir at the following links:

Listen to the Gladys Knight and the SUV choir

Saints Unified Voices Wins Grammy

Choir website

Buy their CD

The Cricket and the Seagull Fireside Chat