Courtesy of Yahoo ~
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!
"It's not every day that an ordained minister debuts in the top five on the Billboard 200, but that's what happens this week. Marvin Sapp, the founder and senior pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., enters the chart at #2 with "Here I Am".
This is the highest-charting album ever by a gospel artist, topping an eponymous album by God's Property, a group organized by Kirk Franklin, which hit #3 in 1997, and Franklin's own The Rebirth Of Kirk Franklin, which reached #4 in 2002.
Sapp, who was born in Grand Rapids in 1968, has been singing since he was four years old. His focus, however, is on his pastoral work. His website (www.marvinsapp.com) characterizes him as "not a singer that happens to preach but a preacher called by God who is gifted to sing."
Gospel star Fred Hammond gave Sapp his big break in 1991, when he invited Sapp to join the gospel group Commissioned. Sapp went solo in 1995. "Here I Am" is his eighth solo album. With this week's debut, Sapp has surpassed his mentor: Hammond's highest-charting album, Love Unstoppable, reached #26 on The Billboard 200 in October.
Sapp first reached The Billboard 200 on his own in 2005 with Be Exalted. His album before this one, 2007's sleeper hit Thirsty, has sold an impressive 712,000 copies. (This includes 72,000 copies that were sold in churches and in Christian retail outlets and online sites.) It was the #1 gospel album of 2008, boosted by the top 20 R&B hit "Never Would Have Made It." Sapp recorded both Thirsty and Here I Am live at his church."
SideBar ~ He's Truly A Legend In The Making!!!!
"Pastor Sapp is married to the beautiful Malinda Sapp, a professor and and psychologist, and who serves as the Administrative Pastor at Lighthouse Full Life Center Church. They have three children: Marvin II, Mikaila, and Madisson. On March 21, 2009, Sapp was initiated into the Grand Rapids Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc."
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