'Kirk Franklin's A Gospel Christmas' Review: A sweet tale of finding your own voice
Lifetime just released a brand new Christmas romance and it was a sweet little watch. 'Kirk Franklin's A Gospel Christmas' is the latest addition to the holiday movie collection by the channel and takes you on a musical ride.
The Lifetime movie which is brought to by famous gospel singer Kirk Franklin promised a musical treat with a choir, a singing pastor, and more to feature. 'Kirk Franklin's A Gospel Christmas' will follow Olivia, a young assistant pastor as she's thrown into the deep end as a lead pastor. Things are a mess right off the bat but it is up to her to rise up to the challenge and organize a successful Winter Jamboree for her new church. Read on to know what happens and what we thought of the Lifetime Christmas movie.
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The movie begins as we see Olivia (Demetria McKinney), an assistant pastor, pushed into the position of the lead pastor by her mother after the pastor of a small church passes away. The church needs a singing pastor but for an unrevealed reason, Olivia refuses to sing, even though her mother insists that she can. Her move to Greenwood, Texas, comes with a lot of challenges, trials, and love as well. Her welcome although warm at first sees immediate rebuttal by Sister Ida (Deetta West) whose brother used to lead the church. What follows is a journey of growth.
The Lifetime flick is sure to get you swaying as being a movie about gospel singing, music plays a big part in it with the characters bursting into beautiful songs at appropriate moments. Demetria McKinney as Olivia is wonderful and her vocals are quite excellent as we discover when she sings to herself, while Chaz Lamar Shepherd as Ashton is charming as the supportive man who can carry a note as well. As Olivia's eyes twinkle at her new man we feel romance is perfectly mixed in with the Christmas air for a wonderful flittering feeling. Olivia who has a tough time getting a handle on things sheds light on the fact that new challenges although hard encourage growth in individuals. The movie is also full of the Lord as being set in a church has Jesus being called upon quite often in the holiday season. Angela Birchett as Stella was a treat to hear with her brilliant voice put to good use singing hymns. We are also given an insight into why Olivia doesn't sing anymore as she reveals that she was once belittled when she didn't reach up to people's expectations being the daughter of a talented singing pastor. Expecting things of children and inadvertently pressurizing them was quite a realistic topic to address.
The musical watch also featured a short yet special video appearance by Grammy award-winning gospel singer Kirk Frankin which made for a fun little addition. As Olivia finds her own unique voice along with love, you can't help but be drawn into her finale song for the Winter Jamboree with the sweet kiss she shares with Ashton making for a lovely ending.
'Kirk Franklin's A Gospel Christmas' is now available on the Lifetime Channel.
