It's a busy time for gospel megastar KIRK FRANKLIN. Here we publish an extract from his book Church Boy.

Believe me, there are no more godly people in this earth than men and women who really know Jesus and live for him. The very idea that somebody can come in here and steal those godly hearts and souls away is unforgivable. I won't be a party to that. Satan is stealing our young people. He's stealing our fathers; he's killing our mothers and breaking their hearts. But, I'm sorry to say, he's doing it because we've been sleeping. The enemy is selling false pride that is dangerous and self-destructive. People have no fear of God; they have no God to believe in. So somebody is selling them a bill of goods in the name of a false religion, and they're not sure what to believe any more. But let me tell you, I've got the answer! Jesus is the answer, and He's the only answer that really works. He is the only answer that will save your life. I'm saying, Call on Him! He is the way, the truth and the life, and his name is not Mohammed or Buddha or Hare Krishna. It's Jesus, and He loves you.

I believe that all the drama I've experienced in my life is because God wanted me to have sensitivity to the music and to people's pain. I believe that what you live is going to dictate what you play and what you write. And I believe that your motives will dictate what happens. If you're there because it's a gig and just because you're going to get a check for it, then you're not going to touch the hearts of the people. But if you're there because you've been there yourself - been there, done that, gone through some hard times and come through them with a sense of blessing - then I believe you can touch somebody's heart. It's as if you say with your lyrics, "Want to hear about it? I'm glad you asked."

When we went back on the road in December 1996 after six weeks off, there was a new focus to what we were doing. Now and then a preacher or another brother I respected would come up to me after a show and say, "Man, you've really got a crazy anointing on you now!" In other words, they thought they could feel the Holy Spirit in our performance in a way they'd never felt it before. I can't say whether the performance changed. Honestly, I don't think it has. But what I have seen is that when I get the microphone now and it's time to say a word and minister to the people, I feel the hand of the Lord like I never did before. It is an anointing.

People want to say I'm some sort of new man, a new entertainer, and that this is all new with me, but I can't see that that's really the case. If it is, I certainly can't see it. It's nothing the physical eye can see. It's something only God can see, and possibly a few others who walk closely with Him. But I'm just walking day by day and doing what I can to thank Him and serve Him with the music.

The first big song we ever had was "Why We Sing", and I think that song puts a lot of this into perspective. It says,

"Someone asked the question, why do we sing:
When we lift our hands to Jesus, what do we really mean?
Someone may be wondering, when we sing our song;
At times we may be crying and nothing's even wrong.
I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free,
His eye is on the sparrow. That's the reason why I sing.

Glory, hallelujah, you're the reason why I sing!
Glory, hallelujah, you're the reason why I sing!
Glory, hallelujah, I give the praises to you.
Glory, hallelujah, you're the reason why I sing!"

What motivates me is the knowledge that God has redeemed me from the pain and the hurts and the sin of my past and given me a new joy I can't even explain. It's not just for show. It's the truth and that's what I want to express. I want to write the un-writeable, to compose the unheard melodies, to create the perfect song of praise, to tough the very heart of God.

I really have a whole different viewpoint than most people do when it comes to songwriting. I don't say this trying to be too deep. I say it out of safety and because it's where I feel most comfortable. I don't believe I have ever written a song. I believe that I am a pen. I believe that God is the poet, and the people are the paper. The pen cannot tell the poet what to write. The pen only writes what the poet has to say, and the pen should never get the credit from the paper. The credit should always go back to the poet. Because the pen was just an instrument in the poet's hand.

One reason I believe this is that there are songs that I feel I had nothing to do with, that God just threw down. They just came out. And I don't believe it's because I've got skills. I believe it's because there was a message he wanted me to get out at that particular time and at that particular point in my life.

Now, I know there are people who will say, "But what about the people who don't believe in God who are songwriters?" And I can only say, "That's them; that's their lives. I'm talking about me. I believe that, for me, this is how it works."

I enjoy hearing God say the unspeakable things and then writing them down. I like to be able to hear and experience things that people were not even there to write.