A Song in My Heart, his new album denotes his long prayed-for musical emancipation. Inspired by his undying reverence for God, Hawkins uses all of God’s sonic possibilities, which have been laid at his feet. “This time, with my music, I was trying to figure out what was me, at this late date in my life. I tried to do songs with a timely message. I wanted to do things that would make me stretch. I decided, I am going to sing everything that I love.”

On this electrifying debut, A Song In My Heart, Minister Hawkins in the spirit of his Love Center Ministry, is finally reaching beyond the confines of tradition. He says, “If I am trying to reach outside the four walls of my church and I want someone to listen to it, it needs to have some appeal to whatever heart it is trying to reach. Being contemporary is not a compromise. God’s policy was that `God so loved the world…’ and, the church is not a private social club. The message needs to be stated in a way that speaks to any person. We want to have an outreach.”

And reaching hearts and souls, is exactly what A Song In My Heart does. From the rousing Latin-tinged feel of the title track to the introspective “Ever Loving Father” (Pastor Hawkins’ personal favorite) to the soulful radio-ready “We Sing Praises,” “Faithfully” and “Wanna Say Thank You”, the album is filled with an abundance of strong messages for mankind. Says Bishop Hawkins, “What I do when I write is I don’t know if people are going to like it - I don’t think in terms of ‘let’s make it more palatable’ That is how God gave it to me, so I think, let’s leave it alone.”

Of his astounding songwriting abilities, Minister Hawkins says he is inspired purely by life’s events, “I am very optimistic. When bad things happen, I think what am I supposed to glean from this situation? I try to find that thing. Music is the most universal communication tool. Someone is always going through the same things that I am. That is pretty much how I write my songs.”