Smokie Norful was meant for such a time as this. With seven years in gospel music, he’s become a heavyweight of the genre, reaching benchmarks that have taken others a lifetime to achieve: Among other accomplishments, he’s a GRAMMY®, Dove, and Stellar winner, a bona fide Billboard chart-topper, a two-time gold-selling artist, and a crossover star responsible for the unforgettable, multi-format smash, “I Need You Now.” Smokie Norful Live, the latest chapter in a vertiginous rise to the very zenith of gospel, is the project he was destined to make. It brings together both of his personas—artistic and pastoral—for an in-concert experience that’s also the closest representation of who he is as a singer and minister. “If you catch me on Sunday morning, I sound just like this,” Norful says. “I don’t have a Sunday-morning me and then a concert-night me. It’s all the same person. I dress the same. I sing the same. I preach the same—the Word that you get in between songs is the same you get at church.” With that clear-cut sense of purpose, Norful went on to make Smokie Norful Live, his fourth EMI Gospel outing and first-ever live recording. The disc and accompanying concert DVD serve as a fitting capstone to everything that’s transpired in the most recent season of Norful’s life, a musical reminder of the faithfulness of a God Who sees us through every trial, every tear, and every suffering. Recorded before a crowd of more than 2,000 at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts in Memphis, Tenn., Smokie Norful Live is in many ways a family affair, as many of the onstage musicians and sidemen are fellow worshippers with Norful at Victory Cathedral Worship Center, the church he founded. One of them is project co-producer Jason Tyson, the singer’s longtime music director on the road, as well as a minister of music at Victory, business partner and a trusted brother and friend. As for the choice of Memphis, the pastor says it was a no-brainer. “I have all kinds of connectivity to Memphis—it’s been like a second home to me,” says Norful, who was born in Little Rock but grew up in Pine Bluff, both in the neighboring state of Arkansas. “When I was a little boy, my mother and father would take us over to Memphis, and my great-uncle and aunt who live there would take us to the mall to do Christmas and school shopping. Also, my wife is from Memphis.” With all of those familiar factors in place, it’s no wonder Smokie Norful Live sounds and looks the way it does. From the celebratory strains of opener “He’s gonna come through,” a collaboration with gospel co-laborer Tye Tribbett, it’s evident the program is but an extension of what Norful already does so well. The track is an explosion of energy: throughout the duration, Norful and Tribbett do their best to keep up with each other as they encourage concertgoers and remind them of God’s sovereignty and faithfulness. Without taking a breath, Norful brings the funk with the call-and-response “I Will Bless the Lord,” an up-tempo praise anthem that would sound equally at home at church or on gospel airwaves. As revealed on the DVD version of Smokie Norful Live, the singer means business when giving praise where praise is due. “I know this is not Sunday morning,” warns Norful as he introduces the song, “but I sometimes do this at my church.” With the poise of a preacher, he goes through a laundry list of reasons why God is to be trusted at all times, only to conclude with resolve, “God is going to release us from our spirit of weariness.” Once the audience has been ushered into an atmosphere of praise, Norful lays on thick the Sunday-morning spirit in the arresting first single, “Justified,” a track that serves as a primer for the type of artist he is: a pastor and a singer . For the swaying, neo-traditional “My Choice,” Norful dons his minister’s hat once again—preaching in song as if this were a church service at Victory Cathedral. By the time Norful reaches the testimonial “Don’t Quit” and the hand-clapper “I’ve Been Delivered,” Smokie Norful Live has asserted itself, both aurally and visually. Of course, those who prefer Norful’s tender, balladeer side will relish the prayerful “Dear God,” a face-to-face with the Lord where the singer sits at the piano and looks back on his life, only to express gratitude to Him for his steadfast faithfulness. It’s a show-stopping moment, highly reminiscent of previous Norful favorites “Run Til I Finish,” “God Is Able,” and the career-defining “I Need You Now.” Another cornerstone of the project is Norful’s knockout cover of Lionel Richie and the Commodores’ “Jesus Is Love,” a lovely duet with R&B songstress and label mate Heather Headley, who also included the song in her own EMI Gospel debut, Audience of One. “She’s a sweetheart,” Norful says of the Tony-winning Broadway star. “I love her spirit and her personality.” Norful has no magic recipe for the energy, synergy, and prodigy evinced on the sights and sounds of Smokie Norful Live, other than the fact that he’s simply doing what the Lord has meant for him to do all along. “I’m really just a church kid,” he says. “I have other components to add to the flavoring, but the bottom line is, I’m just a church kid who loves gospel music, loves God, and loves the Word of God. Where I have a natural tendency to excel is in a live setting. It’s just a comfort zone that I’ve fallen into.” It’s a delicate balance, one Norful knows how to strike and maintain. It’s a new season in his life, a full plate that includes being the priest of his own home, pastoring a two-site congregation in Chicago, Illinois, and his evolving career as a recording artist and record label president. “I have a good team around me, beginning with my wife,” Norful continues. “She brings stability. She brings balance. She makes sure that the home is secure, that my children are covered, that I’m covered. If I run out the door and I run back in realizing that I forgot something, she’s already standing at the door with it. That’s symbolic of the whole dynamic between us.”