Its a Saturday afternoon and I arrive at the Basement room in The Beacon, Belsize Park, London, for the "CD launch party", I'm feeling relaxed now after ...

Its a Saturday afternoon and I arrive at the Basement room in The Beacon, Belsize Park, London, for the "CD launch party", I'm feeling relaxed now after a very busy afternoon spent getting ready. As I walk down the stairs I notice the room is filled with people, the atmosphere is so welcoming and a bit surreal.

This album was the hardest project I have worked on and I must admit there were moments where I did not feel I could finish the CD. I remember walking into Church one morning having decided in my head that I could not afford to make this album and would shelve the project till another date in the future. I didn't say anything to anyone then someone called me to one side and gave me an envelope with money for the production of the CD. To my amazement it was the exact amount I had decided to give in the offering that day. This is one of many stories that happened along the way.

The event got started with songs from Faith flo, Open Mic and A.C.E , I was so proud of Faith Flo and Open mic. In April 08 these two young guys went into a local park where all their friends were and performed their songs as well as answered questions that people had about Jesus. Three months before that these two guys would run away from any opportunity to speak out. On the release nite they were totally unashamed!!

A.C.E a friend of mine from North London took to the mic with his song "He died for you", it was truly a blessing to have A.C.E there and I look forward to doing more with him. During this time I'm feeling excited/nervous as I realise that I will be up shortly. After a birthday surprise sing-along for a friend from Church, I begin to pray as I realised the time had come.

After the event as I stood on the stage and looked at the amount of people that showed up, I was totally amazed and thankful to the lord for the support from people I knew and people I didn't know.

One of the highlights for me was meeting a guy named Deng who got the mic and said that he was invited by a friend, and he goes on to say "I didn't know Church was like this, I'm starting to think that God is actually real and I might give him a try" at this point the room erupted with people praising God. (NB: We had specifically prayed earlier in the week at prayer meeting for the Lord to even touch one soul and this happened)

There were people from age groups 4 to 60 , black, white, Asian, Christians and non Christians all enjoying themselves. The aim was to celebrate the release and reach out with the Gospel to our community. Only God knows the total extent of the seeds sown at the event. Thank you to those of you who contributed to the production of the CD, Website, Release party and lastly thank you for the donations received on Saturday, it has allowed me to be able to buy video editing equipment which will be used to edit the first music video and highlights of the release party. If you would like to continue to donate please email me for details. We should have the pictures online soon so stay tuned.

Until next time take care and God Bless

Grace and Peace

Baliva

PS: The Sunrise album was released online via the iLIKE and itunes stores on the 14th of June and is now available for free download.