{"id":158285,"date":"2021-12-01T14:38:55","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T19:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/?p=158285"},"modified":"2021-12-01T14:46:56","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T19:46:56","slug":"demetria-mckinney-and-chaz-lamar-shepherd-talk-kirk-franklins-a-gospel-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/demetria-mckinney-and-chaz-lamar-shepherd-talk-kirk-franklins-a-gospel-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Demetria McKinney and Chaz Lamar Shepherd talk &#8216;Kirk Franklin&#8217;s a Gospel Christmas&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Demetria McKinney and Chaz Lamar Shepherd talk &#8216;Kirk Franklin&#8217;s a Gospel Christmas&#8217; with blackfilm.com correspondent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/author\/koku-tona\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Koku Tona<\/a>! The pair discuss speaking with Kirk Franklin, balancing singing and acting, and what it was like to work with the legendary, Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Regina Belle! Check out the interview and let us know what you think: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mylifetime.com\/movies\/a-gospel-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kirk Franklin&#8217;s a Gospel Christmas<\/a>&#8216; premieres December 4th, 2021 at 8pm EST\/7pm CST on Lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div id=\"g1-fluid-wrapper-counter-1\" class=\"g1-fluid-wrapper \" style=\"width:662px;\" data-g1-fluid-width=\"662\" data-g1-fluid-height=\"372\">\n\t       <div class=\"g1-fluid-wrapper-inner\" style=\"padding-bottom:56.19335347432%;\">\n\t       <div class=\"mace-youtube\" data-mace-video=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nGK1FNOHAiM?showinfo=0&#038;rel=1&#038;ytp-pause-overlay=1&#038;autoplay=1&#038;enablejsapi=1\" data-mace-video-thumb=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/nGK1FNOHAiM\/hqdefault.jpg\"><div class=\"mace-play-button\"><\/div><\/div>\n\t       <\/div>\n\t       <\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-expand=\"600\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' viewBox%3D'0 0 1 1'%2F%3E\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GC_09022021_TG_0702-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Demetria McKinney and Chaz Lamar Shepherd talk 'Kirk Franklin's a Gospel Christmas'\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-158292\" \/><figcaption>Demetria McKinney and Chaz Lamar Shepherd talk &#8216;Kirk Franklin&#8217;s a Gospel Christmas&#8217;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch the trailer here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div id=\"g1-fluid-wrapper-counter-2\" class=\"g1-fluid-wrapper \" style=\"width:662px;\" data-g1-fluid-width=\"662\" data-g1-fluid-height=\"372\">\n\t       <div class=\"g1-fluid-wrapper-inner\" style=\"padding-bottom:56.19335347432%;\">\n\t       <div class=\"mace-youtube\" data-mace-video=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M1UEacWLFtk?showinfo=0&#038;rel=1&#038;ytp-pause-overlay=1&#038;autoplay=1&#038;enablejsapi=1\" data-mace-video-thumb=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/M1UEacWLFtk\/hqdefault.jpg\"><div class=\"mace-play-button\"><\/div><\/div>\n\t       <\/div>\n\t       <\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About Chaz Lamar Shepherd and Demetria McKinney<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Chaz Lamar Shepherd<\/strong>&nbsp;is a Philadelphia native. He is known for&nbsp;<strong>Set It Off<\/strong>&nbsp;(1996),&nbsp;<strong>The Nutty Professor<\/strong>&nbsp;(1996) and&nbsp;<strong>Luke Cage<\/strong>&nbsp;(2016).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Demetria McKinney&nbsp;<\/strong>is best known as&nbsp;<em>Janine<\/em>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<strong>Tyler Perry\u2019s House of Payne<\/strong>. In 2017, she was cast opposite&nbsp;Mario Van Peebles&nbsp;in the Syfy horror drama&nbsp;<em>Superstition<\/em>. In 2017, McKinney starred in the TV One movie&nbsp;<em>Bobbi Kristina<\/em>&nbsp;as&nbsp;Whitney Houston, the late icon and mother to&nbsp;Bobbi Kristina. She currently stars in the&nbsp;Freeform&nbsp;drama series&nbsp;<em>Motherland: Fort Salem<\/em>. She was a guest star during the seventh and eighth seasons of&nbsp;<em>The Real Housewives of Atlanta<\/em>&nbsp;airing on Bravo TV.&nbsp;In 2017, McKinney released her debut album&nbsp;<em>Officially Yours<\/em>. She received nomination for&nbsp;NAACP Image Award for Outstanding New Artist. From this album, she released three singles: &#8220;Is This Love&#8221;, &#8220;Happy&#8221; and &#8220;Easy&#8221; that peaked at #4 at the&nbsp;Adult R&amp;B Songs. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-text-color\">Demetria McKinney and Chaz Lamar Shepherd talk &#8216;Kirk Franklin&#8217;s a Gospel Christmas&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-expand=\"600\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' viewBox%3D'0 0 1 1'%2F%3E\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/image002-2-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Demetria McKinney and Chaz Lamar Shepherd talk 'Kirk Franklin's A Gospel Christmas'\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-158286\" \/><figcaption>Demetria McKinney and Chaz Lamar Shepherd talk &#8216;Kirk Franklin&#8217;s a Gospel Christmas&#8217;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When Olivia (Demetria McKinney), a young assistant pastor, gets assigned to be a lead pastor at a new church a month before Christmas, she\u2019s fearful she can&#8217;t manage the transition, including getting the choir ready to open the town&#8217;s annual Winter Jamboree. Banding together with her new congregation, Olivia discovers a new home for herself, and even finds a little Christmas romance along the way!&nbsp;Featuring a special appearance and songs written and arranged by Kirk Franklin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Kirk Franklin&#8217;s A Gospel Christmas<\/em>&nbsp;is produced by Swirl Films and Big Dreams Entertainment. Executive produced by Kirk Franklin and Tracy &#8220;Twinkie&#8221; Byrd and produced by Leslie Greif, Eric Tomosunas and Ron Robinson. Erica Sutherlin directs a script by Kourtney Richard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>#AGospelChristmas<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"has-text-color wp-block-heading\" style=\"color:#ffffff\">Demetria McKinney and Chaz Lamar Shepherd talk &#8216;Kirk Franklin&#8217;s a Gospel Christmas&#8217;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Demetria McKinney and Chaz Lamar Shepherd talk &#8216;Kirk Franklin&#8217;s a Gospel Christmas&#8217; with blackfilm.com correspondent Koku Tona! The pair discuss speaking with Kirk Franklin, balancing singing and acting, and what it was like to work with the legendary, Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Regina Belle! Check out the interview and let us know what you think: [&hellip;] <a class=\"g1-link g1-link-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/demetria-mckinney-and-chaz-lamar-shepherd-talk-kirk-franklins-a-gospel-christmas\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":158292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27144,145,19,18,143,20,142,23],"tags":[],"reaction":[35726],"class_list":{"0":"post-158285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-exclusives","8":"category-featured","9":"category-features","10":"category-interviews","11":"category-read","12":"category-trailers","13":"category-videos","14":"category-watch","15":"reaction-gospel-music"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - 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