You heard it right: Kirk Franklin and Friends will join us Friday night for a concert and worship celebration at Youth 2003!

Unabashedly Christian. Unashamedly Cool.

Here is a man who walked a difficult journey as a child and youth, but has found a powerful faith to share with others in a most genuine way. The world was first introduced to Franklin in 1993 with this self-titled debut album, Kirk Franklin & the Family. Wildly accepted and embraced almost immediately by the masses, the album went on to spend 100 weeks at the top of Billboard magazine's gospel charts. In less than a decade, Franklin would come to stand as one of the pivotal, defining forces of twentieth-century-and-beyond gospel music.

In 1998 Kirk Franklin released his own solo album, Nu Nation Project. And now he returns with his new solo release, The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin. Not only does he have an absolutely breath-taking grasp of the full breadth and depth of nearly all genres of contemporary and traditional music — secular as well as sacred — but Franklin also has an humble and inspirational perspective on his work and music.

"It's taken me these ten years and longer to fully realize that keeping everything we do focused on the love of God is what music, and my life, is all about," Franklin concludes. "And it's kind of ironic to be this many years into the pilgrimage only to realize that’s the way it was at the start, still is, and always will be."

Kirk Franklin is a man of the people, a minister to many, and a musician of the masses, coming a long, full circle to a place where fads no longer figure into the formula; and timeless truths stand steady and secure, forever. Read more about Kirk Franklin by clicking here.

Click here to visit Kirk Franklin's website.