Born out of a passion to love people and the world, the Transformed Life Church recently launched a new single titled Wi Love Strong, in addition to a video which is, expected to make an impact globally.
The song, which took the form of reggae, was produced by Nicky Tucker, who is also the lead vocalist and one of the writers. The other writers are Omar Reid and Everold Simms.
Tucker, in an interview with The Gleaner, said that she believes the church has a role to play in spreading the message of love through Jamaica's strong cultural platform. "It stems from the series that our pastor started, and we decided that we would do a song. We also knew that it had to capture a critical aspect of the culture of our country, which is reggae. I was walking around and the lord basically gave me the lyrics and the melody. Omar and Everold did the rest of the writing," she declared. "Reggae reaches the world and we have seen the impact that has been made through the gifts of many artistes, but we also know that the church has a role to play through that artform," added Tucker, who is also the sister of renowned gospel singer Junior Tucker.
Dahlia Cole, one of the singers, noted that it was an amazing experience watching how the song came together. "Our pastor started a series and so we knew we had to come up with a song quickly. Initially, we did not know what the lyrics would look like, but everything eventually came together quickly, and what would normally take a long time, gelled together in a short time," she said. "For me, the word 'strong' speaks volumes. As a country we have always been described as, strong people, we have been through a lot as a people, but our resilience has kept us going. I therefore believe that, if we love strong and make the effort to care for people, we can transform this nation," Cole continued.
Pastor of the church, Dwight Fletcher, stressed the importance of using music to spread positive messages.
"The scriptures speak about love and, when I was preparing the series, I sensed a call for people to love God first, love each other and the world, and so the concept of a song was to encapsulate what the series is about and to put it in a form that would get into the minds and hearts of people. Nothing does that quite like music," said Fletcher.
"It came from the church, but it has moved beyond us and has what I believe is a national call, a message to the world, that if we get back to the basics of caring and looking out for each other, great things can happen," the pastor charged.
The song will be pre-released on itunes, google play and amazon for a week after which it can be purchased for (US) 99 cents.