Pastor Mike Jr. makes history: two Stellar Awards wins, Dove nomination

Pastor Mike Jr.,” won the Stellar Award for best new artist and Rap Hip Hop Gospel Album of the Year for his album, “Live Free”  on Sunday during the awards show aired on BET. The show is gospel music’s highest honor. He was nominated for five Stellar Awards, making Alabama history as the most nominated artist from the state in the show’s history.

From his biography: McClure founded The Rock Church in 2009 at Miles College in a college ministry known as Royal Nation Movement, then moved the congregation to L. R. Hall Auditorium in downtown Birmingham. In 2010, the church purchased the former West Birmingham Christian School‘s 12-acre campus in Forestdale. Since 2012, the church has also operated separate campuses in the historic Carver Theatre and at Center Point High School. Central Park gifted its large 2,400 seat campus and school to the church in 2018. The single “Big” entered the Billboard chart August 2019 and secured a number one spot.

Also, after McClure took on music, he recorded dozens of singles in a recording space he put together piece by piece. MyBirminghamGOSPEL.com promoted the single from a church video in January 2019 as an anthem for the year.

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Our #mood for #2019. #BIG via @pastormikejr . . . . . #birmingham #alabamamusic #mybhamgospel #music #inspirational #god #jesus #pmjbeonit #alabama #church

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After meeting with gospel music promoter Kerry Douglas, he decided to take Big worldwide. He made his major debut of “Big” at New Birth in Atlanta, and the rest is history.

He performed “Big” during the Stellar Awards broadcast. It was recorded in Nashville as a part of the show’s virtual performance recordings. The show’s mix of the video is now available on iTunes.

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) announced the nominations for the 51^st Annual GMA Dove Awards and included Pastor Mike Jr. – (songwriters) Michael McClure, Curtiss Glenn, Rodney Turner for contemporary gospel song of the year. The Dove Awards are scheduled for Oct. 30 on TBN.