Brooklyn Tabernacle Singers - The Miracle Of Hope: Live From Angola Prison

Reviewed by Tony Cummings

The Grammy Award winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Singers have been around for decades but I doubt that they've ever had a more moving release than this one. Filmed at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a prison with the bloodiest reputation in the US where the average sentence is 88 years, this grim institution has long been a place of hopelessness yet through the revival started by the Brooklyn Tabernacle over 1,200 inmates have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord. The DVD includes a powerful full concert which shows them in good voice on such songs as "This Is How It Feels To Be Free", "I'm Amazed", "My Life Is In Your Hands" and "Amazing Grace". But it's the docu-video which is the real attention grabber, containing as it does inspiring testimonies from inmates and prison staff. Amongst the most inspiring is that of "Bishop" Eugene Tanniehill, a seventh grade dropout who was convicted of murder during an armed robbery but became a born again Christian and had his life sentence commuted after being released into the custody of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church. Even if you've ignored the Tabernacle's punchy gospel music in the past, this inspiring DVD will encourage and challenge you like few others.