Derby-based gospel diva SANDRA GODLEY was quizzed by Tony Cummings.

I think we've gone wrong in the past by just servicing the Christian world with this great medium, but what does it take to convince all the "not-yet-Christians" that we have a great product? In the past I think we've lacked the "big, full, fat sound" you kinda get from American gospel. We've also not paid much attention to the look of what we produce, be it an album with poor picture quality, graphics, etc or even just the way we look as artists. American gospel artists take these areas very seriously (sometimes too seriously, I hesitate to say) but in the main I'm sure we're all aware that marketing is vitally important.

Tony: What plans do you have for the future?

Sandra: Well, I've now got a great band and plans are already underway for a tour starting later this year. I'm also writing new songs ready for another album. I'm continuing to network with great people including Chris Bowater, Andy Bromley, UCB and Revelation TV. I'm a worship leader at our local church (King's Community Church, Bedworth) which is really buzzing at the moment as we have two services on a Sunday and I also look after the vocal side of things for our choir and band.

Added to all this I have engagements to sing and minister courtesy of Dave Bemment at The Lighthouse Agency, who represents a number of Christian TV personalities and sportsmen including Shane from Boyzone, Tommy Cannon, etc. One of my greatest passions is to encourage worship leaders, female worship leaders in particular. As a female black worship leader I recognise my strengths and I'm committed to being all God's called me to be.

Tony: What spiritual lessons have you learned since the release of the CD?

Sandra: Looking back at the last 25 years or so, I can honestly say that my greatest achievement has been serving the local church and the result of that is: you don't serve God for 25+ years and NOT have something to say. You see, all my grounding has come out of the outworking of solid relationships. I'm not saying that all relationships are easy or for that matter likely to last forever, but God has a mad, crazy way of teaching you life skills through walking in relationship with each other. Like it or not we need each other. Each track on my album is a testimony of real honesty before God.

I recently had a dream where I could see many actors on a stage wearing masks. The audience was shouting 'Boo! Stop acting! Be yourselves!' I later realised that what I was seeing was this: The actors were Christians pretending to be someone else, presenting an image that wasn't real, never being honest, never admitting their failures or weaknesses, always pretending that everything's alright. The audience was the unchurched, unsaved people in our world who look into our churches and find Christian actors, playing out a role that they can't relate to. The worst thing about it is that they know we're acting. They know we have the same challenges as they do, the same hurts, pains, weaknesses, they just want us to be honest with them and let down our guards, let down our masks and relate to them. Out of this dream I wrote and shared a message to our church entitled "Will The Real You Come Forward?"

All in all, I'm finding this whole experience exciting, challenging and enjoyable, all at the same time. Sounds like good inspiration for the next CD. Keep a lookout on my website, www.sandragodley.org!