[00:00:01] Speaker A: He is in the studio, y'all. I am talking about Bishop Ellis from Greater Grace. And how are you?
[00:00:09] Speaker B: I'm doing fine, Randy. And thank you for having a conversation with me about family. Family is everything, isn't it?
[00:00:14] Speaker A: I know we were off the air just talking about all kinds of stuff, catching up with each other, because the last time we had an in studio interview is five years ago.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: 2019.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. When we just moved into this building and then Covid changed everything, tried to steal everything from us.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Changed everything, I think, and I say, Randy, very, very quickly, you know, one person dying is too many, you know, millions is catastrophic. No evidence about it. But there are some lessons from COVID and I think we learned some lessons in the church. We learned some lessons about what's important. We learned some lessons about time. We learned some lessons about getting to the point and making sure that our time is spent with valuable things and insightful things and not just wasting time. I grew up in a sanctified church, so I ain't gonna say we wasted time because people gonna turn over their grace. But we need to be there for three hours. Okay. And three hours.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: The whole Terry and four hours.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Little testimonies. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So, you know, I think that we learned some lessons from it, you know, and certainly hope that I don't ever go through that again.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: One of the things that I appreciated about what you were doing before and what you're doing now is your Christmas, your holiday program.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Which, you know, was huge. And I remember not being able to get there. And you were at the forefront of putting stuff on video then.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: And I will tell you, Randy, that that was our first paid production. You know, all of my illustrated sermons were always free. You know, they were always about an altar call at the end. That was our first, you know, where we kind of call it a show. You know, it's a holiday show, a holiday spectacular, a graceful Christmas. And, you know, I intended on it being every single year, but Covid kind of put a little stop to that in 20 and 21. And of course, now you got to rethink everything. How do we do, you know, will people come and all of that. So now that we're post Covid, as they are declaring, you know, we were ready to bring back a graceful Christmas. Now it's early this year.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: And there's a method to that. You know, we should, you know, December 1, you know, don't you wait till the holiday. Wait till Christmas comes and blah, blah. I Said, no, we're doing that because we have an opportunity to air it on television. Got it on Christmas Day. So we need to get it done. We need to do it early. And we need to be able to edit it down to the time allotment that they will give us. And we're working with two networks that are talking about allowing us to air it. It will not be the full presentation, but it will be, you know, a good presentation of probably an hour or an hour and a half. But it's about a 2 hour and 15 minute production. Our special musical guest last time we had Regina Bell. And listen, Regina, got no problems with you. You did your thing, you know, make it like it was. But we're going with my cousin Angela Wimbush this time. She has a great catalog of RB music, gospel music and the whole nine yards. And she's been one like Regina, who's been able to navigate both spaces and maintain her integrity. So we're excited about her coming to be with us. And we're going to have. Yes, a camel. Yes. You will see a donkey. You will see a camel. You will see some lambs. You will see angels flying. You will a drum line. That's right. Drum lines became very famous after the movie and Nick Cannon. I mean, the stadiums have them now. The football teams, the basketball teams have them now. Because everybody likes a beat.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Yes. The one for the Detroit Lions is out cold.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Oh my God. And the Pistons. Listen. So we will have a drum line, of course, our mass choir, our dancers, the colors of Christmas, the pageantry. It's just gonna be awesome. We'll have a few skits here and there. In there you'll see a motorcycle come in. The sanctuary down the center aisle. I' not saying I'm going to be riding, but you will see one. So the things that you don't see in church, you're going to see it. And it's all going to take place early holiday season this year. December 1st at Greater Grace Temple. That's a Sunday evening. At 6:30, the doors will open at 5:00. The sanctuary doors will open at 5:30. Of course, there are no numbered seating. You'll get in where you fit in. We have 4,000 seats. It's a minimum $20 per person, 25 if you're going to buy it. That's day at the church. So I'm asking you to get your tickets in advance. It's $20 now. You can get them
[email protected] but now they're going to Add a few dollars and some change, you know, because nothing is free. So they're processing it for us. So you probably want to come to Greater Grace Temple or call the church office at 313-543-6000. And I'm not going to add not one more cent to that $20. It's $20 per person. But listen, it'll be well worth it. And you know, I see people pay 60, 70, $100 to go to into the stadiums downtown. And listen, brothers and sisters, this is going to be a very professional production. Yes, you're going to enjoy it. It is family friendly. Bring the entire family. And again, $20 per person. Sunday, December 1, 6:30pm A graceful Christmas right there at Greater Grace Temple. You all know where it's located. West seven Mile Telegraph, that corridor. You'll see us right there.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: Absolutely. I absolutely love the fact that putting it on television on Christmas is just a follow up. And just as a side, when Covid hit, my dad and I would watch you every Sunday because it was done with excellence. So my church and your church, it was done with excellence. And so my dad would always go, who is that preacher? I'm like, I know him.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Thank you. And Robin Terry told me when we dedicated the portion of the Lodge Freeway to Ms. Aretha Franklin when the state did that. And Robin told me because I was right during COVID she said, bishop, you come in on Fox 2 every Sunday at 11 o'clock. She said, you don't know how much healing that word is bringing to people who are having to bury folk. And you're finding out that folk have already been buried. People that you know that you know well.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: But they were just a number.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: They were just a statistic. She said, you just don't know a lot of people. And Reverend Odell Jones's widow, you know, mother Martha Jones. Boy, son, baby, you helping this city and you helping us with the words that you're bringing, their words of healing and words of comfort, peace during a very traumatic time. So I thank you and appreciate you for saying that.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I loved every moment of that. So again, December 1st, Greater Grace Temple. Get those tickets. You will not be disappointed. I never am. I love it. Absolutely. And thank you so much for stopping by.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: Thank you for having and thanks for the conversation.
