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Donnie recently spoke with Family Christian Stores about Live in London and More, as well as his new book, Eternal Victim, Eternal Victor, which offers a message of hope and restoration.

FamilyChristian.com: Who has influenced you the most throughout your years of ministry?

Donnie McClurkin: Andrae Crouch, Walter Hawkins and Keith Green. I loved Keith Green. [Also] Vestal Goodman.

FamilyChristian.com: How have those people influenced you?

Donnie: [I admire] their sincerity, their dedication to the gospel and not to the entertainment. Although they were famous and celebrated, they refused to take that on them. They kept the role of minister and consequently changed the whole course of gospel music.

FamilyChristian.com: What led you to record your album in London?

I've always loved the culture and the historicity of the country. I've loved everything that went along with it. Then Andrae Crouch did a live recording in London: Andrae Crouch: Live in London. [To me] that was the most thrilling album that Andrae did. When I signed with Verity Records, they asked me what I wanted to do and immediately I asked them, "Can I do anything I want?" They said, "Anything you want." I said, "Well, I want to do live in London." And three weeks later they made it happen. It was the timing of the Lord.

FamilyChristian.com: You've had great success with the album and the song "We Fall Down." How has that success opened new doors for you?

Donnie: It's broadened my platform. It's broadened the playing field. Now we're dealing in the secular world as well as the gospel/Christian world. They play it now on the secular stations in more rotations than they do on the gospel or the Christian stations. It's amazing. I've got people like Steve Harvey and all these different secular personalities asking me to come and do interviews on their station. It's just opened up a whole new world.

It challenges you to keep the message just as pure and just as strong as it was while you were in the church and never to compromise because of the different platforms. Stay just as committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter where He puts you. It's not that hard to do. It's a pleasure for me.

FamilyChristian.com: What does the song "We Fall Down" mean to you personally?

Donnie: It reminds me that everything that I do, God has made provisions for it. The song is really meant for those that believe that their situation is so bad that they can't get up, they can't be forgiven, they can't go on into any success, that they'll have to deal with living in mediocre status quo because they've messed up their future. But what it does tell them is that the greatest of saints, from the Pope to Mother Theresa to the pastors and the bishops, whoever we consider to be that holy, reverent person, has messed this walk up with Jesus since they've accepted Him. So the greatest saint is nothing more than a sinner who fell down and had enough sense to get back up again. You may not have seen the fall but it happened just as sure as they're there.

[The song] deals with situations in my life where people [say], "Donnie, you're so anointed. You're so powerful." That's nice but the truth of the matter is I've fallen many a time and gotten up and that's been what separates me from a sinner, having enough sense to get back up again.

FamilyChristian.com: If you were to write a review of Live in London and More, how would you describe it?

Live In London & More by Donnie McClurkin

Donnie: It's an intimate CD. It's a CD that deals with my intimacy with the Lord. From the beginning of the CD to the end, it's my worship. It's my private worship brought public.

It starts off with "That's What I Believe." I came to church for deliverance. That's what I'm going to receive. I'm not leaving here without it. And it goes on into what the cross means to me. Then there's a song that Jesus sings back to me, "Didn't You Know." "I Will Trust" is a response to "Didn't you know I'll be with you all the way." [Then] we go into the "Caribbean Medley" and then I go right back into singing to Jesus, "Hail Jesus, You're My King," the "Victory Chant" and then to "Great Is Your Mercy." From there it goes to "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High" and we're singing to Him. Then I sing to the people, let them know, "get up from wherever you've fallen" [in "We Fall Down."]

We end with "Didn't I tell you that I love you?/I do, I do/Did I tell you that I love you?/Did I tell you what you mean to me?/Did I tell you how I think of you when I think about eternity?/Did I tell you how I want to stay in your arms and never turn away?/Did I tell you that I love you?/Well I want you to know that I do."

FamilyChristian.com: What would you like listeners to take away from this album?

Donnie: I want them to know that there are no boundaries in gospel music. What I want them to take away is that there are no boundaries, there are no limitations, there are no racial lines. We make it like that, the industry makes it like that, the media makes it like that, the radio makes it like that, but if you sing to a group of people, there are no boundaries. I go to different venues and different affairs where there are white brothers and sisters, Hispanic brothers and sisters and I sing my music and there are no boundaries there are no borderlines, there are no separations, there are no divisions.

[I want them to know] that it's the one God with the same blood and it's the same relationship that we all can have with Him. It's not based on my being black or anyone being white or the denomination that we go to.

FamilyChristian.com: You've just released a book called Eternal Victim, Eternal Victor that deals with the restoration you've experienced after coming out of an abusive childhood. What influenced you to tell your story?

Donnie: What influenced me is seeing people, young people especially, who are being totally decimated in their sexuality. It's amazing how we turn a blind eye to the fact that our children are directly influenced by what they see and what society portrays as normal living. Homosexuality has really ravished our children. It started in my generation. I was touched by it and I struggled with it and all that for years and there was nobody to deal with it. I started dealing with it in my sermons and even when we do our concerts.

Right now I have over 1600 emails on my computer that I have not answered back yet and 90% of them are from young people writing me [about] their struggle with homosexuality. Married men, with wives and children, who have had this problem for years and are still acting out in secret [are writing me.] These are church people; these are not secular people. I've got ministers that write me and say they can't tell anybody else. They never had an outlet to talk about it before and [they ask me:] what should they do? How did I get over it? What method did I use?

I get a good 80 to 100 a day and I have to sit up till one or two o'clock in the morning answering emails. It's a very sensitive issue. That's why I sat down and I wrote the book Eternal Victim, Eternal Victor. [In the book I] talk about the difference between victims and victors. They both have one thing in common: struggle [and] suffering. But it's how they deal with it that makes them want to get up.

FamilyChristian.com: It sounds like you're going to reach a whole new group of people with your book.

Eternal Victim, Eternal Victor by Donnie McClurkin

Donnie: And I'm going to stir up a bee's nest of controversy. I already have a few people in the gay community that have started to take up arms. But I don't care.

I hugged a young boy in Chicago a month and a half ago. I made an altar call for those that wanted to receive Jesus. One mother brought her son up on stage. [He was] 11 years old, most beautiful little boy you've ever seen. [They] stood there crying and she said, "He was raped two weeks ago." He broke loose from his mother, grabbed me by the waist and broke down crying. I have to do something and I can't care about [what] the gay community [thinks]. If they want to fight, fine, let's fight. Let's fight but know that I'm fighting to win. I don't care about their propaganda and their agenda. The bottom line, there's a whole slew of [people] out there that want to be delivered.

FamilyChristian.com: What's next for you?

Donnie: It's a great time of ministry in my life. We just started a church in New York. It's called Perfecting Faith Church. We're on our way to see the building right now. I'm relocating from Detroit back to New York and it's a great time of ministry.

Amy Meyering, a writer in Grand Rapids, Mich., originally conducted this interview for Family Christian Stores' All Access music catalog.

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