By Victor Ochieng
Donnie McClurkin is a renowned gospel music superstar. But before making his entry into the superstardom, he faced numerous challenges and disappointments.
Asked on Twitter about some of the difficulties he faced on his way up, the 56-year-old music sensation had more than enough to share with fans.
“@donnieradio what has been the most challenging part in getting to where you are in your career today? #COGchat,” one Twitter user asked McClurkin.
In his response, the singer said, “The hardest thing in getting to where I am was; finally believing what God said and thought about me regardless [of] my failures.”
McClurkin is the pastor of Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, New York. He has a longstanding gospel music career spanning over two decades and is a leading voice in the gospel music industry.
He’d previously acknowledged that the gospel music industry is quite challenging and even warned those feeling like joining in not to do so if they’re not called by God.
“If you want to do it to get into the industry, don’t do it. If you want to do it because you feel like you’re a gospel singer, don’t,” the singer previously told The Christian Post. “It’s got to be something that God has ordained because although it looks good from the outside looking in and although we bless so many people around the world with our music, inside of this gospel music world it’s not easy.”
The “We Fall Down” singer is among gospel industry’s best selling artists. He has several different awards to his name, including multiple Grammy, NAACP, Stellar and Dove awards. However, he shared a piece of advice on why not just anybody interested in making it big in the music industry should follow in his footsteps.
“There’s so much work that goes behind this and if you’re not called by God to do it, you’ll mess this thing up. Because pride won’t let you say ‘I’m not called to’ once you start,” McClurkin told CP. “Once you start, you’re going to keep on trying because you don’t ever want to show that you were in the wrong and that you didn’t hear from God. You’ve got to make sure that this is God and you’ve got to make sure that He called you to do it.”
That aside, the singer is committed to seeing a new breed of gospel artists being ushered into the industry and has been serving as a judge on BET’s “Sunday Best” since 2010 to help see that happen.
“It’s adding so much to the gospel music industry. We’ve got Crystal Aiken, we’ve got Y’Anna Crawley, Le’Andria Johnson, Amber Bullock and the list goes on,” McClurkin told CP. “But what we do know is Sunday Best gave them that platform.”
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