Even before Stellar Award winning gospel artist Donald Lawrence took the stage Wednesday night at Living Word Christian Center in Chicago, you could feel that this performance was different.

And he said it would be.

Lawrence did away with the glitz and glamour of the typical gospel showcase for his live recording of The Law of Confession.

Instead, he focused on a message to the capacity audience that was in many ways a sermon put to music. Lawrence said he adapted his music series from The Law of Confession sermon and book by his Pastor Bill Winston, whose book is due out in late August. He billed his CD as a companion piece to the book, although it won't come out until later this fall.

The more than three hour recording took place in an architecturally stunning church sanctuary in Forest Park, a suburb of Chicago.

Emotions ran high as some familar background singers (DeWayne Woods and other former Tri-City Singers) helped to propel the message. Lawrence led the Tri-City Singers for many years before the group retired in 2006.

Sitting in the audience were some of the top names in gospel, including Smokey Norful, Richard Smallwood, two members of The Murrills, and many other gospel artists and pastors.

I'll share video of the performance and of Lawrence talking about what he was attempting to accomplish for this recording sometime next week.

In two months, you can see Lawrence in Baltimore as the featured artist with Jason Nelson as part of the Macy's Presents UniSun Gospel Concert at the Lyric Opera House. The performance takes place Sept.27 at 7 p.m.