Jesus is king -- that is the message David "Lyrically Blessed" Ferguson wanted to get across to the people that attended the Ministry of Tourism's Easter Gospel Fest -- and he believes he did just that.

"It's always a great and awesome experience to worship and remember what Christ did for us. It is an incredible worship experience and you have the culture of Bahamians with us coming together to worship God. I love it," said Ferguson who has performed at all three Easter Gospel Festival.

The celebration of thanksgiving was held at Clifford Park on March 28, and drew hundreds of Bahamians as an all-Bahamian gospel line-up graced the stage.

Director of Religious Tourism Dwight Armbrister said this event was deliberately set up for Bahamian gospel artists to get exposure on the world's stage. The event was captured for rebroadcast on the Impact Gospel Network.

"It did not have a headliner so that Bahamians can rise to the occasion and become headliners in their own right and in their own country and draw the kinds of crowds that any international headliner would draw," said Armbrister.

"The dream of all Bahamian artists is to get on a mega stage. I want to see this become an event that will attract heads in beds and tourists and I believe we are heading there because we can capture all of the artists to promote them internationally on Impact Network and so you are going to have millions seeing what we are doing in The Bahamas," said Armbrister who performed with the Ecclesia Choir.

Other artists taking to the stage included the Church of God Band, Christian Massive, Nuvoice, Shaback, Bethany Assembly Pure Dance, Nehemiah Hield, Washington Williams, Simeon Outten, Denzil Rolle and Friends, Lawrence Rolle and Voice of Praise among others.

Hield, a Cacique awardee, said he was proud that the line-up was all-Bahamian.

"We need to prove to the world that our gospel artists are just as great as any other gospel artists. It's always a great to see Bahamians support Bahamian artists. It is special because we are getting to see things that we have never seen before and the industry in The Bahamas is opening up to gospel artists and they are benefiting the way secular artists would. I'm excited to see this new era in gospel music," he said.

The event was the brainchild of Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Harrison Thompson said the event came about because the ministry believes in giving thanks to God.

"This gospel concert is about giving God thanks for all he has done for us in the ministry and in The Bahamas. God has been so good to us, despite the challenges we face. Our visitor numbers continue to grow so we have to take time to say thanks," he said.

"The minister had a vision to give God thanks during this time when we talk about the resurrection of Christ and for all that he continues to do for The Bahamas. Every Bahamian and child of God should take this time out to reflect on what our Lord and Savior did for us. This is a special time for Christians and for The Bahamas," said Thompson.

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