By Cheryl Stewart Osborn

When legendary performer Gladys Knight organized a gospel choir in 2002 to perform at a Green Valley Stake fireside, she unknowingly created what would become a worldwide missionary tool for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

During the past four years of presenting “One Voice – an Evening of Music & Testimony” in LDS buildings, the Saints Unified Voices directed by Gladys Knight won a Grammy Award for Best Gospel Choir with its debut album One Voice, participated in a documentary of its presentation at BYU-Hawaii that is broadcast all over the world, and just nationally released its second album A Christmas Celebration.

But most important are the lives that are changed when people feel the Spirit as the choir sings praises to Jesus Christ and as Sister Knight and her husband, William McDowell, share their testimonies of the restored gospel.

In 2006, the Saints Unified Voices gave its fireside presentation 27 times to 31,500 people, of which more than half were visitors to the LDS church. Of those attending, about 2,700 have submitted “request” cards asking for the missionaries to bring them a copy of the Book of Mormon and other church materials.

This spring the SUV Choir gave presentations in Washington DC and in New York City. With fasting and prayer, the stake members were instruments in the Lord’s hands as they invited their non-member and less-active friends and family to attend.

The stake centers were filled to capacity each night with people of all races, cultures and backgrounds. Thousands of visitors were inside an LDS church, many for the first time. They came to hear a Grammy-award winning gospel choir and to learn why Gladys Knight had joined the Mormon Church.

So she told them.

Gladys and William shared their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They explained how missionaries had taught them eternal truths, and Gladys introduced the full-time missionaries by having them stand up. She told the visitors about the Book of Mormon and encouraged them to read it, promising them it would change their lives as it did hers.

At the conclusion of each presentation, the stake president told the audience that if they would fill out a request card, the missionaries would bring them their own copy of the Book of Mormon and other church materials. The stake president said they could find a pen under their chairs….and suddenly there was a wave of heads going down as people reached for pens.

People stood in line to turn in their request card to the missionaries. In Washington DC, they set a record for 500 request cards submitted. New York City broke that record with more than 675. Missionaries are busy teaching these people the gospel.

One lady in New York City had met with the missionaries for quite some time. She had told the elders she wanted to wait to be baptized next year. The missionaries brought her to the Saturday presentation where one of the songs the choir sang touched her heart. The song speaks of putting off the Lord until “tomorrow.” But the lyrics ask, “Who promised you tomorrow? Tomorrow may be too late.” She joined the church the next day.

The 100 voices of the SUV Choir and its Board of Directors would like to thank all those who so generously contribute their time and means to make these missionary presentations possible in Nevada, Utah, Georgia, California, Arizona, New York, Oklahoma, Washington DC, Hawaii and England. Appreciation is also expressed to all those who buy One Voice and A Christmas Celebration, as proceeds from these two CDs also make presentations possible.

The Choir’s newest CD A Christmas Celebration is a 12-track collection of holiday favorites such as “Silent Night,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Drummer Boy” infused with the choir’s signature gospel rhythms and rich harmonies. The album’s traditional gospel song “Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child” was first taught to the choir last Christmas during a holiday gathering at the home of choir members Sully and Laurie Richardson.

Also included is the solo debut of Gladys’s daughter, Kenya Jackson, singing “Breath of Heaven.”

Other lead vocalists include Heather Goedel, Jay Young, Rashida Jordan, and Whitney Teo, all from the Las Vegas area, and Damon Andelin from St. George. All choir members are LDS.

For more information regarding the Saints Unified Voices and its sponsors, please visit www.SUVChoir.org. CDs are available at Deseret Book and online.