“WHETHER Portia passes it [the law] or not, that’s not important. It won’t stop the act of homosexuality — only Jesus can. The Church needs to point on itself and ask: ‘What are we going to do to change Jamaica?’”

Those were the words of gospel artiste Omari as he took the stage at Genesis held at the Kencot Seventh-day Adventist Church, St Andrew on Sunday evening.

The gospel deejay urged everyone to support the newly elected Prime Minister through prayers, as it is “her right is to protect every citizen of Jamaica”.

Omari’s comments were greeted with loud cheers from the packed auditorium of worshippers. He also scored high marks as he performed Help Father.

Omari was not the only entertainer for that evening who weighed in on the homosexuality, issue. Fellow artiste Survivor, who preceded him, did a song hitting out against the practice.

“Some people want Jamaica to legalise homosexuality but from yuh a sey God, dat wrong,” Survivor said before launching into more lyrics. The crowd cheered and waved their rags.

While there were more than 60 performers on the programme, a number of them stood out like The Portmore Vision Gospel Choir.

Their beautiful voices filled the room as they ministered with songs such as Stand, The Reason Why I Sing and Jesus Is Real. Their performance was even more touching given the fact that a group member, who was present, lost a relative that same evening.

After leaving the stage, MC Nadine Blair was so touched that she began singing Never Lost My Praise and began speaking in tongues.

Former dancehall artiste Sister Sasha kept the vibes flowing as she launched into Jesus Got The Love I’ve Been Searching For.

There were some jazzy moments too, as she did her take on the Rock and Roll classic Rock Around The Clock substituting the words to ‘Jesus A Di Don’.

The night was not only about entertainment. The evening saw Bishop Neville Owens launching the Church Jubilation Committee of Jamaica — part of the Jamaica 50 celebrations.

“We believe we should not just celebrate the Jubilee. We need to understand the spiritual significance of it,” he said.

He explained that in 2012 there will be a divine release over the entire nation and a spiritual renewal.

With that he called for a three-fold prayer — prayer of repentance over nation for sins committed from 1962 until now; pronouncing a blessing on the next generation of Jamaicans; and, prayer of renewal for the nation.

Another highlight from the Genesis experience was the specially assigned group at the back, who were there to “pray through the event” as one of the MCs said “we can’t afford to get complacent”.

Worthy of mention also were the dancers from the Sign Language Holiness Christian Fellowship. Dancing to Make Me Over, the group elicited gasps of appreciation from the audience as they brought the words to life through synchonised body movements.

Other performers that graced the stage on Sunday were God’s Army, Amiyah, Tamara Calder, Destined For Glory, Brother J J, Imani, Blue High Stepper and Soul Touch Ministry.