MONTEGO BAY, St James – All is set for the fifth annual staging of the gospel show ‘Come Celebrate Jesus’ at the spacious Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall on Saturday.

“Everything is in place. We expect to have a very good show, and we are looking at about 5,000 people at the event,” Donald Brooks, one of the organisers, told the Jamaica Observer West earlier this week.

International gospel recording artiste Alvin Slaughter and his wife, Joy, are the headline acts booked to perform at the show, which also features a slew of gospel acts including Tyrone Thompson, also known as Papa San, Kevin Downswell, Keesa Peart, Leharia Singers, Ramone Watson, and H.U.M.B.L.E.

The praise and worship segment of the event will be led by the Montego Bay-based Trumpet Call Ministries International.

Brooks said the concert could not have been held at a better time.

“With the amount of crime and violence that is taking place in the parish of St James and the passing of Hurricane Matthew, we need the Lord to know that we give thanks for sparing our lives, so this is really a good time for persons to come out and celebrate and hear the word of God because the Lord has really been good to us,” he argued.

The annual gospel concert is the brainchild of siblings Donald and Talsey Brooks. According to the organisers, the main aim of the event is to celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ through music and song and to win souls for His kingdom.

Part proceeds from the event will be donated to the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill (CUMI), St James Infirmary, and Woodlands Preparatory School in Manchester.

Emcees will be Nadine Blair, Arnold Kelly and Pastor Ivan Hall.

— Mark Cummings