It’s not without some measure of fear and trepidation that gospel music puts checks and balances on reverse crossover artists. After all, for every general market hopeful with pure, Christ-honoring motives, there’s always a controversial artist — good-intentioned, but ultimately far from the integrity and character to represent Jesus to the church and to the world.

Grammy-winning R&B/Pop songstress Regina Belle is a different story. Even as the New Jersey native rode high in the urban charts with classics such as “Baby Come to Me,” “Make It Like It Was” and “What Goes Around,” faith, churchgoing, and gospel music remained at the very core of her life. Today, Belle is a pastor’s wife and minister of music at New Shield of Faith Ministries in Atlanta, where her husband John S. Battle III, is senior pastor.

Ultimately, she wants to communicate that life is not just about the mountaintop experiences, but that it’s also about the valley of the shadow of death, that dark place of despair where, above all, love forever shines.