♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Had enough heartache ♪ ♪ And enough pain ♪ ♪ I've had so many ups and downs ♪ ♪ Don't know how much more I can take ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ Lord ♪ ♪ Oh I just want to thank ♪ ♪ I just want to thank ♪ ♪ I just want to thank you Lord ♪ I come out here to hide. Hide from depression. Hide from feeling ugly. Hide from feeling handicap. It's like when I come out here, I can be whatever I want to be. No one's out here watching. Nobody can judge me. Nobody can tell me I'm
not Michael Jackson. Nobody can tell me I'm not Tina Turner. Nobody can tell me who I am. It's my world, my stage, and my audience, and as you can see, imagine with me. I have a packed house. It's a standing ovation. Everybody is standing up for me. So that's why I like coming out here. ♪ Soon ♪ ♪ He will be there ♪ - Being out here, it's peaceful. Just me and God. Especially at those times
when I wanna just give up. Especially at those times
when I thought about committing suicide, taking my life. ♪ Precious Lord ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Lead me on ♪ ♪ Let me stand ♪ - My name is Kendrick Evans. I'm 24 years old. I have terminal sleep apnea. Three years ago, the doctor told me I only have three years to live. I'm afraid to go to sleep. I'm terrified but every
chance I get when I wake up, I look up towards heaven
and I must say thank you. ♪ God's done through the night ♪ ♪ Gives me hope to the light ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Precious Lord ♪ ♪ He's my friend ♪ - I only carried Kendrick six months. He was three pounds. He wasn't breathing at all. Doctors told us he wouldn't live. I told the doctors to let me die because I had already lived. I remember the first time
I laid eyes on Kendrick, Kenny rode me in. He rode me down there to
see him and I went in, and when I saw this little ole bitty baby looking like a little red
with all these tubes in it, I went to screaming and
hollering, that's not my baby. Where my baby? Somebody get my baby. And he steady trying to tell
me no, that's your baby. - That's the first baby that I
had ever witnessed that small and that none developed. If you know, no fingernails. No eyebrows. No eyelashes. You know, things that babies have. I'm like, what? But the only thing I
could see was the fist. Those little fists was balled up, and I called him bamming like a boxer. I said, aw look at him. Bamming on something. - As time went by, they would take me down everyday to see him and I got to the point that where I wasn't afraid to hold him. I tell ya, that's the best joy
could ever happen in my life. - He was so small. I said son, your daddy never gave up. You got my blood in you
so don't you give up. Good God almighty. I always tell him in his ear
what the doctor had told him. Man, this is what the doctor said. We not gon' believe what the doctor said. We gonna believe what God said. - When he was so young he spent most of his time in the hospital. Not just then but even now. We just have to be careful. Ain't nothing keeping him but God. ♪ I need you Lord Jesus ♪ ♪ I need you Lord Jesus ♪ ♪ Lord I need you right now ♪ ♪ I need you right now ♪ - Once upon a time there
was this little boy named Kendrick David Evans. Grew up in a city called
Quincy on a little dirt road at the house at the end of the road. ♪ I need you right now ♪ - Father is a preacher. Mother one of the lead
singers in the choir. So I had no choice but to go to church. I had no choice but to love church. - All he would ask us to
do is buy him gospel music. He would rather sing
than to do anything else. - He started out with
Hallelujah Praise God. ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Praise God ♪ And would ever I would sing in church, Kendrick would come back
home as a little boy, and he would start singing. ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Praise God ♪ And then he'll turn around
and say thank you Jesus, and it would just be just so amazing. - Now see how he acting just as shy, but when he singing, he's not shy, but otherwise he sitting in here, and I have to pry the words out of him. Bamming, what happened in school today? Bamming, how was school? It was alright, Grandma. I'm like what happened? Tell me. What girl you met? Who said what? But it never comes to me, okay. - Going to school was like a nightmare. My learning ability
wasn't the same as others. Couldn't go outside because
when I would go outside, I would break out in these
little blisters and stuff. I didn't understand what was going on, so the kids would pick on me. - He had asthma so bad. - I couldn't go to PE. When the teachers would
say well Kendrick do this. Kendrick do this. In all the plays, I would
no, no, I don't wanna do it because I was gonna
start singing, the kids, and the parents, and the
teachers were gonna applaud, and then later I get these eyes like, I'm a get you on the bus. That's when the names started. That's when you're gay started. That's when you're a sissy started. Oh you girl. I dealt with all of that
in elementary school. - All of my other little
nieces and nephews and stuff that's his age growing up, they didn't wanna play with him because they didn't wanna be in the house. They know when they're
in the house with him, they got to play church , 'cause that's all he
wanna do is play church. He wanna sing. He wanna shout. He wanna act like the preacher. He be laying hands on 'em. Healing 'em and all this kinda stuff. This is what he did. ♪ Oh one more time ♪ ♪ Oh one more time ♪ ♪ Oh one more time ♪ ♪ Oh one more time ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's better than
to be in the service ♪ ♪ One more time ♪ ♪ Oh one more time ♪ - What do you do when
your time to be healed, when it's your time to be blessed, and you know God is with you, and everybody has been healed? - Me and my father
relationship, it's good, but it can be better. It's way better now than it was when my parents brought us together. I barely saw my mom because
she worked three and four jobs. Being a first family of a church, it was like we got it together, you know, but really deep down inside we didn't, so what I did was I took
that stuff with me to school. The teacher would say something to me. I'd talk back. The teacher would tell me to do this. I'm not doing it. - Never give up on God. God have the last say so. It doesn't matter what man says. God has the last say so. You gotta keep believing. You gotta keep trusting him. - When I got to sixth grade, this was the first time I
tried to commit suicide, and I snuck into my aunt's bedroom, and I got some of her medicine. I took the whole bottle of pills. When I woke up, I was at the hospital. I had stopped breathing. And then a couple of years later, I started getting tired,
but I would be so afraid because I couldn't keep my eyes open. I didn't tell nobody until
this one particular time. We went out of town. I had to sing in Memphis and
my mom's best friend was like, Kendrick snore so loud. You need to go get that checked out. - They called me and told
me when Kendrick come in for his appointment that me and his father both needed to come in. The doctor wanted to talk
with all three of us together. - The doctors came in. It was me and my mother and my father. - Had the little chart there showing us, said well you are here. Kendrick airflow way is
smaller than a newborn baby. Eventually, you gonna die from it because of the lack of the
oxygen when you're sleeping. - Come to find out, I had a
real bad case of sleep apnea, and if you don't have the surgery, you're not gonna live in the
past the next three years. - They would want to put
that trach in to try to help with the airflow when
he's sleeping at night. - A hole in my throat? Naw, I'm not hearing that. If I have this trach,
would I be able to sing? No. Why get the trach? Let me die doing what I wanna do. I'm gonna continue to sing no matter how hard I have to push. I'm the type of person
when you tell me I can't, I'm gonna show you I can. - And the doctor told us whatever it is you wanna do, you do it. Do it now. It was hard and it's still hard. - Dying. When you go to church, you hear about all the streets gonna be paved with gold, and you're gonna get your crown. You know all this stuff. So it's like okay. I want it. So you're anxious to
know but then again naw. - We all gonna die one
day but when you have someone done predicted a certain time. Said you not gonna live
no longer than this. I mean, to me that put
more pressure on you because now somebody
done put a date on you. The doctor says this. I said, but we gotta
believe what God said. Kendrick, if you wanna live, you still gonna have to fight to live. - This is my machine, my life support, and the machine's name is Little Kim. Little Kim is one of my favorite rappers, and I figured the machine is little, so hey let's call it Little Kim. It pumps air into my
body when I'm sleeping. I stop breathing. It's like a life support. It keeps me breathing. Many nights, I wouldn't go to sleep. I would stay up all night, all day. Eventually one time I
couldn't take it no more. I just fell asleep and as soon
as I woke up, I messed up. I messed up. No, no, you messed up. Stay woke. I talked to my friends long as
I can until they fall asleep, and then I'm just up watching TV. Most times I fall asleep
with my glasses on. That's why they tape is
on 'em 'cause they broke. - Kendrick always calls about it's usually like 11:30, 12 o'clock
when Kendrick is calling. - Mesha. - [Armesha] What? - What are you doing? - Nothing. And we'll probably talk a couple hours 'til he just eventually fall asleep, but that's every night. - So what's up for this workout tomorrow? - What workout? I've gotten to the point
where I don't even say bye. I just say I'll talk
to you in the morning. Just hoping and praying that I can talk to him in the morning and
if I call that morning and he don't answer that
really freaks me out. Really freaks me out. ♪ Anyway you bless me Lord ♪ ♪ I'll be satisfied ♪ ♪ Anyway you bless me Lord ♪ ♪ I'll be satisfied ♪ - [Kendrick] Armesha is like my sister. When I'm down, she lifts me up. She gets me together. She puts me in check. - [Armesha] Kendrick
always keeps you laughing. He's always playing with you. Doing something to make you laugh. So it's just like his energy. ♪ Anyway you bless me Lord ♪ ♪ I'll be satisfied ♪ - When Kendrick sings to people, it's almost like you can
feel exactly how he feels. You know that comes from
his heart and soul yeah. ♪ Cannot see ♪ ♪ Jesus will ♪ - I love raspiness. It's so pure and real. Like when Kendrick sings,
you can hear the realness. You can hear the
soulfulness and the meaning. Like he means what he says. One time we was at a program, and a lady came up to him, an older lady, and we look up to this lady, and she was like Kendrick
you just don't know how much your song just touched me. Just last week, I was thinking
about committing suicide. So I think that's his purpose
is getting his music out, and touching lives and letting them know that they're not alone. ♪ I know that he will ♪ ♪ Take it on home yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus will ♪ - Kendrick called me one night. He was like Mesha I'm tired. Tired of what? I'm tired of being sick. I'm tired of people judging me. I'm tired of just all the
wrong that's going on. I was scared when he told me
he was gonna kill himself. - Had left a little note. Told them all I love them
and everything like that, and I got the sleeping pills. As soon as I got ready to take 'em, this song came in my head. ♪ I talked it over ♪ ♪ With Jesus ♪ - Like the song just kept playing over and over and over in my
head and I was like no, no. I don't wanna hear it. I don't wanna hear it. I was like God I been
talking to you over and over. Why you not helping me? I go to church. I'm heavy in the church. I work. I treat people right. I take up time with kids. I'm trying. And then the tears starts flowing, and it was like you know what? Kendrick you can't give up on life. You can't take your own
life because you need to be here for these kids. You need to be here for your mom. You need to be here for others. - He has a bigger purpose in life, and I believe that God's
gonna give him that purpose rather than taking him
out before it's too early. - Couple of days later
that's when I called Antonio. I said hey, I gotta old song I wanna redo. He laid the music down
and I recorded the song. - I never heard this song before, but it's actually a nice song
once I heard the original. He kinda twisted it definitely. Made it a little different, his own, which is actually I like his version better than the original version so. - Music. Music. ♪ I was broken ♪ ♪ My heart was in pieces ♪ - Aye Kendrick. You gon' do that and over, alright. - [Kendrick] Okay. - Come in a little more confident. Take your time on it, alright. ♪ I was broken ♪ ♪ My heart was in pieces ♪ ♪ Seems like my ♪ - Look at you grinning. How are you, sir? My pleasure. My pleasure. There's some things you have to do. This was a have to do. No matter what, you know. And I was a little tired, but
his story has filled me so. - It's been filling all of us. - He's here right? - I wanna let you hear it. - Okay. ♪ I ♪ ♪ I talked it over ♪ ♪ With Jesus ♪ - He's not gonna have a heart
attack or nothing, right? - No. - Okay. I'm ready. ♪ Hey God ♪ ♪ I talked it over ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Talked it over with Jesus ♪ ♪ And he said he'll make
everything alright ♪ - Hey, hold a second. Can you stop the music for one second. Yo Kendrick, can you hear me? Listen, I'm not musical at all. Like I don't have a
musical note in my body, but I have a crazy idea. I think, like are you open to it? Are you okay with me
like giving you a note? - I approve so you good. - Okay, hold on one second. Actually, there's someone that might even. Hold on a second. Kendrick, I want you to
meet a good friend of mine. - [Kendrick] Oh wow. - Hey. - Hey. Oh wow. Oh. Oh wow. - I think I know a little bit about notes. - Right. That's BeBe Winans. Oh, BeBe and CeCe, Vickie Winans. I'm like oh wow. - I heard about your story. - Right. - I really did and I wanted to be here. - Oh. - Okay, alright breathe. - Okay. - Okay breathe in. - Why don't you take
these off for a second? - Oh wow. - Breathe in. - Okay. - Breathe out. - Okay, okay. - Okay. We got this. - [Kendrick] Okay. - Okay. - Oh wow. Okay. - Okay, okay. - He was so cool. Like he was so down to earth. - So you're writing this song? You wrote this song, right? - Rearranged. - You rearranged it? Okay and it talks about your life. Alright. You know that's what I do
and it's a bold thing to do to talk about your life through song. It's brave and that's important because if it comes from the
heart, it goes to the heart. So your story goes to my heart, and will go to other people's heart. - Thank you. - You wanna inspire people. You want your voice to inspire people, and you're standing in front of this man whose won six Grammys. - Right. - For gospel music
because you inspired him. How does that feel? - That's incredible. That's big. Okay. - It's kind of outside of your box. - Right. - But that's what
happens with inspiration. It goes places that you never imagined. - Me? Kendrick? I inspired you? Do you know who you are? Of course he knows who he is
but do you know who you are? You a legend. - I'll tell you something very personal. I've been in the hospital
for the last three weeks. In and out. Doctors thought I had cancer. And you know it was a hard thing to hear when you're giving a report like that, and it was nine times out of 10, this is what it is so
we'll have to deal with it. We'll go in and have a biopsy, and I call my brother Marvin, and a couple other friends and we prayed, and the next week they went
in, they couldn't find nothing. So, it's important to believe God's report at the end of the day. So, I wanted to come
tell you that personally. - Thank you. - That the God we sing
about, still work miracles. - Right. - Alright? So you take that with you
for the rest of your life, and achieve everything that you
believe you're called to be. Can I sing something with you? You said uh huh? - [Kendrick] Yeah. You can. - [Justin] He wants to sing on your song. - Oh wow. Yeah, oh yeah. You can do it. - But you would have
to produce me, alright. - Okay. - What, yes? - Okay. Me produce you? - Yeah, yeah. - Okay. I was like I got a chance
to produce BeBe Winans. I got a chance to tell him what to sing and what not to sing. The song is talking about
he'll make everything alright. I was depressed. Stressed out. Wanted to give up on life. Wanted to commit suicide. And just in the nick of time,
God stepped in and told me, he'll make everything alright. So it's trusting him, believing him, stand on his word, and
he'll make it alright. - Alright. - I'm so grateful that he took
out that little bitty time to just chill with me and I'm honored. If I don't never ever
sing on another stage. If I don't never ever tell my story again, you have made my dreams come true. Oh wow. You got me. I thank you so much. - Thank you for sharing
your story with us. Hopefully you'll have some
peaceful sleep tonight. - Trust me, I will. - [Justin] What's your mom gonna say? - She's gonna be surprised and shocked. - [Group] Hey. - [Man] Do something about
that microphone first. - [Woman] Miss Sara. - Where your glasses? Look, Miss Sara. You know who that is? That's BeBe Winans. - Where? - Right there. Yes, it is. - Stop, stop. - [Woman] That is BeBe Winans. - Stop lying. - That is BeBe Winans. - That is no BeBe Winans. - Listen. Listen, mama. Mama, listen. Listen. Listen. - That sound like you. - That's him. That's both of 'em. - Wait a minute. - Let me see. Turn it around. - Is that him singing? - [Man] Play it for your mama. - Let me see. This BeBe? This BeBe Winans? - [Woman] Oh wow. Well, where he at? I'm 'bout to be trembling. - [Man] BeBe Winans flew in. - Serious? - [Man] Just to meet Kendrick, and he sang on the song with him. - What? Y'all serious? - Yes. - [Woman] Y'all looking at the video. Look at the video. Look at it. - He ain't gonna let me hug
him but I wanna hug him. Come here, come here. Give me some sugar. We don't kiss and mush enough. BeBe singing right there with him. He just don't know what he did for my son. He don't know. - He said I inspired him. Inspire him. - I can't believe this. - And we recorded Talked It Over, and then he sung a song. - Oh? - He is on I Talked It Over. He is on that track now. Yeah. - What? He actually gonna be on
the recording with you? - He's going to be on the new recording. - He encouraged my son to
live believe it or not. - Until last night, I never, I knew my friends and loved ones loved me, but to actually hear certain
things in life that happened was kind of like a puzzle. When Corey spoke, that was that piece. - You hear his testimony
and different things that he's been through in life, you'll see why he has
his guard up with people. I thank Kendrick for
being the type of person that he was in my wife life. I don't like him but I love him. When Mesha spoke, that was that piece. - You know it's what it is
between us and I love you. I appreciate everything you do. The hard work. The fussing. The fighting we do. Everything. I just appreciate you pushing me, and motivating me to do
what I think I can't do. - KJ, Yolanda, and it's
like once Mom spoke, it put it together. - I could be no prouder than what I am, and I know that God is going to take and use you to touch others. I love you. - I love you, too, Mom. Being a leader, a leader
singer in a group, or being a leader in a
family, it's like you have to put on this tough
role, this tough shield. You have to be strong for others, and I don't like them to see me cry. But this sickness has
really been bothering me. If you see me in the streets or at church, you wouldn't know nothing
was wrong with me, but emotionally, mentally, I
can feel myself decreasing. I can, it's like I can feel. Sometimes I can just lay down, and I can try to get
up and it won't happen. To actually see the things that the doctor said would happen, to actually feel them, you
don't know what it's like. I tell people all the time,
if you able to get up, and go to sleep without
sleeping a machine, you should tell God thank you. Many times we onstage. Mesha knows my body language. Many times, I'm tired. I'm tired. It's like I wanna sing. I wanna sing, but these
last couple of shows, I just breakdown crying
because it's like eventually I'm gonna have to stop and I know I feel that if I stop singing, I
know I'm just gon' give up 'cause I don't have the strength, and it's like with me being your leader, I don't know how to tell y'all I can't, I can't lead y'all no more. Even singing in the choir. Even singing in the choir. It's hard when people say, I
wanna hear you sing, Kendrick. I wanna hear you sing. And then when you get ready to sing, I can't hit certain notes. Things that was easy
for me to do, I can't. I can't do it. I'm tired. Honestly. - You just don't know
how much you mean to me. It's like you and your mama. It's like y'all just my rock. Y'all the one that keep me holding on. - You can't give up 'cause
you make me give up. - Sometime we have to
rest our bodies ourselves to make everybody else stronger. This is a resting time for you. It ain't a time for you
to give up right now 'cause if it were time for you to give up, God would've been done
took your life by now, and by you giving up, you
know who you give up on? You give up on all the
kids that you work with. You give up on your mama
that has braces on both legs trying to walk around and do other things. You give up on Miss
Sara running hard 100%. You give up on Yolanda who mama been sick, but understand she still goes out of town to make sure your stuff is taken care of. You give up on KJ that know he don't have a father figure in his life. His home situation ain't too good neither. You give up on a person that ain't grow up with they mama and daddy like Mesha. The only thing she love
is a person like you. Person like me. Person like Mama. Person like everybody on this table. There's no person that she trust more than these people at this table. That's what you giving up on, and it's not time for you to
give up on people like that. - So what your body is experiencing, it's just a part of your testimony. It's a part of your legacy. You have to keep fighting. - To record with BeBe Winans, and to know he got something
out of what you did, it's easy to give up
but it's harder to push. When you push, you get gratification to see yourself push past everything that you ever went through. So if you wanna give up,
we won't let you give up. Period. We won't let you give up. Keep pushing. We'll help you push through. We'll help you push. - So to Kendrick? - [Group] To Kendrick with love
and this just the beginning. Renewed. ♪ Oh yes I know ♪ ♪ Yes that I know ♪ ♪ I been washed ♪ ♪ I been washed in the blood of the lamb ♪ ♪ The blood of the lamb ♪ - I now know it's okay
to say I'm depressed. I don't feel like going today. No matter how weak I am,
they gonna take up the slack, and make it better. I feel like a burden has
been lifted off my shoulders. I even feel like I wanna fly. Like I feel free. I went to sleep last night
with a smile on my face. With no worries. Excited to wake up to see today. ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ I know that he will ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ I know that he will ♪ ♪ I know it ♪ ♪ I know that he will ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ I know that he will ♪ ♪ Oh yes ♪ ♪ Yes Lord ♪ - It's so nice to see a
community come together, especially to support
such an incredible soul like Kendrick who we are here to witness and to celebrate and to hopefully get his message out to the world. Kendrick, this is for you. - Hey Kendrick, this is
Scott Herold in Minneapolis with Rock the Cause Records. Your song, I Talked It Over,
is absolutely fantastic, and we would like to release it worldwide on Rock the Cause Records. - I am so thankful. I thank you. I thank you. And I thank you. - [Justin] We were so inspired by you that we just wanted to do
one more small thing for you. - This song is so dear to me. Just when I was about to give up, God spoke these words back into my life, and I'm standing here to help you through. Listen. ♪ I was broken ♪ ♪ My heart was in pieces ♪ ♪ Seems like my burdens
are weighing me down ♪ ♪ Now I can't take it ♪ ♪ Any longer ♪ ♪ My soul has gotten weak ♪ ♪ I need you to come Jesus ♪ ♪ Mend and fix me ♪ ♪ I ♪ ♪ I talked it over ♪ ♪ With Jesus ♪ ♪ With Jesus ♪ ♪ I ♪ ♪ I talked it over ♪ ♪ I talked it over with him ♪ ♪ With him ♪ ♪ Hey God ♪ ♪ I talked it over ♪ ♪ Over ♪ ♪ He'll do it ♪ ♪ Again ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Again ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Just talk it over ♪ ♪ Over ♪ ♪ I started I talked over ♪ ♪ And over ♪ ♪ Did you tell him all
about your problems ♪ ♪ And again ♪ ♪ I told him all about my problems yeah ♪ ♪ And he cares about everything
you're going through ♪ ♪ He told me that he loved me ♪ ♪ And over ♪ ♪ And he'll continue to love you ♪ ♪ Again ♪ ♪ Again ♪ ♪ He told me that he'll hold me ♪ ♪ Again ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ If I make one step ♪ ♪ Then he'll make two ♪ ♪ All I gotta do is depend, trust ♪ ♪ He will see me through ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Again ♪ ♪ God will make everything ♪ ♪ Yes he will yeah ♪ ♪ Again ♪ ♪ He'll turn it around ♪ ♪ What the devil meant for evil ♪ ♪ He'll make it good ♪ ♪ He told me he'll move
mountain out of my way ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Yes he will ♪ ♪ Alright ♪ ♪ Alright ♪ ♪ Alright ♪ ♪ Hey ♪
