Martha Munizzi - "The Best is Yet to Come"

By Rene Williams

Martha Munizzi Music

Martha Munizzi (mew-NIZ-zee) is a woman whose name is starting to be recognized in the gospel community. Her song, Because of Who You Are, recorded by Vicki Yohe, has been gaining popularity in African-American church choirs and on gospel radio.

A well-known praise and worship leader, Munizzi’s been singing for as long as she can remember. Her father, a Dove Award-winning songwriter, was a strong influence in her life, as were her Southern gospel roots. But it wasn’t until she got her hands on a tape by Andrae Crouch that her ministry changed. Before she knew it, she was writing and singing praise and worship songs with an urban flair and a gospel feel.

But it’s not just her songs that have attracted the African-American community to her music; it’s also her exhortation and preachy style of delivery. Martha is not the type to just step up to a mic and sing a song and sit down. She is a consummate praise and worship leader with a powerful anointing and, dare I say, will sing you (and preach you) under a pew.

That’s exactly what you can expect on her latest project, The Best Is Yet to Come. Martha Munizzi’s most recent effort – a live CD recorded at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas (with a studio version of Because of Who You Are) – opens with the mid-tempo praise song Lift Him Up. The moving song speaks about God being worthy of all the praise and the glory. With each inversion, Martha and her background singers take the listener further and further into festive praise. The song is the ideal anthem for praise teams. Lift Him Up flows right into a song recently recorded by Karen Clark Sheard (and co-written by Munizzi and Israel Houghton of Israel & New Breed) on her latest project, The Heavens Are Telling.

(Glorious) Make the Praise with its calypso and island-influenced rhythms can’t help but make you move. The track also reminds us that we were created to praise the Lord. Martha even provides us with some time to praise God through dance on this cut.