Kirk Franklin is back in the Dr. Bobby Jones Best Gospel/Inspirational Award category, where he belongs, and that alone tells you how much he still shapes the genre.

This year’s nominees include Franklin’s “Able” and “Do It Again,” BeBe Winans’ “All to Thee,” CeCe Winans’ “At the Cross,” Tasha Cobbs Leonard’s “Already Good (Tasha Slide)” and “Church” with John Legend, PJ Morton’s “Able (Remix)” with Darrel Walls and Kim Burrell, and Lecrae’s “Headphones” with Killer Mike and T.I. 

Franklin has spent decades pushing gospel past its old guardrails, and he has never pretended that made everybody comfortable. In a 1998 Jet interview, he said, “Gospel music is not a sound; gospel music is a message,” and added, “[No] matter how radical my music might seem, does the music say Jesus or does it not say Jesus?” That tension between tradition and expansion is exactly why Franklin still matters. He keeps testing where gospel can go.

He has also been blunt about the criticism that comes with that lane. In a 2024 conversation with Lecrae, Franklin said, “I want people to know that I am ok and embrace and accept the criticism and the judgment,” adding that too often the goal is “to crucify,” not redeem. 

The rest of the category shows how far Franklin’s blueprint has traveled. Tasha Cobbs Leonard and John Legend called their duet “Church” “honest and sacred,” and Legend called Leonard’s voice, songwriting, and ministry “powerful and inspiring.” 

Lecrae’s nomination keeps Christian hip-hop in the mix, while BeBe and CeCe Winans remind everybody that gospel royalty still has a seat at the table. Franklin may be the disruption, but this category proves his ripple effect is now the whole current.