After meeting the world renowned Bishop T.D. Jakes, not only did he feature her on his 1999 Sacred Love Songs release, he signed her to his label, Dexterity Records.
The new millennium brought Shirley her first Stellar Nominated gospel CD, entitled "Home" and her CD "Soulfood".
"Home" has an urban gospel sound, with flecks of traditional, inspirational and old school funk.
“Many of my R&B fans are still with me and embracing this music as much as anything they remember from the earlier days,” Shirley says. “I see my relationship today with Bishop Jakes and EMI/Dexterity, and “Home”, as bridges being built between the secular and gospel communities. People see now that from day one to this minute there’s always been just one Shirley Murdock. She loves the Lord and has a story to tell. But above all else, she is here to praise His name.” With no selection on the CD actually titled Home, Shirley readily admits that her choice in naming the album goes much deeper than any one song.
“Home, in a word, is where I am,” Shirley concludes. “It’s where I live and where I’ve always lived. This is an opportunity for me to share the gifts God gave me with everyone that God loves… and God loves everyone.”
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Her project “Soul Food” debuted at #7 on Billboard magazine’s gospel album sales chart. |
“Soul Food” is intended to inspire all Shirley Murdock fans to look to the main man in her life (God) to fortify their relationships and live balanced lives. "I sing at conferences and prisons. I wanted the CD to reflect total ministry because we're body, soul and spirit. A lot of times, in the body of Christ, we aren't balanced. We know how to do church but do we know how to be a wife or a husband and develop relationships?" As she and her husband, Dale Anthony DeGroat (an associate minister at 2nd Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio) began to write and produce Soul Food themselves, they were looking for songs that talked about consequences and solutions to consequences.
Shirley says, “ It’s wonderful to look out at the faces of those that I’m singing to and see they’re being encouraged and uplifted, but after I preach the word of God, and they catch hold of that word and come to the altar to change their lives…nothing compares to that and I’ve been blessed to do both! I am truly humbled by that fact and just want to walk worthy of this calling to the ministry of reconciliation!”