PRAYZEHYMN Online | where gospel music lives

about us

PRAYZEHYMN was founded and launched on November 19, 2001 by J. Matthew Cobb.

It began with humble beginnings as The Gospel Zone, a gospel online community on Yahoo!, but the name was later changed to PRAYZEHYMN due to a present website that also possessed the same name. Therefore, The Gospel Zone became PRAYZEHYMN.

After many years of detailed work and progress, PRAYZEHYMN has become a valuable asset and source of information for the progressive gospel music community on-line; covering news, reviews, articles, multimedia, a fast growing community among other things. In 2003, the PRAYZEHYMN Group added Juaquin Sims, of Boston, MA, to its staff of moderators. Since then, PRAYZEHYMN has grown to a fledging 700+ in its membership.

The PRAYZEHYMN Staff also launched PRAYZEHYMN.com in 2004, but later downsized to a BETA page powered by Geocities. After celebrating our fourth anniversary this November, the staff of PRAYZEHYMN Entertainment decided to secure a domain to accomodate our plans for 2006. On November 22, 2005, prayzehymnonline.com was launched.

Currently, the PRAYZEHYMN Yahoo! Group is the largest black gospel community on Yahoo and is powered by strong activity amongst its members and moderators.

Its mission statement is: dedicated to promoting excellence within the gospel music industry and to develop a stronger bond of fellowship with other gospel music lovers. We are committed to present quality music using our online and off-line resources and to used our gifts and talents to help advance the gospel music community for the Kingdom of God.

Longterm goals and aspirations include:

A comprehensive database (or online encyclopedia) of historic and valid information on gospel artists, gospel songs, album release dates and complete discographies.
To expand our staff to include contributing writers and website moderators.
To initiate regional events to promote unity and fellowship with members of the PRAYZEHYMN Fellowship.
To host an online radio station, powered all day and night committed to playing the best of traditional and contemporary gospel music ranging from ol' skool to nu' skool.
To expand our viewership by purchasing advertisements and banners in various gospel-related media outlets including magazines, radio, newspapers and other online e-zine publications.

PRAYZEHYMN Entertainment, though in its early preliminary stages, focuses on providing quality music to the industry; with its primary efforts to reclaim the "ol' skool sound" and to restore its state back to modern gospel music. By developing and cultivating artists and providing outlets for their exposure, along with producing and releasing original material, PRAYZEHYMN Entertainment is prepared to bring effective and necessary change to the industry.