Nigerian gospel artist Tim Godfrey is bringing his AFROVIVAL concert back to Houston on June 26. And if last year’s sold-out show is any indication, the city’s Black and African diaspora communities are ready.
The city is home to one of the largest concentrations of Nigerians in any single American city, according to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission. Houston serves as a second home for Godfrey, who divides his time between Nigeria and North America.
โItโs almost like every year I do a major concert here in Houston, and Iโve been able to build a family,โ said Godfrey. โYou meet Nigerians, Ghanians, Mexicans, Dominicans, itโs a place that gathers everybody together regardless of where you are, and people share their cultures. For gospel, itโs a beautiful place to create an atmosphere where God can be found.โ
Over the past two years, Godfrey toured 24 to 26 arenas across the United States and Canada alongside gospel heavyweights Kirk Franklin, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Chandler Moore, Naomi Reign, and Todd Dulaney.
โI didnโt go on any of those stages trying to be American,โ he said. โI went on the stage and did my African act. And just by hearing the beat alone, everybody went crazy. That was an eye-opener. God is letting me know that what youโre doing is actually the best thing happening to music right now.โ
This yearโs lineup includes Nigerian entertainment icon Banky W, singer, actor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist widely credited as a pioneer of modern Nigerian R&B and Afrobeats, and Ryan Ofei, a Ghanaian-Canadian worship leader affiliated with Grammy Award-winning Maverick City Music, known for his soulful, genre-blending approach to praise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Asi6ew1tVA
Through Rox Nation and the Fearless Community, a collective of artists Godfrey founded in Nigeria that has since expanded to include African-American and non-Black artists in the United States, he has built infrastructure for a new generation of African gospel voices. Previous Fearless concerts hosted Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp, Israel Houghton, JJ Hairston, and others.
โSound is one language,โ he said. โAnybody can carry that sound. Weโve gone beyond collaboration. Now weโre creating together.โ
AFROVIVAL is the fullest expression of that vision. The name itself merges โAfroโ and โrevivalโ, a deliberate fusion of African sound with spiritual encounter. Godfrey describes it as โan experience, an encounterโ built around music, dance, drama, and spontaneous moments of worship. Last yearโs Houston edition sold out, with Grammy Award-winning worship leader Israel Houghton making a surprise appearance.
Godfrey has spent more than three decades building a career that bridges continents. His 2018 worship anthem โNara,โ featuring American gospel star Travis Greene, amassed more than 32 million YouTube views and announced his arrival on the global gospel stage. Then came โBig Godโ, which became a social media phenomenon, prompting actress and co-host Whoopi Goldberg to post about it publicly on social media.
โBig God was more consumed here in America than even in Nigeria,โ Godfrey said. โThe sound, even though itโs an African sound, is the biggest and freshest thing happening all over the world right now. Everybodyโs embracing it.โ
Susan Finney, the event designer who has worked with Godfrey across all of his Houston events, beginning with the first Fearless concert and continuing through each AFROVIVAL, said the team is deliberately raising the bar this year.
“It’s almost like every year I do a major concert here in Houston, and I’ve been able to build a family.”
Dr. Tim Godfrey
โThis year weโre trying to do something a little different called the guest experience,โ Finney said. โBefore attendees even walk into the concert hall, theyโll encounter something in the lobby. The goal is for them to leave saying, wow, this was more than just a concert, something you donโt see anywhere, not even at a typical gospel show.โ
Success is measured not in ticket sales but in the feeling people carry out the door. โWeโre catering to different genres but still keeping it gospel,โ she said. โBringing Afrobeats into a contemporary gospel space, mixing the two and making it modern, thatโs something different. Itโs going to be a cultural experience as well as a music experience.โ
Godfrey also announced that new music will drop on the day of the event, extending the AFROVIVAL experience beyond the venue walls.
โPeople are going to leave feeling free, empowered, strengthened, encouraged,โ Godfrey said. โThe songs are not just jumping and screaming, they are life. The words speak things into life. You think itโs fun alone, but youโll understand what Iโm talking about once youโre there.โ
Doors open at 6 p.m. with the program beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at Afrovival2026.Eventbrite.com.
