what god lives is never a coincidence and more than some happenstance it was a beautiful service. stevie wonder, just one of her friends saluting her during the funeral services at houston s hometown church in new jersey. alicia keys, art kelly, all honoring houston with their voices. stars like tyler perry and kevin costner told personal stories in memory of the superstar. aretha franklin was scheduled to be there but had to cancel because she wasn t feeling well. the service included a letter from her daughter, bobby christina. it read god said it s time, your work is done. thanks for being a wonderful daughter. as for her ex-husband, bobby brown, he says in a written statement he wasn t happy about being asked to move three times and says security kept him from seeing his daughter. so he left because i refused to create a scene. in all, it was roughly a four-hour homegoing tribute to whitney houston and punctuating the service today, a recording of louft s i
i will always love you the sound of houston s biggest hit i will always love you as pallbearers carried her casket out. the moment began with these remarks we re here today, hearts broken but yet with god s strength, we celebrate the life of whitney houston. [ applause ] opening the service, joe carter, pastor of the new hope baptist church, houston s famous friends one after another gave stunningly poignant tributes, like tyler perry. there was a grace that carried her. a grace that carried her from heaven down through cissy houston. a grace that brought her up through singing. from what i understand, she wasn t supposed to be able speak, let alone sing because of an incident that happened as a child. but there was a grace that kept on carrying her all the way through. this same grace led her all the way to the top of the charts. sold all of these albums and done some amazing things, won all these awards she s sang for presidents. there was a grace that kept on
carroll is near that procession right now. he s in new york, new jersey, where services will begin 2 1/2 hours from now. jason, i understand you have some new information about what s going to take place today. i do, gary. i spoke to a friend of the houston family who gave me an all-details of exactly what we will be hearing, what we will be seeing when the service takes place. it s scheduled for about are noon, but the family friend telling me so many people will be backing into the new hope baptist church, they might have to slide it back just a little bit. but let s go over the program with you. it will begin with the processional. the new hope and new jersey mass choirs will be singing the lord is my shepherd followed by a scripture read by pastor joe carter. and when i spoke to caster carter a little earlier this week, he told me, yes, there will be tears, but this will be a musical celebration of whit knew houston s life. and you ll be hearing about that. there will
i m gary tuchman. a live look at newark, new jersey this morning. it s a sad day for family and friends of whitney houston. it s the new hope baptist church. this is where the funeral for the pop star there been held beginning at 12:00 noon, four hours from now. we ll take through live and hear from her closest friends. plus, a 29-year-old man is arrested for an alleged blod plot to blow up the u.s. capital and the fbi had been watching every single move he made. just earlier this morning, pope benedict xvi added 22 more cardinals to the cath lynn lick church. one of them, the arch bishop from pen pep. announcer: live from studio 7, this is cnn saturday morning. in just a few hours, families and close friends of whitney houston will back their own church in new york, new jersey to say good-bye to a legendary entertainer. don is live in new york. what do you see right now? good morning to you, gary. we re seeing the media beginning to gary and fans begin to go gather h