Rocking For A Higher Cause
Christian Bands Spread Their Message At The Arena At Harbor Yard
  Ray Hogan, The Advocate  -- November 3, 2005

A month ago Saturday, the Arena at Harbor Yard hosted a concert featuring Judas Priest, Anthrax and Hatebreed. Among the three bands are song titles such as "Beyond the Realms of Death," "Hell Bent for Leather," "Armed and Dangerous," "Bloadsoaked Memories" and "Another Day, Another Vendetta."

The tone this Saturday will be decidedly more positive when "Rock the Sound" is staged at the arena. In fact, the mood will be decidedly Christian. The concert will feature the contemporary Christian rock bands The Newsboys and Audio Adrenaline, pop-punks Hawk Nelson and rapper KJ-52. A sampling of their song titles reveals a much different bent: "He Reigns," "In Christ Alone," "Never Gonna Be as Big as Jesus," "He Is All."

The concert is being produced by Rock the Sound, a nonprofit group founded by Joel Stier, an Easton resident and energy trader who became interested in contemporary Christian music (or CCM) after attending a festival in Bridgeport in 2001.

"It was the music with the message. There was something special with them combined," Stier says of his immediate interest. "Our older daughter was getting into music. As a parent that's what drew us in. We liked the music as well as it being positive for our kids."

Stier quickly realized that CCM didn't have the sway in Connecticut as it did in most other parts of the country. His initial thought was to start a Christian radio station but didn't have the $50 million to $70 million that he estimates is needed to start up an FM station. Still, with the high concentration of churches and a large population of transplants in the state, he decided to bring this music to the public's attention through concerts. "Christian music got so much better in the last six to seven years radio-wise," Stier says. "It has been the fastest-growing market share in radio. Connecticut was a flat-lined zero. I saw it from a positive standpoint."

Stier says the Arena at Harbor Yard was the only place Rock the Sound considered for its first major concert. Its first promotional effort was a mailing to 7,000 churches in the Northeast. Church groups will likely be a large contingent of the 5,400 tickets needed to sell out the concert. As of early last week, 3,100 tickets had been sold. Stier believes the median age of concert attendee will be 15 or 16.

Audio Adrenaline has sold more than 3 million CDs since forming in the early 1990s. The group formed on the campus of Kentucky Christian College and used heavy alternative rock as its foundation. Were it not for the spirituality of the songs - sometimes implied, sometimes overt - Audio Adrenaline would fit snugly with popular sounds of the past 15 years. The band's career has mirrored the swell in Christian rock.

"There's a bigger acceptance of people doing there art as Christians," says Tyler Burkum, the band's guitarist. "There are a lot of people who aren't Christians but like it because there isn't swearing every two seconds. It's grown because there's been more people making better music."

It was through Audio Adrenaline that Rock the Sound was able to stage Saturday's concert. In October 2004, Stier won on a bid for a concert from the band to benefit its Hands and Feet Foundation, which benefits orphaned children in Haiti. The foundation is led by singer Mark Stuart's parents, both lifelong missionaries. Audio Adrenaline is performing for free in Bridgeport because of Stier's winning bid.

"There's a million places with hurting people that need help. You need to just pick one. We're not in this to be rock stars," says Burkum. "I'm not going to leave my wife and kids to be on a bus for a month to be a rock star. We want to find other ways to use this platform."

Joining the show for one song before Audio Adrenaline's set will be the Bridgeport-based Junior Fountain and God's Generation choir. Formed in 1996, the group now claims 25 members from throughout the area and has just released is second CD, "No Boundaries," through its own Montee Entertainment Group. The choir will perform the title track off that disc. God's Generation has no problem mixing it up with artists from other styles. The group has performed with Lyle Lovett (including at this year's presidential inauguration) and Aaron Neville. Fountain was recently appointed youth outreach pastor at Gateway Christian Fellowship in West Haven.

"The one thing I would really like to see is bringing all different genres of people together as a unit and as a body of Jesus Christ uniting for one common goal and that is lifting up the name of Jesus," Fountain says. "Hopefully, it will be the start of many, many more fellowships of this nature."


[ BACK to articles and more ]

<< SOURCE >>