Dozens drawn to City Hall for joyful noise of sacred songs in modern genres. By
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Sunday, July 16, 2006
When a friend introduced Bobby Chavez to Christian music about two years ago, Chavez said he found a new happiness, one he didn't think he would ever have.
He likes the verses, the words and the messages. He said the music makes him appreciate everything he has.
Now a self-described "huge fan" of Christian music, 23-year-old Chavez sat at the Austin City Hall Plaza on Saturday afternoon, listening to the Christian band Before the Throne play as part of a Christian music festival intended to unite Christian young adults in the Austin area.
Events like the Christ Unites Music Festival will bring young adults "closer together and closer to God," Chavez said.
The Plow, a hip-hop group, and Alive also performed, and Phillip Kelley, of Metro Austin — a multichurch, nondenominational, citywide weekly Bible study for 18-to-35-year-old Austinites — spoke to a crowd that by early evening reached about 80.
Up to 15 area churches were represented at the first-time festival Saturday.
Michael Raia and Jennifer Jones of St. Theresa Catholic Church's 20-Somethings ministry came up with the idea for the Christian music festival.
Before the Throne was set to play at a 20-Somethings meeting anyway, but Raia, who is also a member of the band, and Jones, the founder of the St. Theresa's 20-Somethings, said they thought, wouldn't it be cool to open it to other church ministries?
Then they decided it would be even better to open it up to other young adults, or even the general public.
"It just got bigger and bigger as we thought about it," Jones said, adding that the festival will be an annual event.
The festival gives Christian young adults the chance to network, Jones said, and the comfort of knowing "there are other young adults like you."
