This article From:http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071106/APC04/711060484/-1/APClife
Cheryl Sherry: Annual Christian music festival looks to empower teens
So what's The Big Deal?
Blaine Howard knows the answer.
"I think teenagers constantly make something a big deal in their lives — whether it's relationships, looking hot on the hotness scale so they can measure up, sports and grades — and there's a lot of stuff vying for their attention," said Howard, new director of festivals at Life Promotions. "We want kids to know at Power of One this year that God has said that they are the big deal.
"Their heart is the big deal, and the fact they can in a way that counts is a big deal. God has said you are more than your grades or how other people look at you or whether or not you fit a magazine cover. Your heart is worth everything, and all that other stuff is just a small aspect of who you are."
An equally big deal, he said, is God.
"Kids discover their true worth when they look at the giver of worth and make following God a big deal in their lives," Howard said. "You are worth something because your creator made you."
The 17th annual Power of One The Big Deal Christian music festival — the largest one-day fest in Wisconsin — takes over the Green Bay's Resch Center Saturday. Bands include Hawk Nelson, Tree63, Jonah33, Cycledown and headliners, Flyleaf, the nationally recognized alternative rock bank whose self-titled album has spent 83 weeks on the Billboard 200, which ranks the best-selling albums in the county.
"Where they are at in their career right now, they are exploding," Howard said. "They have been on a slow burn for a while. Their (first) album, which is approaching platinum sales, has been around two years and the song 'All Around Me' has just started hitting in the last six months. … They are all over mainstream rock radio."
Members of the five-piece Texas band also are very serious about their faith, although they don't view themselves as a Christian peg trying to fit into the mainstream of alternative rock.
"When we started, we didn't have an agenda on what we were going to do," said Sameer Bhattacharya, one of two guitarists in Flyleaf. "We just wrote songs and played shows wherever we could. The inspiration for the songs was life. And being a Christian, your faith should impact every aspect of your life. But we don't categorize ourselves as anything. Everyone is going to make their own judgment and their own labels and we'll go with anything."
Bhattacharya says fans appreciate the bands' musicianship as well as lyrics such as these from "All Around Me":
"I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart's that's healing."
In the song, "I'm So Sick," which was the first release off their album, Flyleaf references the world today, which Bhattacharya calls "a real sick place."
"But the song says just because that's the world we live in we don't have to grow up and become that," he said. "All those experiences in our lives we can learn from and rise up because of."
Yes, Power of One is all about the music, but equally important will be the messages offered by speakers including Josh Finklea, a nationally known Christian speaker who serves as executive pastor and youth minister at the Crossing, a nondenominational church in Quincy, Ill.; Life Promotions media coordinator and musician Tammy Borden; Kent Hulbert, state director for Youth Alive in Wisconsin and northern Michigan; and Vince Lichlyter, lead singer of Jonah33.
From drug addition to eating disorders, these people have been through it, Howard said.
Borden, who personally dealt with an eating disorder in her early 20s, will discuss "Escaping Your World of Secret Sin."
"Through Life Promotions I receive a lot of phone calls from kids that are seeking advice or just seeking some help with an issue they have. Almost always it's an issue that they are keeping a secret," she said. "Behavioral addictions like cutting and eating disorders, some kids that already addicted to porn, kids already using drugs and drinking and a lot of relational addictions with sex and things like that. And these are teenagers.
"They're ashamed in dealing with this … and everyday wake up saying, 'Today is going to the day,' but they can't make it through that day without the release. … The more you try to keep it a secret, the more it will try to control you."
People can't "do" life by themselves, Borden said.
"We weren't designed to live alone and to make ourselves attain fulfillment on our own. We were designed for relationships with other people and with God; if either one is struggling, the other will struggle, too."
"The big message of Power of One is there's a God who knows every last secret you've got and shares with you and wants you to feel whole and loved and rock out," Howard said.
Although Power of One is a different venue from Oshkosh's Lifest, where a 16-year-old Menasha girl died during a giant swing ride, Howard said Life Promotions has "acknowledged the concerns of public perception and discussed it as we move forward with Power of One. We have everything in place that anticipates any kind of questions from the community."
So what's The Big Deal?
Blaine Howard knows the answer.
"I think teenagers constantly make something a big deal in their lives — whether it's relationships, looking hot on the hotness scale so they can measure up, sports and grades — and there's a lot of stuff vying for their attention," said Howard, new director of festivals at Life Promotions. "We want kids to know at Power of One this year that God has said that they are the big deal.
"Their heart is the big deal, and the fact they can in a way that counts is a big deal. God has said you are more than your grades or how other people look at you or whether or not you fit a magazine cover. Your heart is worth everything, and all that other stuff is just a small aspect of who you are."
An equally big deal, he said, is God.
"Kids discover their true worth when they look at the giver of worth and make following God a big deal in their lives," Howard said. "You are worth something because your creator made you."
The 17th annual Power of One The Big Deal Christian music festival — the largest one-day fest in Wisconsin — takes over the Green Bay's Resch Center Saturday. Bands include Hawk Nelson, Tree63, Jonah33, Cycledown and headliners, Flyleaf, the nationally recognized alternative rock bank whose self-titled album has spent 83 weeks on the Billboard 200, which ranks the best-selling albums in the county.
"Where they are at in their career right now, they are exploding," Howard said. "They have been on a slow burn for a while. Their (first) album, which is approaching platinum sales, has been around two years and the song 'All Around Me' has just started hitting in the last six months. … They are all over mainstream rock radio."
Members of the five-piece Texas band also are very serious about their faith, although they don't view themselves as a Christian peg trying to fit into the mainstream of alternative rock.
"When we started, we didn't have an agenda on what we were going to do," said Sameer Bhattacharya, one of two guitarists in Flyleaf. "We just wrote songs and played shows wherever we could. The inspiration for the songs was life. And being a Christian, your faith should impact every aspect of your life. But we don't categorize ourselves as anything. Everyone is going to make their own judgment and their own labels and we'll go with anything."
Bhattacharya says fans appreciate the bands' musicianship as well as lyrics such as these from "All Around Me":
"I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart's that's healing."
In the song, "I'm So Sick," which was the first release off their album, Flyleaf references the world today, which Bhattacharya calls "a real sick place."
"But the song says just because that's the world we live in we don't have to grow up and become that," he said. "All those experiences in our lives we can learn from and rise up because of."
Yes, Power of One is all about the music, but equally important will be the messages offered by speakers including Josh Finklea, a nationally known Christian speaker who serves as executive pastor and youth minister at the Crossing, a nondenominational church in Quincy, Ill.; Life Promotions media coordinator and musician Tammy Borden; Kent Hulbert, state director for Youth Alive in Wisconsin and northern Michigan; and Vince Lichlyter, lead singer of Jonah33.
From drug addition to eating disorders, these people have been through it, Howard said.
Borden, who personally dealt with an eating disorder in her early 20s, will discuss "Escaping Your World of Secret Sin."
"Through Life Promotions I receive a lot of phone calls from kids that are seeking advice or just seeking some help with an issue they have. Almost always it's an issue that they are keeping a secret," she said. "Behavioral addictions like cutting and eating disorders, some kids that already addicted to porn, kids already using drugs and drinking and a lot of relational addictions with sex and things like that. And these are teenagers.
"They're ashamed in dealing with this … and everyday wake up saying, 'Today is going to the day,' but they can't make it through that day without the release. … The more you try to keep it a secret, the more it will try to control you."
People can't "do" life by themselves, Borden said.
"We weren't designed to live alone and to make ourselves attain fulfillment on our own. We were designed for relationships with other people and with God; if either one is struggling, the other will struggle, too."
"The big message of Power of One is there's a God who knows every last secret you've got and shares with you and wants you to feel whole and loved and rock out," Howard said.
Although Power of One is a different venue from Oshkosh's Lifest, where a 16-year-old Menasha girl died during a giant swing ride, Howard said Life Promotions has "acknowledged the concerns of public perception and discussed it as we move forward with Power of One. We have everything in place that anticipates any kind of questions from the community."
Cheryl Sherry: 920-993-1000, ext. 249, or csherry@postcrescent.com
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