Winter Jam has become one of the most highly anticipated Christian concerts to travel through the Country each year. Fans patiently wait to see whose names are added to the line up hoping to be able to catch their new favorite, or veteran performers.
This concert has always been formatted so that everyone can afford to bring friends to hear the message of hope found in Christ in the midst of jamming to some of their favorite tunes. First come first serve has sometimes created max occupancy in buildings causing some hopefuls to be turned away at the door. One of the things you can do as a fan to guarantee entry and other benefits is to become a member of Jam Nation.
We Are Messengers opened the early jam session performing Everything Comes Alive and I'm On Fire. This was my first exposure to them which means it probably was for a lot of other people attending the tour this year as well. There was a genuine spirit of restoration that came through these guys who later during the offering performed one of my favorite songs of the night called I Don't Have The Answers. All three of these songs will be available on their upcoming album you can pre-order now. Check the video out below of their current Klove hit.
Next to hit the stage was Stars Go Dim singing You Are Loved, Giants and Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow. They were very energetic and seemed to be having a lot of fun getting the audience involved in singing along with them.
Christian Rap Artists KB and Trip Lee both brought a lot of base to the arena while sharing their faith in song and getting the crowd's blood pumping. Both of these guys have a strong fan base and neither fall short while giving God all they have on stage.
Throughout the evening while they were breaking down and putting up new sets a different artists from hosts Newsong, would take a few minutes out of the evening to share information about sponsors and charities that they support. One of the things I seen at this concert, that I had not seen before, maybe simply due to seating, was that they had a section for the hearing impaired, which I thought was awesome.
Newsong of course took the stage and they always sound great but for some reason they sounded superb that evening to me. Opening their set up with Hallelujah (Bride In White), followed by Russ Lee talking about how depressing the news can be sometimes and how when we look around to everything going on today it often makes us want to go home. That opened the gateway for for him to belt out Don't It Make You Wanna Go Home.
After performing an always electrifying Arise My Love they shared the importance of the body of Christ reaching out to the many orphans that need our help. Below you can watch the video about why they share the outreach of such an important ministry in Holt International.
The only female on the tour this year seemed to float onto the stage as she laid her heart out to the Father. Lauren Daigle effortlessly invited everyone into an atmosphere of worship with her captivating vocals and lyrically moving song selections.
Christian Rap Artists KB and Trip Lee both brought a lot of base to the arena while sharing their faith in song and getting the crowd's blood pumping. Both of these guys have a strong fan base and neither fall short while giving God all they have on stage. Throughout the evening while they were breaking down and putting up new sets a different artists from hosts Newsong, would take a few minutes out of the evening to share information about sponsors and charities that they support. One of the things I seen at this concert, that I had not seen before, maybe simply due to seating, was that they had a section for the hearing impaired, which I thought was awesome.
Newsong of course took the stage and they always sound great but for some reason they sounded superb that evening to me. Opening their set up with Hallelujah (Bride In White), followed by Russ Lee talking about how depressing the news can be sometimes and how when we look around to everything going on today it often makes us want to go home. That opened the gateway for for him to belt out Don't It Make You Wanna Go Home.
Opening her set with the chorus of It Is Well, leading right into one of her fan favorites, First and closing out with How Can It Be. No one can question the huge amount of passion and beautiful voice she carries around in such a small package. I don't know how God fit that big of a gift in her but we all truly appreciate it.
Sidewalk Prophets took the stage next, engaging the crowd with Prodigal off their latest album Something Different along with Live Like That and Words I would Say. They also performed their rocking title track Something Different closing out a stellar set. Sadly after nine years this is the last tour that drummer Justin Nace will be joining them as he has shared with friends and fans. We are all going to miss him but we need to keep them all in our prayers as they continue seeking God's plan.
These guys have built a name for themselves in the music industry and in the lives of people they have invested friendships in. Not only are they musically gifted but they have a way of reaching out to their fans that impacts them in a way that is difficult to put into words. On this tour especially, they have picked a fan out of line at each stop to join them on stage during their set to sing with them. At this time I would like to introduce you to Jennifer Nicole Brown who was one of the lucky one's picked to join them on stage. She took a few minutes to share her testimony of of how Winter Jam and Sidewalk Prophets have been a blessing to her.
Pastor Tony Nolan has been one of the speakers travelling with Newsong for quite some time this year. We recently attended the Xtreme Winter Conference as well where we heard him share his childhood testimony of neglect and abuse. Unfortunately this also included his first experience with people who declared the Lord as their Savior. Many young and old people alike can relate to the emotions that Tony dealt with growing up and that can often times leave people feeling like there is nowhere to turn.
Tony touched on sensitive subjects that boiled down to finding who we are in Christ and not arguing about who we are and about who He is and just surrendering everything over to Him. Tony lived with his adopted father telling him numerous times he wished he would have never "bought him." It wasn't until many years later he heard his Heavenly Father say, "I've never regretted purchasing you." His goal is to tell as many people as he can that prayer is the language of the soul and not to listen to the devil because he is a punk.
I have often wondered at these events why they always seem to have a group in the line up who don't really fit into the CCM industry. Not to mention they seem to be placed right in the middle of the line up after someone like Tony speaks about difficult subjects.
This particular afternoon it dawned on me. I'm almost positive there was a good amount of people who came specifically to see Red perform. Most of the people in attendance who like a majority of the other groups sit there in a state of shock when Red takes the stage. Lyrically they sing about deep places of darkness, anger, frustration and feeling trapped.
Lead singer Michael Barnes does speak of God briefly while the band is putting on an explosive (quite literally) show on stage, but lyrically it's more of a perspective from someone dealing with struggles along the same lines as those Tony described he faced as a young man. I honestly believe they include Red (or similar; Skillet) to draw those out who feel exactly like their lyrics to hear the messages around them to introduce them to Christ.
During the set change to prepare for Matthew West a prerecorded video greeting from Newsboys introduced the trailer for God's Not Dead 2. They stressed the importance of us inviting non-believers to go see it with us upon release currently set for April 1, 2016. If nothing else you could talk your friends into going to see Deadpool with you, your treat and then when you get there say April fools! (It's ok you can laugh).
Matthew opened his segment of the evening with respect for the Nation asking everyone to sing God Bless America. He also carried an enthusiasm and humor throughout sharing very touching stories and testimonies. During his opening fan favorite Day 1,confetti shot out over the audience and the crowd was re-energized. Going directly into a passionate performance of Hello My Name Is.
Matthew never fails to make people smile when he is on stage. He has a genuine desire to make people happy, all the while spiritually drawing us to a deeper understanding of being there for others.
After some silly interaction with the audience and bringing a very lucky little boy named Hunter to join him on stage he began to explain the heart of his actions. "You see there is a method to this madness. We don't know each other, so though you might be holding hands with someone you don't know, we have ONE God who has two hands reaching out to all we just have to raise our hands and surrender everything to God."
Shortly after returning a very happy Hunter to his parents they shared an emotional skype video from Rob testifying about how he has worked his way through Teen Challenge. He also passed on hope to others letting them know that it doesn't matter what you've done, God's not done yet. Matthew closed out in my opinion the best witness performance of the night with Grace Wins as the crowd roared with applause.
While they were preparing the western saloon stage setting for Crowder, Stephanie Fast began to share her story of survival. A true walking testimony of grace, found in a heaping pile of trash by one she considers a hero in her life, gave her the opportunity to be adopted into a loving family. She once again spoke of how important it is to sponsor children.
The crowd began to go crazy when Crowder started to open up with I See The Light. If you have never seen some of these bands live you are truly missing a wonderful experience. I'm not sure where Crowder goes when he is performing but he puts every single ounce of energy into his music and you can tell he is one of the most passionate people in the industry.
He is definitely one that leaves everything he has on that stage every single time. Performing I Am, Prodigal, Come As You Are, He Is Jealous For Me and the good ole' fashioned hoe down of I'll Fly Away it's always a treat to know he will be present at a concert.
There was a brief intermission where Newsong explained the benefit of this tour and how you basically pay one dollar to see each band. With the cost of touring and renting buildings they always take a few minutes to pass around an offering plate to help keep costs down for tickets. One of the things they went into detail about, which I thought was a wonderful blessing for each city is that they research local ministry prior to each event and donate 10% of their offering collected into a local outreach. City Gospel Mission in Cincinnati had no idea they would be receiving that so I thought it was an amazing way to sow into each city they praise through.
For King & Country have exploded into the CCM realm over the last couple of years and if you have ever seen them perform you would understand why. Most photographers have a shutter speed setting specifically designed for them alone. They are so animated when they are on stage you have to wonder how much coffee they drink while on tour. I love watching them express their praise and worship and imagine this team on the front of any spiritual battle field would be hard to beat.
Tony touched on sensitive subjects that boiled down to finding who we are in Christ and not arguing about who we are and about who He is and just surrendering everything over to Him. Tony lived with his adopted father telling him numerous times he wished he would have never "bought him." It wasn't until many years later he heard his Heavenly Father say, "I've never regretted purchasing you." His goal is to tell as many people as he can that prayer is the language of the soul and not to listen to the devil because he is a punk.
I have often wondered at these events why they always seem to have a group in the line up who don't really fit into the CCM industry. Not to mention they seem to be placed right in the middle of the line up after someone like Tony speaks about difficult subjects.
This particular afternoon it dawned on me. I'm almost positive there was a good amount of people who came specifically to see Red perform. Most of the people in attendance who like a majority of the other groups sit there in a state of shock when Red takes the stage. Lyrically they sing about deep places of darkness, anger, frustration and feeling trapped.
Lead singer Michael Barnes does speak of God briefly while the band is putting on an explosive (quite literally) show on stage, but lyrically it's more of a perspective from someone dealing with struggles along the same lines as those Tony described he faced as a young man. I honestly believe they include Red (or similar; Skillet) to draw those out who feel exactly like their lyrics to hear the messages around them to introduce them to Christ.
During the set change to prepare for Matthew West a prerecorded video greeting from Newsboys introduced the trailer for God's Not Dead 2. They stressed the importance of us inviting non-believers to go see it with us upon release currently set for April 1, 2016. If nothing else you could talk your friends into going to see Deadpool with you, your treat and then when you get there say April fools! (It's ok you can laugh).
Matthew opened his segment of the evening with respect for the Nation asking everyone to sing God Bless America. He also carried an enthusiasm and humor throughout sharing very touching stories and testimonies. During his opening fan favorite Day 1,confetti shot out over the audience and the crowd was re-energized. Going directly into a passionate performance of Hello My Name Is.
Matthew never fails to make people smile when he is on stage. He has a genuine desire to make people happy, all the while spiritually drawing us to a deeper understanding of being there for others.
Shortly after returning a very happy Hunter to his parents they shared an emotional skype video from Rob testifying about how he has worked his way through Teen Challenge. He also passed on hope to others letting them know that it doesn't matter what you've done, God's not done yet. Matthew closed out in my opinion the best witness performance of the night with Grace Wins as the crowd roared with applause.
While they were preparing the western saloon stage setting for Crowder, Stephanie Fast began to share her story of survival. A true walking testimony of grace, found in a heaping pile of trash by one she considers a hero in her life, gave her the opportunity to be adopted into a loving family. She once again spoke of how important it is to sponsor children.
The crowd began to go crazy when Crowder started to open up with I See The Light. If you have never seen some of these bands live you are truly missing a wonderful experience. I'm not sure where Crowder goes when he is performing but he puts every single ounce of energy into his music and you can tell he is one of the most passionate people in the industry.
He is definitely one that leaves everything he has on that stage every single time. Performing I Am, Prodigal, Come As You Are, He Is Jealous For Me and the good ole' fashioned hoe down of I'll Fly Away it's always a treat to know he will be present at a concert.
Performing some of their best known songs including It's Not Over Yet, Fix My Eyes and Priceless they shared their heart for women and their fight against the horrible atrocity of human trafficking. They have created a movie out of the desire to help those trapped in that evil which will be releasing this fall, check out the trailer here.
They often speak of how much respect they have for women and how men should honor them as Christ loved the church. As much as they love each other as siblings a few of them have suffered from serious illnesses which have created some of the their most beautiful songs. Luke shared a portion of his struggle before an impassioned performance of Shoulders.
I cannot speak for everyone else who has had the opportunity to attend Winter Jam this year, but I believe this is one of the best crews they have ever had. One must take into account when it's called Winter Jam that is exactly what you need to expect. These groups are there for a Jam session and in the midst of that leading people to Christ through spoken words, songs and testimonies. Together uniting for one purpose and celebrating one King and one Savior who we come to lift up in praise and adoration and celebrate what He's done for all of us.
If you have never had the opportunity to go to Winter Jam there are still a few remaining chances to catch them live! If you are unable and would like to take a friend to experience what it's all about on April 19th you will have your chance to watch it in the movie theater as you can see below!
You can also swing by to view the rest of the photos from the Cincinnati Tour and if you would like to share your video testimony about how this event or one of the artists has influenced your walk with Christ please feel free to do so. We feel it is important for everyone to share their testimony. You never know, someone else's breakthrough could be on the other side of your obedience.
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