Back-to-school music with a message

Church, world youth group, college ministry join forces for free concert

Tuesday night. School's back in session. The college students swarmed, looking for some way to appease their angst.

Well, the frat boy, surfer dude and philosopher came together to provide a solution: a free rock concert in the churchyard at the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul in Charleston.

"Declare it Black Tuesday!" they called it. It featured three bands: Declare (a Christian rock band from Charleston), Jon Black (a folk rocker and Charleston native now living in Birmingham, Ala.) and the Nashville-based band formerly known as Starting Tuesday but now called The War.

Colin Kerr, 23, director of Christian education and ministries at Second Presbyterian Church, was one of the organizers. He has a political science and philosophy background. Local churches helped raise the money to pay for what is perhaps the first ecumenical Christian event in Charleston co-sponsored by a church, an international youth group and a college ministry, he said.

The international youth group is Young Life, and Jimmy Kaiser, the surfer who moved to the area from Miami, is beginning his second year at the helm of the local chapter. Kaiser, 35, said his mission is to reach out to young people and develop relationships based on Christian principals. About 80 percent of his volunteers are college students, he said.

Forging relationships also is the goal of the College of Charleston's Christian outreach organization, InterVarsity. Its director, Willis Weber, 26, is a member of the Cathedral parish who, according to his friends, looks like a frat boy (even though he never was). Willis said his group works closely with Young Life and that he's hoping to foster good relations among students and local residents.

"It's relational-based as opposed to program-based," Kaiser explained. And through relationships, not Sunday school classes, young people might recognize the value of church.

"There are so many things college kids could get involved in that wouldn't necessarily be good for them," Kaiser said.

But Rock and Roll is good for them, at least when it's presented next to a church.

Scott Cash, 25, is lead singer and guitar player for The War. The band's first CD was a collection of love songs (Cash had just gotten married at the time). But the second CD is edgier, informed by a growing political awareness and concern for the downtrodden, he said.

"We love playing music," he said, "but that's just a platform."

The purpose is the message. The goal is to change the world, one college student at a time.