Commentary By Danielle Pelkey

The North Jefferson News



Another week has passed and I have experienced so many new things, including the concert my youth group attended on Saturday night.

Todd and I have become the youth ministers at our church, New Beginnings Community Church. It is a role that I am more than happy to fill. I have always had a heart for youth and the Lord blessed me with a husband that has the same heart.

We decided to take the youth to WinterJam, a Christian concert featuring about 10 performers. I really enjoy Christian music so this was right up my alley. My sister volunteered to take Anna, our 2-month-old daughter, for the evening and Raygan (my almost 2-year-old daughter) came with us.

This concert doesn’t allow pre-bought tickets, so we got to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex three hours early to secure a good spot.

When the doors finally opened, it was a mad dash to the seat of your choice. The only problem is that I was holding Raygan in my arms and trying not to be trampled by all of the excited teenagers around me.

This didn’t affect our youth too much and we made our way to some pretty good seats and staked our claim. With an extra two hours to spare until show time, I had already fed Raygan all of the snacks that were packed for her and she was getting ready to attack the stage.

Everything changed when the concert began. These Christian artists aren’t the regular boring artist that your grandparents use to listen to. These guys know how to rock a house. I know that some people don’t agree with the term “Christian rock,” but you have to realize that this style of music reaches the kids of today and it has an awesome message to share about the love of Christ and giving your life for Him.

The headliner for this concert was Toby Mac, formerly of DC Talk. Before the show, all youth pastors were invited to meet Toby in person. I was so excited I about knocked six kids down the stairs to get to the door. Toby clearly has a heart for the youth of America and for the Lord. That’s what makes him such an awesome person.

When we got back to the concert the music was blaring and our kids were moving to the beat. I jumped right in and started singing and moving to the music also.

At the end of the night, I had a blast jamming out to one of my favorite artists and I’m pretty sure that the kids in our youth group had a good time laughing at their youth minister making a joke of herself at a concert.

In my mind, I still have it going on when it comes to concerts. I just wish everyone else saw it the way I do.