Concerts are keeping teens out of bars
Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Religion/207278/
When the Rev. John Lohmann moved to central Arkansas about two years ago, he found that teens often went to local bars to enjoy music.
“I don’t have an issue with alcohol — Anglicans in general believe things can be done in moderation,” said Lohmann, the rector of St. Thomas ’ Reformed Episcopal Church in Little Rock.
“But the idea of letting my then 14-year-old daughter go hear a rock group where people were sitting around drinking just rubbed me wrong.”
So the minister started an outreach ministry. Since September 2006, St. Thomas’ has transformed one to three times a month into the Rhythm and Brews Music / Coffeehouse. For a cover charge that varies depending on the number of bands performing, teens can hang out at a music venue that is free of drugs, tobacco and alcohol.
The church will offer another Rhythm and Brews gathering 6-9 p. m. Sunday. The event will be devoted to blues musicians from Arkansas. Scheduled artists are Essie “The Blues Lady” Neal, Blues Boy Jag, Ginny Becton and Ted Thorsen, Mike Dollins and Friends, as well as the trio Bill McCumber, Greg Jones and Steve Giles.
On other coffeehouse nights, bands play music ranging from acoustic and rock to heavy metal. Many of the bands share their Christian testimony, Lohmann said. But he only requires that musicians’ lyrics not promote immorality or drugs or use foul language.
Often the largely teenage crowds at the events exceed the attendance of 44 to 55 people at St. Thomas’ Sunday services.
On Halloween, Lohmann said 191 people came to the church’s coffeehouse — more than the church had space for inside. So some people enjoyed the concert from the church’s parking lot.
The Christian heavy metal band Asteios was among those performing that night. The Conway-based band, whose name means “beautiful” in Greek, is one of the venue’s regular guests.
Justin Kroger, Asteios’ drummer, said the coffeehouse crowds give his band ample opportunity to spread the gospel to a young audience.
“Ever since I was in junior high, I wanted a safe environment like this,” said Kroger, who is now a sophomore at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. “Music has always been a big part of my life, and that was something I always looked for. I definitely think that churches should get involved in [ministries like ] this.”
Lohmann, a former youth minister in Houston, got the idea for the Rhythm and Brews ministry from a nondenominational church in the Texas city. That church’s coffeehouse nights mainly attracted members of the church’s youth group and their friends, Lohmann said.
In contrast, the target audience of St. Thomas’ coffeehouse ministry aren’t congregation members. About half of Lohmann’s parishioners are over 65, he said, and the church uses the Protestant Episcopal Church’s 1928 Book of Common Prayer and sings from a 1940 hymnal.
So far, Lohmann said the ministry hasn’t persuaded any teenagers to join his church. Nor does his church earn any money from the events.
Lohmann uses the cover charges to pay each band $ 1 per audience member. The church uses profits from 50-cent snacks and soft drinks for sound equipment and the ministry’s other expenses.
But he stressed that the ministry’s goal isn’t to attract new members or fund church operations.
“When you’re doing an outreach with a church, you’re not looking for your church to gain anything from it,” he said. “If we have some good feelings out there and we don’t gain anybody, I’m not too concerned about that. God grows the church as he intends to grow it.” St. Thomas ’ Reformed Episcopal Church, 4411 Woodlawn Drive, will present a “Blues Show” at the Rhythm and Brews Music / Coffeehouse 6-9 p. m. Sunday. Cover charge is $ 5. More information is available by calling (501 ) 663-7708 or visiting the Web site myspace. com / rhythmandbrewscof
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