Christian concert rocks Charles City

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Encouragement Corp. hosted its 12th Annual Christian Rock Concert in Charles City on Saturday, with live performances by the bands The Afters and Bread of Stone.

Encouragement Corp is a non-profit organization that brings the concert to the community of Charles City annually. The concert is traditionally put on once a year, the weekend before Labor Day Weekend, and brings in a large crowd and a circus-like atmosphere to Central Park.

Bread of Stone, from Sioux City, opened the show. The seventh time the group has been to Charles City, Bread of Stone has developed a strong following in the area, and the group is also a production company that does all the set-up and runs the sound system for the show.

The featured group Saturday, The Afters, is an established touring band and the members are no strangers to the Christian Rock scene.

The group was founded by Joshua Havens and Matt Fuqua, from Mesquite, Texas. Their song “Never Going Back to OK” was one of the most-played songs on the Christian music charts in 2008.

The band has released five studio albums on the Epic and Columbia labels, one independent album and one live album.

The band has also had 12 singles hit the U.S. Christian music charts, including “Light Up the Sky,” which was No. 1 on the Christian chart in 2010. The group has also been nominated for eight GMA Dove Awards, winning for best new artist in 2006, best album in 2009 and best video (short form) in 2016.

This year, the food stand was run by Gospel Lighthouse Church in Floyd.