Weekend of local rock volume 72

Normally this (more and more) occasional series talks about local groups in a local setting, but it’s not unprecedented for me to discuss a group that’s from outside our region. Such is the case with the subject of this particular volume, which featured a new venue to me and a somewhat different style than I’m used to. But it all worked out in the end.

Let’s start with a little bit of backstory. A few weeks back 88.7 The Bridge (a local Christian music radio station) began promoting an outdoor concert which would be held at Trap Pond State Park just outside Laurel, Delaware. As it turns out, this was just one of a weekly series of concerts the park hosts there each Saturday night, weather permitting. (Other Delaware state parks have concerts on other nights of the week.) So this was a chance for the station to come out and greet some of their listeners, too.

The Bridge had its van, tent, and swag all set to go. Certainly they were pleased with the results.

Perhaps it was an opportunity or just happenstance, but the group Consumed By Fire decided to come up from their native Oklahoma to play this one-off show. And I would have to say it was a rousing success, based on the crowd.

Not surprisingly, at a gathering of Christians at dinnertime the Chick-fil-A line was long.
This isn’t the best crowd shot I had, either. According to The Bridge, over a thousand people were at this show.
About a half-hour into the show I went to the front (stage right) and took this shot.

To warm the crowd up, Mark Dickey of The Bridge went up to introduce the band and toss out some spare swag.

The Bridge’s Mark Dickey came up to introduce the band, which started right on time.

The band itself is a trio of brothers, with the oldest being lead guitarist Joshua Ward.

Lead guitarist Joshua Ward. He was sort of the Bill Wyman of the group – then again, he is the oldest.

Jordan Ward is normally the drummer, but he also came out from behind the kit for reasons I’ll get into in a bit.

Jordan started out behind the drums, but took center stage when it was time to deliver the message.
You would know these three are children of a pastor once you heard them get going. Most outspoken was middle brother Jordan.

Youngest is keyboardist and acoustic man Caleb Ward.

For the first several songs Caleb sang from behind the keyboard.
Then for the acoustic part of the set, he made the band a two-guitar trio.

Much of what they played came off their latest release “Giving Over,” which came out in 2016. The band also did an EP a year earlier called “Lean On Me,” the title track of which was the song that led off the show.

As I alluded to in the caption for Caleb above, the first five songs or so were done with him on keyboard before Caleb shifted to acoustic guitar and Jordan stepped out to play a beat box.

A shot of the full band. This photo is by Kim Corkran.

After a trio of songs, including one with a great story behind it called Hold The Rain, we found out that preaching is a talent that can be passed on.

The message was from Hebrews 8, which coincidentally was also the subject of our sermon at my church last week – it’s the chapter that describes the new covenant between man and God.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all that know me, from the least to the greatest.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:10-13, KJV)

It’s interesting how that works, and becomes another sign of the day’s blessings and presence.

First of all, for the entire week beforehand they were calling for showers and thunderstorms for most of that Saturday. It did rain a little that day and threatened for much of the afternoon, but by the time we left for the show it was a very pleasant evening. Wonder why?

Next, after we arrived and got settled in, we chatted with our “neighbors” who were sitting next to us. Since the lady had brought the umbrella, I commented to this complete stranger “well, now we don’t have to worry about Murphy’s Law.” Ask yourself what the odds are of their last name actually being… Murphy? With that icebreaker out of the way, we found out my wife and her had another commonality as they are both nurses.

Maybe the only bad thing about the show was its relative briefness – Consumed By Fire was done before 7:45 after a 6:30 start. But they made up for it by hanging out at a crowded merch table.

Lot of shorts, CDs, and bags were sold from this table. I suspect gas money back to Oklahoma was no problem.

So out of all this we got some nice swag, my wife has a photo with and autographed CD from the band, we made a couple new friends, and – most importantly – according to The Bridge over 20 people came to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior as a result of the show. In terms of achievement, that is a good evening all around because the people went home happy.