Bluefield College will douse its students and the community with an
overflowing of Christian music this month when it hosts three contemporary
Christian music concerts. The groups In Harmony and Red Tree and singer
Andrew Peterson will each perform on the BC campus for students and the
public as part of the college’s Welcome Week 2002.
When you think of the start of a new academic year on a college campus,
you can’t help but think of purchasing textbooks, reviewing syllabi and
memorizing class schedules. But, at Bluefield College the start of the
2001-2002 academic term is scheduled to be more than books and classes with
the school’s Welcome Week festivities.
Among the highlighted events of this year’s Welcome Week are the three
contemporary Christian music concerts, featuring In Harmony on Thursday,
August 15, Red Tree on Monday, August 19 and Andrew Peterson on Wednesday,
August 21.
In Harmony is a trio of female singers from Salem, Virginia, who sing
acoustic or acappella. They will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 15
on BC1s campus Quad.
Red Tree is a local band product created from the fusion of the groups
Steadfast and Grounded for Christ. The band’s members are students from
Bluefield College and Concord College, and Red Tree’s grunge sound has often
been compared to the rock group Creed. The group will perform at 8 p.m. on
Monday, August 19 in the BC Quad.
Peterson, who will perform at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, August 21 in BC1s
Harman Chapel, is a singer/songwriter whose popularity is rising nationally.
His songwriting engages listeners, primarily because he truly has been given
something to say. Whether he’s sharing a symbolic anecdote about lost
luggage or offering profoundly moving lyrics about a heart being stirred to
sing for the Lord, Peterson gets to know his listeners and they get to know
him. And, in the end, his hope is that through his music listeners come to
know God a little bit better.
“Sharing my music with people and translating what God is teaching me —
that’s when I feel most at home,” Peterson said. “I want to engage the
audience as much as possible and create an atmosphere where everybody is
active in the concert, and where we feel like we all got to know each other
better before the end of the night.”
Peterson’s first national single, “Nothing to Say,” his confession about
creation leaving him speechless, quickly became a top ten single on the
Adult Contemporary Christian chart. Not long after, his first national
Watershed Records release, “Carried Along,” was named one of the “Top Ten
Albums of 2000” by Contemporary Christian Music Magazine. The album also
ranked on the Billboard Magazine Internet Sales Chart above Red Hot Chili
Peppers, Sting and Backstreet Boys.
The process of writing the songs on his latest CD, “Clear to Venus,”
happened during Peterson’s time on the road. He wrote while traveling on his
own tour and while serving as an opening act for Caedmon’s Call, Bebo Norman
and Fernando Ortega.
For more information about the concerts or other events during BC’s
Welcome Week 2002, please call the Office of Student Activities at
276-326-4256 or the Office of Public Relations at 276-326-4212.
