Religious event at city convention center includes free Los Lonely Boys show
Los Lonely Boys are giving a free concert in Santa Fe Sept. 21 at the new Santa Fe Community Convention Center.
The catch is that the Texas rockers’ show will be sandwiched between an opening prayer and a gospel story by a Dallas pastor, with “praise music” to draw the night to a close.
Kyle Martin doesn’t think it’s too much to ask people to take part in the entire program.
“It’s a free concert,” he said. “We would ask out of consideration or respect that they stay for the entire 7-9:30 p.m. period.”
The concert is part of a sevenday event, Sept. 15-21, called Revive Santa Fe, being planned by the Dallas Bible Church. The 350-member congregation is considered small by Dallas standards, said Martin, associate pastor in charge of discipleship and revival.
The event will be one of the first to be held in Santa Fe’s new convention center, which has its official grand opening on Sept. 25.
“We said you can use the center, but be aware we are going to use you as guinea pigs in using the new building,” said Laura Banish, city spokeswoman.
“It will provide some muchneeded practice for staff.”
The cost of the sevenday event, $350,000, is being covered by five anonymous patrons, so all events are free to the public. Mayor David Coss will give a talk the first night, Sept. 15, on “the condition of Santa Fe.” A local pastor will welcome the audience before nightly musical groups performances.
For the first five nights, an artist named Mike Lewis, called the “Jesus painter,” will work on a 5-foot-tall painting of Jesus during the praise music between the musical groups’ performances and their final encore.
Praise music will be provided by Keith Cooper.
“Los Lonely Boys used to open for Keith at the Kingdom Bound Christian festivals,” said Martin, “and then they got bigger and he began opening for them. Their agent said they haven’t done stuff like this in a long time.”
Asked about allegation of drug use by Los Lonely Boys — drummer Ringo Garza has been arrested twice for marijuana possession — Martin referred to a Reuters’ quote in May by bassist JoJo Garza, who talked about their recently-released album “Forgiven.” The bassist said, “It’s about asking for help from the Lord through hard times.”
But there was a special call from Santa Fe — the City of Holy Faith with a tradition of Catholicsim going back to its founding and a more modern reputation as a New Age hotbed.
“We felt the Lord saying, ‘Go to Santa Fe’” through prayer and discernment, Martin said. “I love the closeness of the feel of the people. Everybody’s so different, but for some reason you still feel like you’re a part of the community.”
Martin said he was “blown away” when a car stopped and let him cross the street. “In Dallas, I would have gotten run over.”
But Martin admits the notion of Santa Fe was put into his head by two of his church members, Mark and Joan Doering, who also own a home in Santa Fe. The Doerings, who are currently in South Africa, asked Martin if he would organize an event in Santa Fe after they witnessed a particularly effective one in Dallas.
Martin and the Dallas Bible Church had spearheaded a 40-day tent revival in Dallas in 2007. “There are 3,000 churches in Dallas and our goal was, ‘Can we get the church together for 40 days and set aside our differences?’”
Answering that question was important, Martin said, “because if a church can’t get along with another, why would somebody want to be part of the body of Christ?”
In the end, several hundred churches participated. But the success wasn’t just in numbers, it was in rain.
“Two-and-a-half years before the 40 days, the mayor of Dallas declared we were in a state of drought,” said Martin. “We received the most rain in 50 years during the 40 days (of the revival) and about a month after, the city of Dallas declared the drought over.”
So Martin thought it was especially significant, he said, that in 2007, AmericanRivers. com said the Santa Fe River was the most endangered river. “In 2007, it was bone dry,” he said.
Martin is hoping the event can change that. Starting on Aug. 7, a group of people in Dallas began praying for 40 days for Santa Fe. “But we’re not asking for the river to be filled,” he said. “We’re asking for the people of Santa Fe to be refreshed by the Holy Spirit.”
Banish, the city government spokeswoman, said the city did receive at least one e-mail questioning the use of a city building for a religious event and wondering if there were any guidelines as to what types of groups could use the new building.
“We had never heard of this group before,” said Banish. “It’s a fine line we have to walk. It’s a public assembly hall. You have to be careful what sort of events you can and cannot have.”
But Banish said the city’s guideline is public safety. “We can’t judge something based on the ideological merits,” she said.
If a group might draw protestors because of its beliefs, presenting a danger to public safety, Banish said, then the city might have to decide otherwise about renting the building.
For his event, Martin is working with a group of 10 local volunteers, as well as area pastors.
Ron Sebesta, pastor at The Light at Mission Viejo, said he thinks it’s a great thing to happen downtown. “I see it as a good thing,” he said. “You could have a bad attitude, but they start out with 40 days of prayer for Santa Fe. How’s that going to hurt?
“Some thought they were going to come and start a new church but ... how’s that going to hurt?”
Sebesta said, “I think it will encourage and excite and stir up the body of Christ a little.”
Martin said the group effort is not just about the event. “We’re not coming in for seven days. We’re creating within the seven days the ‘Now what?’ ministries,” organized efforts to solve community problems, he said.
“I think it’s unfair to say it’s a revival,” said Martin. “The true revival is when the church starts coming together.
“Our goal is that people’s lives are transformed – that’s what Jesus does and you don’t realize that until you give your life over.”
If You Go
Revive Santa Fe is scheduled for Sept. 15-21 at the new Santa Fe Community Convention Center on Marcy Street. Morning prayer will be held there from 7-8 a.m., and nightly programs will be held beginning at 6:30 p.m. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m.
Local musician Ramone Bermudez will play every night from 6:30-6:50 p.m., as people walk in the doors. A welcome from a local pastor will be at 7 p.m., and musical acts will start at about 7:10 p.m. On Monday, Sept. 15, the musician will be the group Salvador; Tuesday, Sept. 16, Bill Miller; Wednesday, Sept. 17, Linda Tillery & the Cultural Heritage Choir; Thursday, Sept. 18, Jaci Velasquez; Friday, Sept. 19, Sheila E and the Pete Escovedo Orchestra; Saturday, Sept. 20, Collin Raye; and Sunday, Sept. 21, Los Lonely Boys.
Each musical group will perform about an hour, and pastor Kyle Martin will tell a gospel story for about 30 minutes. Then Keith Cooper will perform praise music while, for the first five nights, the audience watches Mike Lewis, “the Jesus painter,” create a 5-foot-tall painting. After that, the night’s musical group may come back for an encore.
All events are free, and entrance to the nightly programs are on a firstcome, first-serve basis. The facility will hold 1,800 people. Because attendance is expected to be especially high for Los Lonely Boys, those interested can start lining up at noon, Sunday, Sept. 21. Security staffers won’t let anyone line up before that time.
For more information, log onto www.revivesantafe.com.
