His Place Teen Center was founded in 1993 by Burt Rugg as a place where youth from the Oxford Hills area of Maine could hang out on weekends and also learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Burt has just stepped down as director after all these years, and last night was our first time doing a show at His Place since the leadership has been transitioned.  The heart of His Place has clearly remained the same: reaching out to bored kids in a rural area.  Now, however, they have taken on more involvement with the families as whole units.  We were impressed with what we saw: families coming in for meals, renovations to the physical structure, and an audience that was truly multi-generational: kids, teens, college students (mostly volunteers), parents and grandparents. 

After the kids had a chance to eat and play pool, foosball and other teen oriented games, we did an hour long set.  This is one of the few indoor venues left where we can still juggle fire, which goes a long way to winning over teen audiences.  The whole show went well and several kids prayed with us for a variety of reasons after the show. 

We ended around 8:30, and they were having their youth worship service at 9:00, so we had to hustle to pack.  While we were picking up, some of the college volunteers were preparing for the music ministry portion on the upcoming service.  They sounded so beautiful as they practiced a variety of worship songs.  It really topped off a great evening.

We were pleased, too, to run into an old partner in ministry.  Barry Lowe, lead singer of the Blacksmiths came out to see our set.  They were the Contemporary Christian band in Maine during the late 1980’s through the first half of the 1990’s.  They disbanded when, as Barry explains, all his bandmates were getting married.  Now they have regrouped with some new members and have just released their first live album.  (http://www.myspace.com/theblacksmithsmusic )  We worked together several times in the old days, and my devil stick routine is still performed to their contemporary version of the hymn “Near the Cross”.  It was refreshing to cross paths with another old-timer who is still about the Father’s business here in the Northeast.