Christian band will perform

Contemporary Christian band TAIT will be in concert at Wesley United Methodist Church in Evans at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

"We have already had calls from adults as far away as Greenville who are planning to attend," said Mary Carolyn Thigpen, evangelism director at the church. Admission is a donation of school supplies for missions, with doors opening an hour before the show. An offering also will be taken at the concert.

Michael Tait is one-third of the Christian rock group dc talk and founder of TAIT. The dc talk partners met while attending Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., in the late 1980s. They released five studio albums, receiving four Grammy Awards and numerous Dove Awards, according to the band's Web site.

In 2000, the band decided to take a break while the members devoted themselves to solo projects. After dc talk's hiatus was announced, Tait dedicated more time to his band, which is named after his father.

"TAIT is especially good and carries name recognition," Thigpen said. "We were fortunate to be able to book them."

The TAIT concert coincides with the Youth Xtreme Weekend at Wesley, which begins Friday night with a youth rally featuring guest worship band Simple Fool, of Goshen, Ind. Adam Hilderbrandt, a youth minister at Mountain Park United Methodist Church in Stone Mountain, Ga., will be the night's guest speaker, with events beginning at 7:30.

"Xtreme weekend is the teenage component of a special weekend at Wesley United Methodist Church," said Clay Miller, the youth pastor. "The weekend has something for the whole family."

Family events continue Saturday beginning at 5 p.m., with water fun - inflatable water slides and dunking booths - for the children and a family cookout. All events are free.

"This is the sixth year we have done Xtreme Week at Wesley," Miller said. "It is an outreach to teenagers in the community."

Saturday's events culminate with the TAIT concert, along with a testimonial from Greenbrier High School's new football coach, Scott Chadwick, and another performance by Simple Fool. The events continue Sunday morning, with the contemporary services at 9:30 and 11, featuring worship music led by Simple Fool.

Xtreme Week concludes Sunday night with a youth rally, another performance by Simple Fool and guest speaker Eddie Taylor, the founder of Family Discipleship Ministries and pastor of Christian Heritage Church in Lake City, Fla.

"Our goal for the whole weekend is to have people who are not churched come explore what is going on in a relaxed, fun environment with the hopes that they will come also for worship on Sunday morning," said Miller. The youth rallies are open to students in seventh grade through college, and the TAIT concert is open to all ages.