Westminster Presbyterian Church has been trying since last October to bring Christian rock group GLAD to the Muncie area.
"I heard them live in September, though I had been a fan before then," said Karen Gilliam, event coordinator. "They did such a wonderful job we tried to get them to come to Muncie."
GLAD is a national five-man vocal band. The band formed in its college years more than 25 years ago.
"We started in college in 1972 and '73 as an auditioned group, then we started performing full-time in 1976," said Don Nalle, founding member.
The group consists of Nalle on lead vocals and guitar and his brother Ed who joined in 1975 and plays bass. John Gates, Chris Davis and Don Pordato also add to the sound of the group.
Gilliam said the group has a simple, straight-forward message.
"It's very simple - to spread the word of Jesus Christ, the sovereignty of the death of Jesus on the cross and what it means to us believers," Gilliam said.
Nalle describes the group's style as somewhat mainstream with a jazz influence. The group is a mix of a capella and progressive Christian rock.
"I think people who are musicians will have a lot of appreciation for the style," Nalle said.
Gilliam and friends from her church were impressed enough to go through the effort to bring GLAD to Ball State. After several phone calls between Emens Auditorium and GLAD, Gilliam found that this Saturday was the only Saturday evening Emens had available.
Luckily for Gilliam, GLAD was also available that night. She described it as a "little door that God opened."
"They take old hymns and make them come alive," Gilliam said. "I think younger people will like them better when they hear them."
Gilliam became a fan 12 years ago when her husband began looking for new music as the church choir director. They found a book about GLAD's music and from there bought their albums.
Tickets are $10 for the general public and all proceeds go to local charity Blood-N-Fire, an inner-city ministry devoted to caring for the city's youth, poor and those needing help.
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