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Classic cars to draw people to annual Blueberry Festival this Saturday — Story on page 20
TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2010
Rockin’ in God’s name in Cloverdale Rain doesn’t deter close to 8,000 fans from hearing Christian bands at ‘Rock the River’ gig Sex, drugs and alcohol Amanda OYE were missing from the Rock Now contributor the River Concert, held at Millennium Park in Cloverdale on Saturday — and the crowd didn’t seem to mind. Thousands of people turned up to watch Christian rock bands at the day-long event. The bands included The Almost, who performed a cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” during its set. At one point, the grounds held 7,970 people, despite the rain, according to Rod Barnett, the director of the concert. “Considering the weather, the turnout was great,” he said. “We saw people come to faith with Jesus Christ.” One of the main purposes of the concert was to reach out to the under-21 generation — and organizers achieved that, Barnett said. Many of the teenagers at the concert had already been reached, though. Rachel Van Vliet, 14, goes to public school in Langley and has attended church on a regular basis her whole life. She has friends who are Christian, and others who are not. “It’s always good to have non-Christian friends, too... so you can bring them to God,” she said. She isn’t dating now, and won’t for a few years because she sees herself as being too young. But when she does, she will not date anyone who doesn’t have the same belief system she does. She doesn’t believe in sex before marriage, and does not believe that choice will have an impact on her future dating life. Her friend Jennifer Pham, 14, sees things a little differently. Pham went to church regularly for five years, but stopped recently because there wasn’t enough young people attending, and there were no activities to participate in. She isn’t dating yet either but, unlike Van Vliet, she is not sure whether she believes in sex before marriage or not. “Sometime it just happens,” she said. This is something that Peter Fortune, 16, is prepared for. He was in a 14-month relationship not long ago, and learned that next time he needs to set boundaries.
Fans get into the spirit of the Rock the River concert Saturday at Millennium Amphitheatre in Cloverdale. ❚PHOTO/Amanda Oye
“I don’t want to loose my virginity and then not marry her,” he said. He had hid his relationship from his parents for 10 months, and did stupid things because of it. “I still have my virginity, though, so I wasn’t that stupid,” he said.
Fortune likes to hang out with people who are “like-minded.” He attended public school for six months when he was younger, but attends a Christian school in Surrey now. He was bullied at public school not because of his religious beliefs, but
because of his “weird obsessions,” he said. Bullying happens at private schools, too, Fortune said. There are a lot of nonbelievers who go to Christian schools because of the good educational opportunities, according to Fortune.