Teenager Nick Hauff said you don’t have to be society’s definition of normal to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

This Christian rocker with his tattoos and piercings is part of the band Raising Adonai, based out of Haileyville. The band along with 16 others are playing soft and hard rock to heavy metal music at In the Field Saturday. It’s an outdoor Christian rock festival being held at the Southeast Expo Center, west of McAlester on U.S. 270. Hauff’s father, Jared Hauff, started the fest last year.

Jared believes the festival draws both people that might not be comfortable going to a church and those that go to church every Sunday.

Even the Dogs, based out of Tulsa, is one of the nationally known Christian rock bands on the lineup.

“We believe that people should have a relationship and not get all tied up in a bunch of religion,” said Eddie Green, who does vocals for Even the Dogs.

The four band members played at the first festival last year in Haileyville and are excited to be returning this year to McAlester.

“We play metal. We’re too good looking to be in a boy band,” Green said, laughing.

It was at last year’s festival where Brian “Head” Welch, one of the founding members of the Grammy winning rock band Korn,  was the headliner that Even the Dogs was signed with Driven Music Group, Welch’s label.

Green and Anthony Hinton, drummer, for Even the Dogs, started the band four years ago but they’ve played together nine years with another band.

“We prayed hard before we got on stage,” said Green about last year’s fest. “We left everything on stage.”

It opened doors. Although they haven’t left their full-time jobs, they have played almost every weekend somewhere. Hinton said being signed has made things happen for the band.

“It’s got our CD out on the East and West Coast,” Hinton said.

The new CD, “Soul Shaker,” is “everywhere,” Hastings, amazon.com, etc. Their music video, “Shut Your Mouth,” can be viewed at eventhedogs.com.

The success of Even the Dogs after last year’s fest is just one plus for Jared, the festival’s organizer.

“We try to reach people that aren’t going to normally go to church,” he said.

About 1,300 people attended last year. About 400 people “opened their heart to Jesus.” Jared and his wife, Shauna, and three children, including son Nick, 16; Noah, 7; and Olivia, 6, go to church and consider themselves “die-hard Christians.”

“It’s amazing, really,” Nick said of the festival. “You don’t get to reach so many people at the same time. We’re all really stoked and getting ready.”

The band includes Nick, vocals; Dalon Gibson, drummer; Jon Fryer, guitarist; and Clayton Griffin, bass.

“Hopefully, you’ll be hearing more of us in a few years,” said Nick, who started singing publicly with his mother at church.

It was their desire to find a place for their son to sing that led Jared and Shauna to start the festival. Shauna said most of the teens her son’s age think Christian hymns are boring.

“These kind of bands reach out and grab the youth,” she said. “The doors aren’t going to close down. You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Nick has tattoos and hair down his back, she said, but he is an inspiration to others after surviving an accident that should have paralyzed him from the neck down. He believes he was chosen to be God’s messenger.

“He’s very aggressive with his music,” Shauna said. “The lyrics will slap you in the face. We have kids that come up to us afterwards and say, ‘We thought Christians were boring, hypocritical. Music and kids — that’s our life.”



Reach Leilani Roberts Ott at 684-2908 or lott @muskogeephoenix.com.