Winter music festival set for Sun Dome

The USF Sun Dome will be starting its spring concert season with Winter Jam 2006 on Jan. 20. Winter Jam is a Christian music festival that features a wide variety of attractions, including musical acts that range from rock to rap to punk. Well-known evangelist David Nasser will be speaking as well.

There is also a motorcycle stunt show scheduled.

Nasser is a large name in the Christian scene. He started a Christian outreach ministry and has written books on his conversion to the Christian faith. Nasser was born in Iran and came to the United States with his family during the violent revolution in 1979. In an article from the magazine Home Life, Nasser talks about what his childhood was like in Iran. He attended a military school and was almost killed.

“(A soldier) asked me to come up and stand in front of the entire school – and he pointed a gun at me and told me he was going to kill me,” Nasser said. “I thought he was kidding.”

Nasser said that his principal saved his life by begging the soldier not to kill him. Nasser converted to Christianity in the states, and he and his wife, Jennifer Nasser, are actively involved in ministry work.

One of the Christian artists performing will be rapper tobyMac. He was formally part of the band DC Talk but broke off to record on his own. On his Web site, tobyMac is quoted talking about the style of his music and how he mixes the sounds of urban rock with hip-hop.

“It’s about taking hip-hop and injecting pop melodies and guitars and harmonicas and whatever else it takes to make the song fit the message I’m trying to communicate,” he said.

Others artists who will be performing are Newsboys, Hawk Nelson, Krystal Meyers, ZOEgirl and Newsong. Newsong will also be hosting the event.Other bands that may perform at the Sun Dome later this year are Kid Rock, Fall Out Boy, Dashboard Confessional and Black Eyed Peas.