Some concert nights leave you with a favorite song, a memorable performance, or a few photographs you can’t wait to edit. Others remind you why you picked up a camera in the first place. The sold out Crowder LIVE! show at Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, Iowa, managed to do all three, bringing together LOST & FOUND, Rend Collective, and the man of the hour, Crowder for an evening that crossed musical genres, generations, and even continents while keeping Jesus at the center.
It’s amazing to think that this is my second TPR show in October, and I hope that regularity continues. This is what I feel God called me into photography for: capturing Christian artists doing what they do best, proclaiming Jesus in musical form. While the bulk of my calendar is filled with non Christian artists, I pray that it continues to fill up with artists like the ones who filled this sanctuary tonight. A huge thanks to TPR for having me. When I arrived, Brenton made the check in process smooth and was a pleasure to work with, just as Daisy was when I covered Megan Woods earlier this month.
When I arrived at Lutheran Church of Hope, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. When I think of a church stage, I don’t picture a setup designed for a full scale concert. Walking into this facility quickly made me realize just how small my local church really is. Which isn’t a bad thing. The building was enormous, complete with what looked like a Starbucksesque cafe and even a church gift shop. The production possibilities were impressive, but I still found myself wondering whether all that spectacle was being used to point people toward Christ. A large building and a big stage are only tools. What matters is what happens with them.
That question would follow me through the night, and the answer would come less from the size of the production than from the music, the musicians, and a sanctuary full of people singing together.
LOST & FOUND bring the Psalms with a beat
The evening began with LOST & FOUND taking the stage. I honestly hadn’t heard of these guys before, but I will absolutely be adding them to my playlists. The young, energetic group built its songs around Scripture, drawing directly from the Psalms and giving those ancient prayers a fresh musical home. Their sound landed somewhere between pop and this bluegrass folk fusion, with a vibrancy that made the short opening set feel like an invitation rather than an obligation.
LOST & FOUND didn’t have much time on stage, but they made good use of every minute. They even squeezed in a little trivia with the audience, awarding a hat to the person who answered correctly. It was a small moment, but it gave the group a chance to connect with the crowd before getting back to the music. Their songs have a directness that works well in a live setting, particularly when the source material is Scripture itself. The Psalms contain grief, gratitude, desperation, repentance, and joy, and there’s no shortage of emotional ground to cover when you build music around them.
But the highlight of their set came with “2 STEP THE ENEMY,” a track that brings LOST & FOUND into collaboration with Forrest Frank and ZVC. The song already has a memorable hook, but it landed on a much more personal level for me.
I’m celebrating three years of sobriety, by the grace of God, and these lyrics hit particularly hard: “The only spirit I need is the Holy One. I don’t need Jack from Daniels ‘cause the spirit’s living in me.”
Honestly, what a bar.
There’s a difference between hearing a line like that as a clever lyric and hearing it after experiencing the kind of struggle it describes. My battle with alcohol is part of my story, but it no longer has the final word in it. Christ does. Three years sober is something I’m deeply thankful for, and hearing a song put that contrast into words in the middle of a live set made the moment feel personal in a way I couldn’t have planned.
It’s one thing to hear a song about victory over the enemy. It’s another to stand there knowing what God has brought you through and sing along with it.
The entire set was a refreshing, vibrant take on the Psalms, and I enjoyed it right through to the end. My only real complaint was how quickly it ended. I was left wanting more, which is about the best problem an opening act can give you. LOST & FOUND had introduced themselves to someone who came in unfamiliar with their music, delivered a memorable moment, and left me looking forward to hearing what they release next.
The stage change that followed was almost as impressive as the performance itself. It felt like barely five minutes had passed before the lights went out again and the music started back up. For a night featuring multiple bands and a substantial amount of equipment, the turnaround was remarkably quick. There was little time for the room to lose the momentum LOST & FOUND had built.
And then came the band I had been waiting to see for quite some time.
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Rend Collective brings a little Ireland to Iowa
I’ve been trying to see Rend Collective live for quite some time. Scheduling conflicts and tickets selling out too quickly had repeatedly kept me away, but not tonight. And boy, did they deliver.
The Northern Irish group has built its identity around folk rock instrumentation, communal singing, and a joyful approach to worship.
That combination translated beautifully to the stage. These Irish boys like to have fun, and that enthusiasm was contagious enough to get people dancing in the aisles. This wasn’t a crowd content to sit back and watch a band perform. The music kept inviting people to participate, and they were more than happy to oblige.
During the latter part of the set, the fiddler and drummer moved toward the front of the stage, dancing around with high kicks and spins. The drummer was playing an instrument I’d never seen before, which sent me into research mode afterward. My best identification is a stumpf fiddle, a percussion instrument associated with folk music that can produce a wonderfully unruly sound. Whatever the exact technical description, it was a blast to watch. My camera couldn’t keep up with all the movement, and that’s a pretty good indication of just how much fun they were having.
They truly brought a little bit of Ireland to Iowa.
It’s also always amusing to me how someone can have such a thick accent while speaking, only for it to seem to disappear when they start singing. The transformation is fascinating to witness live, particularly when the music is as full of personality as Rend Collective’s.
They played two songs I‘d been especially excited to hear with “Hallelujah Anyway” and “Counting Every Blessing”. Both were welcome additions to the evening, but this is one of the reasons I love live music. The songs you expect to be your favorites aren’t necessarily the ones that stick with you afterward.
Two other performances took that place for me during my time with Rend Collective.
First came “Salt and Light”, a gospel sea shanty that I didn’t know I needed in my life until that very second. It was wonderfully unexpected to hear a song that takes the language of Christian witness and pairs it with the rolling, communal feel of a sea shanty. The result was catchy, distinctive, and completely at home in a set that refused to limit worship to one familiar sound.
Then came “Hymn of the Highlands,” a song I’ve been unable to find a readily available Rend Collective recording of since the show. The inability to revisit it whenever I want almost makes the experience more intimate. Sometimes a live performance is a moment you simply have to carry with you. You can photograph it, describe it, and tell people about it, but none of those things quite recreates what it felt like to be in the room at that moment.
The song closed their set with a stripped down, congregational feel that gave the entire sanctuary an invitation to sing. After all the dancing, movement, and lively instrumentation, the band brought things to a place of collective worship. Hearing approximately 2,500 people singing together was something else. You could feel the room change as the voices rose, and I was genuinely grateful they chose to end their set that way.
As the audience’s voices faded into the final refrain of “Praise the Lord, Oh My Soul,” the lights lowered and the band walked offstage. It was a beautiful ending, one that directed the applause away from the musicians and toward the One they had spent the set praising.
Jesus.
For a band I’d waited so long to see, Rend Collective exceeded my expectations. The musicianship, the fun, the unusual instrumentation, and that final congregational moment gave me more than one reason to remember this set. I would happily see them again.
An intermission with an eternal purpose
Then came the intermission, a familiar feature of many Christian events: the sponsorship appeal.
Jeremy Rosado remained onstage during The Truth Tour’s intermission while for this show Pastor Eric shared a little about his own journey with the mission. The hope was that his story would encourage people in the audience to sponsor a child through Compassion International. The goal for the evening was to have 200 children sponsored by the time the event ended.
I appreciate that these events make space for ministries working beyond the concert itself. An evening of Christian music can encourage people in their faith, but there are also opportunities to turn that encouragement outward and help others experience practical care and hear about Jesus.
My one complaint with announcing a numerical goal is that the audience doesn’t always get to hear how close the event came to reaching it. I’d love to know whether the 200 child target was met, exceeded, or fell short. That follow up would give the appeal a satisfying conclusion and let attendees see what their collective generosity accomplished.
Those who felt led to sponsor a child could also take home a Crowder hat as a small thank you. The hat was the immediate reward, but the greater hope was that a child would receive needed support and have an opportunity to learn about Jesus.
And with that, it was time for the headliner.
Crowder brings big production with bigger praise
Crowder took the stage with an impressive collection of equipment. Two drum kits, multiple pianos, a keyboard fitted with a beat pad, guitars, fiddles, banjos, and two backing vocalists made for a production with plenty of possibilities. There was no shortage of musical options, and Crowder’s band used them all to keep the sound varied, the energy high, and the praise even higher.
Crowder has enough recognizable songs that choosing a dream setlist can be difficult. Somehow, in roughly an hour and fifteen minutes, he managed to work in all the songs I had been hoping to hear. “Grave Robber,” “It Really Is Amazing Grace,” and “Somebody Prayed” all helped round out an already memorable evening. Each brought something different to the performance, and the variety kept the set from settling into one predictable groove.
But, just as with Rend Collective, the performances that hit me hardest weren’t necessarily the ones I had anticipated.
My favorite of the night was “I Know a Ghost”. The combination of green lighting, huge bass hits, fiddle, and the song’s lyrics came together in a way that hit differently in person. The low end gave the performance a different kind of heaviness, while the fiddle added another layer to the arrangement. Visually and musically, the pieces fit together beautifully. It’s the kind of performance that makes you glad you were there to experience it rather than simply listening through headphones.
I’ll hold on to that performance for the foreseeable future.
Crowder also slowed things down, taking a seat behind the keys for a couple of songs. The stripped down version of “Red Letters” stood out in particular. After the larger production numbers, the change in presentation was a nice contrast to the evening. Crowder didn’t need the full arsenal of instruments to make the moment work. Sometimes a song becomes more powerful when you take away the things competing for your attention and let the words lead.
Between songs, Crowder shared stories from his life, often at a speed that made it difficult to keep up. Man, does that guy talk fast. There were moments when the words came so quickly that I couldn’t quite process everything he was saying before he’d moved on to the next thought. His storytelling was part of the show’s personality, though, adding a conversational quality to a performance built around a sizable production.
One story near the end of the set was particularly memorable. Before launching into a final medley, Crowder told a detailed story about meeting Marty Stuart, seeing Stuart’s remarkable collection of music memorabilia, and collaborating on a remake of Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light.”
As Crowder told it, Stuart had put Hank Williams’ gray jacket on him before realizing why Crowder was there. The encounter also involved a photograph containing unreleased verses associated with Williams and the legendary Johnny Cash. It was an extraordinary chain of events to hear about in the middle of a concert, particularly given the song’s place in country and gospel music history.
Stories like this are part of what make live performances worth experiencing beyond the music alone. You get glimpses of the people, encounters, and unexpected circumstances that help shape an artist’s life and songs. Sometimes the connections are so unlikely that they make you stop and think.
As a Christian, I can’t help wondering how often God is moving in people’s lives through circumstances they don’t yet recognize. I can’t claim to know the divine purpose behind every unexpected meeting, and I wouldn’t pretend that a remarkable coincidence proves anything on its own. But hearing Crowder describe that chain of events reminded me how often the stories we tell about our lives are full of moments we couldn’t have planned ourselves.
And then, of course, there was the final medley, bringing the evening toward its close after a set that had already given me more than I expected. Crowder delivered the hits, the musical variety, and the memorable moments, but the concert never felt as though the production existed merely to impress. The music kept returning to its central purpose: worship.
Afterglow
This sold out night at Lutheran Church of Hope was a reminder that worshipping Jesus doesn’t fit into one musical mold, nor should it. From a song about two stepping the enemy to country rock arrangements to a lively Irish folk rock band giving us a gospel sea shanty, the evening covered an extraordinary amount of musical ground without losing sight of the One being praised.
That’s part of what I hope to capture through my photography. Yes, I want compelling images. I want to freeze the high kicks, the lighting, the musicianship, and the moments that make a concert visually unforgettable. But I also want my work to reflect why these artists are on stage in the first place. For me, Christian concert photography is an opportunity to document people using their gifts to proclaim Jesus, and I pray that God continues to open doors for me to do more of it.
The music was excellent. The performances were memorable. The crowd was engaged. But the most rewarding part of the evening was watching three very different acts point a room full of people toward the same Savior.
If you have the opportunity to catch a remaining date on the Crowder LIVE! tour, I hope you take it. With LOST & FOUND, Rend Collective, and Crowder on the bill, there’s plenty to enjoy even if your musical tastes lean in different directions. And if you’re still trying to figure out what you believe about Jesus, I hope an evening like this might encourage you to take another look.
After all, the goal isn’t simply to leave the sanctuary humming a catchy tune. It’s to leave with your eyes pointed toward Christ.
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