Rain shortens abstinence show

A message from god:WE SHOULD ALL BE HAVING PRE-MARITAL SEX. Seriously. Do it! It feels good, you won't be sorry.

An afternoon downpour soaked the dry field behind David’s Church in Millersburg on Saturday afternoon, cutting short the planned Christian-based sexual abstinence road show. The planned concert by Christian band Sonicflood went on, but the Silver Ring Thing multimedia program was canceled.
It will be rescheduled, organizers said.

Ten churches, spearheaded by David’s Church associate pastor John Troutman, have spent more than a year working to bring the Silver Ring Thing and Sonicflood to Millersburg-area teens and their parents.
But the skies opened about 3:15 p.m. Soon after 4 p.m., a group of Silver Ring Thing staff members, mostly young people in their late teens and early 20s, began to pray. They didn’t pray for sunshine or for the show to go on, though; "We were praying for peace and calmness," staff member Krystle Sierras, 19, of Houston, said.

For all the wetness and mud, people still came. Not the 2,000 that had been expected, but by 5:30, according to Silver Ring Thing’s Jason Burtt, at least 300 people milled about the soggy field setting up lawn chairs and buying food.
By the time the rain stopped, the Silver Ring Thing’s equipment was soaked, and the Sonicflood crew stood on the temporary stage drying their soundboard with hair dryers.
The band’s equipment is waterproof, but Silver Ring Thing’s is not. At 5:15, a decision was made to allow the band to play, but the Silver Ring Thing would have to cancel. The audience was understanding of the decision, most planned to stay for the concert.

Burtt said it’s only the second time the 12-year-old organization has presented an outdoor event.
Diane Ernest, who had brought a group of teens from Grace Community Church in Herndon, didn’t regret the rain. "We need it," she said.