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The petite blond on stage is working the audience —2,000 teen girls clad in trendy tees and jeans—into a frenzy. "Okay y'all, on the count of three," she says with a slight drawl and a wink. "One … two … three … " Suddenly the crowd shouts in excited, hormone-driven unison: "SEX!"
Instant giggles fill the church sanctuary as the woman on stage, Denise Jones of Christian music supergroup Point of Grace, places a hand over her mouth in mock astonishment at the exercise she's just orchestrated. "Can we talk about sex in a church?" she asks, gesturing around her at the theaterlike auditorium of Overlake Christian Center, a megachurch nestled in the Seattle suburbs. After a brief pause, she answers her own question, "Of course we can. God created sex, so it's a good thing. But only when we handle it correctly. So let's talk about what that means."
Some of the girls exchange glances and nervous laughter; a few of the moms and youth sponsors take a deep breath. After all, it's pretty early in the morning for a sex talk. Most have had an abbreviated night's sleep after last evening's kick-off to the latest in Point of Grace's Girls of Grace conferences, the weekend events they launched last year to encourage and challenge 13- to 18-year-old girls about topics with which they wrestle daily. Sex is just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout Friday night and all day Saturday, the conversations also include self-esteem, faith, fashion, friendships, and family relationships.
A Labor of LoveThese conferences are the realization of a long-held dream by Denise Jones, Heather Payne, Shelley Breen, and Terry Jones, the women who became Point of Grace 13 years ago. Back then, they were barely out of their teens themselves, studying music at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas.
"Ever since we started performing, we've received letters from teen girls seeking advice and spiritual guidance," Heather explains. "We've always had a heart to speak to this audience, but the timing wasn't right—until now."
Part of the reason the timing wasn't right before was because Point of Grace had been busy taking the Christian music industry by storm. The nine albums they released kept them in the recording studio and on tour much of the time. Those recordings garnered them numerous Dove Awards, Grammy nominations, and an unprecedented 24 consecutive number-one radio hits (compiled on their latest Word album, 24).
Yet several years ago, when Point of Grace began appearing at Women of Faith conferences, countless moms approached them after their performances to thank them for providing contemporary and clean music for their children, and begged them to start a movement similar to Women of Faith for their daughters.
The resulting Girls of Grace conferences, hosted by churches nationwide and financed by ticket sales and the Point of Grace members themselves, include talks by each POG member, performances by them and other Christian female music artists, and a fashion show, during which girls learn how to dress "trendy without being trashy."
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