by Brittany Williams

Abilene Civic Center was packed with Newsboys’ fans Saturday night.  Concert goers carried posters that read “God’s Not Dead!”, the title of the Newsboys’ latest album and tour. The album was released in November and intended to be an encouragement listeners, said Jeff Frankenstein, the keyboardist of the Christian pop-rock band.

“If God’s not dead, then let’s worship him,” said Michael Tait, lead singer of the band, “We serve a living God.”

Frankenstein said the message behind the album is that as Christians we have sometimes made our own gods, but God is still the same as He has always been, and He has not gone away or changed in anyway.

“God is alive-in so many ways he’s alive,” Frankenstein said.

Frankenstein said the band felt it was time to revisit the worship style. God’s Not Dead emerged as a rock driven worship album that includes original songs and other well known songs, such as reworked versions of Hillsong’s “Mighty to Save” and “Forever Reign”

“In some parts, it felt more like a worship service, not really a concert,” said Taylor Franklin, sophomore from Terrell.

Newsboys were founded in 1985 in Australia. Over their 27-year career, Newsboys have seen six of their 21 albums certified gold, five Dove award wins and four Grammy nominations. In 2009, Michael Tait, formerly of dc Talk, stepped into the role of the lead singer. Kevin Max, formerly of dc Talk, collaborated with Newsboys both on the title track of God’s Not Dead and at concert Saturday. Frankenstein said that it was cool watching the two being reunited in the studio and to see how their friendship had grown since their dc Talk days.

“You can’t force moments like that to happen, but it happened,” Frankenstein said.

The tour will run through May 6 and the album is available in stores now. For more information about the album, tour, and the band, visit newsboys.com.