Point of Grace ends break with new CD

Ending a two-year break from touring, Point of Grace is once again ready to “fly” with a brand new CD on the shelves titled “Free to Fly.” In September the group launched its first headline tour in more than two years with a five-and-a-half-week tour to 30 cities across the country that included Birmingham.
   
At the end of their Christmas tour in 1999, the members of Point of Grace — Terry Jones, Denise Jones, Shelley Breen, and Heather Floyd — felt they needed a time to refuel before hitting the road again for a major tour.
   
“We’ve been together for over 10 years, so we wanted to take time to reconnect with family and friends and get back involved in our churches,” said Breen.
   
Point of Grace played in Birmingham’s Boutwell Auditorium Sept. 29. Their visit also included a chance for fans to meet with them during a visit to Kindred Christian Bookstore in Center Point, where band members talked to 500–600 fans.
   
“They sat on the stage and did a question and answer time,” said Rich Beal, assistant manager of Kindred.
   
The new concert tour offered a different kind of connection — a chance to reconnect with fans. In an effort to make the concert more interactive, the group added an “all request” segment to each concert. During this new feature the four members of the group come into the audience to perform song requests from one of their past four albums.
   
Songs such as “Gather at the River,” “The Great Divide” and “Blue Skies” have ministered to Christians in all walks of life. Though these songs are closely identified with the group, they were not actually written by the members of Point of Grace. ‘We are very diplomatic about choosing our songs, and honestly, we are not songwriters, not nearly as good as those who write for us in Nashville,” said Breen. “We want to pick songs that will minister to people and not just because we wrote them.”
   
Part of Point of Grace’s ministry includes sponsoring Mercy Ministries, “a place where girls can go for any kind of help they need.”
   
Something new that’s grown out of that program is a Christian conference for teenage girls called “Girls of Grace.” The day-long “Girls of Grace” conferences will begin in the fall of 2002, and will give young girls a chance to come and hear the members of Point of Grace teach workshops about fashion and make-up, sex and dating, family relationships and their relationship with God — all from a biblical perspective. The conference will also include a full-length concert.
   
“We don’t call ourselves role models,” Breen explained. “But a lot of moms tell us their daughters really look up to us and are listening to what we are saying, so we want to take advantage of that platform we have right now. It is our hope that young girls who are in church will feel that this is something cool enough that they will want to invite their unchurched friends to.” (EP, TAB)