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Facedown begins on a high note

"Can we go downtown?" Laura Van Atta asked Brian Cheny as he drove down Interstate 205. The other riders in MBC's silver van, Andy Coleman, Brock Diddus and Nicole George, agreed. Multnomah's newest music group, Facedown, had wanted to play and sing downtown since its trip to California in early October. Cheney agreed; the group cheered.

Facedown had finished its first official concert together at Wood Village Baptist Church earlier that evening, and the group was still excited about the concert's outcome.

After leaving the church, Cheney had asked his group, "Did you see everyone raising their hands during 'My faith has found a resting place'?"

"That was so cool!" many of the group members said.

"I saw one of the middle school boys rubbing his eyes when we were leading worship," Van Atta said. "He was tired; it was so cute."

"I saw one of the boys playing with a piece of string," Cheney said in response to Van Atta's comment.

The youth at the church said they enjoyed the concert.

"I think the group was really great," Trista Lewis, 16, said after attending the concert. "I really think they should continue to do what they are doing."

Ben Vigil, 17, said, "I thought the concert was an excellent time of worship."

Miriam Gibby, MBC's music ministry adviser, approached Cheney last year about leading a music group. At first, Cheney didn't want to form another group--not because he felt incapable but because "the campus seemed a little too small to have Destiny and another group," he said.

Cheney thought about what he wanted to accomplish with his group, what its focus would be and who its target would be. Once he decided his group wouldn't be a "little Destiny," Cheney decided to lead.

Cheney struggled to find a name for his group. "I looked at the names [MBC] had for the other groups: Destiny, Fresh Wind, Faithful, Witness. They were good names, but I really wanted something more alternative," Cheney said. He finally decided on "Facedown."

"Facedown conveys a lot of reverence. The truth that God is intimate must be balanced with the truth that he is so far above us that we can't grasp it," he said.

Facedown's theme this year is "Jesus is enough." The group, Cheney said, is not just evangelistic or only geared toward kids who are already Christians but toward all high schoolers. "We just want to present the truth that Jesus is enough for us," he said.

Freshman Brock Dittus, the group's jembe drum player, said, "I think there are many kids that are seriously affected by music. [Music] is most likely one of the best ways to reach young adults."

Laura Van Atta, a junior, said, "We don't have much to set up, and we don't have a lot to get ready. We're able to spend more time with the people we're ministering to. We can get to know who we're singing to."

In the two months the group has been together, the group members have formed a tight bond. Coleman and Van Atta, when they are together, act like siblings.

Andy Coleman, a music ministry minor, said, "[We have] a nice small-group atmosphere with a lot of chances to get to know each other."

Freshman Nicole George said, "God has really blessed our group with people who have fun together."

Cheney successfully parallel parked the van near Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, and the group unloaded its instruments and walked toward the square.

A police officer asked the group to leave for disrupting the peace; the group moved across the street and sang some songs from its concert such as "My faith has found a resting place," "Give me Jesus," and "Flood."

Pedestrians stopped and listened. After a time on the southeast corner of the square, the group moved to the northeast corner. More people stopped and listened.

Drivers honked and waved at the group, some giving thumbs up; others just cheered. Many pedestrians asked if the group sang downtown often.

At 11 p.m., the group packed up and returned to the van. Van Atta laughed and said the group had better reactions from the people on the street than it did with the kids to whom they had ministered. Everyone agreed and hopped in their trusty silver van.