By Chrysa Keenon | Echo
International gospel quartet Keepers of the Faith is performing in a concert at Epworth United Methodist Church (UMC) in Matthews, Indiana this weekend. It will be their third consecutive year at this location.
The band will be performing as a part of Epworth UMC's Concert Outreach Ministry. The ministry started 10 years ago by Taylor alumnus and concert coordinator Damon Moorman. The goal of the ministry is to make concerts as affordable as possible and to bring new music and culture to the area.
"Our goal is to schedule artists who want to spread the gospel of Jesus and not just come perform," Moorman said. "I wanted to bring high caliber concerts to the area so that people in the community would not have to drive far to see them, as travel is difficult for many people."
The church typically averages about eight-to-10 concerts a year, according to Moorman. The Concert Outreach Ministry is mostly funded through donations and dinner fundraisers. While bringing large names to the Matthews area, the church strives to keep concerts on an admission charge at the door or a donation. On occasion, tickets are sold in advance, but often that comes with widely known artists.
Keepers of the Faith sparked the interest of Moorman when he saw them in concert five years prior. The band has performed at Epworth UMC for three consecutive years during their Midwest tour. The band is currently made up of the vocalists Lima Taito, Agaese Taito, Mason Mataele and Kevin Mills. The group originated in Hawaii 18 years ago but now resides out of Washington state.
According to band manager and founder Ace Taito, the ministry started through a family going to prisons and preaching through a capella music to inmates. As a former inmate himself, Ace Taito recognized the importance of spreading the Christian message to those who desperately need to hear it.
"No matter how deep or how bad your life may be or how much a bad person you've been, it doesn't matter with Christ," Ace Taito said. "Christ can take your mess and turn it into good."
The group has traveled across the continental United States and Canada. Ace Taito shared that requests for performances in the countries of Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe have been coming in.
Ace Taito believes Keepers of the Faith has their own style of music that is unique to any other band. The group strives to keep the traditional sound of the Hawaiian Islands but gives it a recognizable twist. The band's website describes the sound as a deep south island flavor, and Ace Taito agreed the band members attempted to keep the heritage of island soul paired with a gospel sound to make the overall music unique.
"People come to the conclusion that this is not an ordinary concert," Ace Taito said. "Whatever their struggles with it leads . . . all of us need to be pointing people back to Jesus, not some church, not some individuals, basically just pointing them back to the only hope, and that's Jesus."
The concert will be held at Epworth UMC located at 105 West 8th St. in Matthews. The doors open at 6 p.m., and the concert starts at 7 p.m. There is no admission charge, and refreshments will be offered after the concert.
