Christian rock band Manic Drive returns to Great Bend on Sunday, Feb. 9, with two other musical acts, Consumed by Fire and Ryan Stevenson. All three acts will appear at the First Assembly of God Church, 601 Patton Road, starting at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m., said Erin Powers, local spokesman for the concert.
Tickets are $10 each, with discounts for groups, and are available at the church office and at Everything Under the Son bookstore and the Heart of Kansas store in Great Bend.
Manic Drive and Consumed by Fire came to Great Bend last fall as part of the Small Town America tour, created to raise money for ChildFund, formerly Christian Children’s Fund, an international child sponsorship group based in Richmond, Va. This time around, Canadian brothers Michael and Shawn Cavallo of Manic Drive are on their own Good Times Tour, complete with a 25-foot LED wall of lights and sound, Powers said.
“I believe they’re coming back to Great Bend because they enjoyed their experience at our church and with our community as a whole when they were here in September. Once they started planning for this tour, they contacted us to see if we would be interested in hosting them again,” Powers said.  
“The response to the last concert has been great,” Powers continued. “We had people come from Dodge City, Hays and as far away as Norton. These kind of concerts don’t regularly occur in our area, so when we have them, they tend to draw a large crowd, especially with the popularity of the bands.”
Concert-goers and bands both enjoy the central location of Great Bend and the ease of access, she added.
Bands featured in the upcoming concert may soon become more familiar to lovers of contemporary Christian music.
Manic Drive performs over 100 events a year at churches, Christian festivals, schools and amusement parks, Powers said.
Consumed By Fire started in Oklahoma with three brothers, Caleb, Josh and Jordan Ward, and “brother in spirit” Ervin Smith.
Ryan Stevenson is currently getting airplay on Christian radio station K-LOVE with his single, “Holding Nothing Back,” off his new album of the same title. Stevenson also co-wrote the song “Speak Life,” which was featured on artist TobyMac’s best-selling album, “Eye On It.”  “Speak Life” was K-LOVE’s number 7 song for 2013 and is number 6 this week on Billboard’s Hot Christian Singles chart.
TobyMac has signed Stevenson to his label he co-founded, Gotee Records, and “Holding Nothing Back” is Stevenson’s debut single on the label.