How mosh pits helped Christian organizations recruit teenagers in the 1990s
I am tossed backward and forward, left and right, up and then down, with the ebb and surge of the mosh. I am a sardine, pitching in a sea of pumped-up, sweaty, hormonal, youth. I am one of 5000 people packed into the State Sports Centre at Homebush (part of Sydney’s 2000 Olympic Games site) going (totally) off to the band on stage in front of us. The group bangs, crashes, and thuds its way through fist-waving, singalong-chorus adolescent anthems familiar from alt-rock radio station playlists across the country.
The band finishes its song and the mosh collapses in a heap. As crumpled, laughing, figures are helped to their feet, the singer looks out across our heads and towards the back of the arena.
“Do you like grunge music?” she asks. A huge cheer goes up. “Do you love Jesus?!” she shouts. The place goes absolutely ballistic. “I said, ‘Do you love Jesus?” she yells, angling for a grander response. The venue erupts in noise.
Welcome to church, 1990s style.
The 5000 people on this Saturday night are here for “Like It, Love It, Need It”, a Christian event organised by Youth…
