ZOEgirl brings different kind of pop to Show Me Center

When you attend a ZOEgirl concert, you're going to hear lively, upbeat pop music, but you won't see the typical pop icon in revealing clothes dancing on stage.

ZOEgirl members Kristin Swinford, Alissa Girard and Chrissy Conway put on a different kind of show because they're a different kind of trio.

The contemporary Christian group will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

The trio, which won a Dove award in 2002 for best new group, will release their latest album, "A Different Kind of Free," exactly one month after performing in Cape Girardeau.

The concert Saturday is a benefit for Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Southeast Missouri, an organization that helps place children with adoptive families and offers a variety of counseling services.

Swinford, who attended St. Paul Lutheran Church and school in Jackson, will hear the fourth- and fifth-grade choirs from her alma mater open for the band. Other opening acts include Mike Dumey and Robyn Hosp and the Travis Lee Band.

Swinford said the group has worked hard to provide positive role models for teenagers. The influence of pop music icons on American children and teenagers constantly reminds Swinford of her duty as a Christian role model.

"There's nothing more amazing than looking into the eyes of a girl wearing her ZOEgirl T-shirt and thinking that maybe she will become a strong woman of faith and avoid devastating decisions because of the small part we've played in helping to shape her morals," she said in a phone interview from ???

The band is continually hearing feedback from parents and fans about the subject. "We realize that we have to live up to" their expectations. People are constantly watching, she said. "The decisions we make offstage can be reflected when we're on stage.

"We pray about what we communicate and do the best we can," she said.

ZOEgirl has been touring almost constantly since signing with Sparrow Records, and the schedule can be grueling but it's also been rewarding.

"We've gotten letters from people who say they gave our music to a friend or a neighbor and now they're coming to church and listening to Christian music," Swinford said.

Since teenagers and young adults are often part of the audience at their concerts, Swinford said it's been a great avenue for outreach. People often come to hear their upbeat sound without realizing that they're going to a Christian concert.

And that's partly because Christian music has come a long way in recent years. While all types of music are suffering under the strain of piracy issues, Christian music is at a good place right now, Swinford said. "You used to hear about the relevancy and that it was one step behind."

But that's not true now. Christian bands record everything from Southern gospel to ska music. "The difference is really the message, and people are so in need of that sense of hope," she said.

Swinford has always felt led to a career in music. She studied it in high school and college and felt called to music ministry. But never did she expect to land in an award-winning trio.

She moved to Nashville after college because it's home to some big names -- Amy Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman -- in the Christian recording industry.

She was in another band when she first arrived, one that was headed musically in the opposite direction from ZOEgirl.

"We were going against all the things you hear on the radio," she said. "We were sort of anti-pop."

But then she heard about a group forming that would concentrate on Christian pop music. She knew it was an opportunity she couldn't pass up. Joining ZOEgirl "has been a leap of faith for each of us," she said.

But at the same time, it's been evident that the women's paths were meant to cross. "It's been so clear that we each had this purpose."

When Swinford and her peers take the stage, she hopes that the group's music will give the audience some godly examples as well as entertaining music.

"Our story is really special and just shows it was God's purpose," she said.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126