Four members of The Power Team, based out of Dallas, Texas, rolled into Boone earlier this week to share their non-denominational message while performing feats of strength.
The group, now in its 31st year, has had members perform in all 50 states and in 45 countries, and plans to visit over 1,000 public schools this year alone.
Pastor Jeff Lawson of the Cornerstone Church has been preparing for The Power Team, which will be performing at his church three times this week, as well as 11 area schools. He has been rounding up materials for the group to use, including blocks, 125 phone books, 72 baseball bats, steel bars and a huge telephone pole to name a few.
The Power Team last made a visit to Boone in 2007 and sent one of their members last year to let people know they would be returning this year.
The night started out with two of The Power Team members, one representing man and the other evil, fighting with sticks, back and forth across the stage. Then the rest of the members came out, breaking thick stacks of bricks and boards, much to the amazement of the crowd.
"I'm going to ask parents to help me out - we've got a lot of young people here and I ask you to keep your shoulders back, heads up, eyes right here and your mouths zipped tightly," The Power Team member and lead evangelist Steve Carrier said. "A lot of you first-timers seeing The Power Team would wonder why men would lay between nails, break bricks, pound cans against their skull. Some people would say 'Man are you guys wrestlers? Are you guys WWE?' No. We get asked this - 'Well, are you guys part of the circus?' No, we're not in the circus, but I'm proud to announce tonight that I think this is a ministry very close to God's heart."
Carrier, who stands 6'4" and weighs in at 290 pounds, was looking forward to sharing their message with youth this week.
"I want to go on record as declaring this week to be the worst week the devil will ever have in Boone, Iowa," Carrier said. "You are in for a treat. This week, we, as The Power Team, have the awesome privilege and honor to go to the greatest mission field that's in the world today - we will be in 11 of your public schools, challenging your young people to make right choices and the power of choice is up to them. And, we're going to challenge them to build their character, not just their biceps, and also stand for morality and don't follow where the path leads, but go where there is no path and leave a trail. We're going to share this message of hope that you can make it, you can be a champion, you don't have to quit."
Carrier also spoke about how, as a child, he was not supposed to be able to walk and that he stuttered. He said he overcame wearing steel leg braces, a waist brace and corrective shoes and learned to walk again, moving on to work with a strength coach.
"I wanted to play basketball. Now, isn't that silly? A kid wearing braces, who was never picked, who was laughed at - I wanted to be an athlete. Now, from my waist to my feet, my bones were so brittle that I had to wear steel leg braces, I had a special-made waist belt and I had funny looking shoes - 12 buckles down each side and I tried to attempt to pick my feet up one at a time," Carrier said. "I didn't just walk again, I began working out with a strength coach at my school. He told me I was a champ and he said I could make a difference. One day those braces came off and I became the fastest kid in my whole school. It was like a literal miracle."
The group performs different feats of strength and shares different messages at each performance. At Wednesday's event, they broke stacks of bricks and boards, exploded hot water bottles by blowing air into them, bent a one inch steel bar into a horseshoe shape, bent and straighted a horseshoe into a straight bar, rolled a 12-inch frying pan into a burrito shape, snapped baseball bats in half, squeezed cans of pop until they exploded and broke them against their heads, lifted a telephone pole, smashed concrete bricks with a sledgehammer while one member laid on a bed of nails and broke out of steel police handcuffs.
Other feats of strength that will be featured this week include lighting the stage on fire, running through 2x4 boards and snapping them in half and lifting a telephone pole that is on fire.
The Power Team will perform and share a message with attendants again at 7 p.m. Friday, March 27 at the Cornerstone Church. The doors open at 6 p.m. There will be a suggested donation of $2 at the door for the event, which Lawson said will help cover expenses.
For more information on The Power Team, visit the Web site www.thepowerteam.com.
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