Three young men started a band at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1987. There’s nothing new about college kids starting a band. But the type of band they started drew in young men and sent some parents and elders into a fit of rage. The music was Christian music, but the sound wasn’t coming from a choir or hymnal, rather it was mixed with a rock/pop sound. The band was DC Talk. The Christian rock movement was real and DC Talk’s “Jesus Freak” was the anthem. An explosion of Christian rock bands took over in the late 80s and early 90s as young Christians blasted bands like Audio Adrenaline, Jars of Clay, Stryper, and DC Talk through their speakers. Those young Christians are now middle-aged parents and they are face to face with what their parents saw a couple of decades ago. Christian rock is back and just like back in the day when it all began, it may seem kind of taboo to some who are looking for that “old-time religion”.
So why would someone drag up the past to tell a story of the future? Well, simply because the man who is front and center of this new Christian rock movement in the area started as one of those “youngins” jamming to old-school Christian rock. He just happens to be the pastor of Huntington’s Assembly of God, the one and only, Travis Pettus. Pettus has transitioned the old-school ways into these new-school days by bringing Christian rock to the youth of the area by presenting a concert series called The Good Fight. Travis started pastoring at the Huntington Assembly of God in 2015 but played a key role in starting concerts at the church before stepping up to the pulpit. In 2012 the church started The Good Fight by bringing in a band called War of Ages and the event exploded from there. “We had the building built with a big stage and concerts and events in mind but was mainly just using the building for weekly youth services for quite some time,” said Pettus. “It wasn’t until 2012 that JC Patterson had the idea that we should use our building for a battle of the bands. The battle of the bands went well so after that, we started doing monthly Saturday night shows called “The Good Fight”. A young man named Justin McCubbins was the one booking the Saturday night shows and he was the one who had the idea of calling those shows “The Good Fight”. After that, the name just kind of stuck.”
Many folks know and recite the biblical verse of 2 Timothy 4:7 that says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” and The Good Fight is all about keeping the faith in their concerts. “Our goal is to impact the world with God and His goodness,” said Pettus. “We want to show people that God is a God that is more real than the air we are breathing, to show people He loves them and that just one touch from Him can transform their lives forever. The Good Fight is now much more than just concerts, although concerts are a big part of what we do. Within the main goal of sharing Jesus with everyone, our other goals are to have a clean positive environment for people of all ages to come and enjoy concerts, have church, do gymnastics, have birthday parties, fellowship/hang out, and much more”. The proof of this is easy to see too. Sure, the music is modern and loud but the change The Good Fight has made is much much louder. One would expect young people to be impacted by the loud music and flashy scenes, but The Good Fight has made its way into all ages according to Pettus. “It’s much more than just young people getting changed at these shows. We are seeing as many or more adults coming to know Jesus at these shows. Over the years as far as lives impacted with the gospel of Jesus is literally in the thousands”. The amount of people who have come out to the Huntington Assembly of God over the years has been quite impressive. People come in from other towns, other states, and even other countries to experience The Good Fight. The concert series is pushing the good word and doing good work too. In fact, in a single concert this past summer, the church saw multiple salvations and even baptized 26 people….at the concert itself!
The Good Fight has brought in bands like Disciple, Seventh Day Slumber, Spoken, War of Ages Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, and has even hosted bands from other countries like Kazha from Japan and Saving Grace from New Zealand. It would be easy for the success of such events to lose their luster or even forget their purpose. Things like money, popularity, and worldly conflicts could sneak their way into such an event to sour the goal of spreading the Word of God. But that isn’t the case for Travis Pettus and his Good Fight. It’s his personal walk with Christ that keeps his purpose going and nothing could have made that purpose clear what he witnessed in July of 2023. As a pastor, Travis’s goal is to bring people to Christ, but little did he know that one day he himself would baptize 34 people at a Good Fight show. Baptizing 34 people is a big deal, but mixed in that group of people were both of his parents, his wife, and his youngest son. “I cried for days after that night,” said Pettus. “I can still barely watch the video to this day without crying”.
The Good Fight has run the race and done a solid job of keeping the faith, but what’s next? Initially, the next goal is the Thanksgiving Throwdown on November 24 with Disciple, Seventh Day Slumber, and Magdalene Rose. Yet another concert to draw the Word of God into the hearts and souls. But with the current venue, the Good Fight can only bring in so many at one time. What Pettus would like to do is bring in a crowd that surpasses the population of an entire town. “Our goal is to get more people in The Good Fight for this show than is in Huntington’s population,” says Pettus. “To give over 500 people the opportunity to worship and come to God in a singular venture would be awesome. With money raised from the Thanksgiving Throwdown show we hope to continue construction in the venue. We are currently building a new children’s sanctuary inside the venue, and we have plans to build much more”. As The Good Fight grows, so does the church. Even though the concerts are crowd drawers, the church is the crowd keeper. Unfortunately, with the success of The Good Fight, the church is outgrowing its current four walls. That’s not a bad thing though. So, the Huntington Assembly of God plans to bring the two venues together as one in the next few years. This will allow the church and concert series to grow together and be functional enough to have Good Fight concerts and Sunday morning services in.
Just as in the beginning of Christian rock, the music has changed but the goal is still the same….to bring the world to Christ. DC Talk, Jars of Clay, and others of the Christian rock push of the late 80s and early 90s were different, just like The Good Fight. But their impact was unimaginable. There is a war going on between good and evil that has gone on since the beginning of time. While the bad in this world seems to grow more and more each day, some continue to walk the straight and narrow. “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us”? The Huntington Assembly of God, The Good Fight, and pastor Travis Pettus have proudly stood up and said “Here am I, send me”
