Winter Jam kicked off the 28th year of its annual 41-city tour last month in Tampa, Florida, with a lineup including Andy Mineo, Disciple, Anne Wilson, Newsong, Jeremy Camp, We The Kingdom, Austin French, Thrive Worship, Sean Be, and Renee.

Tour pastor and Winter Jam featured speaker Zane Black said that in just the first few weeks of the tour, over 7,216 people have placed their faith in Jesus Christ.

Black said one girl came up to him in the hallway and shared how “she had struggled with deep depression, self-harm, had been abused as a child, but that night when she heard the message of Jesus reaching out to take hold of her, she placed her trust in Jesus and she felt instant peace.”

Black then explained to her she needed to get plugged into a church and equipped her with some next-step resources.

“Each one of those numbers is a person and each one of those people are on a new trajectory of life. Only heaven knows the impact that God made in their lives,” Black said. “I think about my story and how that day that I trusted Jesus everything changed…And I think about all that God has done since then. It makes me wonder what God will do each one of those 7,216!”

It’s been nine years since Disciple last performed on a Winter Jam tour.

Young shared that “it’s a dream” to be part of this year’s tour. “We did it for a couple of weeks back in 2014 and have been trying to back on it since. We were very surprised when they called us and asked us and very thankful.”

The band is one of the heaviest, not only on the tour but in Winter Jam’s history. Young said that hasn’t been a problem for them though, adding, “The Winter Jam crowd has accepted us very well. It’s really wonderful. Our favourite compliment at the end of the night is ‘I’ve never heard of you,’ and ‘You’re my new favourite band,’ and ‘I don’t like rock music but I love you guys.’ You know, we love compliments like that.”

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