What: DC Talk in concert. Jennifer Knapp and Jars of Clay open.

When: Sunday night

Where: State Fair Grandstand Crowd: 4,392

Times of performances: Knapp, 30 minutes; Jars of Clay, 1 hour; DC Talk, 1 hour, 15 minutes.

The three singers for DC Talk shared a favorite story of Michael Tate's father, who always used to tell his son and band mates Toby McKeehan and Kevin Smith before he died recently: "The human race is God's bouquet of flowers," McKeehan told the excited crowd Sunday night at the State Fair Grandstand. "So many shades. And, aren't we all colored people?"

Then the three singers and their group of five musicians launched into the band's rocker "Colored People." And on this night, the Grandstand roster was a bouquet of Christian music styles. DC Talk captured the fans with loud and hard rock, softer stuff and a reggae lilt or two.

How did the crowd respond to new songs such as the rock hard "Supernatural," the title cut from the group's disc that will come out in two weeks, and the punk rock "Since I Met You," that started like a quiet ballad and then blasted the joint? As well as it did to such favorites as "Day by Day," "My Will" and "Awesome God." The audience members reached high in the air, stretched toward the sky, closed their eyes and testified.

Lead singer Dan Haseltine explained how Jars of Clay took its name from a parable.

"Paul compared a clay jar to a human being, how both are fragile," he told the pumped-up crowd. "How both are looking for a savior."

That led into the group's energetic version of "Love Song for a Savior," with the much-repeated chorus of "I want to fall in love with you." It was a love affair between Jars of Clay and the crowd (and not just the group of girls who kept calling out "I love you, Steve!" to guitarist Steve Mason).

They obviously loved the group's jangly pop-alternative-rock sound, pogo-ing up and down as Haseltine, Mason, Matt Odmark, Charlie Lowell, Scott Savage and Aaron Sands sang of their love of the Lord. Jars of Clay also soared in their secular cover, an appropriately pop version of Badfinger's "Be a Part of It All."

Singer-songwriter Jennifer Knapp opened the show with an up-tempo half-hour set of songs, mostly from her Gotee Records disc "Kansas." As Knapp worked hard on her acoustic Gibson guitar, her songs spoke strongly of her beliefs.

Knapp is slowly gaining a national audience. In fact, somebody shouted her name from the crowd. "Oh, somebody knew my name," she said. "Must mean my mom's here."