After a rainy morning, the sun finally came out over TimberWolf Amphitheater at Paramont's Kings Island Saturday for the third and final day of theSpirit Song Christian music festival.

        John Reuben, Mark Schultz and Raze performed first. The place was packed at 6:40 p.m. when the all-female band Point of Grace took the stage. Withits first song, "Begin with Me," the band proved that anyone who thinks this quartet is in Christian music because they can't make it in the mainstream ismistaken. Ten years into their career, Denise Jones, Terry Jones, Heather Paine and Shelley Breen have had a string ofNo. 1 hits and gold and platinum-selling albums, as well as a best-selling book.

        The band continued with several hits off their new album, "Free To Fly," and some older hits, as well. "Free Indeed" and "Saving Grace" were followed by "You Will Never Walk Alone," a touching ballad about perseverance and faith in the midst of loss.

        The four-piece band that backedthe singers are a giant step up from the days when thewomen sang to taped accompaniment.

        Their vocal performances were flawless. On their latest hit, "Blue Skies," they showed no signs that their well of talent could be running dry in their second decade.

        DC Talk was scheduled to take the stage at 8:15 p.m., butthe members started their set with a self-imposed obstacle to what should have been a great performance. Each member of the trio performed separately during the first hour to promote solo projects. The audience was more than a little perturbed. The young girl sitting next to me couldn't have been more disappointed about having to wait for her favorite band, unsure if they'd play the song she'd been waiting all day to hear, "Jesus Freak."

        The music wasn't bad, it's just not what the audience paid for. If the band members wanted to play as soloists, they should have opened in the 4 p.m. slot, playing to the people riding the roller coasters within earshot of the amphitheater.

        DC Talk finally took the stage as a full band at 9:30 with an anti-climactic cover of Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit In the Sky" and their hip-hop remake of the Doobie Brothers' "Jesus Is Just Alright" (renamed "Jesus Is Still Alright"). Their hit version of Charlie Peacock's "In the Light" was next, followed by "Colored People" and a haunting "What If I Stumble?" which helped win back the audience.

        "My Will" and the late Rich Mullins' classic "Awesome God" put the audience in a reflective mood while "Say the Words" and "Supernatural" got them back on their feet. The band's signature hit, "Jesus Freak," brought down the house, and so, at last, the little girl next to me was satisfied and even thrilled as Toby McKeehan strolled into the audience, right next to her, to bust a verse about John the Baptist.

        He rejoined bandmates Michael Tait and Kevin Max back on stage for a slam dance that culminated in him standing erect on (then jumping off of) the shoulders of two of the band's musicians.

        With the concert finally at a respectable, indeed inspiring level, DC Talk might have overstepped its bounds by covering (dare I say, stealing) U2's trademark closer "40" as an encore.

        The audience was obviously moved by the rendition, though, and it's probably safe to say that only avid U2 fans and music critics would have been likely to take offense at the band's choice.

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