A group of students will join with their community to worship in a different way.

Restoration, a faith-based and musical student organization, will unite Saturday in downtown Grand Rapids to worship through music in Unplugged to Get Plugged. The title refers to disconnecting oneself from worldly worries and connecting to God, according to Restoration’s website.

The event will take place from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Fountain Street Church, located at 24 Fountain St. NE. Admission is free, and donations will go to the Baxter Community Center.

Music Committee Chairman Mark Pierce said Restoration members want to gather 1,600 people from the Grand Valley State University community and other university choirs. Last year drew a crowd of 200.

“It seemed like an opportunity to explore my faith and religion through a different means of worship that I wasn’t raised on,” Pierce said. “The GVSU student body should attend to see that there are many forms of worship to experience when one is a follower of Christ. This will give a chance… to come out and experience his love for us through different forms of worship, prayer and music.”

Pierce will play the bass guitar Saturday, and the music will be both a cappella and instrumental with Christian contemporary music accompanied by guitar, piano and drum. Restoration will incorporate dance and other forms of art into their performance as well.

Restoration will join choirs from GVSU, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Ferris State University, Western Michigan University and others.

“The members of all of the college choirs that are participating will be following and leading everybody through worship and prayer,” Pierce said. “Also, we will be hanging with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to just love and serve God as one big family.”

Analeisia Morgan, Restoration’s secretary, said the collaboration of the choirs will create a unique environment for unity and freedom.

“The ultimate goal is to cross the invisible line between college students and community members,” she said.

She said she hopes all members of the GVSU community will attend the event because though it is a religious event, the group welcomes people of all religions and those with none.

“You get to meet diverse students from other institutions in Michigan, view the beautiful facility of Fountain Street Church, attend a cultural event that most, if any, GVSU organizations don’t provide, and finally, it’s a great chance to be the real you,” she said. “Fountain Street Church has beautiful acoustics, and we want to bring that out,” Morgan added.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Baxter Community Center, which has a mission to act a Christian response to human needs.

“Some of us have interned and volunteered there, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Baxter seeks to respond to ‘human needs with a Christian response,’” Morgan said.

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