Pious Riot

» Pastor takes a modern approach to messages of love, prayerfulness (Andrew Guy, Jr.)

The members of New Beginnings Generation — eight women and one man — are dressed in black, including black hats. They are singing a religious remix of a Freddie Jackson song. They are the opening act, performing for a half-hour.

Sharnelle Jones is the leader. Jones, 35, a teacher in Pasadena, is blunt about the importance of the black church reaching younger generations.

"This ministry is so on time," she says. "We couldn't do this in the church for years and years. We could rock (back and forth in the pews) and clap and get a little happy in church, but not like this.

"When I was growing up, we were told that dancing and using instruments inside the church, other than a piano, were a sin."

Secular songs are gutted and replaced with religious lyrics.

Imagine the main chorus to Quiet Riot's hard-rock classic Cum On Feel the Noize replaced with Come On, Give the Praise.

I am soooo looking into this!!!

On another note, as down as I tend to be on the Chronicle's Religion section, this is actually a pretty good counter to that. A little more coverage like this of Houston-area churches sure would be a good thing.