O2 Experience tour comes to Kalispell
The 02 Experience tour is not quite about sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. Instead, the Friday event will dig into questions on life and death, sex and romance and how it fits into “God’s plan.”
The 02 Experience “Life, Death, Sex and Romance” tour comes to Kalispell from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 26.
The free event will offer a festival atmosphere with live music by the Fresh Life Worship band, food trucks, vendors and activities going on in Fresh Life church buildings in the former Strand and Liberty theaters in downtown Kalispell.
Founded in 2004 by Levi Lusko, the O2 Experience was “developed from the idea that like our bodies need oxygen, our souls need God,” according to a press release that adds that the event centers on a “culturally relevant and clear gospel message.”
During the first half of the event, Lusko, pastor of Fresh Life, will look at life, death, grief and hope.
“The question is how to have hope into the grave? What will give us peace going into the shadow of the valley of death and we’re going to look at the only person in history who has risen from the dead to give us that answer, and that’s Jesus,” Lusko said during a phone interview from a tour stop in Billings.
The second half of the event will focus on a no-holds-barred talk about relationships, romance and sex.
“We’ll look at how to navigate this crazy life that is our love life. We’re trying to look at how our culture approaches dating, marriage and romance and what God has to say,” Lusko said. “Where can we be in 30 years and how to avoid divorce, heartbreak and chlamydia in an over-sexualized culture?”
When Lusko created the event, he originally had a 18-to-28 age demographic in mind, but he said all ages are welcome from middle school through adults in their 30s.
“Even when it seems like it’s too late, it’s never too late to learn” Lusko said. “The message of the Bible is not for perfect people, but anyone willing to listen.”
The 02 Experience has toured all over the United States. This is the second time 02 Experience has come to Kalispell.
“Four years ago [in Kalispell] we probably had 700 or 800 people,” Lusko said, anticipating even larger crowds this year. “We’ve seen so much success with this event.”
The 02 Experience has drawn crowds as large as 6,000 people in places such as Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The phenomenon of fusing religion and multimedia as a way to draw in young people is simply “to use the language that our culture speaks,” Lusko said. “Children are born with cellphones in their hands. We want to speak their language. They are barraged by culture and I think more people are hungry for what the Bible has to say and there’s a craving for truth.”
For more information, visit www.o2experience.com.
Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.