Over the next several years I went to many many more Unforsaken shows. They seemed to be playing every weekend and I was absolutely ok with it. My friends and I saw them at churches, events, parties, youth rallies, etc. Unforsaken was definitely the coolest local band we had. I even got one of their cd’s (that my mom bought for me at a local Christianbook store… hahah) in my stocking one Christmas.

Ray was the bass player. He had long hair, wore shiny shirts and yellow tinted sunglasses. He always seemed nice but he was WAY older than me. Like SOOO old. 5 whole years… which seems like a lot when you’re in high school. Haha.

Around the time I was 18 Unforsaken started going on long tours. Like 7 and 8 months long. They changed their name from Unforsaken to Rino, which I personally thought was a great move. It also looked better on tshirts.

At this point I was in college and had started going to a thursday night bible study at our BCM director’s house. I had become disillusioned with church and the actions and attitudes I had seen demonstrated by Christians. That bible study and the people involved were exactly what I needed at the time. I need to step back from the contemporary Christian subculture and get back to the basics. The gospel, love, sacrifice… you know, things that are a little more important than ultimate frisbee and pizza parties. Haha.

About 6 months later, that very same BCM director started a church that seemed to be full of single semi-misfits. And after a few weeks, guess who walked in the doors? The boys from Unforsaken!