The Power Team has performed in 40 countries and has a world-wide television show. The team of bodybuilders and former professional athletes, whose members entertain crowds with acts such as breaking concrete with their fists and bending steel in their teeth, is one of the most sought-after motivational groups in the nation.

But even if the telephones at the John Jacobs Evangelistic Association are ringing off the hook with appearance requests, that didn’t stop the Power Team from calling the Abundant Life Church in Bangor and asking if they could bring their show to the area.

The Power Team show features feats of strength and a speaking program encouraging academic excellence and abstinence and discouraging drugs and suicide.

The group will perform Wednesday-Saturday at the Brewer High School gym at 7 p.m. It will also appear at the Abundant Life Church, 1404 Broadway, in Bangor on Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

Abundant Life Church secretary Janet Granger, who is coordinating the event, said the Power Team approached the church about coming to Bangor after several of its members spoke to Eastman Curtis, an evangelist who visited the church two years ago.

“For them to call and want to come is incredible. They just felt they needed to be someplace in the Northeast,” Granger said.

The Power Team was originally scheduled to appear at Alfond Arena April 26-30, 2000. When several of the team’s summer performances were cancelled, the group decided it wanted to travel north a little sooner. Granger said the team will still keep its April date.

Four of the eighteen men on the team will perform this week. Former Houston Oiler Jeff Neal, who was the NFLs strongest man in 1993, headlines the group.

The Power Team has been making its rounds since 1980. Jacobs organized the group while a student at Bible School. The 300-pound Jacobs’ first project was performing by himself for prison inmates.

Jacobs Evangelistic Association is based in Dallas, Texas. Every member of the Power Team is an ordained minister.

Granger said that because of regulations about the separation of church and state, the Power Team does not present a Christian message when it performs at schools during the academic year. She added that since the church is renting the Brewer gym this week, the lifters will not hestitate to talk about how Jesus Christ has changed their lives.

Granger emphasized that the men do not force Christianity on the spectators.

“It’s not a church service, it’s a show. These men want to give everyone hope and tell them it doesn’t matter where they’ve been or what they are – there’s nothing so terrible that they can’t be forgiven and start over,” she said.

The Power Team suggests a $2 donation or a gift of a nonperishable food item for admission to the event, but no one will be denied admittance. The program is designed to entertain both children and adults.