MESA, Arizona — Sister Ellie Barry’s favorite way to testify of Jesus Christ is through singing.
“When you sing, you’re using every single muscle in your body,” she said. “And the most important one is your heart.”
Sister Barry is a service missionary and Strive to Be artist from Pleasant Grove, Utah. And during the weekend of Friday, March 28, she was one of seven Strive to Be artists to perform for 7,000-plus youth across two concerts in Mesa and Tucson, Arizona.
Strive to Be is the youth channel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dedicated to strengthening youth around the world through Christ-centered music and messages.
Last year, the channel featured a worldwide broadcast of “Festival: A Youth Concert,” filmed in Salt Lake City in front of a live audience of almost 1,000 people. The recording was then distributed through Church channels, with wards and stakes encouraged to plan a date to view the concert together.
But now, in addition to the “Festival 2025: A Youth Concert” event anticipated for later this year, Strive to Be is expanding into regional concerts that are organized by local Church members. The new approach is helping more youth than ever worship Jesus Christ and find belonging with their peers.
The Arizona Strive to Be concerts were the first of their kind, paving the way for a regional concert in the Philippines later this spring. More regional concerts are anticipated to follow, with specific Strive to Be artists varying by date and location.
Prior to Friday’s concert, Sister Barry shared her experience of applying to serve a traditional proselytizing mission, only to be confused and upset when she was instead called as a service missionary. But as she embraced this unexpected change as God’s plan for her life, Sister Barry said, she “joyfully” took on the task of singing for the Savior. Her mission service has primarily consisted of Strive to Be performances, she said, and it’s changed her life.
“I love this kind of music, and it’s such a good way to connect with the people around me — but also connect with God,” Sister Barry said. “And so I think it’s really important for [the youth] to come to a place where they feel like they can just have fun and be themselves and then connect with God at the same time.”
Feeding the 5,000
Energy levels were high and loud during Mesa’s concert on March 28, held at the Mesa Amphitheatre and geared toward youth ages 14-18.
While speaking briefly during the concert, Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman looked at the crowd of 5,000-plus youth and thought about another time that 5,000 people gathered.
The story is found in Matthew 14:14-21 and recounts how Jesus Christ fed a multitude of 5,000 with only two fish and five loaves of bread.
One of the things that happened on that occasion, President Freeman said, “is the whole crowd was filled. And that’s going to happen tonight.”
She encouraged youth to dance and sing along, noting two large screens set up specifically to display lyrics during performances.
“We want you to have a really good time as we talk about Jesus Christ together, as we praise and worship together,” she said.
Later, while speaking with local Church leaders in Mesa, President Freeman said the most important comment she heard from a youth leader was that teenagers often stand alone, but Strive to Be concerts help them stand together.
“This was the feeding of the 5,000,” she said about Arizona’s concerts.
Bringing the loaves and fish
Bruce Woodmansee, who served as the chair for the Strive to Be Arizona Mesa Committee, said music is a universal language for youth.
“Music is very much an influence in their life,” he said. “And so if we can get them to listen to … good and wholesome music, I think that will really help their testimonies.”
Like President Freeman, Woodmansee said he thought about how the crowd of 5,000 youth mirrored the 5,000 people whom the Savior fed in New Testament times.
“It is not our responsibility to feed the 5,000. Our responsibility is to bring the loaves and the fishes so that they can be fed by our Savior,” he said.
For him, bringing the loaves and fish looks like creating activities that youth genuinely want to attend and where they can feel Jesus Christ’s power. That’s why Strive to Be concerts are so important, he said — they allow youth to worship and celebrate the Savior in ways that might feel more natural and meaningful to them than traditional methods.
“I believe our Church is cool and fun, and I want our youth to see that,” Woodmansee said.
He also finds it significant that regional Strive to Be concerts gather youth from all over a geographic area. It’s powerful for teenagers to see “so much strength [from] other youth that have faith in the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
That strength was evident in Tucson on March 29, when over 2,000 youth turned out at Mica Mountain High School for a concert on the school’s football field. Sam Polley, a local stake Young Men president, said he initially invited Strive to Be artists to perform at his stake’s youth conference, and then the event expanded to include 14 stakes in the area.
Polley said one of the concert organizers’ main goals was helping individual youth feel seen — not by their peers, but by their Heavenly Father. He also hoped the youth would realize that there’s an “army” of other teenagers who hold the same beliefs.
“If we don’t give them a place where they feel like they can belong, the world’s going to give them a place to belong,” Polley said, adding that the messages of Strive to Be music “help everyone feel welcome and loved by the Savior.”
The artists
Arizona’s concerts featured a lineup of seven Strive to Be artists, each of whom felt the importance of helping youth draw closer to the Savior.
Ashley Hess, a Strive to Be artist originally from Fremont, California, said she hopes Strive to Be concerts will help youth feel community with one another and the Lord’s love for them individually.
Hess said she initially didn’t have much experience with Christian music outside of the Church’s sacred hymns. Those hymns are beautiful and wonderful, she said, but discovering the wider world of Christian worship music has helped her find even more ways to feel the Spirit.
That’s why she believes that Strive to Be concerts can be “so impactful” for youth.
“I’m so grateful that the Church is making an effort to create experiences like this, especially for youth that are [in] such a pivotal point of their lives,” she said. “Creating that relationship with the Lord in experiences like this, with so many people, is so, so powerful.”
Pearce Morris, a Strive to Be artist from Hurricane, Utah, added that expanding worship music outside of hymns helps reach a global audience that isn’t yet fully tapped into. This welcomes other Christian denominations to recognize that Latter-day Saints worship Jesus Christ, he said.
Morris also recalled how Especially for Youth conferences were pivotal for his testimony as a teenager. Now he hopes that Strive to Be concerts can provide similar experiences for youth.
“I hope they feel the Spirit really strongly,” he said. “I hope that they understand how they can draw closer to God, how they can look unto Christ.”
Youth reactions
Youth at the Arizona concerts sang along, danced, laughed with friends and said they felt Heavenly Father’s influence through it all.
In Mesa, 14-year-old Maryn Terry said she had a great experience enjoying the concert’s “positive vibes” with friends. “I just love listening to music about the Lord.”
Travis Koelle, 18, said he wasn’t planning on attending the concert until his friends invited him.
“I’m actually very grateful I came,” he said, adding: “Music can be a prayer. … Not only does it access a different part of the mind when it’s heard, but it also connects with emotion deeper than speech can. And I think that’s a great gift we have.”
In Tucson, 16-year-old Audrey Johnston said she likes how Strive to Be music isn’t just for Sundays.
She also likes that Strive to Be music promotes Church messages, “so that reminds me of our beliefs and what we stand for.”
Fifteen-year-old Christian Hess added that he enjoys youth music and liked attending the concert with friends.
“I do feel the Spirit when I listen” to Strive to Be music,” he said.
