AFTERdark, billed as the “campus event of the year,” will take over Stephens Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

AFTERdark is a free, two-hour presentation from national speaker Joe White. He will be joined by Derek Webb, the lead singer of Caedmon’s Call, a Christian folk-rock band, says Paul Sabino, director of the Salt Company.

“The Salt Company is bringing the show to town, along with a lot of other Christian groups who are bringing a lot of people to it,” Sabino says.

One of these groups is campus interdenominational Christian group The Rock.

“We are behind this event 100 percent and are strongly promoting it among the Rockers,” says Tim Borseth, director of The Rock.

AFTERdark is the concept of White, president of Kanakuk Kamps, a network of Christian athletic camps in Missouri. He has been performing AFTERdark for just more than two years, visiting about 37 universities and speaking to 42,000 college students.

Sabino explains the show as “the musings of a first-century Roman cross-builder as he builds the cross that Jesus will be crucified on.”

White will bring an enormous piece of lumber with him onto the stage.

“It is him with a hatchet building the cross, nailing the nails, preparing for the crucifixion of Christ,” Sabino says.

The show will be a monologue of the cross builder thinking out loud. He will speak about “who Jesus is and how these claims affect his life as a Roman cross-builder,” Sabino says. The show will conclude with White speaking the truth of the gospel to the people.

Prior to touring the country, White performed the show at Promise Keeper meetings, a Christian men’s event.

“He had performed for well over 300,000 people before he began taking the show on the road touring colleges,” Sabino says.

AFTERdark’s Web site, www.whatsafterdark.com, says “Each event will be a catalyst in developing new growth among Christians.”

The site explains that following each event, a leader at the college leads new Christians through a five-session “What Do I Do Now?” course designed to “build a solid foundation in their new faith.”

The first 35 minutes will be a concert by Derek Webb, one of two main singers and guitarists for Caedmon’s Call. He helped start Caedmon’s Call in 1992 and, in the past eight albums, has written about half of the band’s material.

“I’ll be playing about half new songs and half old [Caedmon’s Call] songs that I’ve written for the band over the years,” Webb says.

Thursday will be the first of 10 dates for Webb to play AFTERdark events.

“I’ve spent some time with Joe, but not a ton,” Webb says.

He has known White during the past eight years when Caedmon’s Call played at Kanakuk.

“We’ve played on and off for the college staff a number of times,” Webb says.

Webb invited White to play at AFTERdark to help promote his solo record.

“It’s a really cool opportunity because wherever [White] does these events there’s always a gang of college folks who come,” Webb says. “They’ve been Caedmon’s backbone for all these years and I intend them being mine as well.”

Webb, who will be backed by his own solo band, will release his first solo record March 25, 2003, titled “She Must and Shall Go Free.”

“[It will be] a theme record because the songs are about different aspects about the American Church and our culture,” Webb says.

Caedmon’s Call will release its eighth album in February 2003.