advent festival 2019: Six takeaways from one of the vital nation’s largest Christian track fairs

creation festival Northeast â€" one of the vital well-attended Christian music fairs within the nation and some of the oldest working festivals of its form because 1979 â€" is drawing thousands of people once once more at Agape Farm in Mount Union this weekend.

We attended introduction on Thursday to journey first-hand what the festival needed to present. listed here are our six largest takeaways from the festival:

1. The track is critical, but the message comes first.

here's now not your commonplace secular rock/pop festival. but neither is it your grandmother’s Christian music pageant. rather, introduction falls someplace in between, ditching the intoxicating environment of the former (the competition has a particular no alcohol, no drugs policy) and the button-down ambiance of the latter for a pageant that receives its power from the non secular fervor of the musicians and the audience alike. What unites the artists right here isn't musical style however faith. The non-musical choices, together with baptisms, speeches and kids’s activities, all additional the goal of the competition â€" to pay “tribute to our Creator” in a method that feels grateful devoid of being pushy.

2. The pageant attracts each distinctive attendees and diverse performers.

The performing acts at introduction latitude from typical stars like Crowder and Hillsong Worship to option acts like hip hop artist nobigdyl. and heavy steel trio Brotality. Some songs have greater of an overt religious message than others. The audience is also distinctive, now not simplest ethnically, however denomination-clever, as well. The competition brings collectively dozens of Christian faiths, from Southern Baptist to Mennonite. Some visitors wear LGBTQ+ delight-themed attire. Newborns brush tiny shoulders with aged viewers contributors, though the majority of the audience looks to include younger households.

And the pageant welcomes those that could now not be very non secular. “Our goal is to supply a spot [for] individuals to be able to worship Christ together, to in fact construct neighborhood and adventure, in addition to to give americans that probably haven’t truly all started a relationship with Christ to begin that journey here, surrounded by individuals that in fact care about them,” said Ben Comer, certainly one of creation pageant’s executive directors, all the way through an interview at the pageant.

3. audio system and performers do have political messages, however it’s not always what you might predict.

As you may most likely expect, there is a strong professional-life vibe at the advent competition. This yr’s festival is sponsored by store the Storks â€" a professional-lifestyles organization that operates cell “disaster being pregnant facilities” outside of abortion clinics. They have been a sponsor in 2014 as smartly. On Thursday night, store the Storks ambassador Victoria Robinson spoke to the audience on the leading stage of the pageant in regards to the work that her firm does and the way viewers members can support. “Abortion is a brief solution to a short lived difficulty, and it is rarely an option,” Robinson stated.

At other times, audio system and performers spread messages extolling peace, self-love and non-violence, and emphasizing the importance of decent intellectual fitness. In a speech, author and motivational speaker Bob Lenz discussed the divisiveness plaguing the us these days and advised the viewers to be greater inclusive of others.

A video message from GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse within the Christian ambiance) performed Thursday night, warning of churchgoers’ vulnerability to sexual abuse and explaining how church buildings can request displays from the company. creation festival confronted its personal issue with sexual abuse in 2017 when co-founder and Pastor Harry L. Thomas, seventy six, become charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child for a 16-12 months length of abuses against girls. He pleaded responsible in February 2018 and changed into sentenced to 18 years in penitentiary ultimate July.

at the competition ultimate 12 months, advent festival group of workers stated the circumstance to the audience on stage. Comer observed that the team of workers doesn't plan to discuss it on stage this 12 months. but, he referred to, speakers and performers were no longer advised no longer to discuss it, so they can also in the event that they consider like it.

“As we work to walk it out with all of our teams from a greater level of accountability and transparency, in addition to equipping the native church buildings to in order that they would not have any crises that they have to walk through like we have over the remaining couple years,” he said.

four. Attendance is an identical from final yr, but decrease than in outdated years.

Comer said they expect 15,000 exciting festivalgoers right through the path of the week. final yr, the competition welcomed that equal quantity, however as currently as 2014 in accordance with PennLive figures, the pageant has racked up round 55,000 attendees (officials from advent pageant recently said that quantity is probably contains attendance from other fairs they hosted around the same time and that the actual quantity is closer to 25,000). it's doubtful why attendance is dropping. It could be that the Christian song competition market has extended, sending guests who in the past attended creation to other, identical gala's along the East Coast and elsewhere. It might even be negative press stemming from the intercourse abus e scandal. Comer declined to remark as as to if he thought that had had any impact on turnout or income.

5. there's a lot more to do on the competition than listen to tune.

Attendees do not best come for the song and speeches. The fair food is a success, from classics akin to kettle corn and fries to improvements akin to cheesecake-on-a-stick and gluten-free treats. additionally widely wide-spread is the preference of arts and crafts. kids are offered quite a lot of activities, including creation Camp, a skate park, cookie breaks and kid-friendly performances. Cornhole sets and volleyball nets abound throughout the campgrounds. Baptisms happen regularly at a pond near the stages, and campfire chats take vicinity up a mountain.

6. Cereal packing containers may well be the brand new cellular telephone flashlights.

be aware when, for some thing motive, individuals stopped waving around lighters at concert events and switched to smartphone flashlights? well, there may well be a brand new equipment in town. right through hip-hop artist nobigdyl.’s efficiency Thursday at the Fringe enviornment, a bunch of teens waved around cereal bins to the beat of the music, “twenty eighteen.” The kids even got a shout-out from nobigdyl. where did the cereal packing containers come from, and why did the teens convey them to the performance? Are cereal packing containers the next mobile phone flashlights?

if you recognize the answers, believe free to leave us a remark.

in case you GO: advent festival 2019 runs through June 29 at Agape Farm, 17512 Rapture St., Shirleysburg. cost: Full circulate: $a hundred forty five adults, $forty five ages 7-13, free for infants 6 years historical and younger. Day flow: $50. Two-Day flow: $eighty. VIP: $900. creationfest.com.