By Mark Fisher
Even after 30 years as the largest festival in Christian music, there are still a few things the organizers would like to accomplish. At this point, many festivals would likely rest on their laurels and enjoy the accomplishment of such a long-running and revered event. Festival co-founder Pastor Harry Thomas and his team see it differently though, recognizing now more than ever that the time has come to spread the good news beyond Mt. Union, PA and George, WA. From that desire to always do more, to always spread the word, came the idea for Creation Festival: The Tour.
“The vision we have for this tour is to brand the Creation Festival model in a new and fresh way,” says Nick Kulb, Creation’s director of marketing and the Tour’s producer, “We wanted to find a way to make an impact locally, just as we do globally with Creation Northeast and Northwest.” In order to do this, Kulb has focused the tour itinerary heavily on service to the local communities, something that festival organizers are not able to do as a stationary event. Through the “It Starts With You” Campaign, those involved with this massive undertaking will serve in a variety of ways, including clothing and food drives among other things, in each community the tour stops in. “The center purpose of this ministry is, and always has been, to give ‘Tribute to our Creator’ and this is a way we can do that on a local level,” adds Kulb.
The tour is being billed as a “mini Creation on wheels” and those who have attended the festival over the last three decades will have a hard time denying that the set up is entirely recognizable. Each tour stop will feature BEC Records headliners, Kutless, as well as featured support from Pillar and Thousand Foot Krutch. Alongside additional performances from up and coming artists Run Kid Run and Fireflight, worship will be led by Integrity Music powerhouses Worth Dying For. Additionally, there will be an “evening message” from Bob Lenz and KJ-52 will pull double duty as an MC and a performer. At various stops, Pastor Harry Thomas and Teen Mania Founder, Ron Luce, will also make special appearances. Sounds just like a night at Creation doesn’t it? Throw in a candlelight service and God’s big, beautiful sky and you would feel like you were there for real.
While the festival organizers first and foremost wanted the tour to reach out to an array of communities, they also wanted to bring something special to the attendees, just as they do at the main festivals. Creation Festival: The Tour is partnering with digital music leader iTunes, who, in turn, will be providing each ticket holder with a free digital download card featuring 20 songs from Creation artists. Not to be outdone, Tooth & Nail Records will provide an additional 20 downloads with each ticket at the time of purchase. Having attended nearly every mainstream traveling festival in the last fifteen years at least once, I can honestly say that I have never been blessed by $40 in free music with my ticket purchase before. I hope that other traveling festivals follow suit quick-like!