Creation 2000 Saturday

Creationfest 2000

Saturday

The last day, hard to believe, it goes by so fast. A chance to reflect on what we saw, heard, and hopefully learned.

Larry Norman	Avalon	Caedmon's Call
Brian's Story	Pat Mesiti	Newsboys

Click on cameras for band pictures, band names to jump down page and then you can always click "return" or "back" on your browser to return here.

Saturday morning was the event we were waiting all weekend for. Saturday would turn out to the most fun and blessing...

10:15 Main stage...sure alot of guitar stands and guitars on stage. Larry Norman takes the stage and does a few songs solo and talks with the crowd a bit. The out comes the band. Five other guitar players come out with Larry and the drummer. WOW! What a show, lots of great LN songs. For once I think the youngins were out numbered. Overall a good size crowd to watch and a good range of ages. The boys in the band were: Ken Tucker, Brander McDonald, Ton Nuns on bass, Jason Carter on drums, Matthew Faulkner and Herbie Manuputy. They did so well! One point Larry made was, "If a Hindu becomes a Christian they are disowned, in Russia, become a Christian and you could end up in prison, in China they take away your possessions and impoverish you but in the United States, become a Christian and you have a wider of selection of CDs." Larry also spoke about loving others or the lack of, he talked how we yell and scream at the homosexuals and abortion clinic workers when Jesus would not be yelling at them. We don't show them love. Larry talked about the church and how it seeks God's touch but does not seek His face, we want the blessings without the presence.

Larry also talked about not competing with the world and in fact we should be going a different direction. We spend to much time and effort trying to imitate the world in our music and lives. He said we should not be afraid of rejection or should we hide our light. At the close of Larry's set the emcee mentioned that he had gone to the hospital to visit one of the kids who had been injured earlier. A phrase Larry used a few times, "a fine chemical product" when talking about some of today's fast food products. Play list was: UFO, The Outlaw, Why Don't You Look Into Jesus, Shot Down, The Rock That Doesn't Roll, Six Sixty Six, I Wish We'd All Been Ready and lots more. The crowd was really into the songs and sang along on almost all of them.

The heat was already getting up there at 10AM, Larry and the band played hard. The press conference was canceled as Larry wasn't feeling real well. I probably would not have felt well either after working so hard in the heat.

Avalon met with us in the press tent. They announced that they will have anew album out the first quarter of next year and also was working on their Christmas album (to be released Sept. 26th). Avalon talked about their work with "Jesus, the mini-series" and releasing of their music to mainstream. They talked about artists being human and capable of failing expectations but Jesus does not fail. They want the focus on Christ not themselves. They hoped music released to mainstream would get people to buy their albums and hear the gospel in their other songs. Avalon mentioned "marketing the message" ( a phrase this writer wasn't fond of but understand their heart and desire in getting the message to the masses). Michael from Avalon talked about an emerging theme in their music, it was one of seeking God.

An unexpected blessing was in the meeting of Brian.

Walking around Creationfest, I saw a young man in a wheel chair that had been very badly burned, I was a little apprehensive in asking but wanted to know if his name was Brian. I asked the woman pushing the chair if it was and she said yes and seemed a little surprised. If you have listened to "Welcome To The Freak Show" album by DC Talk, on the intro to "In The Light" DC Talk mentions Brian and his accident. They had visited him in the hospital. This was the same Brian. He had come to Creationfest West camping and taking in the concerts and speakers. I met him and his wife, Haley. Haley said Brian didn't mind chatting and so I asked him a few questions. One was "What's been going on over the last 3-4 years since that time of the accident and when DC Talk had mentioned him?" He shared that he was speaking to churches and youth groups. Brian is 23. He also has been giving talks in the public schools about fire safety. He uses this platform then, after the assembly, when chatting to whomever, he shares his faith and how it's held him up through it all. He went on to say that God is blessing and providing. His house, they're hoping, will be finished in October. When the announcement was made at Jesus Northwest a few years ago, by DC Talk from the stage, they talked about donations and an address to send contributions to, to help build Brian a special house for his needs. It was great to hear that it's almost finished. He said there had been a lot of folks donating the material to build it. The whole story can be found at http://www.aone.com/~brian/intro.htm I went on to share with Brian that I had had a chance or two to talk with some of artists at Creationfest, and they all do a great job doing what they do, but chatting with Brian was such a blessing. I would rather chat with him then with any of them. To see Brian's and Haley's faith and love for the Lord no matter what was huge in my book. I asked their permission to put some of this online and they agreed. At the above web site besides the story of the accident and his faith are ways to contribute to Brian's house and needs.

While waiting for the evening and closing shows a couple of airplane banners were seen flying by, toothandnail.com and supertones.com went flying by over the crowd.

Pat Mesiti brought the evening message and it was "Pay Attention". He is from Australia and preaches up a storm! He said we need to "Give God attention", "give family attention", "attention to reading", and "attention to your gifts". He said we need to think on the solution not the problem. Also talked about "attention to the details" and attention to the Word". At one point there wasn't quite the response he thought there should be and said, "Come on! I'm preaching better then you're responding". Great message!

Caedmon's Call was next and along with their music did a little preaching of their own. They also said the venue was a little tough for a small coffee-house type band. They played some new and old stuff. The band talked about some of the things coming to the church, if it's not in the Bible, it's not of God. Lots of great acoustic sound and vocals.

Newsboys were to wrap things up with quite the show! Those Newsboys just work the crowd so well. The drum solo with the rotating and tilting drum set was super. Peter and Duncan both were strapped in and wailing on those drums, not missing a beat as the drum set spun and tilted around. They did their usual crowd contest (which half yells the loudest). Lots of crowd participation with singing along.

Wrap up: Hard to believe it was already over. Thanks to Bruce Adolph and Anita the press lady for all their help in setting up the meets and taking care of the vendors. And thanks to the over 1000 volunteers that make Creation happen. Now the hard part, applying what we saw and heard.

Want to read other Creation stories? check out Creationfest.com and their "Forum", lots of cool stories about salvations to band reviews.