Creationfest 2004, the report, the saga, the story (and I'm sticking to it).

Things opened up on Wednesday but we got there on Tuesday to set up and get the ground rules. No dislocated fingers this year. Some of the vendors were playing football again but we refrained. If you read last year's story, while playing football I was tackled and when I got up my small finger on the right hand was pointing in a new direction sideways. But this year we just watched while waiting for things to start up on Wednesday.

Press meetings were held and the ground rules laid out, be there or be square. Below are some of the tidbits we noted down as we chatted with the artists.

The first press conference was with Chris Tomlin and he talked a lot about his new album coming out called, "Arriving". Chris mentioned he was not about hype and marketing and a lot of artists say their latest is the best but Chris said he had never been so excited about an upcoming release. He shared a lot about "One Day" meeting they had in Texas and how the title came about. He said it was when Beth Moore came out and spoke about God arriving and reading from Rev 4. He thought the first release would be a song called "Indescribable". Chris talked about how meeting with God can be a terrifying meeting because of His holiness. Chris said he wants to be like in Is 40:3, being on stage crying out, "prepare the way". Wanting the glory of God to come close so that all mankind can see it. The album's cover is a landing strip out in the desert. Chris said his earlier songs that the church has used or the ones that become hits, he didn't sit down and say, "I'm going to write a hit song that all will like" but wrote what was on his heart. But these simple songs come from a simple response to God. A new song "From The Heart Of God", he said has had huge impacts on people and people just wouldn't stop singing it. He also talked about the first single coming out called "Indescribable", how it was written by someone else, and God has been using the song in a huge way. Chris said he wished he had written it but that's fine but its a great song. Chris said he was getting ready to go on tour with Steven Curtis Chapman, and that "Steven would be closing for Chris" and "that this was a good opportunity for Steven". He even took some hard questions, one was about how Michael W and Sonic Flood chart with Chris's songs when in fact when Chris did them they didn't chart. It thanked the person for the question and joked about it but then got serious about when he writes, he said they were God's songs. He wasn't trying to just use a cliché but that it was fine except when he does his songs and someone asks him about doing cover songs of Michael W (when he wrote them). It was funny. It was a blessing to see and hear Chris's heart on his writings and music. 

After we met Joshua from "Days Of Fire" and wasn't sure if he was a singer or preacher or both. He had a lot on his heart about sharing his life and story to folks. He sang "Cornerstone" for us. Totally unafraid to share his heart. Joshua was formally of
Full Devil Jacket He said his mission is to get into the presence of God. And he also wanted to lift Jesus up above himself. He gave us his testimony. He said his music came out from a yearning to be in the presence of God. He said Day Of Fire just started out a year ago, been saved 3 years. When he got saved, he saw that God was alive had actually came into this world to have a relationship with us.

Jars interview was next. Talked about the "Blood and Water Mission" and about sustaining relationships with the people of Africa. And also they were reaching out to college students to help them figure out why they got their education. Jars is working with Living Hope Center in Africa. When asked about new stuff they said they had come across some old (or used the word ancient) hymn texts and was working on putting music to them. There was some discussion about they don't like to label music "worship". Jars explained a little about why their music styles bounces back and forth in styles. Jars said they like to stretch things a bit, be more creative, not be bored with the same thing all the time. Some of their pictures are here.