Creation Festival the Tour

Creation Festival, the nation’s largest Christian music festival and the premier name in Christian music events, is pleased to announce that it is expanding its brand once again to launch Creation Festival: The Tour. Kicking off in October, the “mini Creation on wheels” will allow fans across the country to experience a taste of the annual 4-day events held in June and July in one night of music, teaching and fun.

Headlining this one-of-a-kind event is BEC Recordings band, Kutless, with special guests, Thousand Foot Krutch and Pillar. The line up is rounded out by female-fronted rockers, Fireflight, as the opening band and Integrity’s Worth Dying For providing a time of praise and worship. KJ-52 will also perform and serve as MC for the night. World-renowned speaker, Bob Lenz, will share the gospel each night, with Pastor Harry Thomas, Creation Festival director and co-founder and Teen Mania’s founder, Ron Luce, also joining the tour on select dates.

A special Tooth & Nail Records “pre-show” will kick off the event, featuring performances by Run Kid Run, Esterlyn and Children 18:3.

“We are excited to be a part of this ground-breaking tour,” exclaims Jon Micah Sumrall, frontman for Kutless. “It has been an amazing experience to play Creation ? a festival we attended with our youth group when we were in high school ? and now, to be invited to headline Creation Festival: The Tour, we could not be more honored! We are looking forward to heading out on the road and impacting lives together with the Creation folks and the other bands.”

As well as providing an exciting evening of great music, Creation Festival: The Tour is also very ministry oriented, with a local community outreach planned for each date. While the type of outreach will vary by date and may include activities such as clothing drops and food drives, every city will take part in having a direct positive impact on their community.

Pastor Harry Thomas, Creation Festival co-founder, explains: “Whenever Jesus came to a town, people became aware of God's love for them. Our vision for Creation Festival: The Tour is to bless people spiritually and in practical ways. We want to go beyond the venue walls into the community with a touch of God's love and good news!”

Several companies have partnered with Creation to make the Tour possible. Compassion International will serve as the ministry sponsor and Tooth & Nail Records, BEC Recordings and Interlinc have also come on board. Additional sponsors and their contribution will be announced soon.

“Our vision for this tour is to brand the Creation Festival model in a new and fresh way,” says Nick Kulb, tour producer and Creation Festival director of marketing & sales. “We have spent countless hours in creating not just another concert, but an event that has unique features and focuses heavily on the ministry component, which is the foremost purpose of everything we do.”

Creation Festival: The Tour will be routed and booked by William Morris Agency, with dates and cities to be announced soon.

Additional elements and highlights will be added to the tour, with many announcements forthcoming. For up to the minute information about Creation Festival: The Tour, please visit www.creationfesttour.com.

Read our review (with tons of pics) of Creation East 2007.
Click here.

Creation festival 2008 lineup announced!

The largest outdoor Christian music and teaching festival of its kind, Creation Festival is honored to announce that they have been named for a second time as CCM Magazine reader’s “Favorite Festival”. This accolade inspires the Festival even more to continue its tradition of featuring the hottest acts in Christian music, as well as highlighting up-and-coming artists and introducing audiences to the finest speakers across the nation.

Keeping their vision in mind, Creation is pleased to announce the line-up for its 30th Anniversary. “We are extremely honored and humbled to be voted the favorite festival by the readers of CCM, for a second time,” says Nick Kulb, Director of Marketing & Sales for Creation and its parent company Come Alive International. “Our staff works tirelessly year round to ensure we present two of the nation’s best festivals each summer – its always encouraging
to receive accolades along the way. 2008 will be no different, but will be even better!”

Creation Northeast will be held June 25th – 28th at the Agape Farm in the beautiful mountain ranges of Mount Union, PA., and Creation Northwest will be marking its 11th year at the amazing Gorge Amphitheater in George, WA July 23rd-26th. Tickets are available now through iTickets.com.

This year’s main stage line-up includes performances from a diverse array of artists such as Switchfoot, Newsboys, TobyMac, Jeremy Camp, Kutless, David Crowder Band, Skillet, Barlow Girl, Chris Tomlin, Paul Baloche, Hawk Nelson, Leeland, industry veteran Phil Keaggy and new artists Fee, Worth Dying For and The Washington Projects.

Speakers include author Justin Lookadoo, Bob Lenz, Teen Mania Ministries founder Ron Luce, David Nasser and Jose Zayes.

The Tooth and Nail Records sponsored “X2008 Fringe Stage” will feature the best the in alternative Christian artists, including Superchic[k], Pillar, Sanctus Real, Stellar Kart, Red, Future of Forestry, The Afters, Ruth, Fireflight and 2007 “MTV2 Dew Circuit Breakout” winner The Myriad.

After the lights go down on the main stage, the entertainment continues at the Late Night Café. Wednesday night features comedian Paul Aldrich and critically acclaimed poet, Bradley Hathaway taking the stage on Thursday. A special event for Friday night will be announced soon.

An important focus for the Festival is worship and this summer is no different. Creation will partner with Integrity Music to provide an awesome time of praise and worship each afternoon. In addition, the worship tent will offer a training conference for worship leaders, musicians and writers each afternoon. With distinct seminar classes ranging from songwriting to hands-on training for bands, worship leaders and musicians will have a rare opportunity to come together
for teaching and fellowship.

The Creation Festival also strives to provide resources that will make the event an even better learning tool. Every afternoon there are special seminars on a variety of topics from keynote speakers. Again this year, Creation will team up with Interlinc to provide youth leaders with excellent seminars and other resources, including a daily afternoon seminar lead by Duffy Robins and Rich VanPelt, Talkback Sessions where Group Leaders can meet and have candid discussions with some of the most popular artists appearing at the Festival, and a VIP Youth Leader Tent, where leaders can get out of the sun, look through an assortment of free literature and other beneficial resources and share ideas with other Youth Leaders.

An event for the entire family, both Creation East and West also provide a Children’s Tent, which will feature a program geared especially for the younger attendees, including PureNRG, Phredd, Steven Courtney, The Reptile Guy and an array of puppets and fun music. Each afternoon, kids gather under the trees in the “Kids Grove” for a special craft time.

Special features for teens and adults include extreme games with climbing walls, spider jumps and sumo wrestling, a Skateboard and BMX ministry, a Gear Giveaway and a vendor Exhibit area with almost 200 booths with an assortment of merchandise and apparel available for purchase and ministries and colleges offering free literature and information.

"I am so excited and blessed to have been part of Creation for these 30 festival years,” exclaims Pastor Harry Thomas, co-founder of the Creation Festivals. “The public ministry of Jesus really began when he was thirty years of age. Likewise, I am praying that this year and future years are the most exciting and fruitful that we have ever seen for God's glory.”

To commemorate the 30th Anniversary, the Festival plans to highlight special moments from the past three decades throughout the four-day event. Additionally, Festival planners are working on a few special surprises to be revealed at the event. An overview of memories from the past 30 years can be found on the Creation Festival website. A new addition for this year is the “Creation Road Crew”, a community where friends of the Festival can order promotional materials, see photographs, watch media, and earn Creation swag by telling friends about the Festival. Additional information about this street team and how to join will be available soon.

Read our review/photo feature of Creation 2007 here.
Visit the official Creation site for the full lineup here.

Creation 2008 music festival survey

Help the Creation 2008 festival book its artists! Fill out their survey here and you could possibly win two free tickets.

Creation Festival 2008 Tickets on sale now!

Tickets are now on sale for both the Creation Northeast and Northwest summer festivals (is it our imagination or is it a little early to be thinking about summer?). But if you're a fan of Creation, the nation's largest festival, then you'll save money by ordering your tickets now. Visit the Creation website for more info here. Or visit the festival's Myspace page here.

Be sure to read our feature article on Creation 2007 here.