Creation Fest: The Tour Journal

friends. here we are. passed the halfway point of this tour and that is a sad, sad thought. but let’s not get ahead of ourselves! there’s still some time left. the overnight drive into fayetteville, north carolina was….wow….11 hours, emerging on a ridiculously beautiful day at the crown arena. sunshine, balmy weather and a hockey rink. the quintessential canadian breakfast.

what an incredible opportunity to be a part of this tour! the sense of community, enjoying  each and every set (that i get time to watch), bob’s intense message, executed with prose and perfection, and the chance to meet and hang with new faces. i know a lot of the blogs have touch on these points, i just can’t help but agree with them.

if you haven’t made it to a show, come out!!

thanks again for all of your prayers and hope to see you soon.

xoxo,

joel / tfk

We’ve hit the half way point of the tour and one of the coolest things that has happened so far is the relationships that are being built.  I love the fact that I am getting to know some of these younger bands.  They are an encouragement to me as well as an inspiration.  They keep us on our toes.  All of the bands are great and the music amazing, but I can honesty say that when the music fades the relationships won’t .  Bob did a tour devotional yesterday the really struck me in a powerful way.  I know that it is easy to get caught up in thinking about commitments, and that it is all about knowing about others were committed and gave their lives to Christ.  I agree that that is a huge part of why we are out here.  But what about seeing people, as well as ourselves, grow more passionately in love with Christ.  To allow the God (that is “committed” to us more than we will ever be committed to Him) to work in us, through us, and for us.  To reach out to a generation that desperately needs to know that God is committed to them.  To have a passion to dwell in His commitment.  To trust in His commitment when we are too overwhelmed.  To trust in His commitment when we are content.  To trust in His commitment when we are overjoyed.  To always trust and believe.  I have truly enjoyed being out here and am incredibly blessed by all those that have shared stories with us about how our music has touched their lives. That is like fuel on our fire to keep doing what we are doing.  Hope to see you out on the road.  Come be a part of history on the first Creation Festival: The Tour.  - Rob Beckley / Pillar

It was a great day in Pennsylvania, the leaves were turning and starting to fall, and the view from Lehigh University was amazing.  We got to see lots of good friends from creation, and a lot of the creation staff got to come out and help out with the show.  For some reason, the set up  went incredibly fast, as in hours faster then other days, don’t know how it happened but i’m sure glad it did.  Let crew relax and catch up on some rest.

The show itself went very well, right on time and once again all the bands had a very good night.  It was nice to hear some feedback from some people who attend the festivals, because they know what the real thing is like and everyone said they loved the tour.  To hear that is nice, its like a refresher for crew, makes all the hard work and long hours worth it.

Bob nailed his message again and brought more kids to the lord.  We had 30 kids go back and receive prayer and get more information about the lord.  Pastor Harry Thomas met with the 30 that came forward and got the chance to pray with them and just love on them. Hopefully we get the chance to see them again, walking with the lord.

Pray for us as we go to Elmira, NY for the next show, then the crew and bands head to New York City for 2 off days.  Thank you for your support.

The day was a little different then most because it was a sunday and we had to wait to church let out.  Kind of weird waiting for the old ladies to get out of the sanctuary so we can set up for a rock show.  But needless to say it was a great area and just a great set up. Things went very smoothly and quickly tws2.  We got to chat with some of the people that attended the church and they were just extremely happy that we could host this show at their church.  The church was super nice, it was just built and the people treated us great.

The turnout was awesome, we had a lot of kids come out to the show and just loved it.  The bands put on a great performance and you could really tell how much the people loved the show.  Thanks to everyone who helped out to make it possible.

Pray for us as we continue to travel and start to wrap up this tour.

The day was surprisingly warm for a late October day, an hour away from Canada, which was a breath of fresh air coming from the freezing temperatures in Ohio. The day started out just like any other day and then guess what? There were no injuries! Praise the lord! Set up went as planned, just a few power issues but nothing our crew couldn’t fix. We even had some time to throw the football around and ride around on our rip stick. If you don’t know what the rip stick is, go to VideoRocket.com and make sure you watch the rip stick commercial brought to you by Worth Dying For, it will make your day a little better. (click here to watch)

Once doors opened the people started to flock in, and being that it was Halloween some of them had costumes on. But I think the most memorable was our lighting designer Darien Koop had a hot dog outfit and actually ran lights with it on, it was very funny to see a hot dog run lights. We ended up having a really good turnout, 1938 to be exact, 150 of those accepting Christ and 70 who stepped forward and received prayer. It’s a beautiful thing seeing that many people come to know the Lord and actually follow through with that commitment. The show went as planned and every band nailed their sets and just put on an excellent show for Rochester, NY.

So keep us in prayer as we travel to Bethlehem, PA, back to the home state of Creation Northeast!!! Make sure you come out to see us. God bless.

Well back to work we go! We had a few days off in Nashville, some call it rest, some call it work at home, but needless to say we had off. So pulling in this morning was not the most exciting thing, we woke up and saw frost! I know the north is used to it already but coming from Nashville it was a rude awakening. Once we got over the cold weather we made our way into the venue which was Grove city’s Church of the Nazarene.

After we all got our cups of coffee in we got the ball rolling. Taping was the big topic today, we actually made a video about it. Taping is one of the production assistants jobs and it consist of pink tape and a sharpie. Basically the point of the tape is to make arrows and direct crew and bands to dressing rooms, catering, showers, etc… So make sure you go to VideoRocket (http://www.videorocket.com/Creationtour/1723879) to check out that video so you can further understand taping.

Everything was going great once the show started until the third band was on stage. Mid way through there set our monitor tech, Tom, slipped on some stairs and seriously injured his ankle! We had a few people to step up to the plate at the last minute to help him out and fill his shoes, not literally! But we got Tom to the hospital and the show went on!

Bobs message was very powerful tonight and lead about 50 plus kids to the Lord. Not only did they raise their hands for the altar call, they followed through with their promise and went to a separate room for more prayer and ultimately that’s what this tour is all about, bringing kids to Jesus!

Keep us in your prayers as we travel to Rochester, NY tonight, and make sure to come to one of the remaining dates!

This is the Lord’s Day!

It was a cool morning when we arrived in Burlington, Iowa but very beautiful.  The Burlington Memorial Auditorium, situated on the banks of the mighty Mississippi, was built during the depression and it has been the victim of several floods.  As a matter of fact this tour date was somewhat in question last July when major flooding took place.   Part of the building had about four feet of muddy water in it.  Fortunately the main auditorium is on the second floor, thanks to good thinking on the part of architect!  Thankfully the building was repaired just in time for the tour.

Pastor Harry was standing next to a tree when he looked down an saw a 4 foot snake looking at him!  The snake was sunning himself. KJ-52 came over to video tape something for his blog but unfortunately he must not have pushed the record button.  Evidently some reptiles and animals are still trying to find their way back to the river from being washed up on higher shores during the flood.  He or she (the snake) slithered away to safety.  The promoter did a great job and even had dinner for us a the Drake restaurant - good stuff.

We had devotions together around 4pm and Bob Lenz shared on the subject of being content and the struggles we all have with real contentment.  The tour has really brought together the bands in more than one way.  Yes, we are on tour together but there has been a real family developing.  Spiritually it has been enriching to all of us and to the people attending.  We also are having a lot of fun!

This is a windy place next to the river and it was neat to see the long line all bundled up waiting to get into the auditorium  It was a happening place and those attending seemed extra friendly and saying how much they loved the Creation Festival: The Tour.  After Bob’s message during the show, at least around a 100 hands went up saying they wanted to know Christ as Lord.  Pastor Harry and the promoter, Matt Best prayed with several of the new converts and gave them a New Testament.

The next tour date is on Thursday at Grove City, Ohio.  With a couple of days off several band members are heading home to Nashville or other ports.  It was a great night!  Thanks for praying and believing for the tour, it is “A Tribute to Our Creator!”

Today was the second show at Club 3 Degrees in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our busses were parked on one of the side streets and we all stayed in them. There was a little bit of rain in the morning and we had mild temperatures. We had to split the tour over two nights but we had worship and Bob Lenz both nights. Bob changed his message for tonight to “Yahweh” in case there were people from last night. His message was powerful. About 15 people raised their hands to accept Jesus. Pastor Harry prayed with eight of them that came forward. It was college age crowd and there were some awesome conversions. We have seen close to a thousand respond so far and say they invited Christ to be Lord of their lives.

This is a great Club. There should be one in every city! Tonight it was Capital Lights, Esterlyn, KJ 52, Worth Dying For, Fireflight and TFK (Thousand Foot Krutch) played. A really great night. We did not have to load-in very much this morning but tonight will be a long load-out. We are planning to go to the Mall of America (biggest mall in the USA) for a brief moment of relaxation before heading to our next stop in Burlington, Iowa. We really feel everyone’s prayers - thank you so much for your prayers!

Minneapolis, Minnesota is a busy city.  We arrived at the Club 3 Degrees on time after traveling all night.  There was a ton of construction in front of the Club so it was difficult getting the busses in to unload but we had plenty of help.  Actually this Club is also a church and a really neat place.  Nick calls it the “Electric Factory” on steroids.  Everything in the three story building is done right and it’s in the heart of the city.  On the lower level (basement)  is a really great coffee place.  On first floor the stage and standing room.  On the second floor tables and more standing room.  On the third floor they have offices and tables where they fed the crew.  Great coffee and food!

This time we had to divide the tour into two nights but include Bob Lenz and worship with “Worth Dying For” on both nights.  Tonight Kutless, PIllar, Worth Dying For, KJ-52 and Run Kid Run played.  The crowd seemed to really love the night.  Several kids raised their hands to ask Christ into their lives.   We are looking forward to tomorrow when the rest of the bands get to play in this neat place.

The Tour had a couple of days off in the Chicago area.   Time to do some wash and have a couple of good meals.  One rainy day and one beautiful clear day. Most everyone had some rest and time to relax.  We parked the four buses in a vacant lot near the hotel and our great bus drivers treated us to a barbecue!  The parking lot was a vacant Bennigan’s and on the last night the police came and told us the busses had to be moved by 6:00 am or be towed.  No problem we were leaving at 2:00 am!

As planned we left for Onalaska, Wisconsin on the morning of the 22nd at 2:00 am and drove all night to the Omni Center.  They were all prepared for us.  Not to bore you with details but we were able to back the tractor-trailer right up to the stage to unload - very nice.  This was the first show that the promoter had done and he really did a great job.  It was not our biggest crowd (somewhere around 1,000) but it was a great night.  Pastor Harry said that several people came up to him and said how thankful they were that we came to Onalaska.  The best was when the invitation was given to follow Christ 43 kids came to the prayer room.  A couple of them had some really heavy things going on in their lives and stuck around for more prayer.

The bands are more and more like a family and that unity produces great results for the Lord.  Tonight we leave for Minnesota.  The weather is a lot cooler now.  It feels like it might snow but we are hopeful to escape any bad weather.