Helen Colwell Adams
11 June 2006
Lancaster New Era/Intelligencer Journal/Sunday News
Quarryville hosts thousands at Christian music festival. How did that happen?' Continuing a legacy Expecting a miracle
The people of the Witness Festival would consider these little miracles:
The dozens who responded Saturday when speaker Bob Lenz challenged them at the free Christian music festival to sponsor needy children.
The man who told chaplain Rich Stevenson that he was celebrating the first anniversary of his coming to faith, which happened at last year's festival in Quarryville.
And the 40-minute rain delay. Friday night, storms forced a postponement of the show. Organizers feared they'd have to cut something to end by 10:30. Somehow, Witness finished right on time.
The festival itself has been a kind of miracle every year; 2006 was no different, with what may have been the largest crowd ever to close the final evening.
With former "American Idol" contestant George Huff getting the crowd bouncing, and Lenz bringing them streaming to the stage to commit or recommit themselves to faith, Witness celebrated its fifth anniversary Friday and Saturday at Quarryville's Memorial Park.
An estimated 5,000 people were in the park Friday for Fusebox, Newsong and Sonicflood. Saturday afternoon, about 3,000 braved a chilly breeze for opening acts Fusebox, Jason Morant and Pocket Full of Rocks, setting the stage for headliners Matthew West, Joy Williams and Caedmon's Call in the evening.
"This," Caedmon's Call lead singer Cliff Young said, "is an amazing place."
Friday afternoon, a line of storms blew through Quarryville.
By the time Sonicflood, the worship band that headlined the first Witness, took the stage at 9, rain was falling again, but organizer Craig Deibler said the crowd stayed.
What he can't explain is how the set started on time, considering the whole festival had been delayed 40 minutes by the early storms.
"I don't really know how God stretched the hours," Deibler said. "We got right back on schedule. How did that happen?"
After five years, the 200-plus Witness volunteers know the drill. Sound, again by Clair Brothers of Lititz, was crisp and clear. A new video screen gave a sharp view to concertgoers at the back of the park.
But money was still a concern. Every year, Witness has run a deficit. It costs between $90,000 and $100,000 to stage the show and pay the artists.
As volunteers fanned out to collect an offering Saturday afternoon, Deibler told the crowd, "I don't want to charge a dollar for a ticket. We haven't met budget for four years now, and we need to do that to keep this free."
Free admission helped to draw Grant Mankin and Evan Belczyk of Quarryville. Grant said he's been at every Witness festival, to "listen to music, walk around and have fun."
The crowd pleaser this year was George Huff, the one-time "Idol" contestant, who had the crowd dancing to reggae-inflected songs. He closed by reciting John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
Michael Farren, lead singer of the band Pocket Full of Rocks, could relate.
Farren told the crowd that he grew up a "preacher's kid" who went to church because he was told to go. At 17, he had a close encounter with faith for the first time.
"I do the things I do today," he said, "because I'm madly in love with Jesus. ... It's amazing what happens when God kisses you."
Stevenson, the chaplain, recounted his talk with a man who became a Christian at last year's festival.
"What is it worth to you," he asked the audience before the offering, "that people come to know Jesus here?"
At the Walden Media center, the longest line was the one for giveaways of "Charlotte's Web" merchandise.
Walden, which co-produced "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" last year, is releasing a new version of the children's classic this Christmas.
But while kids watched trailers for "Charlotte's Web" in a replica of the barn that is the movie's setting, at another Walden tent, Penny Hunter was working to end global slavery.
Hunter, who directs Walden's "Amazing Change" campaign, was asking festivalgoers to sign petitions to Congress calling for government action to free an estimated 27 million slaves around the world.
"Amazing Change" is keyed to another forthcoming Walden movie, "Amazing Grace," about 18th-century British abolitionist William Wilberforce. The goal: 400,000 signatures by the end of the summer.
Hunter said Walden decided to use the movie to spur activism on the issue and to funnel money to agencies working to end slavery, which most often involves children forced into slave labor or into prostitution.
"This part of the country was really the birthplace of some of the abolitionist movement" in 19th-century America, she said. "It's great to see that the abolitionist legacy still lives on."
Saturday afternoon, Deibler was looking forward to Bob Lenz' talk.
"God has just laid this on my heart," he said, "that something very special is going to happen."
Lenz, a bear of a man who's spoken at the Creation festival, told the Witness audience that nothing is impossible with God. Even miracles.
"When the world says No way,'" he repeated, "you say ..."
"Yahweh!" the crowd shouted back.
He challenged concertgoers to sponsor children for $35 a month through World Vision; 33 people responded.
He urged those who wanted to become Christians, and those who wanted to rededicate themselves to faith, to come forward for prayer, and thousands responded.
By the time Caedmon's Call took the stage to close Witness with an eclectic folk-rock set, volunteers were guessing about 10,000 people had filled the park.
"God is here," Deibler was saying Saturday afternoon. "This is holy ground for this weekend."
Caption: Vinny Tennis, Sunday News - Photos Saturday's crowd in Quarryville puts its hands together as George Huff performs.; Vinny Tennis, Sunday News - Kim Lyster Wagontown sings as Matthew West performs Saturday at the Witness Festival in Quarryville's Memorial Park.
