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AtlantaFest 2003: A Report From the Field

Note: The story you are about to read is true. Only the names of the bands have been omitted to protect the innocent (or the guilty as the case may be).

This is the city. Atlanta, Georgia. I used to work here...but I never carried a badge (if you’re too young to pick up on the “Dragnet” parody just let it slide). This was my first visit to AtlantaFest but I had been to Six Flags many times over the years. The day was hot and humid (like 90% of all June days in Atlanta) and I found myself missing the trams as I trekked from my car to the ticket booth. After having stood in line for 20 minutes, I was informed that I had to go to another booth for tickets to AtlantaFest. Although there was a sign outside the EXIT of the area where you normally would purchase Six Flags tickets, there were no signs to inform you of the need to go elsewhere for AtlantaFest tickets on the walk up to the ticket area.

However, I managed to get my tickets and along with them a flyer advising me to make a reservation for the Prayer Labyrinth first thing if I intended to go. The Prayer Labyrinth is billed as a place of prayer and reflection allowing one to get in touch with God. I figured that first I would go get my wristband (giving me access to all the AtlantaFest area) before signing up for the Prayer Labyrinth. So my first task was to find out where to get the wristbands. None of the literature I was given indicated where to go. After asking 3 or 4 Six Flags employees for directions (none of whom had any idea), I went to the Customer Service booth. They informed me it was near the Great American Scream Machine (at the very back of the park). As I wound my way towards that area, I stumbled upon the Prayer Labyrinth and decided to go ahead and place my reservation.

The entrance to the prayer Labyrinth was still chained off (even though it was scheduled to open at 11:00 a.m. and it was now a little after 12:00). I managed to get the attention of those standing by the entrance and asked if it was OK for me to come up. After telling them that I’d like to schedule a time to go through (and there being a little confusion about whether I had a reservation or wanted to make one) they scheduled a time of 12:30 saying that it would give me plenty of time to go ahead and get my wristband first.

I proceeded towards where I thought the wristbands were and couldn’t seem to find it. I finally found out that you had to proceed out the back exit of the park to get them. After finally procuring my wristband, I hurried back to the Prayer Labyrinth arriving (soaked in sweat) just in time for my entrance.

After a brief orientation, I entered with a small group of others. Each person receives a portable CD player and headphones. The CD provides a narrative of reflective thoughts and scriptures with “New Age” music in the background. The tracks on the CD correspond to different stations within the Labyrinth which you slowly walk to performing symbolic actions at each (including Communion). Each station has a scripture or two posted relating to the narrative. The entire journey takes about 1 hour.

I endeavored to seek God’s presence through this process but was hindered by my grief at the “New Age” concepts which were subtly interwoven with the Biblical principles in the narrative. The symbolic gestures or rituals performed at each station (releasing a rock symbolizing you problems into a bucket, planting a seed in some soil, etc.) I assume were thought up by someone and Communion was treated as just another symbolic gesture neither less or greater than the others. The verse that kept coming to mind was Matthew 15:8 and 9:

“THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

“BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN."

After leaving the Prayer Labyrinth, I decided to try and catch the Christian Music Talent Search where a Nashville based organization “searches to discover the brightest new Christian artists, bands, and writers to serve as their liaison to the Christian Music Industry.” According to the schedule, it was going on from 10:00 until 4:00 at the Picnic Pavilion. On the back of the pamphlet I received was a map that was difficult to read indicating the general area where it was. I proceeded to the area I thought was indicated but couldn’t locate it. I asked several Six Flags employees and finally found one that was headed that way. However, once I arrived there, I found some equipment setup but nobody was playing and no one (with the exception of a guy watching the equipment) was there. He didn’t seem to know anything about who was playing or when. Apparently, there had been a change in the schedule.

After cooling off there briefly and consulting the program, I decided to try and find the Celebration Stage and see if I could catch some music there. However, by the time I trekked all the way back over there, I was soaked with sweat and hungry so I stopped at the first air-conditioned restaurant I could find and had a burrito. By the time I finished eating it, it was after 3:00 (the Celebration Stage closed at 3:00), so I again consulted the program and saw that the main stage acts were to begin at 4:00. So I headed back to the other side of the park to reach the Southern Star Amphitheater.

The walkway to the theater was lined with booths selling CDs, T-shirts, necklaces, and advertising Christian colleges and such. At the end was a Prayer Tent where people could come and have someone talk and pray with them. Each evening, people who had given their life to Christ or rededicated their life were encouraged to go to the tent. I spoke briefly with one of the workers and they estimate that over 21,000 people have either become Christians or rededicated their life over the 16 years that AtlantaFest has been going on! Praise God!

All around the area (including the stage) of the Southern Star Amphitheater were banners and advertisements for the festival’s various sponsors. The concept of Christian music being used to essentially promote the sell of products disturbed me. Just think how many Jesus could have fed if He had been sponsored by the local baker and fishmonger instead of having to rely on 5 loaves and 2 fishes! Or how many would have showed up for the Sermon on the Mount if He had spread the word in advance that overnight accommodations would be provided by the local tentmaker! It just doesn’t seem right. If corporations want to sponsor festivals by providing money BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE IN THE MESSAGE (rather than because they feel they can use the preaching of the message as an opportunity to promote their products), then let them give anonymously. After all, they would still get a tax break. Otherwise, “they have their reward in full” (Matthew 6:2).

I found a good seat and waited for the music to start. I come from a hard rock background, but I’ve learned to discern the Holy Spirit’s anointing even in forms of music that I can’t appreciate. For example, I recently went to a performance by a local Christian rap artist (and, forgive me, I HATE rap). But I was amazed by the undeniable presence of God in his music. So I was looking forward to seeing God work through the various styles of music that would be performed today.

After a brief retreat due to a thunderstorm, the first band took the stage. They opened with a prerecorded excerpt from the movie “Pulp Fiction” where Samuel Jackson (who plays a hit man) recites Ezekiel 25:17 to a person prior to killing them saying that he will “strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger.” The band was signed with Geffen (a secular label) and I couldn’t help but notice that the guitarist had a large pentagram on the front of his shirt. The music was a definitely rocking and well-performed. The audience responded enthusiastically. The name of Jesus was never mentioned during the entire performance.

The next band opened with a song from The Who called “Talking About My Generation.” They were not quite as “hard” as the previous band and seemed a little younger. However, the lead singer kept referring to the all the “Georgia Peaches” (i.e., young women) there and egging the audience on in giving him more applause. By this time, I was close to tears in seeing what was being passed as “Christian” music. At the end, however, the lead singer said that “there are a lot of gospels going around out there but they all point back to Jesus” and that he hoped that no one was going to get caught in a “legalistic trap” because “Jesus loves you just as you are.” It is to weep.

The third band gave me a glimmer of hope. They were a group of older guys and their music was little more “pop”. But they were not shy about leading the audience in prayer and worship. I began to feel the presence of God and several people in the audience stood, raised their hands, and worshipped God.

The fourth band was a well-known group and the audience greeted them enthusiastically. These guys had obviously taken the time to get in tune with the Spirit of God before taking the stage and they ushered all of us into His presence along with them. Many people stood and worshipped in music and prayer and some wept. The leader of the band gave the message for the evening and admonished the Christian community for having a shallow view of what it means to be (as one of the songs we sang said) “desperate” for Jesus. It was a good message and I agreed with most of what he had to say. I disagreed with where he implied that “relationship evangelism” (i.e., getting to know someone and then letting them see Christ in you before presenting the Gospel) was the only way to really win a person to Christ. However, he ended the message with an invitation and several people responded. The band closed out by playing their biggest hit followed by “Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2 which they said was their favorites song about heaven. According to the writer of the song (Bono), it was inspired by the idea that in Belfast you can tell someone’s religion and wealth by what street they live on and was about “a feeling of wanting to go somewhere where the values of the city and the values of our society don't hold you down “(Bono, speaking to Propaganda 5, 1987). Bono is considered by many to be a Christian although he doesn’t refer to himself as such. He says “it's something I aspire to, but I don't feel comfortable with that badge."

The headliner of the night took the stage after about an hour of sound checks and set-up for their impressive effects. When they came out the audience went wild. They were hard-rocking and high energy. Many of the lyrics and the leader singer’s words to the audience were about God and Jesus. And he once said that there was “a real spirit of worship” that night. But something just didn’t seem right. I think it was the fact that the band’s energy and excitement (as well as the crowd’s) was very familiar. I’ve seen it many times before at secular concerts. It’s the product of the whole “Rock Star” phenomena or as Lenny Kravitz called it, the “cult of personality.” It’s where you begin to “believe in your own press” and the excitement comes from the fact that you realize the second you step on that stage people are going to go absolutely nuts. And you revel in the glory and ego gratification. And the audience rewards you for reveling in it and the cycle perpetuates itself. Replace a few words here and there and it could have just as well been “The Rolling Stones” in concert. There may have been a real “spirit of worship” going on there but it wasn’t Jesus who was being worshipped. I left about a half-hour into their show.

All in all, I have to say that I was grieved. I feel that there was more wrong than right in what was happening at AtlantaFest 2003. More of ego worship than worship of God. More “feel good” ambiguity than “teaching and admonishing” (Colossians 3:16) or worshipping in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). There were a few gleams of hope. And some people did either accept Christ or rededicate their lives. So what do we say about that? If people were saved, doesn’t that justify the festival? My interpretation would be that God CAN use anything and He can take those “gleams of hope” where the purity of Christ’s message is untainted and cause them to bear fruit in the hearers. But what are we teaching these people about God in the manner in which put on these festivals? Consider what God might do if we were willing to obey Him instead of being selfishly ambitious (Romans 2:8) and using our freedom as “an opportunity for the flesh” (Galatians 5:13)? The fact that people were saved does not mean that every act which was performed in conjunction with their salvation was righteous, does it?

Christian music festivals can be an enormous source of edification and evangelism IF we do not compromise in the name of expediency, marketing, or seeking to gratify our own egos. Unfortunately, unless we make an effort to stop it and repent, we are headed for bigger and more elaborate festivals that will be very entertaining but will be an abomination in God’s eyes (Isaiah 1:11-18).