The Christian Festival Association (CFA), a group of the nation’s largest Christian music festivals, announced today that its number of participating member festivals had grown to a record number of 37 events going into the 2016 festival season. Collectively, these events reached 1.2 million attendees in the summer of 2015.
Members of the Association from around the country gathered in Nashville last week to share ideas and best practices for their ministries. Taking many cues from successful mainstream music festivals while remaining steadfast to its mission to propel the Gospel into culture through music and the arts, Association members discussed such diverse topics as: making the Gospel relevant to millennials and Generation Z attendees, festival operational software applications, leading edge production techniques, national and grassroots sponsorship development, Christian cinema partnerships and the organization’s National Talent Search competition. CFA members were also treated to daily devotions and intimate worship sessions led by evangelist Rob Roozeboom and artists Matt Maher and Building 429.
“This really was a watershed year for our Association” said CFA President Kevin Newton who also serves as festival director for Unity Christian Music Festival in Muskegon, Michigan. “We added nine new member festivals in this our tenth year of working together as an Association. We often talk about how we are ‘better together’ and this year’s annual meeting was a clear example of this. This meeting generated great ideas and also great excitement among our members as we begin planning for the 2016 festival season.”
CFA Executive Director Bob Thompson added: “It was such a joy to spend a few days with like-minded brothers and sisters who are so deeply committed to using the platform we have been given to make a difference for the Kingdom of God. As one of our speakers clearly articulated: ‘It’s not us against the world. It’s God for the world through us.'”
The current members of the Christian Festival Association are:
. AgapeFest – Illinois
. Alive Festival – Ohio
. Amplify Fest – Arkansas
. Big Ticket Festival – Michigan
. Christian Music Day – North Carolina
. Creation Festival-Ichthus – Kentucky
. Creation Festival-Northeast – Pennsylvania
. Creation Festival-Northwest – Washington
. Elevate Festival-Arizona
. En Fuego – Alabama
. FISHFEST – California
. GraceFest – California
. Heaven Fest – Colorado
. Hills Alive – South Dakota
. JoshuaFest – California
. Kingdom Bound – New York
. KingsFest – Virginia
. LifeLight Festival – South Dakota
. Lifest – Wisconsin
. PointFest – Ohio
. Resound Festival – Missouri
. RiseFest – Iowa
. Rock The Desert – Texas
. Rock The Island – Michigan
. Rock The Park – North Carolina
. Rock The Smokies – Tennessee
. SonRise – North Carolina
. Sonshine Festival – Minnesota
. SoulFest – New Hampshire
. Spirit Fest Austin – Texas
. SpiritSong Festival – Ohio
. Spirit West Coast Festival – Northern California
. Spirit West Coast Festival – Southern California (2)
. Unity Christian Music Festival – Michigan
. Uprise Festival – Pennsylvania
. WonderJam – Toronto, Canada
Membership in the Association is available to any Christian festival operator engaged in the production of an annual Christian music festival, in existence for at least three consecutive years, with an average daily attendance of 5,000 or more attendees. Additional details can be found at cfa-membership.com.
About the Christian Festival Association
The Christian Festival Association was formed in 2006 and is comprised of thirty seven of the nation’s largest Christian music festivals united by a common goal: to bring glory of God. The group meets regularly via conference calls and at an annual meeting in Nashville to discuss matters such as talent development, spiritual content, event production, marketing, national sponsorship acquisition and other topics of common interest. The Association’s website is www.christianfestivals.com.