NRT Contributor Sarah Fine is at Creation Northwest with members of the NRTeam, including Founder Kevin McNeese and Senior Editor Marcus Hathcock. Follow NRT's moment-by-moment updates on Twitter at @newreleasetue, or Sarah's (@sarahisawriter) Kevin's (@kevinmcneese) and Marcus' (@mheternal) individual accounts for their personal experiences.
Read our
Day One and
Day Two recaps.
Stay tuned to NewReleaseTuesday.com for exclusive interviews, recaps and photos from Creation Festival!
It seems that the weather up here in normally beautiful Enumclaw, Wash. can't make up its mind this week. Upon waking up, festival-goers were greeted with a torrential downpour--complete with thunder, flashes of lightning and strong, gusty winds.
One might wonder: does weather like this "dampen" the spirits of Creation Northwest? Certainly not! As a matter of fact, day three of the festival was already shaping up to be one of the best yet!
The cold, rainy and muddy morning began with MIKESCHAIR over on main stage, and although the turnout wasn't massive, the small but mighty crowd cheered along as the band sang several of their hits, including "All For You", "Let The Waters Rise" and "Keep Changing The World." Lead singer Mike Grayson took on the rap duties of Lecrae, and quite well I might add.
The sun made a brief appearance as CCM up-and-comers Royal Tailor took the stage. Playing songs off their debut project Black & White, the group held the audience's attention closely with tunes such as "Make A Move", "Hold Me Together", "Death Of Me" and a few others. The quartet dedicated a portion of their time to the work World Vision is doing in South America, which is something that commendably set them apart from the rest. Lead singer Tauren Wells wowed the crowd with not only his phenomenal vocal chops, but his energetic and ultra-talented dance moves, which included a very Jacksonian display of the Moonwalk.
After several hours of set changes and rain showers continuing to pound the area, the main stage picked up the action once again as an eager (and soaked) crowd piled onto the lawn to see GMA Dove Award winner Chris August. His set was on the shorter side, but chock full of new music off his forthcoming project, The Upside Of Down--including songs titled "Amen", current single "Center Of It", and the title track. The crowd was a tad disappointed with the exclusion of Chris' beloved and comical "Candy Wrap" tune, but was consoled by the addition of a few of his most popular songs, including "7 x 70" and "Starry Night."
With the floodgates of Heaven opening wide on the field for the umpteenth time that day, longtime Latin rockers Salvador--alongside none other than legendary CCM female vocalist Jaci Velasquez--took the stage to heat things up a bit. Playing a even mix of both Spanish and English language songs, the two took turns throwing in some of their biggest tunes over the years, as well as a few fan favorites like Salvador's cover of "Heaven" and "What Would Life Be Like," as well as the song that launched Jaci's carrier, "Un Lugar Celestial (A Heavenly Place)."
Nic Gonzales, Salvador's lead singer (who also just so happens to be Jaci's husband) stuck around after their show to lead the crowd in a short time of worship before that night's teacher, Nick Vujicic--a world-renowned speaker born without any arms or legs--took the stage to share a remarkable message on the topic of faith and finding our worth in Christ. The crowd was captivated by his story of growing up limbless and living life without limits, a countless number of lives making their way to the prayer tent after his message to dedicate or re-dedicate their lives to Christ. It was a powerful portion of what was still a very young night with much more to come.
With the aggravating rain storms finally looking like they were coming to and end for the night, the crowd began to increase as Florida-based band Tenth Avenue North took the stage with their acclaimed blend of showmanship and authenticity. Playing a fair share of older material like "By Your Side", "Healing Begins", "Break Me Down" and "You Are More", the group--who also just wrapped a new album--played a few new tunes like "Losing," and the new project's namesake, "The Struggle."
Tenth Avenue North lead vocalist Mike Donehey spoke a great deal of the new project, saying the theme behind it is to encourage the church with the fact that it's okay to struggle, but how that doesn't mean we're struggling to be free. His famous wit and rawness once again shone from the stage, and was hard to keep from tearing up at times, especially as he, at one point, climbed into the crowd and recited Romans 8 in its entirety over everyone in the crowd dealing with guilt and depression. It was one of the most moving moments of the entire festival by far.
With the festival grounds finally starting to dry of in the biting cold of the night, the long awaited headliner, San Diego's very own mega-group Switchfoot, finally took the stage with an innumerable amount number of people sprawled across the field to see their epic show. Playing several tunes off their latest release, Vice Verses, such as "Dark Horses" and "War Inside", they also threw out a handful of their most popular songs, such as "Stars", "Meant To Live", "We Are One Tonight", "Mess Of Me" and several more.
Jumping into the crowd to interact seemed to be a popular idea among the bands at Creation that night, seeing as frontman Jon Foreman did the exact same thing in the middle of Switchfoot's set. He briefly spoke about the shocking theater shooting taking place in Aurora, Colo. just hours before, and spoke about how the tragedy caused him to contemplate the brevity of life and how quickly it passes, transitioning beautifully into the song, "Restless." The band played a dazzlingly artistic hour-long set, and due to overwhelming crowd demand, returned for a short encore, made up of tracks "Where I Belong" and the gritty and guitar-screeching "The Sound (John M. Perkins Blues)."
There was a somber feeling in the air among attendees as the concert came to an end, knowing that they were rapidly approaching the final day of the festival. With the promise of a sunnier forecast and a mere 24 hours left to make some more memories, a majority of the festival goers called it an early night and headed back to their accommodations one last time to catch a up on some much-needed sleep and prepare for whatever fun and chaos the final day of Creation Northwest 2012 had to offer. After all, you know what they say, "We've saved the best for last."
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Click here for Day Four]
