Free “Christian Woodstock” with Third Day promotes religion
About 20,000 people came together on Verbena, a small community near Clanton, for a Christian rock festival. But, the event has its origins in Cottondale.
Travis Crim, a former walk-on football player at the University of Alabama and former youth minister at the Church at Tuscaloosa, is the impetus behind the festival. The vision for it solidified during an event he held a decade ago in Cottondale.
It was a Wednesday night, and a small group had gathered outside. There was a bonfire, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.
“I think that night was the most powerful for me,” Crim said during a telephone interview. “After it was over, a little girl made a decision. God really moved in her heart, and she kind of made a commitment to the Lord that she was going to be intentional in her faith.”
Crim wanted others to have the same experience as that girl. So he began to think bigger. “God had spoken in my heart, that he wanted to do the same type of thing but on a larger scale,” Crim said.
He called his high school friend Johnny Giles, and the two ultimately started En Fuego Ministries. The next summer En Fuego, which is Spanish for “on fire,” held a Christian concert with a couple of bonfires. About 300 people attended.
The following year, the audience nearly doubled to 550, and it’s been growing ever since. Music has been the attraction enabling the growth, Crim said, adding that pop culture, especially through the music industry, is one of the best evangelistic tools he’s identified.
“We believe that what you’ve got is a group of people who are excited about this person called Jesus. And we want to share that with as many people as we can, and this event is a tool to do that,” he said. “We have an opportunity to draw kids who perhaps otherwise would never give us the time of day but through this art form of music we can speak to them.
“Our heart is to reach the non-Christian kid. But to do that, we target the youth pastors and the kids in churches.”
Stephanie Shelton, a 19-year-old University of Alabama student, said En Fuego works.
“It’s a different setting, outdoors in the open air, and people hear the message differently and take away something that they don’t necessarily get in church,” Shelton said.
She has attended En Fuego three years and while she said En Fuego is a worship service, it’s also laid-back and fun making it more appealing to her generation. Unfortunately, she said, she would not be attending this year because of a schedule conflict.
Last year, the crowd estimates ranged between 10,000 and 12,000. This year, Crim said organizers are expecting the event to double in size. With each year, the ministry has been able to attract a larger headlining band within the Christian Rock industry. Crim describes it as a “Christian Woodstock.”
This year, Yarber and her husband are taking their two daughters and a few other teenage girls. Today is the 14th birthday of one of the Yarbers’ daughters, Kelley. She said she wanted her celebration to be more than the usual sleepover.
“I’m a Christian, and I love Third Day. My friends are Christians, and I thought they would like it, too,” Kelley said. “I’m expecting to hear some great music and have fun and worship with my friends. And I’m thinking it will be different from anything I’ve done before.”
Mauri Yarber said that while she knows Christian rock is a great tool to attract teenagers to Christianity, the music also speaks to adults.
“The music is great to listen to, but the words are awesome,” she said. “It is just so much more. They [Third Day] put it all together.”
Here’s an unplugged song from Third Day titled Your Love Oh Lord.
