"All Creation Sings to You"

A music festival with heavy metal, punk, hip-hop and pop music might seem
like an unusual place to get baptized, but Creation is a festival with strict
rules: no alcohol, no drugs and no sex before marriage.

"It's like the Christian version of Woodstock, basically, except it's
neat and clean," said Victor Gibson, 37, from Manheim, Pennsylvania, who brought
his wife and five children aged from five to 14 to the four-day festival.

"Take a look back at the crowd," he said, as thousands of fans held
their arms in the air, pounding out the beat of a song by Christian band
Kutless, whose sound Gibson likened to Metallica. "No rioting, no fighting,
nobody getting beat up."

Lily Ellerson, a 12-year-old from Maryland, was one of nearly 200
people who were baptized in a pond on the final day of Creation, which drew
around 70,000 people in late June.

Ellerson said she decided to be baptized after hearing a speaker at one
of the side-events at the festival.

"I felt God was there," Ellerson said. "I could just see him, I could
feel him all around me, and I thought I wanted to give my full heart to
him."

Ellerson came with a church youth group of 47 people, including her
cousin Emily White, who volunteers at the church.

"You really do feel like, wow, we are in the Kingdom right now and
right here," White said. "You're living in a community of 70,000 people, without
the benefit of electricity or water, yet everybody loves each other, you don't
hear about things being stolen or fights.

"We really are living the way God made us to live."

One in four Americans count themselves as evangelical Protestants, a
growing movement with serious clout in a country where religion and politics
often mix. Creation is officially non-denominational and it drew some Catholics,
but the rhetoric of most speakers was that of "born again" Christians.

GOD IS "SMILING"
The highlight of the festival for some was the
baptism.

Barefoot and wearing shorts and tee-shirts, they waded thigh-deep into
the pond to be dunked by pastors who prayed with them, then submerged them
entirely in the water, cheered on by hundreds of emotional family members and
friends.

"Can you imagine God smiling right now?" one woman said as she
watched.

Now in its 30th year and growing bigger every year, the festival is in
many ways like any secular summer music festival -- thousands of young people
camping out, getting muddy in the rain and eagerly hunting down their heroes for
autographs.

But these music fans wore T-shirts with slogans such as "Virginity
Rocks" and "Mosh for Jesus," the dress code encouraged modesty and some friendly
fans stood around offering free hugs to passersby.

And unlike other rock festivals there was a curfew and alcohol and
drugs were strictly off limits.
Between the music, teenagers and students
attended seminars on abortion, on "Success God's Way" and one called
"BeYOUtiful" for young girls.

Matthew Benjamin appealed to one group to help spread the word of Jesus
to students in China. He urged volunteers to step forward and release brightly
colored balloons as a symbol of their pledge to give a year of their lives to
mission work.

Despite touching on some serious topics, the tone of the festival was
more celebration than sermon.

Digressing during a talk urging people to sponsor children in
developing countries, inspirational speaker Bob Lenz said he had five children,
adding: "We like how they're made."

"Sex is beautiful when it's in marriage," he said, provoking laughs.
"It's what God has designed, it's awesome, it's time to take it back and say
'God is not a killjoy."'

MUSIC WITH MESSAGE
Gibson, a father of five and one of few African
Americans in a largely white crowd, said he preferred hip-hop but he was happily
singing along to Kutless. "Music makes you feel something but the end goal is to
lead you to God," he said.

"What's important is the message behind the music."

Kutless guitarist James Meade, 25, said he was saved by Jesus after
years of being abused as a child, spending time in jail for dealing drugs and
nearly dying of alcohol poisoning on his 17th birthday.

"We're five individual guys who have really experienced what the Bible
and what the Gospel talks about in meeting Jesus Christ personally," Meade said
in an interview. "It's not just music for the sake of art."

Much of the music spoke more directly about God.

Group 1 Crew sang a song called "Forgive Me" that was like a hip-hop
version of Psalm 23, including the words "Though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death." Chris Tomlin had a crowd of around 30,000 singing along to
his version of "Amazing Grace."

"A lady just came up to me about an hour ago, she said 'You know, I
really don't like this music much, but I know it's good for the kids, I see the
way they relate to it,"' festival founder Harry Thomas said in an interview.

there was another paragraph or two.. but i thought it was a rather lame way to end the article.
but i really just felt like shouting an amen after reading this: "You really do feel like, wow, we are in the Kingdom right now and right here," White said. "You're living in a community of 70,000 people, without the benefit of electricity or water, yet everybody loves each other, you don't hear about things being stolen or fights.
"We really are living the way God made us to live."

it's so beautiful. so many people gathered together to have a good time, to hear some good tunes, some good messages, and to return home a different person. you look around and you really feel like this could be a city. that this could be your home. i honestly think it would be beautiful to be able to live at a setting at creation for a year. it's weird. i don't know i can explain it. :)