Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. Psalm 95:1-3 (NIV)
Yes, you read it right...I wrote the same word twice on purpose! Tomorrow evening (Wednesday) at 5:30, the Elevate committee is hosting our first ever Elevate Elevate Youth Rally at the Martinsville Fairgrounds. We will have hot dogs, chips and cookies for the kids to eat, a worship and praise service will follow and then some fun team-building activities to wrap it up. Door prizes including concert tickets, CD's, t-shirts and Cardinal tickets will be given away.
What is Elevate Elevate? Elevate is what we call our Contemporary Christian concert held at our fairgrounds the Saturday evening before fair week and we're trying to get the word out and get people excited about it. This year's Elevate 2012 line-up includes Kutless, For King & Country and Josh Wilson. The first year Needtobreathe and Jars of Clay werethere and last year we had Sanctus Real, Gungor & JJ Heller. We have definitely been blessed with some talented musicians! (And we like to joke that we were what put Needtobreathe on the map, as they have since toured with Taylor Swift!)
This is our third year and we are hoping that we can really pull the crowd in because the concert needs to be able to sustain itself. Although the first year did very well, last year's low numbers (terrible thunderstorm) hurt our bank roll so-to-speak. We have some very generous donors that have carried the concert the past two years, but that is not at all the long-term plan. We need to have a good crowd again this year to be able to keep it going.
It seems as though we had tried everything we could to get the message out and include area churches, youth, ministers, etc, but it just didn't catch. We have advertised the best we can, and last year we even included a dvd with a video on it to be shown at churches along with some bulletin inserts. We don't really know if those were utilized or not, but it was a catchy promo:)
We have never really figured out who we're actually appealing to. Our goal would be to show the younger crowd how to have a good time praising the Lord without it being too crazy and possibly reach out to someone unsaved, but in reality a lot of youth just aren't interested in Christian music. I know I wasn't when I was that age. On the other hand, I absolutely love contemporary Christian music now and rarely listen to anything else. I will drive hours to see a band I like and won't think twice about it. So it's hard for me to understand why everyone else wouldn't. Ha. So the question is, do we target the younger kids, the middle-aged crowd or what?
This year we're going at it full throttle. We have contacted area youth groups, youth minsters/leaders, pastors and other interested church members to help us. We've been holding meetings and we have come up with the idea to have a youth rally to elevate Elevate...which is what we're having tomorrow night. We are hoping that by promoting the idea to the local youth groups, they will get excited about it and then encourage their unchurched friends to come with them.
One idea we've tried to promote is that even if you don't want to attend the concert because maybe it's not your thing, buy a ticket and find someone who could benefit from it. It could be a wonderful outreach. Just because you don't enjoy that kind of music, doesn't mean someone else won't. And we all know the power of God's timing, that ticket may be just what that person needs at that moment to take the next step.
Elevate is a great atmosphere for a family, and we will be having the bouncy slides and things set up again for the younger kids to play on during the concert. (That seemed to go over quite well last year.) There will be a prayer tent and a merchandise tent. We have a newly-designed Elevate tshirt that will be on sale also. My mom prefers to sit in the grandstand where it's not quite so loud...that too is another option for some that aren't into the loudness of it all. Otherwise, you bring your own lawnchairs or blankets and scatter about in the infield.
So if you have a junior high, high school or college-age youth, send them over to the Martinsville Fairgrounds tomorrow night at 5:30 for a wonderful evening of fellowship and fun. They may even win a cool door prize. Encourage them to bring a friend that might not normally attend a youth group or church event.
Elevate 2012 is Saturday, July 7 at the Martinsville Fairgrounds. It begins at 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 and that includes three full sets of music from Josh Wilson, For King & Country and Kutless. Tickets are on sale online at http://www.elevatemartinsville.com/ or locally at my favorite hometown store, Accents. Tomorrow night we are running a special...Tickets for $14 or there is a combo deal, T-shirt and a ticket, for $25. We sold our t-shirts last year for $15 so that is a $6 savings. We have a Facebook page and would encourage you to "like" us on Facebook and share the page with your friends.
The goal of Elevate is to elevate the community and lift it up. One of my favorite things from being part of the Elevate team has been the weekly prayer at the fairgrounds in the month leading up to the concert. We will meet every Thursday night at 7:00, stand in a circle, grasp hands and pray. It has been awesome. The peace that comes over me during that time is incredible (even when I think I don't have time for it). I do feel that our fairgrounds has a spiritual presence and I'm thankful for that. I have been in the grandstands and watched rain fall in a field across the road (only a few yards from the midway) as we whispered prayers for the rain to stay away...and it did. Sometimes it doesn't, but I do believe God watches over that patch of land.
Help us as we try to promote Elevate 2012. If you can't attend, then please be in prayer with us for this event. Our purpose is to elevate the community by glorifying God through praise and worship. We don't want this to succeed for our glory, but for His.
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