The Shifting Agenda of Christian Music Festivals

Although obscured from much of the mainstream populace, the subculture of Christian music festivals draws millions of people together every year. Today's bigger Christian music festivals – the Creation festivals, SonShine in Minnesota, LifeLight in South Dakota, the Spirit Festivals of the west coast – model themselves after a God-fearing rendition of a Bonnaroo or Coachella, with live performances and DJ sets, camping and food, but with the addition of large- scale prayer gatherings and seminars for religious learning. Over the past three decades, the phenomenon has played a central role in the propagation of contemporary American Christianity. In fact, the influence of Christian music festivals runs all the way up to the White House.