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Festivals of faith draw multitudes

Springing from the tradition of the revival meeting, these huge operations blend the religious and secular.

By SHERRI DAY
Published July 19, 2006

Hours before the sun rose Wednesday, a group of women climbed aboard a chartered bus outside Beulah Baptist Institutional Church in Tampa.Carrying luggage and high expectations, many did not sleep the night before.

Felicia Westbrooks arrived before 5 a.m. with perfectly coiffed hair, flawless makeup and eyes bright with anticipation.

“I’m totally excited,” said Westbrooks, 29. “I’m expecting a breakthrough, my spirituality going to the next level.”

After praying for safe travels, the women, 19 in all, headed to Atlanta to attend what has become one of the country’s largest religious gatherings: MegaFest.

Sponsored by Bishop T.D. Jakes and his 30,000-member Potter’s House church in Dallas, Mega­Fest includes four days of concerts, seminars and preaching. Religious scholars say it is the latest version of tent revivals and the once-popular crusades made famous by the Rev. Billy Graham.

In the last decade, dozens of such Christian conferences have sprung up around the country, including several in the Tampa Bay area.

Themes vary from gender-specific retreats to youth-oriented events that cater to Christians and the unchurched. Attendance ranges from more than 150,000 for MegaFest to smaller events like Tampa televangelist Paula White’s annual women’s retreat, which by design peaks at about 2,000 participants.

Many of the offerings, which are primarily the province of Evangelical Christians and large ministries, employ a festival-style operation, blending religious offerings with secular ones. Critics warn that the combination could risk watering down religion, a danger to people who have yet to learn the basic tenets of Christianity. But others say the mix of offerings meets the needs of the faithful and attracts people church leaders hope to expose to religion.

“For congregations that are doing things differently, they really have to be out there with what some of them call a 'candy ministry’ to entice people back to church,” said Scott Thumma, a professor of sociology and religion at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut.

MegaFest targets families with a $35 registration fee per person, a price set to appeal to people from all socioeconomic levels .

The event has a multimillion-dollar budget, megawatt presenters and corporate sponsors such as Coca-Cola and Clorox.

The Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau says MegaFest brought $76-million to the city last year. 

But “we have yet to see a profit come in from MegaFest in the previous years that we’ve done it,” Jakes said.

He says his ministry continues to put on the festival, which began in 2004, because it provides the chance to reach those who might find regular church services unpalatable.

It also seeks to rejuvenate the faithful. For those in need of laughter, there is Just Churchin’, a family-oriented comedy show, featuring comedian Steve Harvey. Fashionistas can spot the latest trends at a designer showcase. There also are exercise sessions, cooking classes, home buying seminars, a health expo and a mini spa.

“Sometimes people of faith are stereotyped as being one dimensional when we care about everything everybody else cares about,” Jakes said.

The event’s more traditional revival-style worship services feature some of the world’s most well-known evangelical preachers, including New Orleans’ Bishop Paul S. Morton and White, who is scheduled to preach this morning.  

Jessie Betts, a Tampa minister and mother of three, makes MegaFest her family’s annual vacation. When she attended in 2004, her children got to see the UniverSoul  Circus, hear rhythm and blues singer Indie.Arie  and meet cast members from the 2002 movie Drumline.

“It’s important to show our children that we can have an enjoyable time in Christ and not think that the church is just within the four walls,” Betts said.

Similar conferences are common in the Tampa Bay area.

White, who pastors Without Walls International Church with her husband, Bishop Randy White, hosts two annual conferences that draw thousands to the bay area. Pursue the Passion is a revival-type offering aimed at men and women. The May event, at the University of South Florida’s Sun Dome, drew about 8,000 people, White’s staff said.

In August, White plans to hold Celebrate You, a women’s retreat in Orlando. She credits Jakes’ early Woman Thou Art Loosed conferences, which focused on women’s issues such as recovering from abuse and failed relationships with helping her grow.

“I believe it was imperative to invest in myself spiritually,” White said. “Life has a way of depleting you, and these conferences have a way of refueling you.”

In March 2007, international evangelist Luis Palau will bring his two-day festival to Raymond James Stadium. Palau, who has been called the Billy Graham of Latin America, once patterned his events after Graham’s crusades. But he abandoned the format in 1999 to make nonbelievers more comfortable.

“Hopefully, we have created an atmosphere that’s very nonthreatening, very familiar, very enjoyable for anybody that would want to come regardless of their faith,’’ said Randy Burtis, Palau’s festival director.

The revamped Palau festivals feature a custom-made skate and dirt bike park complete with professional skaters and BMX riders and performances by secular and Christian musicians.

The Palau staff also jettisoned the offering plate in favor of corporate donations, Burtis said. For the Tampa event, which boasts Tony Dungy as honorary chairman, organizers hope for crowds of at least 80,000 a day.

The success of spiritual conferences and festivals often provide spiritual leaders with a ready-made audience for business offerings.
Not surprisingly, Jakes leads the charge. The bishop also operates a separate for-profit company, T.D. Jakes Enterprises, that is responsible for many of his bestselling books and movie deals.

But conference attendees say it is the festivals’ atmosphere, Christian fellowship opportunities and diverse activities that keep them coming back. Ultimately, personalities hold little sway if they don’t minister to the masses.

“I’m really not going for the names,” said Nina Moseley , who leads Tampa’s Beulah Women’s group. “I’m going to hear the word.”

Sherri Day can be reached at sday@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3405.

[Last modified July 19, 2006, 22:20:26]