AGMF 2006 Main Stage [Pics courtesy Andrew Coates]

All About Souls [Originally published in Warcry. Reprinted with permission.]

Mark Tulk* meets musos and ministers on a recent trip through the heart and soul of australia’s fastest-growing gospel music festival.

It’s the biggest event of its kind in the southern hemisphere, Australia’s largest
drug- and alcohol-free event, and it attracts tens of thousands of people each year to
Queensland’s Toowoomba to hear some of the world’s best Christian musicians perform.
Yet there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of it.

‘The Australian Gospel Music Festival (AGMF) is all about engaging the broader community; it’s a community event rather than a religious event,’ says Isaac Moody, the
festival’s coordinator and founder.

‘A huge percentage of our crowd would say that they don’t normally attend church,
so AGMF is something they can come to and enjoy that upholds family values and has
an underlying Christian ethos.’

There’s little doubt that Moody is a young visionary. In 1999, the then 21-year-old
managed to rally support for a series of concerts in a variety of venues across his hometown of Toowoomba.

‘I always dreamed it would get this big, but I never dreamed of all the work it would
involve!’ says Moody, of an event that, now in its eighth year, is Australia’s fastest
growing festival and this Easter drew more than 30,000 people from all over the world.
And the positive effect of this is evident. An estimated $10 million is injected into
Toowoomba’s economy each year from the thousands of festival-bound tourists. No
wonder local government and businesses have hopped on board, lending their time and
money to ensure that the festival continues to grow.

One of the festival’s most distinctive characteristics is that it attracts far more than
the usual church crowd. The way in which people from all ages and backgrounds came
together to be a part of this year’s gathering, not to mention the significant grassroots
support from Toowoomba’s local community and church groups (the majority of AGMF’s
1,200-strong crew are volunteers), was impressive to say the least.

The festival has even helped iron out divisions within the wider church. It gives
denominations who may not traditionally see eye to eye a great reason to join together,
to get behind something bigger than themselves and to support the event with prayer
and practical support.

Many artists—both on stage and in press conferences—express the view that such
unity can only come out of a community of believers who give themselves wholeheartedly to serving one another with humility.

This attitude was certainly apparent in popular Sydney songwriter, Nathan Tasker.
After entertaining and inspiring more than 8,000 people on the main stage with a full
band on the Friday night of the festival, he seemed just as happy leading 200 or so earlyrisers the next morning, backed only by his acoustic guitar.

‘What a beautiful way to welcome the morning,’ said Tasker, ‘with many voices praying
and singing together.’

The music industry is not renowned for encouraging its heavyweights to be vulnerable
or to speak openly about their personal struggles. But many artists at this year’s
AGMF seemed to live by a different set of rules.

One example of an artist opening her heart was Grammy-award winner, Rebecca
St James. She confessed that Christians don’t always have everything together, even
though they often feel they should. She also shared how in recent times she has struggled to accept her singleness as a young woman in her late 20s.

‘I was starting...to get a bit bitter with God about it,’ said St James. ‘I really knew that it was starting to eat away at my walk with God, and that I needed to come to him and
let go of that.’

Frontman and lead vocalist of Christian supergroup Newsboys, Peter Furler, was similarly open. His band was perhaps the biggest name on the bill and is one of
Australia’s top-earning international acts, having sold some six million records.

Yet Furler admitted that the many years of touring and living on the road had at one point begun to take their toll on his marriage, adding that these days his life is about more than music and his role seems more straightforward.

‘In the past few years I’ve had a revelation that my role in life is to get up in the morning and seek first the kingdom of God, to pray to Jesus, to read his word, to love my wife as Christ loved the church—that’s enough of a job for a man to do!’ he said.

Many of the acts at AGMF could be classified into one of two general categories: those writing songs of personal testimony, and those producing praise and worship music of some sort.

One artist of the ‘personal testimony’ variety, for example, was US Christian contemporary music ‘legend’ Randy Stonehill who, with 18 albums under his belt, is still
going strong and about to kick off his humorously titled ‘He’s Still Alive’ tour of Australia.

At the other end of the scale, in the praise and worship category, it would be hard to go past Hillsong church’s worship pastor, Reuben Morgan, Hillsong United, or New Zealand’s Parachute Band. Reuben Morgan especially is known for his songs, which are sung each week by churches all over the world.

There are notable exceptions to such categorisations, however. Having been in the business for more than two decades, Newsboys would probably sit somewhere between both categories.

Complete with blinding strobes, smoke machines and paper cannons, their powerful
and visually spectacular show was reminiscent, at times, of something AC/DC or
Van Halen might have done. But one would be unwise to draw too many similarities here. Midway through their set, Furler stopped everything to share a word of testimony with the hyped-up but focused crowd. It was a revelatory moment that evidenced the increasingly blurred line that distinguishes church services from Christian rock
concerts, and vice versa. Furler even concluded the show with prayer and a plea to the audience to read their Bibles every day.

There are other examples of acts defying easy categorisation; namely, UK-based DJ
Andy Hunter and Brisbane-based jazz keyboard extraordinaire, Chris Poulsen, of Scat
and the Chris Poulsen Trio (CP3).

Each instrumentalist sees himself as an artist who desires to express something of
God’s character, and bring glory to him, but without relying on words to do so.

Hunter is a world-class DJ working in some of the world’s hippest clubs and is
known for his award-winning, progressive instrumental techno and ambient music.
So how does he see his work fitting into a gospel music festival?

‘I’m into dance music, so whatever I’m writing is an expression of worship to God,’
says Hunter. ‘Through our art, we’re communicating—communing—with God. I want to get out pieces of music that capture people’s attention; not necessarily a lyric, but an atmosphere or a feeling that expresses the heart’.

Poulsen evokes a similar sentiment. Wearing checked pants, black T-shirt and red
shoes, the 23-year-old beat the keys of his Fender Rhodes piano throughout the CP3’s
45-minute set; half standing, half dancing and gesturing to the wildly enthusiastic crowd.

Combining funk, fusion, Latin and bebop styles, the CP3’s set at the festival was both
engaging and fun. Several of those near the front looked almost shell-shocked and
stared in disbelief at Poulsen’s incredible talent and passion.

‘We have a kind of positive vibe about us when we play, which is cool,’ he says.
‘People often come up to us and say “there’s just something different about you
guys” … We’re playing our music out of a heart to serve God, to do our best in what
we do for him.

‘We’re not so much preaching through our music,’ he adds, ‘because obviously there’s no lyrics, but when you’re a muso people like to talk to you, so in that context we get to share where we’re coming from and what the Lord’s done for us.’

Moody’s definition of gospel music is deliberately broad—the festival showcases
many styles of popular music, touching on everything from folk through to jazz to heavy
metal. The common thread, however, is the message of Jesus.

While business in the AGMF Superstore seemed to be thriving, the festival was clearly
so much more than merely another opportunity for artists and record companies to sell
CDs and merchandise—it was about community and coming together to celebrate faith, and the art this faith inspires.

And the lack of alcohol in no way hindered people being able to let loose and party. In
fact, a large part of what makes AGMF such a successful festival is that it provides a safe
environment for young people and families to enjoy great music, food and a variety of
fun activities together.

This year there was even a snowboarding display, with snow trucked up from colder, southern regions. Several of the festival stages were open to the public, including a cafe area holding 2,000 people, as well as the main stage on the closing night for an interdenominational church service on Easter Sunday.

Indeed, the festival seems, in a sense, to have it all. Yet Moody admits he still has one
addition he’d like to make to its itinerary… and it’s no small ambition.

‘My dream artist is U2,’ he elaborates. ‘The day Bono comes to Queens Park is the
day I resign—you just couldn’t do better than that. He is just so amazing on social issues,
and his message would be so challenging to this city. People would hear him sing and
go away wanting to change the world—he is so inspiring.’

 

FAST FACTS:
* AGMF uses the equivalent amount of electricity as a quarter of the population of Toowoomba
* AGMF performance tents at Queens Park cover 10 acres of canvas
* AGMF utilises enough sound, communications and computer network cabling to stretch from Toowoomba to Perth and back again

 

*Mark Tulk is president of Melbourne-based independent record label, Small House Records.