More than Music at bonnaroo

Tennessee Baptists prepare a place of refuge for the 80,000 music fans who saturated a 700-acre field in Manchester, Tennessee, during the nation's largest music festival.

By Carol Pipes

For four days the world converged on the hamlet of Manchester, Tennessee (pop. 10,000). Or so it seemed. This small unassuming town in Middle Tennessee surges to the state’s fifth largest city every June when Bonnaroo comes to town.

Named best festival by Rolling Stone magazine, the 7-year-old event is a four-day, multistage camping festival held on a 700-acre farm, 60 miles south of Nashville. The festival was held June 12 through 15 this year and featured Metallica, Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson and Widespread Panic as headliners.

Known for peace, love, and pot, Bonnaroo attracts some 80,000 music fans from all walks of life—college preps, hippies, soccer moms, you name it.
 
“We humans are a strange breed of critter, and you can see all of our strangeness on parade at Bonnaroo,” says one Bonnaroo blogger.

But weird comes in different forms according to NAMB chaplain Bill Gandy. “We’re the weirdest group at Bonnaroo, because we have nothing to sell and nothing to gain,” he says of the Tennessee Baptist volunteers who were onsite to man the “More than Music” tent at the festival. Hundreds of campers stopped by the hospitality tent every day for free coffee and donuts, water, iced tea, lemonade, and fruit. “We’re here to be ministers of God’s grace,” says Gandy.

In the heat of the day, campers found shade—a luxury at Bonnaroo—and shelter when it rained. But most of all they experienced the love of Christ.

“We’ve become a place of refuge,” says Kerry Walker, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Manchester and coordinator of the “More than Music” ministry. “We help people who are lost or separated from their friends get back to their campsites. We’ve helped people get home who got here and realized it was more than they bargained for. And we’ve driven people to Wal-Mart to get prescriptions filled. Our ministry is only limited by our creativity.”

Of course, the main reason Tennessee Baptists are on hand is to remind campers that there’s more to life than music and the next big party. And then point them to Creator God—the One who sings over them.

Tennessee Baptists have been serving the Bonnaroo crowd since the festival’s infancy.

“The first couple of years the town wasn’t ready for the masses of people, and traffic was a nightmare,” says Walker. “Travelers were stuck on the interstate and access roads for hours, and they were unprepared for the hot temperatures and long lines to get into the venue. Several churches in town got together and handed out bottles of water to people stuck in traffic.”

Every year, Tennessee Baptists have increased their efforts in tandem with the growth of the festival. Two years ago they were able to provide the hospitality tent. In addition to free drinks, they’re now providing an Internet Café. And a Sunday morning worship service. It’s become a gathering place. Chaplains and volunteers mingle with the visitors and easily strike up conversations. “We encourage everyone who comes to the tent to come back as often as they want,” says Chaplain Gandy.

And they keep coming back. Dave, from Bartlett, Tennessee, had visited the tent several times when I met him. “I really appreciate what you guys are doing here. It’s a great place to get away from the crowds, the drugs, and the alcohol,” says Dave. “I’m sick of seeing all the stuff that’s going on around me. I’m ready to go home. And I know I need to get serious with God.  I’m so thankful you guys are here.”

“These kids are not our enemies,” says Walker. “They do things we hate, but Satan is the enemy and they are the battleground. We’re here to speak the Truth in love and show them they are loved and accepted.

“Most are searching and are okay to talk about spiritual things, as long as you ask them their story and earn the right to speak.”

Last year Walker met a Rastafarian from Atlanta. “He spent a lot of time at the tent and told me he was just looking for some peace,” says Walker. “I told him he’d never find peace at a place like this. And then I told him that I carry peace with me wherever I go. ‘How do you do that,’ he asked me. I shared the gospel with him and then prayed that God would help him find the peace he was looking for.”

Baylon Hilliard, director of missions for the Duck River Association, says the opportunities for sowing seeds to build up the Kingdom are unlimited. “In addition to the volunteers who serve in the tent, we have teams of volunteers who go out among the campers and vendors for the purpose of inviting people to the tent and to start spiritual conversations,” says Hilliard. “People ask us, ‘Why are you doing this?’ We tell them we’re here because God loves you and we love you.”

Scott and Madolyn Chitwood, members of River Lake Baptist Church, Winchester, Tennessee, have volunteered at Bonnaroo for two years. As a team, they walk through the campground talking with campers and vendors. “It’s wonderful getting to talk to people and then moving to a salvation testimony,” say the Chitwoods. “When the door is open, we just ask them if they want to walk through that door and accept Christ.”

“We don’t always get to see the harvest first hand here,” says Larry Gilmore, state director of evangelism for the Tennessee Baptist Convention. “For many of the people here, all we can do is share the Truth, plant a seed, and pray that down the road someone else will water that seed and then eventually God will bring them to harvest.”

The volunteer team received a message last year from a young man who’d been at Bonnaroo. He said that when he’d met the volunteers he didn’t understand why Christians would be at a festival like this. One of those volunteers gave him a Frisbee with the gospel written on it. He took the Frisbee home, played with it, but more importantly he read the message on it and gave his life to Christ.

“We don’t always know what’s going to happen, but God does,” says Gilmore. But if we’re Kingdom minded then we just keep planting, keep sowing, and God’s going to give a harvest.”

Carol Pipes is editor of On Mission.

Listen to the On Mission podcast with interviews from Bonnaroo.