Newsboys, for King & Country wow crowds at Winterfest

Christian music fans, youth pastors, church groups, and prospective students poured into the Vines Center this weekend to ring in 2017 at the 15th annual Winterfest.

The two-day celebration featured 16 acts, including some of the world’s top Christian artists, speakers, and performers, helping to make it the largest Christian New Year’s party on the East Coast.

This year’s lineup included Newsboys, headed by front man and Liberty alumnus Michael Tait, Andy Mineo, for King & Country, Atlanta’s Family Force 5, Red, Hollyn, Crowder, and Liberty’s own Jason Lewis, better known as Humble Tip.

Exciting activities around campus gave the thousands of eventgoers a taste of life at Liberty and a chance to try out its world-class recreational facilities, including Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre, the university’s year-round ski, snowboarding, and tubing slopes, and the ramps at Liberty Mountain Skate Park.

On Friday, the LaHaye Recreation and Fitness Center quickly filled up with guests making their way onto campus. Many started basketball and indoor soccer games at the Thomas Indoor Soccer Center. Nearby, others laced up their skates and took advantage of open skating sessions at the LaHaye Ice Center.  Up on Liberty Mountain, the slopes were open at Snowflex.

Stickers with #LUWinterfest were plastered on doors and windows at different events, encouraging guests to take selfies and post pictures to social media.

Before the Friday’s concerts, Newsboys, Crowder, and Hollyn sat down for artist Q & A panels, answering questions from fans in an informal setting at the LaHaye Event Space. The stage was transformed into a living room space complete with couches as the artists sat down with the hosts.

During the session with Newboys, Tait talked about his time spent on Liberty’s campus as a student back in the ’80s.

“My best years of my youth were spent with Toby (McKeehan) and Kevin (Max) at Liberty,” Tait said. Tait, along with McKeehan (known as TobyMac) and Max started Christian rock band DC Talk.

The questions at the Q&A ranged from favorite cereals, funny artists experienced on tour, and thoughts on the new “Star Wars” films.

In a moment of serious thought, Newsboys drummer Duncan Phillips offered some encouragement to eventgoers about becoming successful.

“One of the biggest things you can do is just be faithful,” he said. “Don’t despise where you’re at.”

Phillips used the example about how his band started out in a garage before launching their decades-long career.

“The best is yet to come for you guys. Your story hasn’t been written yet,” Phillips said.

Then Friday night, Liberty Worship Collective kicked off the concerts followed by Hollyn and Red. The Christian comedy group, 3-2-1 Improv engaged the crowd with their unique take on family-friendly entertainment.

Liberty freshman and NASCAR driver William Byron — who was named Camping World Trucks Series R
ookie of the Year racing the No. 9 Liberty University Toyota Tundra — also made an appearance, sharing his racing experiences.

Fresh off his Uncomfortable Tour, Andy Mineo brought his New York attitude and thought-provoking lyrics to the Lynchburg stage.

Vous Church head pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. spoke on Friday night. Wilkerson is the author of the bestselling book “Sandcastle Kings” and starred on the Oxygen Network reality show “Rich in Faith,” which follows Wilkerson and his wife, DawnCheré, as they started their ministry in Miami.

At the end of Wilkerson’s message, more than 400 people responded to the Gospel and gave their lives to Christ.

Grammy Award-nominated band Newsboys ended Friday night on a high note with some of their biggest hits. The band has had 33 No. 1 songs, and their title to the album “God’s Not Dead” inspired the 2014 movie of the same name.

On New Year’s Eve, the fun started all over again. Before sitting down at Saturday’s artist Q & A session, for King & Country surprised 700 people at a screening of their movie “Priceless.” The duo introduced the film and talked about the inspiration behind it.

Jordan Feliz and Tedashii joined for King & Country at the session, taking questions from fans. Later on, David Nasser, Liberty’s senior vice president of spiritual development, challenged those in attendance at Vines with a message about understanding what their relationship with Christ is all about.

Using his own life as an example, Nasser talked about how God used people in his life to lead him to a relationship with his Savior. In closing, Nasser then asked the audience to examine their hearts to see if they knew Jesus on a personal level.

“I think there’s something, spiritually speaking, about placing a mirror in front of yourself,” Nasser said. “On this New Year’s Eve, God is not looking to just turn 2016 into 2017. He wants to create a new you in this new year.”

Nasser asked those who wanted to have a close, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ to come forward. Many more came to the front during the weekend’s second alter call.

Artists like Family Force 5, Tedashii, Jordan Feliz, and Love & The Outcome got the crowd pumped before for King & Country took the stage. The night also saw a performance by Humble Tip.

For King & Country closed out the festivities as the crowd welcomed the New Year. The crowd was dazzled with a high-tech laser show during the countdown to 2017. At midnight, 19 snow machines turned the Vines Center into a magical winter wonderland while 4-foot beach balls bounced over the crowd. Confetti covered the more than 6,000 spectators in a sparkly haze, much like the hundreds of thousands gathered in Times Square to watch the ball drop.