THRIVE Festival: 2 day citywide outreach and Christian Music Festival

[metro]

Well, after thoughtful consideration I decided to post about one of the projects I'm currently working on. Thrive Festival will be an annual event here in OKC on April 20th - 21st. It is a 2 day citywide outreach and also a Christian Music Festival. For this inaugural year of the festival, the Christian Music Festival aspect will be held in the Cox Convention Center. You may ask why a Music Festival indoors? Being Oklahoma in April (unpredictable weather), we want to have a successful and solid turnout the first year. Perhaps year 2 or 3 we will move it outdoors (I'm pushing for Oklahoma River).

The Festival will kick off on Friday night around 6 or 7ish and start with some of the lighter bands and progressively lead up a little heavier. Since it is a festival, you won't be forced to just listen to one artist even if you don't enjoy it. We will some have of the expo hall spaces as well. There will be seminars and workshops going on, etc. The only time everything shuts down is when a speaker is on stage (there is a reason for this, and no we don't do altar calls). Keynote speakers for the festival will be Luis Palau, Jose Zayas, and Greg Stier. Some of the artists performing at the festival will be TobyMac, Newsboys, Stellar Kart, Kutless, Starfield, Matthew West, Mandisa (from American Idol), and several others. We will also have an extreme skateboarders/bmx group Chaos on Wheels.

The outreach portion of the festival will be partnered up with Sharefest (a citywide outreach that happens here in OKC annually as well on the same weekend).

There is a lot more to the festival, but I don't want to post it on here at this time. This will be a great, quality (not cheesy) Christian event. As you can tell by the level of speakers and bands, etc.

As far as tickets go, tickets are $25 for a two day ticket (if you buy at least a group of 10). On top of that, it is a flat rate ticket, no tiered ticket pricing, so first come, first serve and you get a better seat. Since it's at the Cox Center, we're under Ticket Master guidelines. They have processing fees, etc. if you don't buy a group of 10 or more (out of our control). Personally, I think that is a great deal for 2 days worth of nationally known bands, speakers, alternative sports, and workshops, community service, and outreach. Our cost per ticket is much more.

On Tuesday, January 23rd, we will be having a citywide pastor's and ministry leaders luncheon. We already have many pastors, business leaders, and ministry leaders attending. We still have room for plenty more though. If this is something you or a leader at your church would be interested in, please PM me and I would be glad to pass on more information to you so you can get your pastor, youth pastor, ministry leader, etc. to go to the information luncheon. The deadline to RSVP for the lunch is this coming Monday, Jan. 15th although I can probably squeeze someone in if they can't RSVP by Monday.

Feel free to go to our website for more info as well: www.thrivefestival.com

If you have any questions, etc. please PM me for more info.

--metro--

[metro]

anyone plan on going or know if their church is doing something with it?

[kmf563]

So, I guess this has been cancelled due to lack of interest?? ouch. Well, I'm in whenever it gets rescheduled. Let me know if I can help with anything.

[Karried]

That is so surprising considering the number of churches in this state. It's sad after all the hard work put into it .. maybe next year?

I wonder about scaling back an offering a free event? Even though it was pretty inexpensive to begin with.. It's too bad.

[Martin]

$25/head for groups of 10+... that seems rather pricey for what the event is (was). no surprise that advanced ticket sales were flat.
-M

[Karried]

Oh yeah, I wonder what the individual ticket price was if you didn't have a group of 10?

Most concerts lately have gotten so expensive.. close to $100 a ticket for decent seats. But, those do have major headliners... I haven't listened to Christian music for awhile so I don't recognize those names .. ( doesn't mean that everyone else won't - I just don't).

[Martin]

the site linked above says $32 advanced, $39 at the door. i'd agree... whether or not these artists are popular in the christian music scene, they wouldn't command the same prices as a major headliner. $100 is steep... but at least those artists are up front that they're there for the money.

-M

[metro]

I'll clarify a few issues since I was one of the promoters on the festival team in OKC. I won't go into too much detail and if you want our OFFICIAL RESPONSE, please visit our website at THRIVE Festival . To clarify, group tickets in advance (10 or more tickets) were $25 plus a dollar processing fee the ticketmaster (licensed through Cox Center) charged (out of our control) so the actual advanced group price was $26 for a 2 day ticket. If an individual was to order online through ticketmaster with a credit card, with all the fees they add, one could pay as much as $42.50 a ticket. Now consider that churches were getting 7-10 nationally and internationally known Christian artists (basically the top names if you will) plus, community service, internationally known speaker Luis Palau (as big as Billy Graham) plus two other internationally known Christian Speakers, alternative sports (BMX, skateboarding, etc) plus we also had workshops and other things going on. In addition, the ticket price was a flat rate meaning the earlier you buy your tickets, the better seat you get. Since it is a ticketmaster arena, you have to do assigned seating.

I guarantee you most of your concerts at Cox or Ford aren't that cheap, especially for about 8 headliners plus other stuff. Mercy Me (another softer Christian group) was by themselves at the Ford Center a few months ago and general tickets were around $45. Let's look at another scenario, Michael W. Smith (much less of a bigger name now than he was or not as big of a draw as most of the artists we had for THRIVE) is going to be at Crossings Community Church next month. Michael W. Smith in Concert Tickets are $15 in advance or $25 at the door. That's just for ONE artist, one night in a church (not near as much overhead or contract fee as the Cox Center!! Again, we were talking 8 artists, plus extreme sports, speakers, community service, workshops, more for 2 days! So that puts it in perspective.

As someone said, any other band (mainstream) and you'd pay way more than that for just 1-3 bands. This other you're getting 2 full days worth of music,sports, community service, workshops, outreach, etc. Whomever said scale it down and have a FREE concert. First off this wasn't just a concert, it was an outreach festival wrapped around a music festival. Designed to get the person on the fringe or person who doesn't go to church to see church in a modern, relevant way. Secondly, these things cost big bucks, hundreds of thousands into the millions actually. You can't just throw money out like that unfortunately, if we could we would. I think the price of the tickets and hundreds in focus groups when we tested the market agreed it was very reasonable. Belive it or not, but Christian Music can command as much as the "big boys". I bet most people listen to Christian music on mainstream stations and don't even know it. POD, Starfield, Kutless (these two were going to be at THRIVE), Skillet, SuperTones, Relient K, Bleach, and many other Christian artists have gone to mainstream labels and mainstream stations and MTV and MTV2 play the heck out of some of those bands. Our actual cost per ticket was wayyyyy more than what we were charging, but it was a ministry we belived in. The only way any music festival is successful (especially at first) is corporate sponsorships to subsidize costs. anyhow, sorry to disappoint everyone that it was postponed. hopefully we'll bring it back to OKC soon! Again, for our official response and statement, visit our website THRIVE Festival or contact our corporate office in Portland, OR.

[mwmcl]

My church plans on participating in ShareFest (always have/always will) ... I hadn't heard about this until I guess it was cancelled.

Maybe it needs to be massaged in a way to lower the price and have a city wide celebration or something. Just spit-ballin.

[metro]

It was not a price issue. How is $25 bucks for 8-10 national headliners too expensive.

[kmf563]

I don't think the pricing was that bad. But what most planners fail to realize when dealing with multiple day festivals - is that 90% of the people will only attend one of those days and usually they won't stay all day. So, in reality the majority of the people are paying what they would pay for a regular concert. It's not really a discount when presented that way. Usually events such as this have much higher sales when they break it down into regular ticket sales and then offer a 2-day discount. That's what I have learned from my promotional experience anyway.
But I don't think this is even why the event was cancelled...

[mwmcl]

What else besides the music was this event going to showcase?

[metro]

Read my posts above mwmcl and you will find out. Again, it wasn't a money issue, if you still have any questions after re-reading everything including our official statement on the website, I again recommend you to contact our corporate office in Portland.

[mwmcl]

I did read the posts... I saw some stuff about a pastors conference ... a BMX thing ... and other stuff.

Since some of the other posters and you focused on the music aspect of the event, I thought I would ask about the other aspects as well. I was really only interested in the outreach portion and possibly the leaders conference.

If I wanted to jsut attend those things would I still have to pay $25.

As far as contacting a corpotate office... why would I when you're doing an adequate job on the innerweb.

[Martin]

but due to less-than-projected group ticket sales and a limited volunteer base, it has become apparent that the level of local support required to organize and deliver an event such as the thrive festival is still lacking. the event’s organizers believe that postponing the event is necessary in order to avoid a financial shortfall that might dishonor the gospel.

so metro, the website says it was a money issue. since you were involved with promoting this, you might want to have the wording changed.

while you can argue that the talent and venue warranted the ticket price, the less-than-projected amount of ticket sales seems to indicate otherwise. but... let's assume that the event was priced appropriately. the only other explanation for poor sales would be poor promotion. i don't want to assume that you and your friends are poor promoters. so... for your sake, metro, i'll assume that the price was just higher than most were willing to spend.

-M

[metro]

No...no...no... no where did I mention a pastor's conference. To sum the whole festival up in one sentence: It is a music festival, wrapped around an outreach, a small group outreach in a big arena. It was a 2 day Christian Music Festival. For those of you not familiar with them, search for Spirit West Coast ($120 at the gate), Cornerstone (the premier and oldest $135 at the gate), and several others on the East Coast which names skip me right now. For those of you not into Christian Music think of Lollapalooza, Warped Tour, Bonnarroo, SXSW. Now in all fairness these festivals have a few more bands playing, but they are also established for many years. The idea behind THRIVE was that we start off with 8 or so nationally known artists plus the extreme sports, speakers, community service, workshops, etc. and grow it each year from there.

It was not so much about the music as it was about the outreach. Most concerts and music festivals are JUST about the music. The music was just the hook if you will for this. It's a lot easier to get a non-believer or someone who has gone to church but "rides the fence" to come to a music festival, than it is to go to a church on a Sunday morning. Starting 3 months in advance, we began giving FREE DVD training and all kinds of materials for churches who wanted it (totally voluntary) to train their youth, volunteers, or anyone else going that they wanted to train. It basically talked about how to talk to a non-believer in a non-preachy, non confrontive way. I'm sure you can agree with that?? A non believer doesn't want to be approached and say "hey man if you don't repent now you're going to hell" type stuff. Since it is in an arena, and assigned seating, hopefully over the course of 2 days, that "unsaved" person would know a few people from the church that invited them since they would be sitting as a group (small group outreach in a big arena). Friday night, a speaker would speak, after he's done, we'd allow 10-20 minutes for small group discussion, that's when the trained volunteers for each church, could talk about what the speaker had to say with the guests or answer any questions should they have any (nothing forced on them, no altar call, etc.). Example: Hey what do you think about religion? Have you ever heard of this Jesus guy??, etc. What typically happens at "conferences or youth conventions etc, is #1 they are designed more for the Christian than the non-Christian, and #2 they usually have an altar call and nothing personal and relational. So John Doe feels called to go down to the altar, get prayed over by someone he's never met and probably will never see again, fill out a card, get a call back a week or two later from someone he'll probably never met. There isn't much relational personal stuff there. Think of how much more personal and relational it would be to have your friend who invited you (who you know) and others with him that you've got to know over the last day or two talk with you one on one, just being real, no judgement, no pressure, etc. A lot easier.

Then after allowing a few minutes for discussion time, we close the night with TobyMac which is one of the top biggest names in Christian music right now. We have him perform AFTER the speaker, because if he did it before everyone would leave after seeing him, and not hear the speaker, instead of building the anticipation up to see him. As bands are playing, BMX'ers doing stunts, workshops going on (done by local churches as they feel called), etc, then you are free to roam, the only time we shut everything down is when a speaker is speaking, encouraging you to get back in your group (small group outreach) and get ready for discussion time, then back to norm and go do your thing if you don't like a certain band, go do a workshop, or shop for band merch, or watch BMX, etc.

Day 2 starts off in the morning with churches doing community service all over the state and metro. (Putting our faith in action, getting outside the walls of the church, put aside our denominational differences, doing good for others without being asked, etc.) As you can tell, this is where we naturally partnered with Sharefest!

As far as workshops go, local churches would step up as they feel called in areas they have a specialty in. For instance, Oklahoma has the 2nd highest Divorce rate in the nation next to Nevada (Las Vegas). So without saying, this is a problem Oklahoma needs to fix and deal with. Christians often look down upon divorcees, etc. So, let's say Church X feels called to host a workshop in the convention space on how a Christian should approach divorce, etc for people thinking about divorce or recently gone through a divorce and need love and care. Church X or Church Y might feel called to have another workshop in another Exhibit hall designed for church leaders on how they could equip for Divorce care, etc. So the workshops can be designed for non-Christians, Christians, and church leadership or all 3. Other examples could be finances (dave ramsey), best practices, kids ministry, etc.

Then after Sharefest is over, early afternoon, we'll reconvine back downtown and kick off the festival again, speaker Mid-Afternoon, and then Luis Palau (very big name, comparable to Billy Graham, Luis frequently speaks to crowds of over 1 million people at a time).

The WHOLE IDEA is that the festival is a TOOL for churches (particularly smaller churches) that is a starting point for them. It is an event that is way bigger than the majority of churches could do on their own, but yet directly benefits them and hopefully get's people plugged into the local church due to the community service, as well as the relational, personal contact with the non Christian invitees. Most churches had there members pay full cost, or a discounted rate for the tickets and gave their non christian friend a FREE ticket. We didn't require that but suggested it just as one option. Every church will be able to do something different and be called to a different area, etc. Another point is that the festival was designed to be annual, so churches could count on it year after year and grow it how they best see fit (with core groups of pastors and leaders)

Now look at it on the flipside, let's say Billy Graham comes to town for a crusade. (And I hate to use that for an example, but for lack of a better one, and easy reference, we'll use this: and BTW I like Billy Graham). First, the crusades only come to town every few years and then leave town. Not to single any denomination out, etc. but by far the Southern Baptists are the most active when it comes to his crusades. Nothing wrong with that and I'm not judging but just hear my point out please. I know first hand, because I've dealt directly with the BGCO, that the majority if not all the So. Bapt. churches that get involved with the crusade, clear their events calendars 3 months in advance to a Billy Graham crusade to prepare volunteers, etc. What happens after he speaks is an altar call, which often many people come down to be prayed for (by someone they don't know and haven't met) , then fill out a card, and are sent back to their seat, etc. They usually get a call from a local church who has volunteered to do so a week or two later. Get invited to their church, etc. Not saying this is wrong by any means, just saying it's not very personal or relational, most people don't feel a personal connection. I know the BGCO has mentioned they see very very little return on investment, or getting people plugged into their churches from the crusade.

In no way am I saying Billy Graham is in-effective, etc, however trying to show how THRIVE works and the personal, relational side to it so one can distinguish over something they may be more familiar with.

I hope this answers everyone's questions a little more. I said way more than I had planned. mwmcl, the reason I deferred you to the ministry's office is because I am no longer contracted by them for the festival since it is obviously postponed. Out of respect to them, any additional questions will not be answered by me, and you will need to contact them. They have requested that, and I will honor that.

Thank you and I hope to see you when the market is ready for THRIVE in OKC.

[metro]

[QUOTE=mmm;89163]so metro, the website says it was a money issue. since you were involved with promoting this, you might want to have the wording changed.

while you can argue that the talent and venue warranted the ticket price, the less-than-projected amount of ticket sales seems to indicate otherwise. but... let's assume that the event was priced appropriately. the only other explanation for poor sales would be poor promotion. i don't want to assume that you and your friends are poor promoters. so... for your sake, metro, i'll assume that the price was just higher than most were willing to spend.

-M[/QUOTE

I understand your point mmm, but it was not a money issue as some were making it. Some were making it as the ticket price was too high, that is without a doubt not the case (and I didn't set the ticket price). As you will see in our official statement we consulted with over 1500 churches almost a year ago to test the market, etc. Local churches and pastors set the price. Most said yes this is what this city needs, we're in, etc. But when it came time to buy tickets, not nearly as many who said they would, etc. put their money where there mouth is so to speak. So it was the lack of ticket sales, as the website mentioned. FYI we sold several thousand in pre sales. There is a lot more details than I am not at liberty to go into, if you want more info, call the ministry directly please and honor their request.

[mwmcl]

No...no...no... no where did I mention a pastor's conference.

alright but...

01-13-2007, 10:50 AM
metro
VIP Member Join Date: Nov 2004
Total Posts: 3,469

THRIVE Festival: 2 day citywide outreach and Christian Music Festival

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Tuesday, January 23rd, we will be having a citywide pastor's and ministry leaders luncheon. We already have many pastors, business leaders, and ministry leaders attending. We still have room for plenty more though. If this is something you or a leader at your church would be interested in, please PM me and I would be glad to pass on more information to you so you can get your pastor, youth pastor, ministry leader, etc. to go to the information luncheon. The deadline to RSVP for the lunch is this coming Monday, Jan. 15th although I can probably squeeze someone in if they can't RSVP by Monday.

Feel free to go to our website for more info as well: THRIVE Festival

If you have any questions, etc. please PM me for more info.

--metro--

Thank you and I hope to see you when the market is ready for THRIVE in OKC.

No doubt... it will be interesting (especially after thsi thread) to see what could happen with a THRIVE-type conference.

[metro]

It's not a conference but okay. The pastors luncheon was kind of a leaders information luncheon as I previously noted, just as normal conferences and other things do. Do let leaders know so they can disseminate the information in their organizations. Not even close to what I would consider a conference.

anyhow hope to see you in the future at it!