Lifelight ’09
by Megan Mueller
OKWUeagle Staff Writer
Labor Day weekend left the campus empty this year as over twenty OWU students made their way to Sioux Falls, S.D. to attend LifeLight.
LifeLight is one of the largest free Christian concerts nationwide and has steadily grown over the years. People from all over the country are able to see a number of Christian artists perform outdoors.
This year, LifeLight had over 270,000 in attendance.
Tenth Avenue North, Newsboys, John Reuben and Family Force are among the over seventy bands that performed on the four stages occupying the grounds of the Wild Water West Water Park.
The music is free for the audience thanks to financial support from local churches, many corporate sponsors, fund-raising and individual donations.
People from all over the United States come to see the bands, but LifeLight is not just about the music.
The vision LifeLight has set out with is “Taking the Church outside the walls, bringing Light into the darkness with the life changing message of Jesus Christ,” according to their website’s mission statement.
The music is simply the medium LifeLight has chosen to reach the lost, with thousands of people turning their lives to God over the past ten years.
Students have been making the eight-hour drive to Sioux Falls and staying in any of the four to five houses of OKWU students from South Dakota.
LifeLight has become a tradition over the last few years as many students from school make the trip.
“The year before I came to school people from OKWU started coming,” says Jessica Kingery, senior communications major from Sioux Falls. “It progressively grew more and more, especially when people started staying at my house.”
Last year, Kingery housed over fifteen students from OKWU. It was quite convenient for students, as her house is only a ten-minute walk from the concert grounds.
OKWU students always return with stories to tell—some positive and some not so thrilling moments.
In 2007, Devon Arredondo, junior Youth Ministry major from Tulsa, Okla., traveled down to LifeLight with a group of students and was attending a Family Force 5 concert at the Coffehouse Stage when the band asked him to dance on stage. He had been break dancing – so it was with good reason that he was invited to go up.
“It was incredible. I couldn’t believe it when they pointed at me and asked me to come dance on stage. I think someone got it on video!” Arredondo said.
In fact, < a href=’http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=trevor+hixo&init=quick#/video/video.php?v=502657749044′>you can check out that video (if you log into facebook) by clicking here.
One of the unfortunate adventures to LifeLight occurred last year when Sean Stedwell, senior communications major, was involved in a car accident early Saturday morning about five miles from their destination in Sioux Falls.
“No one in my SUV was hurt,” Stedwell said. “I couldn’t get the car fixed over the weekend, but I patched it up myself for the drive back to Bartlesville.”
The other car in the accident left the scene before Stedwell was able to speak to them.
Thankfully, most students have gotten safely to and from Sioux Falls.
The concerts, crowds and merchandise tent are entertaining, but if you are in need of more – there is always Scheels, (a great place to buy Chacos®), Juice Stop, Taco John’s or a drive through town with the music up and the windows all the way down.
LifeLight offers everyone a different experience.
“My favorite part about LifeLight so far is probably just being with all my friends and seeing people I haven’t seen in a while,” says Brooke Poplin, junior nursing major. “I don’t really know a lot of the bands.”
Most people have not heard of many of the bands, considering the immense number of them, but reconnecting with friends away from school is a common reason to go.
Many people this year went for their first time. Jordan Brazda, junior finance major is one of them.
“I didn’t realize there would be so many people and fans. I didn’t really know what to expect until I got there, but it was really fun,” Brazda said.
LifeLight will be here for many years to come, with a new location being set for next year due to crowding out of the present location.
