mission statement Soulfest exists to celebrate and advance the love of God and love for neighbor through an annual festival of Music, Love and Action. It is our hope that all who attend are moved to answer God’s call to live relationally with God and neighbor in their communities and throughout the world and to take action against any injustice that crosses their path. what brings you to soulfest by Dan Russell Was it opportunity to stand on this mountainside with thousands of others, worshiping and thanking God for the mercy and grace you've experienced? Was it a chance to celebrate your love for music, for your Maker, for the beautiful setting here at the Gunstock Mountain Resort, or to have fun with family, friends and other believers? Are you hungry to experience more of God's unrelenting love for you? Or maybe you’re exhausted by a year of struggle on any number of fronts. Maybe you’re not sure why you’re here. Maybe your heart is filled with pain from the loss of someone close. Doubts may be swamping you, from constant unanswered questions, from managing a closet-full of experiences you’d rather not share, or from concerns heightened by the trickle-down effects of a crashed economy? Did you lose your job, lose your step, lose your sense of purpose? Maybe you’re giving yourself one last shot at this religion you inherited, adopted, or invested into. Maybe you’re curious, here to check out what this gathering of music loving, social justice conscious True Love Believers is all about. Whatever your reason, we're thrilled that you are here and confident that you are on the verge of a life-changing and soul-transforming breakthrough. You are at exactly the right place. Not because there’s some cosmic single experience designed for us all to share simultaneously – but because we are each on a sacred adventure, and our journeys have led us to this place, at this moment. We encourage you to individually and uniquely respond to what's being communicated, what's being revealed right now, here at SoulFest. What you take home from this festival will have everything to do with God’s singular love for you and God’s good intentions for your most personal hopes, sorrows, life. We all want freedom from the chains of our disbelief, our lack of faith, our dislike of ourselves, our guilt, and our fear. Truth will lead us to freedom. We, however, are required to respond here and now, to experience this freedom. SoulFest exists for many reasons, but the core purpose of SoulFest is to remind us that God loves us as we are and not as we think we should be. God wants a real rapport with us, not a religious reaction or affiliation. God's affection for all is greater than we could ever imagine. This affection dissolves fear, dissipates guilt, brings us to new life, fills our lungs with power to really rejoice and here at SoulFest, we love to rejoice. This Love, TRUE LOVE, shifts our attention from ourselves to others, taking our minds off of the limitations of our schedules, our bodies, our bank accounts, and moves us along a path that is uniquely our own. Your path and mine are full of experiences that reflect kindness, generosity, meekness, gentleness, courage and wisdom, small and big reminders that God's love will prevail. This path also brings us face-to-face with injustices, poverty, hunger, cruelty, slavery, homelessness, brokenness, anything that traps another soul. True Love demands our response. I mean, no one can tell you how you should respond, but you and I both know when we must act, whether in the face of some great kindness or great hurting. This God loves unrelentingly, unconditionally, everyone, everywhere, and this same Love is aimed right at you. True Love was revealed by Jesus and is being revealed by the Holy Spirit right now as you read this. This Love is the single most powerful energy that has ever existed. It is the one hope for transforming our own life, our family, our neighborhood, our planet. You and I are not called to be perfect. We're not called to be something we're not. We are all called to be sons and daughters of our creator and we are commanded to look out for not only one another and our neighbors, but for everyone. As we allow ourselves to be transformed by True Love, we will ignite with a renewed purpose. We are living in a time of crisis – and the Wall Street crisis is just a reflection of a much deeper one, rooted in our own personal spiritual crisis. We have a tremendous capacity to dilute ourselves into living completely out of sync with the Gospel message, the Good News. How many of us actually know, yet alone love, our neighbors? We’re so good at justifying our Christian lives, when, if we're to be honest, we're just as greed-driven and self-serving as the next person. Ouch, sorry, this is a bit harsh for a "welcome letter," but we mean to get right down to it, so we can come unstuck and really experience Gospel transformation. We don’t have time to waste. Our world is broken by chronic poverty, greed, religious pride, disrespect for most everything, etc. True Love restores balance and health, in our hearts, our homes, our communities and beyond, but we've got to daily surrender to it. SoulFest is a collaboration and a celebration to call down this explosive and transformative power through songs, workshops, and testimonies of those representing the passion of Jesus in action – inviting True Love to change us, change me. Through all the fun, the beauty of this spot on earth, the sound of the voices around us, may God provide moments when we realize that none of us are strangers, that we are all brothers and sisters, regardless of skin color, traditions, financial status. May God provide you and me with specific opportunities to mature, to grow, to get off the treadmills of routine or tradition. Your opportunities – the ones with your name on them – may include the benevolent offerings each night, or conversations you have with a new friend, a vendor, a volunteer, those you traveled here with. Maybe your opportunities include time by yourself or, ultimately... with God. Please do not allow yourself to turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to these opportunities. Step forward, follow the inkling, the calling, the kick, the directive. If you do, you may just find yourself out of the boat and walking on water. If this happens to you, don't think twice about physics, gravity. Living the revolution Jesus started is not some new rhetoric or pop interpretation of the Gospel. It is the fundamental way we are called to exist. The parable about the Good Samaritan isn't about an experience he had during one of the times he had signed up on a clipboard at church to do something good...Tuesday between 7 and 9 PM. That guy was transformed by True Love and likely had a tough time holding tight to his schedule. True Love caused him to take risks, stand up against injustice, fight against slavery, volunteer his time, encourage others, give up his shirt, walk the extra mile, walk4water, register to help save Giovanni's friends, become a mentor for kids in his community, spend an extra few hours helping his neighbor with a chore, you got the picture... never a dull moment. The evidence of our belief is clear in our homes, neighborhoods, communities and this world, because we do love one another, do not turn a blind eye and can't really help ourselves when it comes to giving more than is asked. True Love is the real deal, the only transformative power. True Love gets us up off our mats, brings sight to blind eyes (always ours, and sometimes others’), restores music to deaf ears - all proof of God’s providing for us all as we learn the power of sharing. At SoulFest this year, if you come to the Cross and trade your fear of sin for the gift of forgiveness, if you fill out the SoulFest Pledge to live the revolution Jesus started and now calls you to, if you put your arms around someone in need, if you stand up and fight against modern day slavery or local and global poverty, you will experience something profound and lasting. You will hear it in your voice as you sing along with Paul, Peter, Mac, Mark, John, Natalie, Phil, Jason and the others who have journeyed here to lead us in this healing celebration and rededication to True Love. Let's surrender to True Love and allow God's purposes in our lives to take us beyond our understandings, comfort zones, expectations. No matter what brought you here, we want to welcome you to this 12th annual Inside Out Soul Festival, where it is our sincere hope you will discover more deeply what it means to live from the inside out as a soul-connected believer in True Love, the revolution Jesus ignited. by fantastic mercy, Dan Russell and the SoulFest Team P.S. Here are just a few of the many powerful experiences we want to bring to your attention: TRUE LOVE EXCHANGE: At the Cross you will see a wall dedicated to those in need, as well as to those who are called to give. If you need a washer, a dryer, a job, whatever, write this need down on the provided paper, with your need on one side and your email/cell on the other. Everyone, please go to this wall daily and read over the needs. Listen to your heart and watch what happens when you discover that you have an extra computer, dryer, that you know of a job opening, a car, and you suddenly get excited that you are living the revolution by taking that email/cell address and responding as you are led. Everyone has needs and everyone can truly help. This is going to be powerful... This is True Love Action. BENEVOLENCE OFFERING: It's been a tough year for us all. But Jesus says clearly that our souls were built for giving - our giving will return to us many times over. Please give each night towards the charities that are featured. Each are engaged in exciting True Love Actions and we’re inviting you to join in... This is True Love Action. WALK4WATER: Show solidarity for those millions of God’s children who walk miles for water, often risking their lives, on Saturday’s first annual Walk4Water. Proceeds will go to building a deep water well in the SoulFest sister village, Lukodi, in Uganda, and at the feet of Jesus you can count on meeting someone to whom you gave a cup of clean water. Don’t wait – this is your opportunity... This is True Love Action. rWORLD WORKSHOP and SOUL UNIVERSITY: There are many exciting workshops at SoulFest this year including the rWorld series . "r" stands for Relationship. Many of us are isolated from one another, even from those who live under the same roof. We are ego driven/self-centered and constantly measuring our opportunities from this very limiting vantage point. We are created to live in relationship with one another. Please, please, get yourselves over to these, or some of the other workshops. You can read about all the workshops here in this program... This is True Love Action. TRUE LOVE PRESENCE: Throughout our time together, the music, the singing, the worship, the teaching, the conversations, the revelations, the renewal, the healing, the fun, the action… God lives in the praises of us all. This is your festival. Thank you for making it so... This is True Love Action.

THE SOULFEST PLEDGE (click to zoom) yahweh by u2 Take these shoes Click clacking down some dead end street Take these shoes And make them fit Take this shirt Polyester white trash made in nowhere Take this shirt And make it clean, clean Take this soul Stranded in some skin and bones Take this soul And make it sing Yahweh, Yahweh Always pain before a child is born Yahweh, Yahweh Still I'm waiting for the dawn Take these hands Teach them what to carry Take these hands Don't make a fist no Take this mouth So quick to criticise Take this mouth Give it a kiss Yahweh, Yahweh Always pain before a child is born Yahweh, Yahweh Still I'm waiting for the dawn Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up The sun is coming up on the ocean This love is like a drop in the ocean This love is like a drop in the ocean Yahweh, Yahweh Always pain before a child is born Yahweh, tell me now Why the dark before the dawn? Take this city A city should be shining on a hill Take this city If it be your will What no man can own, no man can take Take this heart Take this heart Take this heart And make it pray” Words by Bono with the Edge - Music by U2. Published by Universal Music Publishing.