|
|
Headline
act Toby Mac performed in front of a packed house at the Darke County
fairgrounds
Sunday night at Illumination 2012. Mac is one of the most popular
performers in the
Contempoary Christian music world. Mac recently went to number one on
the Billboard Music Charts
for all artists with his latest album, Eye On It. CNO Photos by Merrhya
Knoop
|
|
Illumination
2012 a huge success
By George Starks
GREENVILLE - When it comes to big names in Contemporary Christian
music, few are bigger than that of Toby Mac.
The Sixth Annual Illumination Concert, held at the Darke County
Fairgrounds went off Sunday with seven acts on hand, including local
singer, Tommy Renfro and ending with Mac.
Mac recently hit the top spot on all of the Billboard charts with his
newest album, Eye On It.
"This was the biggest attendance for Illumination yet," said WJYW
station manager Dan Franks. "People seemed to really enjoy the concert
and Toby Mac and all the artists really put on a great show. Toby hit
number one on Billboard but not just for Christian Music but all music."
Before Mac took the stage, Jamie Grace performed, showing why she is
the Dove Award winner for Best New Artist.
"Being named Best New Artist and getting the Dove Award is like the
Christian Grammy's" said Franks. "Having her at Illumination was big
for us. This was just a great night."
Before Grace and Mac performed, Renfro got things started, then came
Reeth Lincoln, The Quest, Shonlock and The City Harmonic.
In addition to the named artists, guest speaker Mike Guzzardo spoke to
the record crowd, talking about having intimacy with God and not just a
relationship.
This year, Illumination went from a one-day event to a two-day event,
starting on Saturday.
"Mike Guzzardo also spoke to the youth on Saturday and we had like over
200 kids come out for that," Franks said. "On Sunday, we had a worship
service and we had over 100 for that and Mike did the message there. We
also took donations in either food or monetary donation of five dollars
or more that went to the F.I.S.H. pantry as well as a offering at the
worship service. We collected a decent amount of food. So we donated a
lot of food but we had just under 200 dollars donated to them in the
goodwill offering at the service. That didn't include what was donated
in the food barrels. So I don't know the total amount but the whole
weekend was a huge success."
According to Franks, the show was not a total sell-out but was very
close.
"I think we sold out the reserve box seats and the V.I.P. seats, we
were close to being sold out as well," Franks stated. "The only thing
we had left I think, was some general admission tickets and we had very
few of those."
As Illumination grows, so does the area of the people coming in and
according to Franks, the people attending aren’t just from Darke County.
"There are a lot of people coming in from outside of Darke County so
this is really good for the community," Franks pointed out. "People
that come in buy food and gas and maybe they are renting hotel rooms
here. It is creating awareness of us and bringing people into our town
that may not normally come to Greenville and Darke County."
Last year, Illumination featured Jeremy Camp, Hawk Nelson and
Superchick, among others and after it was all wrapped up, the question
was, "what can they do to make it better?"
Now that the 2012 concert is over and Toby Mac's in the books, what’s
next?
"We are asking ourselves the same question," Franks admitted. "We don't
have a clue as to who is touring yet and we won't know for at least a
month. Right now, we have no idea."
|
|
Toby
Mac interacts with the crowd at Illumination 2012 as he delivers the
written
word to a large crowd Sunday.
|
|
Contemporary
Christian artist Jamie Grace goes on live before headliner Toby Mac
took the
stage at Illumination 2012 Sunday.
|
|
|
|
