IGNITE '11 - About

ABOUT

IGNITE '11 is an non-denominational outdoor Christian music festival/ministry event whose sole purpose is to unite the community of believers and to provide an evangelistic outreach to the area and to glorify the name of Jesus Christ. As the body of Christ, it's an opportunity for us to reach out and love on our neighbors and to show our community and friends what the love of Christ is all about. We achieve these goals by providing a totally free event with free music, free food, and free drinks that is 100% non-profit and is funded by the generous contributions of local churches, businesses, and citizens.

OUR HISTORY

For many years, JJ DuBose and Kerry Hollis had individual dreams of pulling together an outdoor Christian Music event in Pell City, Alabama. Both of them, being musicians themselves, had previous experiences at other outdoor music events and realized the power and enjoyment that can come from them and how effective they can be as a ministry tool. Sharing the same ambition, they finally put their heads together and in April of 2008 began the planning of the first event. In their first official meeting, still searching for a name, their good friend, Kenny Martin, suggested a name for the event that now has become IGNITE.

The vision for IGNITE has always been to bring the local churches of Jesus Christ out from the walls that separate them and to unite them into one single outreach into the community, with the sole purpose of showing God's love to the unbelievers. That vision had only two requirements. It had to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it had to be Free. With those goals in mind, August 16th, 2008 marked the date of the first IGNITE event. WIth approximately 3000 in attendance and the participation of 17 area churches, IGNITE '08 was a huge success and surpassed all expectations.

Following the huge success of IGNITE'08, it was apparent, that the community as a whole would support such an event. The same team united again to produce IGNITE'09. With the same goals in mind, the team sought to bring in more talent that would attract even more people to attend. The team stepped out on faith and booked Big Daddy Weave as their headliner without significant funding in place to fund the event, but knowing in all certainty that God would provide. By the date of the even, donations had met the needs. IGNITE'09 surpassed all expections with over 20 churches participating and over 6000 in attendance.

IGNITE '09 in 4 minutes - video

IGNITE'10 represented a much larger undertaking with more bands and more booths. Headlined by RUSH OF FOOLS, and with 21 churches participating, the event was a huge success despite several hours of rain and a massive thunderstorm during the middle of the day. The skies cleared in the evening and we had a wonderful event.

OUR CORE TEAM

JESUS CHRIST - Our Director and Guide and Purpose

Kerry Hollis - Co-Director focusing on VIsion, Artists, and Media Relations

Kenny Martin - Co-Director focusing on Vision, Production, and Operations

Amy Martin - Booth / Drama Team Coordinator

However, it's God, the volunteers, the churches, and the sponsors who really make it all happen.