“Where else but in Madison can you wake up at 7:30, have a brat in a pancake, and go to church?” That’s one way Brat Fest director Tim Metcalf describes the community worship service that has been a part of Madison’s Brat Fest for the past three years. But it was clear as Metcalf announced the new and returning features of Lifest at Brat Fest, it’s much more than that.
About 50 faith based group leaders, Christian business operators, and volunteers gathered at Upper House last January for the announcement of the 2017 worship service speaker, some of the headliner bands, and other details.
Tim Mackie, who was on the teaching staff of Blackhawk Church as he studied for his PhD at the University of Wisconsin, will return to Madison as the main speaker at the Sunday morning community worship service on May 28th. Mackie is now teaching pastor at Door of Hope church in Portland, Oregon. He is also an adjunct professor of Old Testament at Western Seminary, and a creative writer for The Bible Project.
In a Skype video feed from Portland, Mackie said that the Sunday morning community worship service during the Brat Fest Memorial Day weekend was a “unique place for the religious community to come together.”
Noting that religion has become a polarizing reality, Mackie said Brat Fest could be an example of what Jesus described in the gospels when he said, “People will know you are my disciples by your love for one another.”
Bob Lenz (pictured above), the founder and president of Life Promotions and the annual Lifest Christian music festival in Oshkosh, put it another way. “Real faith is supposed to be lived out in real life,” he said. Having a Christian worship service at Brat Fest is “an example of how we’re supposed to live, in the midst of community.”
While Madison’s annual three-day free festival with only one menu item (another way Metcalfe described it) is festive and celebratory, the announcement also had a very sober side as Metcalfe talked about the recent death of his wife Julie, who suffered from depression. He thanked those who had offered prayers and encouragement and said that it helped him understand the connectedness of life.
“I don’t think we realize how connected we all are,” he said. He pointed out how recent events such as the Fort Lauderdale shooting last week and the Cubs’ World Series victory last fall, some positive and some negative, help everyone feel connected to each other.
Lenz, in his remarks, touched on the tragic death as well, and wondered how Metcalfe and his family would’ve weathered the loss before they had found faith in Jesus Christ through a visit toLifest several years ago. Lenz speaks at dozens of schools every year on the subject of bullying and teen suicide. He said that he had funding through the Madison Christian Giving Fund to speak to six churches in the Madison area this year, and is hoping to be invited to those schools soon.
“We’re a part of Brat Fest because we’re not reaching enough kids,” Lenz said. “We’re humbled to be a part of it. We love what’s going on here.”
The Christian musicians who will be headlining the Lifest Stage at Brat Fest will include: Hawk Nelson, Mark Schultz, and Colton Dixon. Also new at Brat Fest in 2017 will be human foosball, and a 25-mile bike ride to go along with the 5K and 10K runs.
“Something very special happens at Brat Fest,” Metcalfe said. And indeed it does. The 3,200 people who volunteered at the free festival last year helped raise the financial support of 125 local non-profit organizations through Brat Fest to $1.7 million. “We can gain more strength from others, ” he said. “That’s what Brat Fest tried to do.”
Lenz said that the bold move to add a specifically Christian dimension to Brat Fest has rippled across Wisconsin. Other festivals, such as Walleye Weekend in Fond du Lac, have also contacted him and invited Lifest to be a part of their Sunday morning programming.