Fierce Faith Music Festival returns June 17 at DMACC Newton Campus green space

Fierce Faith Music Festival wants to grow, and there is no better place to do that than in the green space between DMACC Newton Campus and Legacy Plaza.

The Christian music festival returns this weekend after a successful debut last year in the town square. Nick and Kristi Cummins, founders of Fierce Faith Music, are expanding their festival to include family-friendly activities and bounce houses, a slew of vendors, a prayer tent and food trucks, among other things.

More than 400 concertgoers showed up to the inaugural music festival in 2022, which was held on a blocked off North Second Avenue, just north of the Jasper County Courthouse. Nick and Kristi were both overwhelmed by the support, which even withstood the unbearable heat that day.

“It was really overwhelming last year when we were getting ready to open the gates, and I just happened to look over at one of the gates and saw all these people lined up to scan their tickets,” Kristi said. “It was way before we were ready to rock ‘n’ roll. There were people as excited as we were!”

Performing the Fierce Faith Music Festival this year are the bands Unspoken, Building 429 and Friday Night Fire. The gates open at 4 p.m. June 17 at the green space, which can be accessed through the northeast side of the DMACC Newton Campus parking lot. Friday Night Fire will start the show at 5 p.m.

The stage will be on the west side of the green space, looking eastward. Nick expects crews will be setting up the festival the afternoon before. Coming from downtown to a wide open green space, Nick and Kristi said the new venue provides ample on-site parking and will have more of that festival atmosphere.

“Downtown was a neat atmosphere but this has a whole new feel to it, and it has room to grow,” Nick said. “It was pretty fast-paced and thrown together last year, so we really had no expectation. With the heat we ended up having we were pretty tickled with those that did come out. I feel like the word’s gotten around.”

Feedback was positive, which has only fueled Fierce Faith Music’s ambitions to create a safe space for people to worship and be entertained. And instead of taking place on a Sunday like last year, the festival moved to a Saturday and should be done in time for folks to get a good night’s sleep before church.

Also different this year is the Fierce Faith Music Festival’s exclusion from the Wild Cat Country Music Festival. The two concerts piggybacked off each other for many things, but with the country music festival moving to Quarry Springs in Colfax the Christian music festival is now able to spread its wings.

“This year it’s just a complete blank canvas,” Nick said. “It’s our baby and we get to do whatever the board felt like was a good decision for everything.”

Kristi added, “It’s been nice to be able to do our own thing and not be limited. This is what we want, this is our vision and we’re running with it. Everyone on the board has been amazing, too. It’s a completely different dynamic than it was last year.”

Nick and Kristi are regular attendees of Christian music festivals, like RiseFest in Sheldon. Although the two admit they might not be quite ready to invite 15,000 to 20,000 people to one space, they are using those festival experiences as inspiration and hope Fierce Faith Music can grow organically.

Word-of-mouth played a huge role in getting worshipers to the first festival. The faith communities in Newton and beyond showed up in droves, and organizers say the inclusive nature of the festival works in its favor by not selecting or championing for one denomination over the other.

“In an environment where things are so divided, we just want to provide a space where everybody can come together,” Nick said. “This is not one church or two churches. We want everybody to feel welcome. It’s not promoting one specific church or any specific agenda. It’s just really cool to bring everyone together.”