Cornerstone Festival 2012

More Than You’d Think…

This event called Cornerstone Festival is far more than a massive musical experience. It is more than a collection of hundreds of solo artists and bands representing every style and sub-genre on the current musical landscape. It is more than a gathering of expert thinkers and speakers offering over twenty separate seminar tracks on an amazingly diverse range of subjects. It is more than the sum of its parts, as is the body of Christ.

Cornerstone Festival is the annual gathering of a community of believers that is spread out all over the world. From young children to senior citizens, Christians of all ethnicities and backgrounds migrate to a patch of 500 acres in central Illinois for four days of fellowship, entertainment, education and edification. One way of looking at Cornerstone is to see it as a continuation of a Jesus movement that began in the first century and remains a beacon of joy and spirit as we move into the next millennium.

The festival brings many opportunities to those who attend. There are chances to hear new music, explore new ideas, and meet new people. There are opportunities to grow in faith, awareness, and action. Friends old and new can gather in corporate worship and prayer. Horizons are broadened, minds are stretched and spirits are rejuvenated. Sure, it may be the most diverse music festival in Christendom, but it is so much more.

We've seen kids who came to our original children's program grow up, start their own families and bring their kids back to our Creation Station. We've seen artists who made their debut at the New Band Showcase sign record deals, take their music and ministry around the world, and come back to Cornerstone to play at the Main Stage. We've seen kids who came in youth groups--maybe even as the rebels of their particular group--come to Cornerstone and discover the breadth and depth of Christian life and mission, the breathtaking diversity of the Kingdom as a living picture of the infinite bounty of God's love, and so later return to Cornerstone as the leaders of their own group of Christian young people.

Each year brings many new experiences to those who come. We are constantly improving both the physical conditions of the property, and the quantity and quality of the program. New bands, new stages, new seminars and new roads, gates and other facilities keep the experience fresh. There is more available than any individual could personally absorb, and that’s half the fun of it. This year, like each year since the fest’s debut in 1984, Cornerstone Festival will be consistent in its expected level of excellence, and will continue to break new ground.

Cornerstone is still the kind of event we would want to go to.

For those who have never been a part of the Cornerstone Experience, we welcome you. For those who are regulars we are looking forward to seeing you again.

The Cornerstone Festival Staff