After meeting the GLDF team for the first time in May '08 and spending an amazing weekend with them Brian Bassingthwaighte (Steel Cross) uncovers more on this young festival and the people behind it

Hi guys for those people who are reading about you for the first time it may be a good idea to give us a brief history of yourself and your ministry:

The history: Before it all began

Andreas Larsen (DK) and Pastor Bob Beeman (US) met for the first time at Bob Fest 2004 in Sweden. This was the beginning of a great friendship and a close partnership. A couple of years went by while Andreas traveled with Pastor Bob whenever he was in Europe to do teachings at Christian metal festivals.

In 2007 Pastor Bob came to visit Andreas and his family in Denmark. At that point Andreas felt a desire to put up a one day event where the Christian metal heads in Denmark could meet Pastor Bob, hear his teachings and get encouraged to live in a daily relationship with God and spread light in an often dark subculture. The plan was to have one day of fellowship and a single concert at night with his band Barricades, who was the only Christian metal band in Denmark that he knew of at that time.

Andreas shared his early thoughts and passion with some fellow metal heads on their way to Nordic Fest 2006 and then again on the way by bus to Endtime Festival 2007. His friends were very excited and talked about the event all the way to Endtime Festival. One of the guys on the bus was David Svinth who had just started the hardcore band Magtesløs. He also knew about the new death metal band Amplified, and suddenly the visions for this event got bigger.

(1) The focus:

•  Christian metal fellowship

•  Great teachings and encouragement

•  Helping out new Danish Christian metal bands

•  Creating a great festival with the best music we know

Only 3 month after Pastor Bob announced when he could be in Denmark, a 3 days metal festival with 10 concerts and 240 people saw the light! The first Christian weekend metal festival in Denmark!

It all happened very suddenly, thanks to the fellowship, people's excitement, everybody's will to help and above all: Gods Spirit!!

(2) The name: Green Light District Festival

“Green Light District” is one of the song titles from an EP released in 2005 by Barricades. The meaning of the festival title is that we want this to stand in opposition to the Red Light District in Amsterdam.

•  The red light district is filled with sexual lust and desire, abuse, hate, discrimination, bondage and fear.

•  The green light district is a place of fellowship, brotherhood and loving each other like Christ did. It's a place that welcomes the Spirit and its gifts: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, mildness and self control (Galatians 5, 22-23). Because of our God we've got a reason to die and a great reason to live.

(3) The core-group: Main organizers

The first GLDFestival in April 2007 happened so quickly that there wasn't settled any festival team to put it together. So many young folks showed up at this festival and asked if they could help, and some just saw the need and started helping.

Today the GLDFestival is organized by a group of six Danes + a long list of helpers on the side.

What is the vision behind what you are doing?

•  Fellowship and gathering the family of Christian metal heads. Making friends.

•  Teachings and encouragement by the love of God. Be excited about being a Christian metal head the rest of the year.

•  Danish Christian metal bands . Help them walk in their vision + pull them out of their practice rooms and in front of the best audience.

•  Quality festival with international dimensions.

Who are the people behind GLDF and what roles do they play?

•  Andreas Larsen: President and main contact person.

•  Jonas Brunsnæs: Treasurer and secretary .

•  Levi Rauff: Webmaster and stage manager.

•  Simone Kildelund: Co-webmaster, accommodation and information booth.

•  David Svinth: MySpace and promoter.

•  Magnus Aagaard: Designer.

We're working very democratically with a flat structure where we all help each other in the different working areas.

How does music affect you and the world around you?

Very much indeed! Music is an extremely powerful source that we've all got in common + it's what draws the crowd. God is the reason and our strength.

What impact has your ministry had on the people you are in contact with and the area you serve?

People, not into metal:

We've seen many prejudices destroyed amongst skeptic people around us, who were shocked over our kindness and love for each other and our fellowmen. We're renting a good size boarding school for the festival, and the schools leadership and teachers were positively surprised about how nice the school looked on Monday morning.

People who are not Christians:

A good example: A guy from Lithuania had found out about the GLDFestival on the internet. He was not into Christianity or Christian metal bands, but he just needed a weekend with some live metal. So without knowing anyone he grabbed his bike cycle and went 60 kilometers to check it out. He was very amazed about the fellowship and that people were so interested in knowing each other and him as well. He told us that it had been the perfect weekend for him.

There are different reactions from different people. Most people we talk to respect our work and the festival and there's a good interest from people all over in spite of not having Christian beliefs. At secular metal discussion forums where you don't see people face to face, some teenagers have a tendency to “hate everything we do, are and stand for”. When we try to start a dialog they don't have any more to say.

Quotations from people at the festival:

•  “This has been the best weekend of my life” (With tears in his eyes)

•  “GLDF is the highlight for me during the whole year” (Very excited kid)

•  “I can only be here for one night at the festival, but I want to pay full price”

•  “Since the first GLDF I've had a GLDF-piggy bank where I put all my coins during the whole year, to give the festival” (There was A LOT of money)

Quotation from none-Danish band members:

•  “I've come back to God after this weekend”

•  “I'd like to come back next year, even if we're not gonna play, but because of the fellowship”

•  “After 10 years at Christian festivals, this is where we've felt the most welcomed”

There has always been a friction between mainstream church and the Hard music ministries and bands though this is started to change have you experienced evidence of this?

The GLDFestival started in 2007, so we haven't been around for that long. All the Christian medias has helped us with promotion and, to our own surprise, been very positive in spite of other convictions. On the national TV-news we were the hook-story of the day after the first festival in 2007. They showed an objective and positive views on this phenomena. Some folks in the 700 inhabitant beach village where the festival is located has had some heavy prejudices. A funny/strange story: A couple of metal heads at the festival went over to a nearby house and asked if they could buy a chicken. They got a firm no! After a few days we heard the rumor that the people at the GLDFestival were doing ritual slaughtering on stage. Hmm... Interesting. We didn't know that :-)

Everyone likes to see a band perform a great gig with a cool stage show. Who have you had play at GLDF?

•  Blindside (S) rock/hardcore

•  Intohimo (S) screamo/hardcore

•  Crimson Moonlight (S) black metal

•  Pantokrator (S) death/thrash

•  Frosthardr (N) black metal

•  Drottnar (N) black/math metal

•  Back Pocket Prophet (GB) thrash/heavy

•  Barricades (DK) metalcore

•  Amplified (DK) melodic death

•  Magtesløs (DK) metalcore

•  Solace The Day (DK) brutal southern metal

•  Servants Of The Immortal (DK) deathcore

•  Threat Chest (DK) thrash/death

•  Amorém (DK) action core

•  Corpse Under Construction (DK) gore grind

•  Sanctuary Worship (US) worship

We meet at the Green Light District Festival in May did the weekend go as planned?

Extremely blessed! Just another confirmation that this is Gods festival! Without him nothing of this could happen. Glory to God! We've seen and experienced amazing things that we didn't even dream of. God is so good and our source of energy, inspiration and excitement.

What do the guys at GLDF do outside of the ministry?

Simone, David, Levi, Jonas and Magnus are students at gymnasium (high school). Andreas is working together with Pastor Bob Beeman on a daily basis with Christian metal projects/ministry.

What has been your biggest struggle since starting GLDF?

No problem getting bands. No problem getting audience. People are excited about helping out and folks are offering great deals on equipment. We're VERY blessed.

The biggest challenge is the economic part.

How important do you find prayer support for the ministry and do you have a support team?

We've got Steel Cross, which is a huge support. Besides that we've got a prayer team during the festival + the core-group and friends praying during the year.

What's your outlook on the music industry today?

We've got different point of views on this subject but it hasn't got any effect on how we work with GLDF. We work with all kinds of bands, popular, upcoming and different metal genres.

So what is lineup for GLDF 2009?

So far we've got

•  Sacrificium (D) => death/thrash

•  Admonish (S) => black

•  Amplified (DK) => melodic death

•  Magtesløs (DK) => metalcore

•  Solace The Day (DK) => brutal southern metal

•  Servants Of The Immortal (DK) => deathcore

•  Amorém (DK) => actioncore

•  Exuviae (DK) => death metal / hardcore

•  Forgiving Acolyte (DK) => death/thrash

Besides metal bands we will have acoustic singer/songwriter concerts both nights after the last metal show at the big stage.

Where do you see God taking you and your ministry over the next 5 years?

To a higher level..! B-)

We've got tons of ideas and visions!

What is the best gigs you ever seen?

There are so many! And different bands! We all enjoy concerts were the musicians show integrity, soul and passion for what they're doing.

Bands at GLDF are in general a very, very cool experience with great performances and not a whole lot of rock star attitude ;-)

In your life outside ministry how do you relax?

What makes you think that we're ever outside of ministry?? :-)

By the way we love smoking lots of fruity hookah tobacco. And then we kinda like metal! A LOT!

Do you have a favorite passage of Scripture to share with readers of this webzine and why is that passage so important to you?

Joshua 1, 9 (NIV): “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

God said these words to Joshua right after Moses past away. Suddenly Joshua was the main leader with the main responsibility for a whole nation. God has plans for every one of us, and a responsibility. For the Core-group this passage means a lot. We've been giving a great responsibility and a task, which we can only accomplish with God by our side. God is faithful and has promised to stay by our side + help us out if we let Him.

Finally if you could share just one message to everyone in the world, what would that message be and why?

All you need is love.

God is love. Love is real. Through God's eyes life makes sense.

“ Out of rest we create

Out of pride we fall

Out of greet we hate

Because of love things get solved ”

(Taken from the song “And a Reason to Die” by Solace the Day. A band that contains 2/3 of the GLDFestivals Core-group.)

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