Big Ticket Festival Takes Seriously the Spiritual Discipline of Celebration

Big Ticket Festival, one of the country’s largest annual Christian music festivals, gets underway next week. Hosted at the Otsego County Fairgrounds located in Gaylord, Mich., the four-day event features a full schedule of performances given by well-known musicians, messages from faith-based speakers, family activities and hands-on outreach opportunities that uniquely partner concertgoers with both national and international nonprofit organizations.

“Our mission is simple, and it works,” Drew Spanding (B.A. ’04), president of White Stone Project, said. “The spiritual discipline of celebration has been around for thousands of years. It’s not a new idea; it’s an ancient one. When we do it collectively, there’s something special that God can’t hide His affection from.”

This year’s festival lineup includes stage time led by Lecrae, Toby Mac, Matthew West, Tenth Avenue North, Michael W. Smith, Disciple, Love & The Outcome, Dave and Ann Wilson, Sanctus Real and Andrew Palau. The number of attendees at the event is projected to exceed 38,000 guests.

Cornerstone University’s ongoing partnership with Big Ticket Festival dates back to 2009.

“We’re so excited to sponsor the Big Ticket Festival,” Jordan Grooters, communications coordinator, said. “Their mission is to ‘gather the tribes and give glory to God,’ and we want to be a part of that. At the festival, we get to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, and we get to connect with Christians from all over the state. It’s truly a unique opportunity.”

For this year’s Big Ticket Festival event, the university is pleased to continue its commitment to White Stone Project’s anticipated gathering as the headline sponsor.

“Through the partnership with Cornerstone, we get to promote Christian higher education,” Spanding said. “We’re very excited to use our platform to share with others the mission of what Cornerstone is all about.”