A lot can be healed through worship, says Ethan Oltremari, the 20-year-old founder and president of the growing Greenwood Christian music festival Revival on the River, including racial, economic and denominational divides.
Ethan
“So much brokenness can be healed in worship. Racial problems can be healed in worship. All these things can be healed, unified and fixed in worship,” he said. “Wanting to see that unification and coming together is how we came up with this worship music festival.”
The third annual Revival on the River will be held Saturday at the park between the two downtown bridges. The event is expected not only to bring out locals of all ages, races and denominations but also to draw a crowd from the surrounding area.
“We’ve sparked something here, and we’ve sparked revival here that’s beginning to break out,” said Oltremari. “When people from outside of town come here and see that we are on fire for Christ, they’re going to go back to their hometown and start making a difference.”
The park will open at 12:30 p.m., and there is no admission fee.
Greenwood Gospel group Men of Zion will kick off the outdoor concert at 1 p.m., and the festivities will be capped by headliner Natalie Grant, a contemporary Christian singer and seven-time Grammy nominee, who will take the stage at 8 p.m.
{{tncms-inline content="<p>COMING UP</p> <p>What: Revival on the River, an outdoor Christian music festival</p> <p>When: The park opens at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.</p> <p>Where: The park between the Keesler and Veterans bridges</p> <p>Details: Admission is free and open to the public. Music will start at 1 p.m., and the headliner, Natalie Grant, will perform at 8 p.m.</p> <p>Music lineup: Men of Zion, Jessica Faith, St. John’s United Methodist Church Praise Team and The Believers, Danny Abraham, Thomas Toole, Encounter Worship, Tony “Biggtone” Price, Eddie Willis &amp; The Narrow Path, The Collins Family, Reagan Daniels &amp; Creation’s Symphony, Sonz of God, Big Al Cherry and Natalie Grant</p>" id="db6be18a-fa06-4b30-9d77-2881b316576c" style-type="bio" title="Coming up " type="relcontent"}}
Event organizers are excited to bring the talented headliner to Greenwood for a 60- to 90-minute performance. Grant, a Nashville-based singer and songwriter, is a five-time winner of the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year, and she has had multiple No. 1s on the Billboard singles and albums charts, including her most recent record “Be One.”
“I think that her biggest thing is her message of hope,” said Oltremari. “She will definitely cater to a genuine worship experience. I’ve seen her lead worship before and the power she brings to the stage as a woman of God and proclaiming that. It’s just beautiful.”
An assortment of Christian musicians and groups will perform in between, including Jessica Faith, St. John’s United Methodist Church Youth Praise Team and The Believers, Danny Abraham, Thomas Toole, Encounter Worship, Tony “Biggtone” Price, Eddie Willis & The Narrow Path, The Collins Family, Reagan Daniels & Creation’s Symphony, Sonz of God, and Big Al Cherry.
The event will feature food vendors, such as Larry’s Fish House, Wingtopia and A&M Concessions from Florida. There will be a children’s area with inflatables, face painting and games.
The event will also include a prayer tent, where those attending can come to be prayed for or make a prayer request. Those requests will be sent to a prayer team set up in the nearby offices of Bowie Realty from before the event starts until it ends.
“There’s someone constantly in the prayer room praying the entire time,” said Oltremari. “Any requests in the prayer tent get brought to the prayer room to be prayed over by our prayer team, which I think is one of the coolest parts of the event.”
Performing at last year’s Revival on the River are, from left, Pastor Steven Collins, Marlon Collins and Myracle Collins of The Collins Family and Thomas Toole. Both The Collins Family and Thomas Toole will perform again this year.
Revival on the River will also feature mission booths, where local groups will promote their organization or ministry.
“This year, we have more than 20, which is double from last year,” said Oltremari. “There’s different activities at each booth, or you can donate to those missions. We don’t charge them to come. It’s completely free for them. They also get to speak from the stage at some point in the day about what God is doing in their ministries. It’s a great way to see what is going on in our community and showcase those missions and community organizations.”
Oltremari, a student at Delta State University and member of St. John’s United Methodist Church, works with an organized team of people from the Greenwood area to hold the event each year. He came up with the idea for Revival on the River while still a high school senior at Pillow Academy.
“God put this on my heart to basically unify our town racially, economically and denominationally and come together as the body of Christ, which is the way it is supposed to be,” said Oltremari, who was raised Catholic before joining the United Methodist Church. “You really don’t see a lot of churches fellowshipping together, and that broke my heart.”
Oltremari said he wanted something that could bring people together that was not tied to a particular church and that had no type of influence from one denomination or race.
“That’s where we started going with Revival on the River,” he said.
Now three years later, Revival on the River, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has grown and become something deeper than its initial plan.
Revival on the River
The group held a worship night at the spiritual retreat center Locus Benedictus this past fall, which it plans to do annually. The group also started college worship nights, and the first one was held this past week at Delta State University. Revival on the River will also have an outreach team that will go out and paint houses in the community during the summer.
“We’re a ministry based out of Greenwood that focuses on worship and outreach. Those are our two main focuses,” said Oltremari. “All of these programs and activities are blossoming from that, and it’s all focused on reaching people for Christ and worshiping as the unified body of Christ.”
The mission of Revival on the River is to reach as many people with the love of Christ and “to show them that they are wanted and that we care about them,” said Oltremari.
“On our team, we have Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Assembly of God, Church of God, and they are all working together for this event. That was the original vision — bring people together for the common good to make something happen.”
Oltremari said he hopes that all of those attending Revival on the River will have a renewal in their spirit.
“The biggest thing that I want for them when they leave is to know that they are loved not only by us as a team, as an organization, but they are loved by God and they are destined for great things and God has called them to do that,” said Oltremari. “We can make a difference in this community. We — as youth, adults, anybody — can all make a difference in this community to unify it.”
Those attending are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets.
Revival on the River will have a booth selling merchandise, such as T-shirts, at the event. All proceeds will go toward its summer mission work and outreach programs.
For more information about Revival on the River, visit www.revivalontherivergreenwood.com, like its page on Facebook or email ethan@revivalontheriver.com.
nContact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
COMING UP
What: Revival on the River, an outdoor Christian music festival
When: The park opens at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Where: The park between the Keesler and Veterans bridges
Details: Admission is free and open to the public. Music will start at 1 p.m., and the headliner, Natalie Grant, will perform at 8 p.m.
Music lineup: Men of Zion, Jessica Faith, St. John’s United Methodist Church Praise Team and The Believers, Danny Abraham, Thomas Toole, Encounter Worship, Tony “Biggtone” Price, Eddie Willis & The Narrow Path, The Collins Family, Reagan Daniels & Creation’s Symphony, Sonz of God, Big Al Cherry and Natalie Grant
