It feels like only yesterday I was cramped up and smushed into the back seat of a Jeep Liberty, pulling out of the driveway of my good friends' house in Birmingham, Alabama.  We were all jacked up on Mountain Dew and ready for the long trip ahead.  One quick stop at a McDonald's and we were off. 

Adam Sean

A couple of us had been to Cornerstone before, but two in our group were new to the experience.  I myself had been to year before, but only had the chance to go for two days.  Apparently, I had missed a lot of the fun.  So I made sure that I had plenty of time off work.  All of us within the BTU family have been planning this ever since we got back from last years festival in 2006.  The experience I felt playing for a group of people who were united in worship made all the time and effort of pain and heartache I have put into DJing worth it, ten fold.  And so I made it a priority to do it even bigger this year in 2007.  And so we planned with this year's coordinator from Tastyfresh.com, Dave Richards.  He and Kevin Neely of BTU Productions/Recordings dedicated their time to ensure this would become the best Dance Barn experience Cornerstone had ever seen to this date.

More of the Barn later, I will first begin with the corn. The first thing you will notice driving to Bushnell, Illinois is all the corn.  You get this feeling that any minute, the children of the corn are going to come running out.  But besides that, it is very peaceful and serene.  In the middle of all this emerges the small town of Bushnell.  You turn next to a cute sign welcoming you and after a few more miles is Cornerstone Road.  The excitement rises high and I could barely control myself.  A quick check in and putting on the artist wristband and we were off to get the campsite we planned for.  While Fitzpatrick and I set up camp, Kevin went looking for the other two people in our group who went walking to take in the shock of all they were seeing.  They were the newbies: Alex B and Leslie, Fitz's girlfriend.  I had arrived.

The AfterHours Flyer

The first couple of days are the getting adjusted days.  All of Monday and half of Tuesday is just learning where everything is and meeting people.  We set up the generator stage that our good friend Jeremy Kadinger created from his Dodge Caravan and relaxed a few hours.  By the way, the generator stage rocked!  As the Monday went on, all the Tastyfresh.com forums people began to show up and helped us form camp Buttertub just outside the Barn; cleverly named Afterhours.  Our sound people from Harmony Productions showed up a little after midnight, but we were not quite complete as Alex and Leslie had left to pick up Joel Armstrong at the airport in St. Louis.  The rest of us were pretty tired so we went to bed around three a.m.  Soon after, Alex's voice sounded across the camp inquiring why everyone was asleep at five am.  Now we were whole with our new brother, Joel.

Day two was the day of destruction. It began with the subwoofer at the generator stage blowing up.  Thankfully the king of audio electronics was at hand.  He identified the problem and we obtained another sub by the next day.  We set up the Barn which was cleverly called Afterhours around mid-day and ran the sound tests to the excitement of everyone involved.  We all ran around in anticipation with our eyes about to pop out of our heads.  The system was loud!  And so we started the night.

Dave Richards and Doug Theodore started the BTU night in the extra time we had.  Then the BTU family began.  Fitzpatrick was up first with an awesome intro from the Dark Crystal.  The festival people came to the barn in groups.  Growing with every hour than passed.  By the time Alex B went on, the floor was getting full.  As Alex finished his set, I said a prayer and dedicated my set to the Father.  By then the floor was packed.  Hands raised, jumping as one and cheering.  There wasn’t anyone at Afterhours that night that did not have a smile from ear to ear.  Closing out the night for BTU was Kevin aka O'Neel who played wearing a Kilt.  That's why we love him.  1:30 a.m. came too soon.  Alex and I went to the midway to get a drink and people were still running down to the Barn.  We were amazed.  It took us a while to get to sleep that night as we were anticipating the rest of the week. 

Jeremy Kadinger rocks the crowd.

On day three we were itching for a bath so Doug, Alex and I took a walk down to the lake and did it manly style.  And oh, did that feel good!  We met a lot of people down at the bathing site.  We met a girl from New York who was enjoying her bath just as much as the rest of us.  And yes, we were wearing bathing suits for all you perves.  After our awesome and satisfying bath, we were off to the generator stage, which was up, and running.  The sound was great.  Imagine walking about half a mile from camp to the generator stage.  About every 50 feet, one came across another generator stage with Screamo bands and poor EQs.  I can honestly say that the Tastyfresh Sound System had the best and cleanest sound.  Good job Jeremy.

And now… the nightlife.  After a quick worship session with David Crowder Band, I ran back to Afterhours in time to see Chris, a.k.a. DJ404, tear up the dance floor.  The Barn was already filling up only a couple of tracks into his set.  It would prove to be an ongoing trend throughout the week.  Our numbers certainly increased.  After Chris, Joel Armstrong brought the thunder to the worshippers.  Allow me to mention that Joel is from Canada and a girl, Rachelle, came all the way from Canada to see mister Armstrong.  The awesome thing was how she told us of how she is planning on forming a “Techno Church” back home.  Simply amazing!  We all sat up together having church right there at our campsite.  It was just like one big happy family and a perfect end to the third day.

I woke to the steady sound of rain on the forth day.  It was sure nice to have a break from the hot sun for a while.  It brought cooler temperatures and a lot of laughs stomping around in the mud.  We sure had some dirty feet.  Since everyone was still asleep, I went into town with Dave and had the Godfather’s pizza buffet after playing in the toy section at Wal-Mart.  Fun times.  Then we returned to try to sell some of our merchandise and dubbed Kevin the most annoying guy in the Merch Mall where he lost his voice.  The rain finally stopped and the night came.  This night, I saw Skillet before Afterhours.  It was awesome!  I totally lost my voice.  Then off to the Barn I went.  Here we go again.  I walked right into Jeremy Kadinger's set which started one incredible night.  Once again we had a large crowd early and by the time DJ Stryke went on, the floor was packed.  He blew the roof off.  His energy was non-stop.  We had people still coming in the doors well after the night was done.  By this time we were all exhausted and went to sleep right after we shut down.  Only one more day to go.

Joel Armstong on the CD decks.

I slept well that night before and woke to a beautiful day.  We all met at the Generator stage to have Jeremy's legendary chili and a special communion ceremony.  Jeff from Club Worship gave the blessing and the breaking of the bread.  Thank you Jeff.  We all ate and then fired up the van again.  We rocked the parade of people all day to prepare them for the final night of the Barn.  After a stop to see Flyleaf, I once again ran back to Afterhours to see Doug Theodore starting them out right.   He had an even bigger opening crowd than the night before.  We relished in the numbers coming through the doors.  Then, Kenneth Thomas hit the decks.  By the end of his set, the floor was packed wall to wall.  As I stood shoulder to shoulder with others involved with Afterhours, I looked out over the crowd, jumping as one, hands raised in worship.  The feeling inside flooded my heart and I could stand no more.  I fell to my knees and began to cry.  The greatest thing I saw was all the different kinds of people all in the same area all at the same time sharing community; punks, emo, ravers, etc.  I was amazed and in awe of how God was working.    We ended the whole week with a new community formed between us and all the people who came through the doors.  New friends made, and I hope, some new believers as well. 

Both stages were broken down by the end of that night just as quickly as they went up.  However, our new family will never break down.  God will hold us together with the Holy Spirit and this one-week a year experience called Cornerstone.  The next morning we broke camp, said our good-byes and pulled out for home.  I am glad to be home in my own bed and taking daily showers with clean water, but I do miss the community that was around me all day every day.  I will see all of you again next year I'm sure, if not sooner.  Only God knows.  I want to end My Cornerstone Journal by thanking everyone involved.  We pulled it off.  We saw a vision and with the help of Jesus, brought it to life.  We have another vision for next year already and I have no doubt that we will see come alive again.  Until then, God's grace and peace be with you all.