Spirit West Coast
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Spirit West Coast (SWC) is a
Christian music festival A Christian music festival (also known as a Jesus music festival or simply a Jesus festival) is a music festival held by the Christian community, in support of performers of Christian music. The festivals are characterized by more than just music ...
that features Christian artists from several different genres. It also features lectures, workshops in tents, kids' shows, petting zoos, and comedians. Spirit West Coast was founded by five families in 1995. It began in 1997 as a yearly festival in
Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...
. Later, an additional festival in
Del Mar, California Del Mar (; Spanish for "Of the Sea") is a beach town in San Diego County, California, located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1885 as a seaside resort, the city incorporated in 1959. The Del Mar Horse Races are hosted on the De ...
, was added. These two festivals are held every summer. The festivals are members of the
Christian Festival Association The Christian Festival Association was formed in September 2006. The group consists of members representing major Christian music festivals held in the United States and Canada. Collectively, this group represents nearly a million attendees annuall ...
. Many of the most popular Christian acts play concerts for the attendees. These include
Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when " Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the '' ...
,
Audio Adrenaline Audio Adrenaline was an American Christian rock band that formed in 1986 at Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, Kentucky. The band gained recognition during the 1990s and received two Grammy Awards and multiple Dove Awards. Audio Adren ...
,
Newsboys Newsboys (sometimes stylised as newsboys) are a Christian rock band founded in 1985 in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia, by Peter Furler and George Perdikis. Now based in Nashville, Tennessee, the band has released 17 studio albums, 6 of which ...
,
Delirious? Delirious? (formerly known as The Cutting Edge Band) were an English contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian band. For the majority of their career, the lineup featured Martin Smith (English musician), Martin Smith on vocals and gu ...
,
Chris Tomlin Christopher Dwayne Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader from Grand Saline, Texas, United States, who has sold over 7 million records. He is a member of Passion Conferences an ...
,
Tree63 Tree63 is a contemporary Christian music band from Durban, South Africa. History The band was formed in 1996 and originally, it was unnamed. In 1997, the band had to come up with a name before performing at North Beach, Durban, and came up w ...
,
Jeremy Camp Jeremy Thomas Camp (born January 12, 1978) is an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter from Lafayette, Indiana. He has released eleven albums, four of them RIAA-certified as Gold, and two live albums. Camp's original musi ...
, Armour Under Fire, Rebecca St. James,
Skillet A frying pan, frypan, or skillet is a flat-bottomed pan used for frying, searing, and browning foods. It is typically in diameter with relatively low sides that flare outwards, a long handle, and no lid. Larger pans may have a small grab ha ...
, the Kry,
Toby Mac Toby McKeehan (born Kevin Michael McKeehan; October 22, 1964), better known by his stage name TobyMac (styled tobyMac or TOBYMAC), is an American contemporary Christian music singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He was first known f ...
, Jars of Clay,
Larry Norman Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 album ...
and many others. Some of the top Christian speakers and authors give lectures/sermons at Spirit West Coast festivals. Past speakers include
Charles Stanley Charles Frazier Stanley (born 1932) is Pastor Emeritus of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, after serving as senior pastor for 49 years. He is the founder and president of In Touch Ministries, which widely broadcasts his sermons through te ...
,
Greg Laurie Greg Laurie (born December 10, 1952) is an American author and pastor who serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship with campuses in Riverside, Orange County and Maui. Laurie came to faith at the age of 17 as the Jesus Moveme ...
,
Luis Palau Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...
,
Tony Campolo Anthony Campolo (born February 25, 1935) is an American sociologist, Baptist pastor, author, public speaker and former spiritual advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton. Campolo is known as one of the most influential leaders in the evangelical ...
,
Frank Peretti Frank Edward Peretti (born January 13, 1951) is a ''New York Times'' best-selling author of Christian fiction, whose novels primarily focus on the supernatural. , his works have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. He has been described by the ' ...
,
Miles McPherson Miles Gregory McPherson (March 30, 1960) is the pastor of the Rock Church in San Diego, a motivational speaker, and a former NFL football player. History McPherson grew up on Long Island. He attended the University of New Haven, where he maj ...
,
Ron Luce Ronald Allan Luce, (born July 11, 1961) is the co-founder and president of Teen Mania Ministries which was located in Garden Valley, Texas. Together with his wife Katie, Ron founded Teen Mania in 1986 and led the organization until its bankruptc ...
, and
Louie Giglio Louie Giglio (pronounced GIG-leo; born June 30, 1958) is an American Christian pastor. He is the leader of Passion City Church, located in Atlanta, Georgia. The founder of the Passion Movement, he is an author and public speaker. Biography Gigl ...
. At nights popular Christian comedians like Bob Smiley tell jokes in big tents.
Compassion International Compassion International is an American child sponsorship and Christian humanitarian aid organization headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that aims to positively influence the long-term development of children globally who live in pover ...
is one of the focuses of SWC. Compassion has a tent where they encourage people to sponsor hungry and needy children in other countries. SWC keeps track of the number of sponsorships and announces the growing number over their loudspeaker. The layout of Spirit West Coast consists of a main stage with large screens for those that have to stand or sit far away. In addition, it features side stages (some inside tents), several merchandise tents, and various other tents (e.g. first aid, lost and found, etc.). There are also numerous food vendors on site. SWC offers camping to those that do not live nearby and to those that don't want to stay in hotels. Buses run from the campgrounds to the main stage, so people don't have to walk too far. These buses generally run until about midnight. Many church groups attend Spirit West Coast. They pack their youth groups into buses and drive to Monterey or Del Mar. SWC offers a special rate for groups. One group calling themselves the "Traveling Circus" has made particularly visible appearances at the concert every year, starting large dance pits at performances. The group is made of a dozen or so Christian punks, goths and hippies. These festivals last between 3–4 days. They start around 9am and end around midnight each night. People of all faiths (and no faith) can and do attend. There are invitational messages to repent and trust in
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, presented both by the event staff and the individual musicians, and there are also
baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
s held at the Monterey festival. Spirit West Coast is run almost entirely by volunteers. Volunteers typically work four- or nine-hour shifts. Some, namely IT, electrical, construction, kitchen crews, operations, navigators, and a few others, work many more hours. For these individuals, SWC is an adventure and family reunion that they look forward to year after year. For these departments, and many others, onsite work often begins a week prior to the festival start date and doesn't end for days after when the last items are packed up and stored for the following year. There is much to be done to convert the Del Mar Fairgrounds into a festival site, and even more to be done to convert the dust bowl of
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and M ...
. No festivals were held in 2020.


External links


Spirit West Coast websiteCelebration Concerts
{{Music venues of California Christian music festivals Music festivals in California Del Mar, California Monterey, California Music festivals established in 1997