Craig Deibler looked out at the sea of camp chairs and blankets in front of him. Then he looked behind him to another sea of chairs and blankets at the tree line.
Young fans respond to the music of Stellar Kart in front of the Witness stage Saturday.
The band Stellar Kart rocks the Witness Festival Saturday afternoon in Quarryville.
Lucas Brown, left, and Ian Thomas, both of Rising Sun, Maryland, jump and cheer while listening to Ste
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Christine Steele, of Wilmington Delaware, sings along with Stellar Kart.
He guessed there might have been 5,000 to 8,000 people in Quarryville's Memorial Park at 5 p.m. Saturday, settling down after a set by the band Stellar Kart.
Witness Festival volunteers said there were more people in the park soon after the music started at noon than they'd seen even for the headliners in previous years.
If absence makes the heart grow fonder, a year away from Witness might have made Christian music fans realize what they were missing.
Maybe that explains the throng at the free festival, which started in 2002 but went on hiatus last year.
Or maybe it was the economy — you can take a whole family to Witness for the price of a $5 parking donation.
Or maybe it was just a God thing.
Witness, with a lineup including worship leader Robin Mark, Stellar Kart, Todd Agnew, headlining BarlowGirl and former New York Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau, was back in force on Saturday. And Christian music fans were rejoicing.
"We did miss it," Rod Ranck of Smoketown said. "We look forward to it every year."
But organizers and the 250-plus volunteers needed time off, so the festival was canceled in 2007. This year, though, Deibler felt a divine push to get Witness moving again.
Instead of two days, Witness was Saturday-only this year, and the budget was stripped to the bone.
Even though thunderstorms forced people into their cars shortly after 6 and chased some of them home, "It's going remarkably well," Deibler said. "As fine as we've done."
Fan favoritesThe lines at their tables in the merchandise tent were a good gauge of which bands had the biggest fan base at Witness.
Hands down, the winners were Stellar Kart and BarlowGirl, both hard-rocking bands that draw a younger demographic.
Stellar Kart vocalist Adam Agee joked about the noise level: "We're not exactly an intimate band. We're a little louder than that."
The band closed with a call-and-response version of "Life Is Good" -— "Life is good; eternal life is better." Afterward, a line of fans snaked almost the whole way around the merchandise tent for autographs.
Rod and Heather Ranck, youth directors at Grace Community Church in Willow Street, brought a group of teens from church to Witness, and the kids were "waiting for BarlowGirl."
The three sisters, who closed the show, appeal especially to girls with a message of self-worth. Guitarist Rebecca Barlow, for instance, told the audience that the song "Mirror" was her own story of struggling with depression and eating disorders as she tried to conform to society's standards.
"I stand here today, 10 years later, a completely healed woman," she said.
Bruce and Jan Weaver brought their children, Adam and Alyssa, from the Ephrata area mostly because they wanted to hear BarlowGirl. It was the family's first time at Witness.
"We heard good things about it," Bruce Weaver said.
Returning fans were just glad Witness was back.
"The music's great, and the speakers are good," said Baltimore resident Lynn Muska-Poole, who was at her second festival. "You can come here and you don't feel pressured. It's relaxing. It's a good family outing."
"We tried some new things," Deibler said, "and so far, they've all worked."
The new things included Compassion International as a sponsor and stars of the new musical "Amazing Grace," which will be coming to the American Music Theatre May 2 to Sept. 30, 2009, performing songs from the show on the Witness stage.
The prayer tent was turned over to a team from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, known for nonstop prayer since 1999. Witness chaplain Rich Stevenson teaches in the ministry school affiliated with IHOP. Deibler said the team had prayed with 150 people by late afternoon.
Then there was Gastineau, who delivered a testimony to the power of God to change lives. He said nearly a year in the Riker's Island prison (for violating terms of his probation on domestic violence charges) helped to turn him back to the faith he had held as a child.
Far less flamboyant now than he was on NFL fields, Gastineau, who was accompanied onstage by his wife Joann and their two dogs, said he didn't obsess when his single-season sack record was broken: "The only record I care about is the Lamb's book of records."
Stevenson told festivalgoers that organizers and volunteers had raised $50,000 before the Witness started, but they still needed $11,000 to make budget.
"What kind of difference does an event like this make?" Stevenson asked. "... As we gather here every year at Memorial Park in Quarryville, this place becomes a holy place of the Lord.
"It's crucial that you move now in faith so this sacred event can continue."
No promises were made. But Witness hopes to be back next year.
As Gastineau put it, "Anything is possible. … When you believe, you can move mountains."
Helen Colwell Adams is a Sunday News staff writer. E-mail her at hcolwell@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-4962.
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