INTERVIEW WITH ANGIE LEYDA OF ALWAYS 1 MINISTRIES AND KINGDOM COME FESTIVAL

 

Photo courtesy of Jeanette Yoder photography, from Kingdom Come Festival 2014.

JR: Angie, when and how did Kingdom Come Festival (afterward abbreviated KCF) get its start? And do you ever get confused with a fried chicken chain?

AL: I’ll try to keep the origin story of KCF brief!  It starts with Chris Bousum.  He is my uncle, but acted as a big brother/father figure for myself and my brother, Jay.  Chris introduced us to Christian music when we were younger… Keith Green, Amy Grant, Daniel Amos, Phil Keaggy… just to name a few.  Several years later, Chris started writing music and wanted to form a band.  Jay became the drummer and I helped with back up vocals for a while.  The name of the band was Strange Reflection.  Chris and Jay had attended Cornerstone music festival in Illinois  a few times prior to starting the band, but after the band was formed, they were able to actually perform at Cornerstone on a few stages.  While they were there, they connected with a few bands and had a great experience.  

It was sometime after they got home that they were talking about the possibility of organizing a small festival.  Jay works in a security role at a high school.  He hears so many stories from the students. As bad as you think it is with the kids, it’s actually worse. These stories sparked a conversation between himself and Chris about doing something that could help the youth and the lost.  That was the birth of the first Kingdom Come Festival.  It was 2010. They reached out to the bands they connected with at Cornerstone and had 8 bands in 8 hours.  Jay would say it was a disaster, LOL, but the lead singer of one of the bands, Josh Randolph of News From Verona (later renamed Pioneer), would speak life over the festival and convince Jay that it was worth it to try again.  The next year I jumped on as coordinator and my husband as tech director.  We make the plans and give God the show.  This past year (2021) was our 12^th KCF!! 

And, YES, we don’t have folks say anything directly to us about KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), but when someone shares a post about KCF, I have seen a TON of folks comment and laugh because they read KCF as KFC and wondered what the big deal was!!  I will have to admit that I, myself, went to KFC and accidentally ordered a KCF bowl in the drive thru!  Ha ha ha!!

JR: You serve as the Event Coordinator for Always One Ministries (aka A1M). When did this ministry start, and what other activities do you have besides KCF (I almost typed KFC 😃)

AL: A1M is the organization we created after the first couple of KCF’s because we decided we wanted to do more than just KCF.  We have Pit Fest and our Christmas Outreach, but we also do other things here and there.  The name Always One Ministries comes from something God laid on the heart of Jay, my brother and our co-founder.  No matter where you are or what you are doing, there’s always one.. one person to reach out to or help or minister to.  Jesus was about the one.  The one lost sheep.  If we can just reach one… imagine the domino or even snowball effect that could have.  I mean, Billy Graham was just one…

JR: This year's schedule alone is too long to list in the blog, let alone those from previous years. Are there any particular performances that you would consider especially memorable?

AL: Any time we have artists cross over into another artists set, it makes the experience memorable for the attendees and we love that.  For instance Matt Sassano was performing this past year and he had a song that he released that featured Zahna.  Well, she happened to be there and snuck up on the stage with him to sing her part in person.  Surprised him and thrilled the crowd!  However, the performances that I think are etched forever in my memory came from the same day.  I think it might have been KCF 2014?? 

It started with Trevor Heyd.  He was doing his beatboxing and ministering and the Holy Spirit took over the place.  I had to run into my camper, which acts as our office at KCF, and when I came out, nearly every person in the crowd were on their knees.  I had never seen anything like it.  Next band to perform after that was The Protest.  During their set, a young woman rushed up on the stage.  She said something to Josh, the lead singer, and the next thing we saw was Josh getting to his knees with this girl and praying with her.  The music stopped, the rest of the Protest members joined in laying hands on her, other members of other bands that were hanging out behind the stage joined in with them.  That young lady found Jesus right there on the stage.  Josh later told me that what she said to him was, “I’m so scared to die”.  While that was going on, Adam Jefferson from Nine Lashes got his Bible out, preached a little message and had an impromptu altar call. Several people came down to accept Jesus or rededicate their lives.  Jay refers to it as the Holy Spirit Tsunami that took over that day.  There will never be enough words to describe how incredible that was. 

JR: The Friday of this year's festival, I was home in Indianapolis - about 50 miles south - and we got hit with hail around an inch in diameter. I don't know if you dealt with it, but how do you prepare for things like hail and COVID and power failures and the like?

AL: We do a whole lot of trusting God!!  For the last several years, we have held the event at the Howard County Vietnam Veterans Organization grounds outside of Kokomo.  So, as things come up, we discuss options with them.  Although, I will say that God has really done an amazing job of protecting us.  Nearly every year the forecast calls for storms.  Some rain is pretty common, but every year we watch the radar and the nastiest stuff will come at us and either dissipate or go around us.  Every. Single. Time. We just don’t worry about it because we know he is faithful.  We are also a very “go with the flow” type of fest.  My guess would be that if the power went out, we’d just do acoustic stuff, but we typically have enough generators around to take care of most of the issues we might have.  COVID has been interesting, but the timing of KCF has been great.  Where so many other festivals have had to cancel, we have been blessed to be able to keep going. Being an outdoor festival helps.  We did put the typical precautions in place.  Masks if you want, social distance when possible, hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE. Etc. 

JR: This year’s festival took place June 18^th and 19^th. What do you do the rest of the year to prepare for next year’s festival?  

AL: Well, right after the fest is over, we ask our volunteers to give us a list of what worked and what didn’t, while it is fresh in our minds.  And then, surprisingly, we don’t think much about KCF until late fall when we try to line up headliners.  Our brains turn to our smaller festival, Pit Fest, that happens in September at the Jonesboro River Rally and then directly to our Christmas Outreach.  After the first of the year, we line up the rest of the bands and then start the rest of the KCF prep!

JR: How has KCF made disciples, both in evangelism and equipping the saints for the ministry?

AL: That’s an interesting question.  Our ministry isn’t really called to make disciples, it is more for seed planting and introducing folks to Jesus, so they can have the opportunity to accept Him. Having said that, though, we know how crucial discipleship is!  If someone were to make a decision for Christ at KCF, we don’t want people to accept Jesus at the stage front and then send them on their way and tell them we’ll pray for them!  We have a crew available to give them little booklets that explain what they should do from this point…starting with finding a church home!  We take their info, if they want to give it to us, and then try to keep in touch and follow up with them.

JR: How can we learn about next year's festival? Any particular prayer needs for this ministry? And anything else you want to share?

AL: Our Facebook page is where we post most of the info, but we are also on Instagram and Twitter (@A1Mkokomo for both of those).  Our biggest prayer is that we always put ministry first and that God have His way with anything we organize.  We pray that seeds will be planted and lives will be changed.  We would love prayers for the finances to always be there, as well.  Prayer that God lead us to the bands that He wants to be at KCF would be great, too!!! 

As for anything else we would like to share, that is a dangerous thing to ask me, LOL.  I’m referred to as “the mouth of the ministry” for a reason!  I seriously could share so much more… about the impact that I have seen from the people involved in this ministry.  How God has touched folks.  Not just for the attendees, but the bands, too.  We have heard so many of them share how they were feeling a certain way, but just being at KCF has given them a renewed spirit.  It is like a big family reunion and we make sure to take care of every kind of need the bands may have so that they are fulfilled and can do what they are called to do.  I just couldn’t love this ministry more and am so completely blessed to be a part of it! 

Musician Photos from Top to Bottom:  Josh Bramlett (The Protest), Disciple (headliner Saturday June 19th), The Letter Black (headliner Friday June 18th), Matt Sassano, Zahna, Trevor Heyd, The Protest, Theody, Bred 4 War. All photos courtesy of Jeanette Yoder Photography except Trevor Heyd's, which is courtesy of Skip Johnson Photography.