As some of Christianity’s biggest bands strut their stuff on the Easterfest main stage this weekend in front of 30,000 fans, a 72-hour worship event will have a different focus as part of the festival.

Evan Shelton, from Toowoomba’s Rangeville Community Church, is helping organise 72 hours of non-stop music worship, inviting bands playing at Easterfest’s Queen’s Park in Toowoomba, QLD and local worship teams to take an hour or two hour slot on offer in the space.

30-40,000 people are expected at this year’s Easterfest in Toowoomba, QLD.

The 72 hours kicked off at 10pm last night with the OC Supertones taking the first hour slot. White Heart are expected to take the worship reins on Saturday afternoon. The early morning slots between 2-6am haven’t been as popular with the international acts. But some “hardcore” worship teams from YWAM (Youth With A Mission) have elected to carry the worship through into the wee hours throughout the weekend.

It’s the second year the event has been held, and Evan is no stranger to staying up late in worship. Last year he pulled an all-nighter in the worship chapel though he says they’re trying to rotate the bands around more this year.

But he says while you’re certainly not a saint just because you stay up late with Jesus, he says there’s a beauty in drawing close to God in the small hours.

“The middle of the night is a very quiet time; there’s no distractions, nothing to steal your focus. I think it can be a valuable time of pressing into God.”

Evan says the event held in a “little old Methodist church” that’s now used as a performance space in town, juxtaposes what happens in other parts of the festival.

“Concerts are about performance, and about the performers, really. People come to Easterfest to be entertained by some of their favourite bands. We’re trying to do something a little different in this space.

“The band’s playing in our 72-hour worship event aren’t on a stage, they’re on the floor with the rest of the people. We put a big, three-metre high cross right in the middle of the room, and everyone gathers around the cross,” he says.

“This particular space is about glorifying Jesus before anything or anyone else.”

While the contrast to the screaming crowds and album promos in other parts of Easterfest is visually (and likely audibly) evident, Evan says it’s not a big stretch for the bands who’ll straddle both the mainstage and the worship chapel.

“A lot of these bands serve in their local worship teams back home, wherever they come from. So it’s not a big jump for them, and it’s already on their hearts.”

Easterfest’s 72 Hours of Worship event will wrap up on Sunday night, when the worship teams will head over to the Mainstage and end the festival with their last hour of worship.