Founder Of Creation Festivals Sentenced To 18-Year Prison Term For Child Molestation

http://comealivechurch.com/ – Harry L. Thomas

Creation Festivals founder and former pastor Harry L. Thomas has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for sexual offenses against five girls after the 75-year-old failed in a bid to withdraw his guilty plea.

Thomas pleaded guilty in February to raping one girl, sexually assaulting three other girls, and endangering the welfare of another child between 1999 and November 2015, according to the Courier Post. The publication reports that he targeted victims between the ages of 5 and 12. 

“What fools we all were,” the aunt of one girl said during Thomas’ two-hour hearing, according to the paper. “You used the fact that these kids loved you. You groomed them all and us, too.”

His lawyer Robin Lord attempted to withdraw his guilty plea by arguing that he had accepted a bad deal with his previous lawyer.  

 

Thomas will serve his term, which includes no parole eligibility, at a facility for sex offenders in Avenel, N.J. He was sentenced July 27 but the news is just getting picked up by music press like Consequence of Sound this week. 

Pollstar previously reported that Christian festival series Creation Festival indefinitely suspended founder Thomas from his leadership role in December after he was charged with sexually assaulting four minors earlier that month. He was also suspended from his leadership position in his Medford, N.J., church, which he founded in 1983, and all of its associated ministries.

Pollstar reached out to Creation Fest for comment at the time and was directed to the official statement that said, “It is with deep regret and saddened hearts that the board of Come Alive International and Creation Festivals along with the Elders and Trustees of Come Alive New Testament Church have indefinitely suspended Pastor Harry Thomas from all leadership positions with the church, festival and all associated ministries.  While the allegations are unrelated to his roles in these ministries, leadership has determined this to be the proper course of action at this time until there can be a full investigation.  It is requested that all pray for the parties involved and refrain from speculation regarding the circumstances.”    

  

Creation Festival debuted in 1979 at a park in Lancaster, Pa., attracting 5,000 attendees, according to The Gazette. The event – which bills itself as “The Nation’s Largest Christian Music Festival // A Tribute To Our Creator” – expanded to a second location Washington state in 1998. Artists who have reportedly played the events include Skillet, TobyMac, Switchfoot, LeCrae, Family Force 5, Hillsong, Casting Crowns, For King & Country, and Crowder.

Christianity Today reports that Creation Festivals are known as “the grandfather of Christian music festival” and “draw up to 100,000 attendees a year.” The publication points out that Creation Festivals had acquired a few other Christian events: Sonshine Festival, which was put on hold for 2017, and Ichthus Festival, which Creation stepped away from in 2016 after taking over the festival in 2013 and hosting just one edition in 2015. 

Neither Creation Northeast or Creation Northwest have submitted box office data to Pollstar in recent years.  

Creation Northwest 2018 was postponed in January with an announcement on the event’s Facebook page saying the decision was made after “much prayer and deep consideration. … We have realized we need to pull back for a year in order to re-group and re-focus, in an effort to be good stewards of this ministry.” Dates for 2019 are “tentatively” scheduled July 18-20.

The 2019 edition of Creation Northeast is set to take place in Mt. Union, Pa., June 26-29.