Samaritan shares message with thousands on Winter Jam tour

This winter, Samaritan Ministries’ Dustin Garrett is splitting his weeks between time with his wife, Kyndra, and time on the road with Winter Jam Tour Spectacular as he shares the health care sharing message with thousands of concertgoers.

Samaritan is the tour’s exclusive national health care sharing sponsor for 2017. Dustin, a Membership Development specialist for Samaritan, is the ministry’s representative on the largest annual Christian music tour. He’s at each of the concerts coordinating Samaritan volunteers, setting up the Samaritan booth, and talking to youth group leaders as well as the audience.

Dustin shared the Samaritan health care sharing message with 137,000 people at 14 concerts in January, including 2,800 youth leaders at pre-concert receptions. Just as exciting, more than 280 members volunteered their time at the various concerts, which have spread from Florida to Iowa, helping out in any way needed.

“From city to city, they’re great,” Dustin said. “It is absolutely delightful to get to meet Samaritan members in each city face to face. I’ve been incredibly encouraged by their individual Samaritan stories and support of the ministry.”

He’s got 32 concerts left in February, March and April before the tour wraps up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 2.

Dustin compares the long bus rides and long days at arenas to “going camping.”

“We guys share a dressing room,” he said. “We all eat together, get to play games together, have church on Sunday and worship together. Living and working so close together really has bonded everyone quickly and it already feels like a family.”

During a typical week, Dustin:

• Steps onto a bus at the tour’s Franklin, Tennessee, base on a Wednesday or Thursday, depending on when the first show of the week is, Thursday or Friday. That’s a relaxed night. “Everybody’s refreshed” from their days off, Dustin said. He rides on a bus with 12 passengers, including Colton Dixon and his band, as well as Colton’s wife, the tour photographer, various technicians, and merchandising coordinators. The passengers hit the ice on a hockey video game or partake of what amounts to a rolling coffee bar featuring several kinds of beans, grinders, espresso machines, and brewers. Frequently, they chow down on what’s being considered that bus’s favorite food this year: peanut butter and jelly. Or they get out their instruments and engage in jam of a different sort.
• Goes to bed no later than 2 a.m. in beds described as “coffin-sized.” Their bus, one of 11 on the tour, has 12 of them.
• Gets up around 8 a.m. after arrival at that day’s destination, makes coffee, then finds a quiet spot to “spend time with the Lord” in the arena.
• Familiarizes himself with the arena setup for that city so he can find his way from the dressing rooms to the booth to the stage. He then eats breakfast and unloads the booth equipment.
• Sets up the backstage recreation area, which includes a Ping-Pong table, bean-bag game, and a vintage arcade game. “It’s a great way for me to serve practically on the tour,” Dustin said. “I was glad to help when they asked me. It seems to really add to the overall backstage environment and brings many laughs and spirited competitions.”
• Calls his wife and also makes contact with that city’s member volunteers.
• Grabs lunch and a shower around 1 p.m.
• Hands out purple Samaritan T-shirts to Winter Jam’s own volunteers around 2:30 p.m. for them to wear around the venue.
• Greets Samaritan’s own member volunteers arriving soon after that. They’re given their T-shirts to wear as well as flyers to hand out. “Once that happens, a vortex starts,” Dustin said. “The show starts getting going, people start pouring in.”
• Speaks at Winter Jam’s reception for youth leaders at 5 p.m.
• Gets ready to go onstage once he hears Thousand Foot Krutch playing its set. A video about Samaritan Ministries plays and then Dustin shares the message with the arena.
• Has dinner and, sometimes, stops at a chiropractor’s table, helpful after a full day on concrete floors.
• Stays at the Samaritan booth until about 11, when the concert wraps up and he packs up.
• Gets back on the bus by 12:30 a.m., and then it’s either on to the next tour stop or back to Franklin.

Mondays, Dustin says, are sweatpants and couch days, recovery from four to five days of being on the bus or in arenas. On Tuesdays, he and Kyndra “go out into the world” and, in the evening, attend a church service in Nashville for those music business people unable to go on Sundays with their families. Wednesday, the Garretts go grocery shopping, and then, that night or the next, it’s back on the bus for Dustin.

Samaritan’s message is being well-received at the concerts, Dustin said, especially among youth leaders.

“That’s really the sweet spot for us,” he said. “There are a lot of church groups and youth leaders who don’t know about Samaritan Ministries. Even Tony Nolan (one of the Winter Jam ministers) has been really helpful in letting them know that this is a real practical thing for them, something that could really bless them and their ministries. Inevitably, after I tell them that none of our money goes toward abortion, there’s a round of applause and excitement and thankfulness. They’re excited that Samaritan is a practical way to live out their convictions.”

Hundreds of people have stopped at Samaritan’s tables set up in the arenas’ concourses. Dustin reported. Each night is a little different.

“Alongside the many chances to share about Samaritan Ministries, God is providing copious amounts of opportunity to minister to those on my bus and those behind the scenes working for Winter Jam,” Dustin said. “This has been, so far, the blessing, opportunity, and adventure of a lifetime.”