The press conference took place in the city center of Budapest, in the newly opened ADNA Café, which is behind Kálvin Square, on 6 Török Pál Street. In the café we can feel like we are not even in Budapest: a tranquil patio, verdant trees and a nice stage. The organizers and volunteers of Starpoint welcomed the participants in this environment: they were busy to furnish the cozy garden since 4 o’clock. Gradually the banners were placed on the trees; the posters were placed on the doors and blankets were put onto the grass. The location, which was occupied by the enthusiastic visitors, resembled the mood of a picnic in a summer evening.

At 7 o’clock in the evening, Margit Kiss coordinator of Starpoint, welcomed the people and opened the press conference. She emphasized that this opening party was the result of a two-year-long preparation, from which every participant had taken their parts.

The keynote speaker was introduced

Szabolcs Szontágh the Head of the Youth Office spoke about the importance of Starpoint and the center theme of this year, the Trust. “Take courage! It is I! Don’t be afraid.” – he quoted the motto of the Festival, the bible verse from Matthew 14:27 and added: “in reality there is no theoretical trust. Only that part of our trust is true which we can live out.” This year Starpoint is organized on the basis of these thoughts, in order to give an opportunity many youngsters to learn about different kinds of trust and build their trust in God and also their faith. “Besides gaining good memories the most important goal is that the participants return home with the feeling that something has changed in their lives” – closed Szabolcs his thoughts.

The audience finally met Zoltán Sóskúti, pastor from Rákoskeresztúr, who will lead the audience onto the path of trust as the keynote speaker of the festival. For Zoltán, the uttermost trust is that he was asked to be the keynote speaker. He finds important to represent the nature of trust through personal examples. He said that there has been times when his trust in God was put into a test. For example when he wasn’t accepted to enroll in Teacher-training College, even though he has done everything he could. He has experienced many similar moments, but he learned to trust God without conditions. At the end he added with a smile: “We have to trust God, even when we don’t understand him. Sooner or later we will realize that he was right.”

Common points – common moments

Margit Kiss informed everyone that the structure of Starpoint in this year had been changed a bit comparing to the previous ones, because the programs of the festival have been developed according to the areas of interest. This is how the Classical Point, the Eco Point, the High School Point, the College Point, the Stimulus Point and the Relationship Point were created, where everyone can find a program to enthusiastically participate in.

The coordinator gave two examples that triggered the interests of the audience: “Ottó Pecsuk, the President of the Hungarian Bible Society will lead a roundtable discussion at the College Point on the topic: what do the Bible and the Torah say about the Holy War? And the High School Point is going to accommodate the performance of the Gymnastics freestyle formation, whose members will witness their faith after their acrobatic performance.”

It is highly important for the organizers to create a real community of those visiting the festival and that after the festival everyone could return home with new friendships. Beside the cultural, spiritual and intellectual recreation, the youthful feel of a festival will remain, which will establish the good mood.

A dream comes true

This year concerts will make the evenings of Starpoint more colorful. The Main stage will be occupied by bands such as United, Mary PopKids, Keresztkérdés and Magashegyi Underground. The frontman of Keresztkérdés Dani Kübler said, being invited to play at the main stage already meant Trust for him and his band. “Four years ago in 2011, we had already performed at the Starpoint Festival in Tata. We were playing our music in one of the tents and we were dreaming about playing at the main stage. It seems like this dream will come true this summer.”

Dani also emphasized that their band called Keresztkérdés / Cross-question/ considers itself an indirectly Christian band and their aim is to get their message to as many people as they can and they find Starpoint a great opportunity to do that. For him the trust is extremely important, especially the trust in God. “It happens many times that the circumstances don’t give reason for hope but even then God knows what he is doing – he emphasized.”

Music, taste, lights

The organizers and the speakers all agreed that trust was being felt in the last two short years of organizing. It was important to trust each other in order to have hope that it will always turn out fine, but most of all to trust in God. This trust makes the Festival possible to be held in July.

The organizers and the volunteers do not go primarily to relax at the Festival, but to secure that every program is realized without any obstacle. Therefore, after the press conference they celebrated the summer with an opening party of Starpoint, knowing that on Thursday they have to return to the serious work.

The DJ was Roland Szoboszlai who delivered the songs for a relaxation in nice summer evening. The participants were dancing, drinking lemonade and they also had the opportunity to taste the delicious sandwiches of ADNA Café. The evening was passed in a real “Starpoint-ish” mood, and we could feel like we were already in Tata.

Zsuzsanna Farkas

translated by Dalma Kalácska

photo: András Dimény