Who are the people who make Limitless Festival happen?

Behind the highlights and headlines of Limitless Festival is an army of unseen heroes sacrificing time, energy and sleep to make it possible. Here, Tim Alford shares their stories

“Her self-harm scars disappeared!” The excitement in her voice was unmistakable. We were standing in the café area of a church where I had just finished preaching and this wonderful woman in her mid-seventies was recounting the story of a young person she knew personally.

As it happened, I already knew the story. The young person herself had given her handwritten testimony to us at Limitless Festival 2025.

Here’s her story, in her own words:

“I used to self-harm because of anxiety and when it was the second day of Festival I just started to pray. My friend was praying for me and the scars on my hands disappeared!”

It’s a wonderful story and I was more than happy to hear it again. But as I listened to this kind woman retell it, I realised that the disappearing scars weren’t even the most remarkable part.

“She had gone to Limitless Festival with two of her non-Christian friends,” the lady continued. “They wanted nothing to do with Christianity – they were completely disinterested and cynical about the whole experience. But when they saw her hands, free from the scars that had been there moments earlier, both of them gave their lives to Jesus!”

There have been moments in recent years at Limitless Festival where it genuinely felt as though I had walked straight onto the pages of the New Testament.

There was the time I was preaching and a young Ukrainian refugee, who spoke barely a word of English, heard the entire sermon in her own language – just as on the day of Pentecost! (And I can assure you, I do not speak a single word of Ukrainian!)

I could tell you about the time I was supposed to be preaching, but didn’t, such was the revelation of God’s holiness in that place.

Young people were lying prostrate on their faces, some wailing out in repentance and still others being set free from demonic oppression. I could tell you about the young people who attended with a group from their Youth for Christ centre, with no church background of any kind, and gave their lives to Jesus. They went home, reignited the Christian Union in their school and invited some of their friends to come with them to Limitless Festival the following year… where they gave their lives to Jesus!

Then there was the time I had the privilege of leading an adult member of the production team to the Lord in the volunteer catering area, such had been the impact of what he had witnessed.

Or I could tell you about the 2,540 young people who have responded to the invitation of the gospel and given their lives to Christ over the past four years at Limitless Festival.

I could tell you, quite literally, thousands more stories like these. And I do share them, because I want you to be encouraged and to know that God is doing something in this generation of young people, the likes of which I have not seen in 23 years of youth ministry.

Truly heroic individuals

And that is where most articles like this would stop. But not this one. Because as much as my intention is to give glory to God for all he is doing, I also want to pull back the curtain and shine the light on the truly heroic individuals who count the cost, year after year, to make Limitless Festival happen.

I want to tell you about all the things you don’t see. About the people who process hundreds of DBS checks and thousands of references to ensure there is a robust volunteer team to host the young people attending. I want to tell you about the people who spend countless hours reviewing and writing policies to ensure we create a safe environment in which young people can encounter God. And to commend others who pore over budgets with the finest of combs to ensure costs are kept to an absolute minimum, so no young person need be excluded.

I want to applaud the people who map out campsites, carefully considering the number of people, tents, marquees, medical requirements and electric hook-ups, who, in spite of all this complexity, go the extra mile by trying to camp churches next to those with whom they are already friends.

I want to tell you about the people who walk thousands of steps around a site, hammering stakes into the ground, erecting flags and hanging signage, and about the people who have to clean up poo from a sink (true story!).

I want to shine a light on the people who get up in the small hours of the morning, having barely slept all week, to deal swiftly and calmly with a crisis, and about those people who, physically and spiritually exhausted, sweep the site to clear every last piece of litter once the young people have made their way home.

Because these are the hidden stories behind every miracle. These are the people without whom none of this would happen. It is God and God alone who transforms lives. And it is this heroic band of sisters and brothers who count the cost to make it possible.

Digging through the roof

As we approach Limitless Festival each year, I am often drawn to the story of the friends of the paralysed man who dug through the roof of the house to get their friend to the feet of Jesus (Luke 5:17-26). The friends could not heal this man but they could get him into the presence of the one who could.

And when they were confronted with obstacles that would have prevented them from doing so, they refused to give up. They dug deep, pushed through (literally!), and as a result that man’s life was changed forever.

This is the testimony of the people I have just described. There is no putting on an event like Limitless Festival without encountering countless, sometimes seemingly insurmountable, obstacles. But they do not give up.

The obstacles, of course, are not only physical and practical – they are spiritual. We have felt the opposition of the evil one. We have seen untimely attacks on health, family, finances, even marriages – because the enemy hates what God is doing. Often I remind our team that we are not merely hosting an event, we are engaging on the frontlines of a spiritual battle – contending for a generation – and as such we would be wise to put on the full armour of God, so we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11).

So yes, I will share the testimonies of God’s transforming power. But so too will I share the stories of the people who do not give up when obstacles block their path. Those who take their stand and dig deep – often at significant personal cost – to bring young people to the feet of Jesus.

And with that, one last story: I had walked into a side room one busy evening at Limitless Festival and there was one of our team members sitting on the floor with tears in her eyes.

She had been dealing with a challenging situation on little sleep, and had been seeking to engage graciously with a somewhat confrontational individual (yes, even at a Christian camp!). I sat down on the floor next to her, heard what was going on and we prayed together.

Then she sprung to her feet like a jack-in-the-box!

“That’s better,” she said, “I think I just needed a good cry.” And off she went, back into the mix of things, giving herself to serve Jesus and young people late into the night once more.

The miracle stories are worth celebrating, certainly. But behind every miracle there are countless emails, meetings, hours of work, long days, sleepless nights and tears.

Behind every testimony story you do see on Instagram, there are tenacious people you don’t see, offering faithful, sacrificial and unseen service to God.

To me, those people are the story.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.