Rev. Turbo Qualls
Courtesy photo.
GOLETA — Beginning October 6, St. Athanasius Orthodox Christian Church is reviving its Sacred Arts Festival, first inaugurated back in 2011 when the community was worshipping in an interim building on Calle Real in Goleta. The plan was to host an Arts Festival every two years, but the global pandemic interrupted that flow. In 2014, the church moved into a new building on its 20-plus acres of land just down the street from Goleta Cottage Hospital. This will be the third festival in that building.
The guest speaker for the 3-day festival, Rev. Turbo Qualls, currently lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where he is the pastor of a growing inner-city church. But Father Turbo is “coming home,” in a sense. He spent many years in Orange County, CA, as a (well known) tattoo artist turned Evangelical youth pastor turned Eastern Orthodox priest. Fr. Turbo’s Youtube podcast, “The Royal Path,” has a large following of young adults and spiritual seekers. Having studied both classical Western art as well as Byzantine iconography, Fr. Turbo brings to the table a deep understanding of the role of beauty and wonder in worship through artistic expression.
St. Athanasius Church has become a fixture in Santa Barbara, from the community’s beginnings on the Embarcadero Circle of Isla Vista as an Evangelical Protestant church, to converting, “en masse” to Orthodox Christianity in 1987. This shift led to the purchase of 20-plus acres of land facing Hollister Avenue between Goleta Cottage Hospital and the 217 Freeway. The church plans eventually to build a structure dedicated only to worship. They currently hold services in the building intended to be their fellowship hall. Well known in town for their outreach to the unsheltered for the past thirty years, they currently host the Showers of Blessing organization on their property every Thursday morning, when showers, coffee, lunch, and conversation are offered to those in need.
The pandemic was a time of transition for the church, as they lost one of their beloved pastors, the late Fr. Jon-Stephen Hedges; and their senior pastor—Fr. Nicholas (Kurt) Speier—retired in December of 2021. The new pastor, Fr. Symeon Halsell, hails from Southern California, was also a convert to Orthodox Christianity, (in 2008) and is excited to see the tradition of this Sacred Arts Festival being revived.
People of all faiths and those who are seekers are welcome to attend the festival. The weekend begins on Friday night (Oct. 6) with an opening presentation by Father Qualls in which he will share the story of his own spiritual journey. It continues on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 7) with two more sessions by Fr. Qualls and ends on Sunday afternoon with a choral concert of sacred music at 3pm.
Tickets may be purchased at the door, but pre-registration is recommended. Online registration is here: https://www.stathanasius.org/events/sacred-arts-festival-2023/