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The twenty four bands that performed at the recent MOFest shared the stage with a large cross. At one point, stage manager Jason Craig was asked if the cross would get in the bands' way.

'I hope the bands don't get in the way of the cross,' Craig said.

It was a sentiment that ruled the two day festival at Mount Oak UMC in Mitchellville Aug. 24 and 25.

'We want to put the cross in front of people,' Craig said. 'But we want to do it in way that's relevant to youth. The church needs to not be afraid of being relevant.'

For youth leader Andy Barbera, appealing to the young people of the community meant providing great music, a festival atmosphere, and 'an opportunity to see God alive.' He made it his mission to create an event that gave the more than 300 teens who attended an understanding that God is real.

'We just want to love on them,' he said, and offer an opportunity to hear great Christian artists.'

The music spanned the spectrum from soft rock, indie, and experimental to screaming metal and hard core bands, Barbera said. 'This is who the kids are listening to.'

Knowing who 14 and 18-years-olds are listening to is a critical part of youth ministry today, the organizers of MOFest believe. 

'What a 14-year-old girl listens to is not necessarily on my iPod, but knowing what is on her's is  essential,' Craig said.

'We must be on the pulse of where they are and the times they live in, said Dione Francis Bowlding II, Mt. Oak's director of youth ministry. 'God meets us each where we are. The church should do the same. 

MOFest began at Mt. Oak 12 years ago as a festival that drew throngs of youth, but it was discontinued.

Barbera resurrected the vision as a means to help the 30 'core members' of the youth group begin to reach out into the community to share Christ with their friends.

He had attended Mt. Oak in middle school, as had Bowlding. He then went away to  school in Florida where 'God worked through friends,' and he experienced a rebirth of his faith.

'God said, ?I have a life for you,'' Barbera recalled. When he moved back to Maryland, he prayed God would 'open doors,' and he found himself back at Mt. Oak.

'Church is a huge part of a Christian's walk,' Barbera said. 'But for me, church and religion are not as important. What's really essential is to love people.'

'At MOFest, people are not pushed. I don't think that's how God works,' he continued. 'Here, and in life, God gives a gentle tap on a believer's heart.' 

That tap, can then grow into a lifestyle of Christian love and service, Bowlding said. This summer, 22 youth from the church went to Belfast, Ireland, for Summer Madness, a musical festival that drew thousands of youth. They stayed for Street Reach, a mission program that brought 2,000 youth to work amid the streets of the city.

Craig grew up in Belfast and had attended the Summer Madness music festival when he a teenager. When he returned with the youth group from Mt. Oak, they were assigned to work at the church he grew up in, 150 yards from his old front door. 

That church had never really done mission work in its own community. With the Mt. Oak youth, Craig was able to do so. 

The experience inspired him and the whole contingent from Mt. Oak, who now envision MoFest in new ways.

'The church allows us to dream,' Bowlding said. 'We're going to be taking this to a new level.'