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BY CARRIE MADREN
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT

This was ROCK: a sea of youth jumping up and down, hands raised, singing praise and worship songs, and thousands of teens hugging each other, some with tears in their eyes, in realization of Christ's perfect, unconditional love.

This was ROCK: Bishop John Schol, evangelist Stephen Gallaher, two bands and countless youth leaders telling each teenager: "You are beautiful just as you are. God loves you."

This too was ROCK: 4,000 youth standing in response to an altar call, answering a call to deepen their
discipleship.

ROCK 2010, the annual Baltimore-Washington Conference youth retreat in Ocean City, produced by the Conference Council on Youth Ministries and Tom Price, director of youth ministries, drew 6,000 middle and senior high youth and their adult leaders.

This year's retreat, held Jan. 22-24, featured the speaker and teacher Rev. Stephen Gallaher from Salt and Light Ministries and the Central Pennsylvania Annual Conference.

At the Ocean City Convention Center, youth from all over the conference poured into the main hall, welcomed by high-fives, hugs, clapping and joyful cries from volunteer youth greeters. When the house lights went down, glow-in-the-dark necklaces and cheering pierced the darkness.

Emceed and led by the Conference Council on Youth Ministries, the four main sessions featured video produced by CCYM, dramas with a message, set to music by Ground Zero Master's Commission, dance by Salt and Light and two bands - the soft pop Unsearchable Riches and the gospel, praise-style Urban Street Level - plus keynote talks by Gallaher. Sunday morning's session included Communion and an offering which raised $ 28,550 for Haiti earthquake relief.

"It's set up to be a retreat where young people can experience worship and a call to commitment to Jesus Christ within their own culture, not their parents' culture," Price said.

In his messages, Gallaher told stories from his years in ministry with teens to illustrate points about faith, hope and love, and how teens can be in ministry even as youth.

He encouraged the youth to be a community of faith, to think about what they truly believe and to put more emphasis on what they can do rather than what they can't.

"God encounters young people where they're at," he said. "God is raising you up to serve God's purposes."

This year's theme, "The Light Knight," was echoed by Unsearchable Riches' song "Let Your Light Shine," and 1 John 1:5 - God is light; in him there is no darkness at all - referenced by Gallaher.

"God is at work shaping and molding you to be children of light," Gallaher said. "He will speak life into a hurting soul - and he will speak life into yours."

In between four main sessions, students could attend breakout sessions, including a talk about finding true beauty by Jenna Lucado; a session on being a man of God in today's world by the Revs. Matt Poole and William Chaney, David Burke's talk on youth groups; and Discipling Youth Like Jesus Did by Bishop John Schol.

Students also had free time, too, for fellowship and reflection; each evening of the weekend retreat ended with small group devotions about the day's messages.

For many of the Conference youth, the ROCK youth retreat is a time to reenergize their faith, learn how to bring faith into communities, turn to God in an intimate way - even in the presence of friends - and reflect on what it means to be a Christian.

"We go through some pretty tough things," Gallaher said on Saturday night, the retreat's pinnacle, "but God is always present."

God is present - that is ROCK.

Looking for another way to connect at a fun event? Want to save the lives of children in Africa while having fun with your friends? Join us for Be a Buzzer Beater on June 12 for a Mystics Basketball game,
performace by Urban Street Level and special guest speakers.

Click here to learn more and purchase tickets