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BY CARRIE MADREN
UMCONNNECTION CORRESPONDENT

View a slideshow of ROCK photos here.

It’s a week before the annual ROCK youth retreat, and the teen emcees for the main sessions are running their lines prior to appearing before some 6,500 ROCK-goers.

“Tom’s going to watch and he wants to see the enthusiasm like you’re on stage,” said Elaine Woolcott, an adult volunteer with Conference Council on Youth Ministries (CCYM). Late morning sunlight slants through tall windows at the emcees, as Woolcott coaches the emcees on inflection, enunciation and stage presence.

“Good evening, ROCK 2012!” cried the three Friday night emcees, including Jessica Hair from St. Matthews UMC in East Baltimore, who holds a lime green highlighter as a microphone for rehearsing lines. “One of the best parts of ROCK is meeting so many other people and seeing all these people praising God,” said the senior.

Their practice paid off on the following Friday, Jan. 20, when at the Ocean City Convention Center, the house lights went down, and stage lights and music transformed a cavernous conference hall into a venue worthy of a rock concert. During the next two days, ROCK 2012 was a whirlwind weekend of music, prayer, praise, teaching, fellowship and laughter.

This year’s main speaker, Steve Fitzhugh -- a former NFL football player-turned-youth-pastor and motivational speaker -- deconstructed the year’s theme “More Than Conquerors” before the largest ROCK audience to date, 6,500, which sat in the lower convention hall as well as an upper ballroom. Fitzhugh shared his own personal story of coming to Christ and how his faith shaped his life, using comedy and rap to highlight his points and connect with youth on their level.

“You are here because the God of the Universe has drawn you here by his spirit,” Fitzhugh told the youth. “God doesn’t want you to miss out on your destiny.” Fitzhugh talked about how youth should be obedient to Christ, who could help them become ‘"more than conquerors," as stated in Romans 8:37.

Nicole C. Mullen, winner of seven Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, including two Female Vocalist of the Year honors plus Song of Year in 2001 for Redeemer, performed worship music and originals.

With her team of teen dancers and mentorees, Mullen also led one of the six breakout sessions; in this ‘"girls only" session, Mullen shared her own story of coming to faith and how her faith shaped her journey from a quiet girl to a singer who performs around the world.

“God is not in a hurry,” Mullen told a group of about 400 girls and women youth leaders on Saturday afternoon. “He has a plan for His people … and in order to be used by God, you have to be broken first.”

As she sang “Redeemer” at the last main session on Sunday morning, she was joined by a 230-voice mass choir made up of middle and senior high youth and a few adults from the Baltimore-Washington Conference, plus a live band made up of conference members. 

The mass choir, which will also sing at annual conference, had been planned by Tom Price, director of youth ministries at the Baltimore-Washington Conference. The idea was so popular that registration had to be capped.

Youth that make the yearly pilgrimage to Ocean City know to expect both a spiritual retreat — and possibly a few tears at Saturday night’s alter call session — and a weekend of fellowship, said Price. For many, it’s a weekend of reconnecting with Christ, or a chance to focus on a difficult problem surrounded by a Christian community. Others, invited by friends or new to the church, encounter Christ in a way that’s relevant to them for the first time.

“The youth of the church are often out in front of the church,” said Bishop John Schol, moving the church in new directions and initiating change that truly brings people closer to Christ.

This year, in a special offering, the youth at ROCK collected $17,718 for homeless ministries in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

Dreaming Up ROCK

Long before ROCK’s concert-like stage is prepared and spotlights are hung, youth from around the conference --from Waldorf to Cumberland, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. -- attended monthly meetings at the Maple Lawn Mission Center, sometimes driving as much as three hours to get there, said Becki Price, wife of Tom Price. “They’re coming together, they’re making in many cases lifelong friends, and they’re coming together to bring other kids to Jesus,” said Becki, who helps Tom in providing guidance for the youth.

Throughout the year, CCYM creates the event’s theme, decides on speakers and bands, and hashes out details for running the event. 

Alexis Stewart, a high school senior from Northwood-Appold UMC and CCYM president, is a soft-spoken leader who was introduced to CCYM by her grandmother. Being president was a huge leap —it’s her first experience leading anything, she says.  But she’s been a part of CCYM for a handful of years, and has seen ROCK change lives, “The best part about doing ROCK is seeing people getting closer to God," she said.