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VOL. 13, NO. 4

UMConnection File Photo
Two confirmands enjoying last years Confirmation Celebration.

| Walking in history |

Historic tours are available between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon. Contact each site to find out specific tour times.

The historic sites on the tour include:

• The Board of Child Care
  Mt. Vernon Place UMC

• Centennial-Caroline Street UMC

• Lovely Lane UMC
  Ames Memorial UMC and the Ames
  Shalom community
  Christ UMC of the Deaf

• Old Otterbein UMC
  Sharp Street Memorial UMC

• Susanna Wesley House
  Eastern UMC

Teens to take spiritual step

By Yvonne Medley
UMConnection Correspondent

On March 2, Travis Milam and a group of eighth-graders from Trinity UMC in Frederick will pack themselves in a van and head to Baltimore to mark a rite of passage in their spiritual lives.

Their journey will take them to the Baltimore-Washington Conferences Confirmation 2002 Celebration.

Once out of the van, they will begin Walking with Jesus (this years theme) as they tour their choice of 10 different United Methodist historical sites and churches. The confirmands will receive a passport to be stamped at every site they choose to visit.

By afternoon theyll head for the Baltimore Convention Center to join hundreds of their peers in a celebration that includes Christian music and messages from Bishop Felton Edwin May and guest speaker the Rev. Duffy Robbins.

The self-paced tours will be available from 9 a.m. to noon. The afternoon celebration at the Convention Center will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. The doors open at 12:30 p.m.

My hope is that the young people, and also the people who work with those young people, just really get it very clear in their minds that confirmation is one step. Its not a graduation. Its not the end. Its one step in a long walk with Jesus and it leads to eternity, said Tom Price, the conference director of youth ministries.

This years celebration will feature Robbins, a United Methodist, from Philadelphia who leads the department of Youth Ministries at Eastern College in St. Davids, Pa.

Hes probably the dean of youth ministry in this country, Price said.

The Choir Boyz of Baltimore will perform the praise, worship and musical portion of the program. The five-man group has performed gospel music all over the country, along with sharing their powerful testimonies about accepting Jesus into their lives.

Bishop May, assisted by the conferences district superintendents, will serve communion.

Last year, we had more than 2,000 attending the celebration, Price said.

Milam remembers last years outing. We toured Lovely Lane UMC and they were very excited about that because they didnt know too much about other churches, Milam said. His group also learned that they were not alone in their quest to walk like Jesus, he said. They learned that this is bigger than Frederick.

Confirmation 2002 is a free event. Its a gift to the confirmands from Bishop May, said Tom Price, director of conference youth ministries.
Information booklets about Confirmation 2002 are available at the conference center, by calling (800) 492-2525, Ext. 472 or 490, or visiting the youth ministries page on the conference Web site: www.bwconf.org.