| | HomeGrown talent | featured at Rock 2002 The Christian showcase was coordinated by Kathy Anderson. Young people from around the conference submitted videotapes of their talents. Featured at Rock 2002 were: singer Laura Dennis of Emmanuel UMC, Laurel; step team, The Step Sisters of First UMC, Hyattsville; St. Pauls UMC Liturgical Dance Ministry, Oxon Hill; the puppet show, H.O.P.E. F.O.O.L.S. (Hands on people experience for our only Lord and Savior), Lakeside UMC, Waldorf; and the Lady Christian Steppers of Good Hope Union UMC, Silver Spring, shown below. 
Yvonne J. Medley UMConnection | Youth attend Ocean City ROCK event in record numbers BY YVONNE J. MEDLEY
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT 
It was standing room only at the eighth annual ROCK 2002 Retreat as 2,700 youth, youth leaders and chaperones descended upon Ocean City to strengthen their connection to Christ. This is my third time at the retreat, said Gina Saffioti, a 17-year-old from St. Paul UMC in Kensington. The March 8-10 gathering of teenagers was sponsored by the Baltimore-Washington Conference Council on Youth Ministries. The weekend included workshops tackling sexual dilemmas and drug abuse. A talent showcase was new, featuring young United Methodist musicians, a puppet show, step teams and praise dancers. Bishop Felton Edwin May talked to the youth about Christianity, patriotism and the love he had for the youth of the conference. Deep down in our hearts we are as concerned about you as your biological mothers and fathers are, he said. We want you to be whole.  Keynote speaker, Lori Salierno, a youth evangelist from Atlanta, spoke on prayer, praise, grace and mercy. She elaborated on four really good F words. They were: find (quality time), fight (against prayer hindrances), feed (on spiritual food daily), and follow (a prayer plan), she said. Urban Street Level, a gospel group from District Heights, wowed the youth with contemporary praise and worship music, filled with inspirational themes to live by. At the sound of the music, teens rushed to the stage, dancing and waving their hands in approval. Band leader, Betty Jones, explained why Urban Street Levels music appealed to youth. I believe it motivates them. It lets them know that they can still have fun and be Christian, and be serious about it, she said. She and her band co-leader, Elwood Jones, facilitated workshops on combating sexual peer pressure with Christian principles. Rock themes abounded, as Youth Service Fund officer, Lauren Manning, 16, from Albright UMC in Washington, D.C., said in prayer, God, please remind us to always go to the Rock, our fortress. Grace Bennett, youth leader from the Alpine Charge in Berkeley Springs, W. Va., where her husband the Rev. Michael Wilson is pastor, said, It was just incredible. The kids are still talking about it and begging me to return next year. She brought five teens and seven adults on the six-hour trip to the retreat. Some of them, she said, had never seen the ocean. Tom Price, conference director of youth ministries, said that next year ROCK 2003 will have the full run of the Ocean City convention center. About 200 youngsters had to be turned away this year. because space was limited, The event will take place next year on Jan. 24-26. |
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