MegaFest Youth Kick-Off in Atlanta
Over 2,000 youths came from the community to join Bishop T.D. Jakes and his family, along with actor Stephen Baldwin and city officials for the launch celebration.
MegaFest 2005 will be the largest Christian event in the country, said Anthony Meyers, youth pastor of the 30,000 attendant mega-church, The Potter's House. In Atlanta, Ga, the four-day event began this morning with a Youth Kickoff.
Over 2,000 youths came from the community to join Bishop T.D. Jakes and his family, along with actor Stephen Baldwin and the Atlanta city mayor Shirley Franklin for the launch celebration.
T.D. Jakes presented a proclamation and then swung into a youth rally. Music filled the International Plaza and families milled filled with anticipation for this evening's events.
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Tonight the You're Not Forgotten youth concert featured emerging Christian pop artist, Mary Mary and Kirk Franklin. Following that is an empowering event for women: T.D. Jakes' long-time popular conference, "Woman, Thou Art Loosed."
According to organizers, "Youth today are a silent generation that has been pacified, ignored, and overlooked for too long."
"They have been banished and ostracized, left alone and isolated to an audience of their own thoughts, questions, and ideas."
To bring them into the community and bring about their change, there were relevant and fun events like Mega Skate - a family skating event.
The kick-off is a part of the larger "Mega Youth Experience," which over 7,000 children and 11,000 youth are expected to come, said Director of the Conference, Derek Williams.
The youth conference differs from other evangelistic outreach events because it cares about the whole person, said Williams.
"We don't just talk about the religious aspects of the youth. We have on-the-job training, how they can better themselves financially, how they can deal with peer pressure, and how they relate to the opposite sex," said Williams. "We try to lay it all on the table; they're not learning it from anyone else, but from a Christian perspective.
"Some things were not talked about when I was growing up. You found out later in life, but we're making it explicit through these four days."
Coinciding wtih the youth-focused activities are other events for the rest of the family, including the popular "Man Power," and "Woman, Thou Art Loosed" conferences side by side with "Family Expo" and "MegaKidz" events.
A host of other activities will ensure that there is something for everyone. There are seminars, parade, sports activities, concerts, career fair, leadership talks, fashion show, a comedy show, a golf tournament, and much more.
