Over 22,000 Teens Shout Jesus Praise at BattleCry
BattleCry – a revolution, Christian artists say, and a change for a generation becoming lost to secular culture – hit San Francisco over the weekend to give teens something more to talk about than sex, drugs, and what's on MTV.
AT&T Park rang with more than 22,000 teens from across California shouting in worship to songs played by Christian rock bands. The talk was all about Jesus Christ, the cross, and taking a stand to save this generation.
"When you're ready to surrender, take up the sign of commitment ... by passionately – with everything you've got, with all the lights on, with no music and no emotionalism, just as if you just found the answer to all of your dreams – [jumping] to your feet and [screaming] as loud as you can: I want the cross!" Teen Mania founder Ron Luce, who spearheaded the BattleCry movement last year, exclaimed to the thousands of teens on Saturday.
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Without any musical accompaniment, students throughout the stadium individually jumped to their feet yelling, "I want the cross!" in broad daylight, letting their hands raise high and eyes remain closed in meditation.
Students made their first battle cry last year when Luce took them to the steps of San Francisco City Hall in a protest against secularism and in commitment to the culture of Christ. Teens again raised red flags in front of the city building on Friday to make their voices heard.
"In the community, they're going to hear ...," Luce said from the stadium stage, according to San Mateo County Times.
"My voice!" the young Christian crowd yelled.
"I have to advertise it. [God] is the solution whether people want to believe it or not," 17-year-old Joe Diaz-Romero told the Times. "Christ loves you and he's always there waiting to wrap you in his arms."
Their voices were stifled for a few hours with San Francisco's new noise restrictions, which bans amplified sound before 10:00 a.m. and after 10:00 p.m. BattleCry had been scheduled to start around 8:00 a.m. on Saturday.
Family Research Council head Tony Perkins protested the new decree.
"Despite the fact that the stadium hosts concerts and ballgames year-round at every time of the day and night, San Francisco has found the limit of its tolerance in BattleCry's morning worship service. City officials are working overtime to dampen what has proven to be a life-changing, health-promoting rally for the nation's youth," he said in his Washington Update.
Voices weren't dampened, however, as local radio station KFAX AM 1100 broadcast the morning service, allowing youths to join in praise and worship through their own personal radios.
On board with Teen Mania are popular Christian rock artists already trying to reach out to the youth.
"We're all about the young people," said P.O.D. frontman Sonny Sandoval in a promotional video.
"It's about you guys, us, and all the Christians around the whole nation saying, 'We're not going to let this generation fade away. We're not going to let this generation be won by MTV, by all these things that Hollywood is feeding us," said Christian hard rock band Skillet.
BattleCry's next two stadium events are scheduled to hit Detroit, Mich., on April 13 and Baltimore, Md., on May 11.
