Third Teen BattleCry to Sweep East Coast

By Lillian Kwon, Christian Post Reporter Friday, May 11, 2007

The East Coast BattleCry is hitting the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va., Friday night packing in thousands for the third and final 2007 stadium event that embraces the culture of Jesus Christ and rejects popular culture.

Coming out of the West Coast and central United States where more than 54,000 teens joined the growing Christian movement of bringing the youth back to Christ, Teen Mania founder Ron Luce will host this year's final large-scale event on May 11-12 for thousands in the eastern states.

BattleCry is a two-year-old growing initiative of Teen Mania, one of the nation's largest youth organizations, that launched in San Francisco with a "Reverse Rebellion" rally where Christian youth protest pop culture like MTV and media messages promoting sex, drugs and alcohol. Counterculture rallies have kicked off every BattleCry stadium events which are held three times each year across the country.

Heading each BattleCry, Luce says the urgency of reaching this generation is coming to an all time high point and if parents and youth workers don't sound the alarm now, Christians will lose the young generation.

"We have failed to pass on our heritage and our faith to them [youth]," said Luce recently.

The Teen Mania founder had warned youth workers in the East Coast last October when he visited the Baltimore, Md., area to prep them up for the 2007 stadium event and challenge them to bring thousands of youth. While originally scheduled for the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, this year's third BattleCry was moved to the Nissan Pavilion where lawn seating will also be available.

The BattleCry stadium events are part of a larger initiative to round up 100,000 churches to double and disciple their youth groups each year for the next five years since its launch.

"We have to have a mindset that we're going to win the younger generation and we're going to truly disciple them so that they can take the nation for God," said Luce.

Earlier 2007 BattleCry events were held in March at the AT&T Park in San Francisco and in April at Detroit's Ford Field.