SAN FRANCISCO – The world’s largest Christian youth organization made its presence known mid-afternoon at the city hall, despite rain and demonstrators.
Busloads of high-school and college students came bearing signs to "reclaim the values that have made… [America] great" with the Reverse Rebellion rally, starting off the first BattleCry stadium event. Police escorts lined the sidewalks, preventing left-wing protestors from disrupting the rally.
"With this generation, we declare enough – enough drugs, enough violence, enough porn, enough lies of what will make us happy," declared Natasha Arias, the rally’s master of ceremony. "This is our battle cry!"
Youths cheered for "reversal" against secularism. A few individuals prayed silently toward the direction of jeering protestors, including to a shirtless man with the words "Proud sinner…" written on his chest.
"Every person in my generation gets the opportunity to know God, but they deliberately reject him," an exasperated 18-year-old Michael Browne – from Monroe, WA – stated amidst his companions whom were praying to comfort him.
"After this weekend, I pray the Lord will overtake the city and change their hearts," Kendra Enge, age 19, from Minneapolis, MN.
An estimated 25,000 youths from across the United States is expected to fill the AT&T Park baseball stadium, including those representing the African American, Caucasian, Asian American, Pacific Islander and Hispanic/Latino community.
According to a promotional video released by BattleCry, only four percent of the nation’s youth is expected to be evangelical Christian, at the present rate of evangelism,.
"There’s a problem. We need to do something about it," says Teen Mania founder Ron Luce, who pointed out that more than five million high school student admit to binge drinking at least once a month and 8,000 teenagers contract STD every day in an MTV-dominated society.
The gathering in San Francisco will be the first of three major stadium event reaching America’s major cities for the next two months. Organizers say that registration for the next event in Detroit has reached 35,000, while Philadelphia has sold out at 15,000.
Speakers include Jack Hayford, founding pastor of the Church on the Way in Van Nuys, CA; Steve Saint, son of missionary Nate Saint, and Mincaye, who took part in the killing of five missionaries in Ecuador; and Ron Luce, founder of Teen Mania.
