Marching for God

Thousands of youths turn out for Baptist event

By Greg Wells, gwells@bgdailynews.com — 270-783-3276

Sunday, April 10, 2005

It is a sea of young faces framed in colorful shirts, bearing slogans like Aint God Alright, and Army of God, or Exercise your faith, walk with Christ.

On a fine Saturday morning they streamed into Bowling Green High School. As they take pictures of each other, they flirt and horseplay, all the while fighting that life or death struggle for teens, looking cool.

Normally, trying to gather and direct children on a pretty day on the weekend is not known as a stress-reducing endeavor, and when an event that is supposed to start at 9 a.m. still has participants steaming in the front door at 11, short tempers could be expected.

At the Youth March for Christ, the organizers were all smiles as they worked to organize the unexpectedly huge crowd of people, possibly the most theyve had in the 38 years the events been held.

Weve got a whole host of children here, said Barbara Guiden, laughing gently. She is the president of the Baptist Womens Missions Convention in Kentucky.

Luna Lovejoy, the groups youth director and organizer of the event, put a figure to the host.

There are over 6,000 children here, Lovejoy said as she turned to answer yet another question from one of her helpers.

Another of those involved, Demond Smith, who helped out as one of the musicians, said the group usually tops out at 3,200 to 4,000 in a good year.

The gathering is a spiritual one with inspirational dancing, a worship service and a Christian drama, and though worship, learning and celebration are the keys to the gathering, there is another reason.

We march to show the community that not all our children are on drugs or in prison, Lovejoy said.

This is a lesson theyve taken to Bowling Green before and will be sharing with Lexington next year.

Lovejoy said young people enjoy coming to the gathering from all over Kentucky because they are not just preached at, but instead they have a chance to share with each other about their life in the church.

Ill be coming back, said John Turner, 14, of Tompkinsville. I liked it.

He said he came away with a better understanding that what Christ is all about is love.

It was fun, said Jenora Adams, 11, of Cadiz. Thats why I come every year. Ill be back next year, if its Gods will I will.

She said she has been coming since she was just a baby.

Even with the heat built inside the school as the afternoon went on and the delays from trying to organize and direct so many children, there was joy.

The Lords been good to us, Lovejoy said. These children are a blessing.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700