wfn.org | PC(USA) to Sponsor Millennium Fest for Young People

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

14-October-1999 
99346 
 
    PC(USA) to Sponsor 
    Millennium Fest for Young People 
 
    More than 30,000 expected to ring in the New Year 
 
    by Evan Silverstein 
 
INDIANAPOLIS - The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will usher in the New Year 
with a nationwide celebration for youth and young adults at the RCA Dome 
here from Dec. 28 through Jan. 1. 
 
    The gala millennium event, sponsored by the denomination's Youth and 
Young Adult Ministries, will feature performances by contemporary Christian 
superstars Kirk Franklin and Nu Nation, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. 
Smith, and Jars of Clay. 
 
    "The Dawn ... an Epiphany," which is expected to attract more than 
30,000 young people from across the nation, also will include youth 
seminars, stage shows, a laser-and-fireworks extravaganza, and performances 
by 1,000 professional dancers. 
 
    The event was conceived as a way for the church to reach out to the 
nation's youth, according to Gina Yeager, associate for the denomination's 
youth ministry office. 
 
    "Today's young people will be the leaders and advisors of the next 
millennium," she said, "so we have put together a program which targets 
their needs, addresses their concerns and appeals to their interests. We 
expect this event to be the nation's largest youth celebration ringing in 
the year 2000." 
 
    Yeager said the people who take part will range in age roughly from 12 
years old to 35, and a variety of activities have been planned: "We have 
incorporated an equal mix of education, spiritualism and entertainment into 
this four-day event." 
 
    Jars of Clay will kick off the celebration with a performance on Dec. 
28. The quartet combines pop and rock with a spiritual message of 
enlightenment, hope and understanding. Their current release, "Much 
Afraid," urges listeners to be guided by love rather than fear. 
 
    Chapman is the most honored Christian musician of all time, with 38 
Gospel Music Association Dove awards, three Grammy awards, 29 number-one 
singles and five gold and platinum albums. He will be joined for the first 
time by Smith for a concert on Dec. 30, the inaugural performance of their 
2000 national tour. 
 
    Smith has sold more than seven million albums worldwide and amassed a 
multitude of awards and accolades, including two Grammy awards, 22 Dove 
awards and 23 number-one hits. 
 
    Franklin, also a winner of multiple music awards, blends jazz and R&B 
into gospel that can have the vibrancy, energy and rhythm of hip hop or the 
tradition and soul of church hymnals. Franklin and Nu Nation will usher in 
the New Year with a midnight performance on Dec. 31. 
 
    Yeager said she thinks the bash will be one to remember. 
 
    "We want them to leave this event with a scrapbook of memories they 
will cherish, as well as a discipline they can practice and embrace long 
into the next millennium," she said. 
 
    Registration for "The Dawn ... an Epiphany" costs $140 per person until 
Nov. 12, when it will rise to $160. For information, call (502) 569-5473, 
or visit www.horeb.pcusa.org/dawn. 

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