ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 29, 1996 TAG: 9604290121
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Christians from around the country will gather on the steps of the Capitol today for a rally organizers hope will point America's young people in a different direction.
U.S. Park Police are preparing for about 250,000 people at the Washington for Jesus rally, though organizers hope for more at the nondenominational two-day event. It will feature Christian musicians and youth speakers today and a mock trial of society's problems Tuesday.
``It'll be equivalent to a Christian Woodstock,'' spokesman David Jordan Allen said.
Today's youth rally, starting at noon and lasting until about daybreak Tuesday, will feature about 20 musical groups and two dozen speakers targeted primarily at people in their teens and 20s.
Jeff Fenholt, former lead singer of rock band Black Sabbath, will be host at the youth rally.
``Young people are hungry for a cause,'' said Fenholt, who played Jesus in the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar. ``Our country is headed in the wrong direction. These teens will tackle major issues such as AIDS, racism, drug addiction, abortion and homosexuality.''
Other speakers will include Norma MacCorvey, known as Jane Roe in the 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion; actress Vanity, who starred in the film ``Purple Rain''; and actor Todd Bridges, former star of the 1980s television series ``Diff'rent Strokes.''
``This event is to speak about hope and have young people in the hundreds of thousands doing something positive, not something negative,'' rally spokeswoman Delores Hearn said.
Tuesday's events will be more of an all-ages show centered on an all-day mock trial about society's problems, Hearn said. Speakers will include evangelist Jerry Falwell, the Rev. Pat Robertson and the Rev. Benny Hinn, host of a Christian TV show.
Organizers wanted to avoid a disjointed festival atmosphere by scheduling speakers and musicians who would tie together, ``like Woodstock,'' said organizer John Gimenez, a youth pastor in Virginia.
Similar Washington for Jesus rallies were held in 1980 and in 1988.
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