
DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997                 TAG: 9704070403

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   84 lines

YOUTH RALLY CAPS CONVENTION

The first hint that this was no ordinary cheerleading competition was the length of the girls' pleated red-and-white skirts: well below the knee.

Their chant erased all doubt.

``We're gonna break it down for G-O-D,'' the girls sang out Saturday, their feet pounding the floor of the Booker T. Washington High School gym. ``So let's dance . . . Coming together in harmony. If we must strive to make it in life, Jesus is what we need.''

The gym, filled to overflowing, rocked back, the joyous sound of praise echoing throughout.

Whitney Hill, 17, an Old Dominion University freshman cheerleader from Petersburg, said: ``We want to spread the word that praising God is not boring - you can do fun things.''

Saturday's rousing gospel rally was anything but boring.

It marked the culmination of a three-day International Congress for youth in Norfolk that drew an estimated 5,000 members of the world's second-largest African American Pentecostal church group.

At least one other country,England, and about 35 states, in- cluding Virginia, and a local Virginia Beach congregation were represented. They all belong to the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith Inc.

Which explains the cheerleaders' long skirts: They don't distract from the message.

``It's a part of our doctrine - we believe in modesty,'' said Loretta Moody, coordinator of the Virginia Northern Diocese cheerleading squad.

Besides its spiritual energy, the group's small army has enriched the local economy. About 2,000 members booked rooms at Norfolk's Omni Waterside Hotel, headquarters for the congress, while others stayed in hotels across the city.

This is the first time the group has held its annual youth congress in Norfolk, members said. Many of the youth are on spring break from school.

The group normally pumps several million dollars into the cities it visits, said Kenneth Groover of Jacksonville, Fla., president of the International Congress.

``We love to eat and shop. It's a vacation for the kids, too, to get away.''

The congress is about engaging the minds and souls of today's youth, who most adults acknowledge face more temptations and negative influences than ever before.

The church's strategy is to offer them wholesome activity and fellowship mingled with workshops on topics ranging from peer pressure to self-esteem.

``It's a real big deal,'' said Terrence Upperman, 19, of Virginia Beach, a member of Redeemed Tabernacle Church, part of the larger organization. ``It's like kids from all over the world and country coming together to have unity and praise the Lord.''

Before the girls took to the court, the boys and young men attending the congress held a basketball shoot-out. Upperman's church fielded a team that finished second behind a sharp-shooting team from Detroit.

Lamont Dawson, 35, and his son, Montwell Tarver, a junior at Kellam High School in Virginia Beach, played on Upperman's team.

``Athletics is only a part of it,'' Dawson said.

``A lot of guys my son goes to high school with drink alcohol. We try to tell them that you can live right and still have fun the clean, honest and pure way.''

``What we're trying to do is to incite our youth to use their energy in a positive way, and to let people know that the church is more than just being in a sanctuary,'' said District Elder Emanuel U. Jones, pastor of the Redeemed Tabernacle Church in Virginia Beach.

``We're finding that the youth today have a lot to offer.''

ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

A group of cheerleaders from Virginia participated in a gospel

cheerleading rally Saturday at Booker T. Washington High School.

Whitney Hill, an ODU freshman, second from right, said they want

``to spread the word that praising God is not boring.''

The gym rocked Saturday with the joyous sound of praise.

Photo

BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Girls try to get party favors before the start of the cheerleading

competition Saturday at Booker T. Members of Church of Our Lord