Virginian-Pilot


DATE: Friday, September 5, 1997             TAG: 9709050055

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY AISHA DURHAM, COLLEGE CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   48 lines




IN TUNE WITH GOD PREACHING IS 19-YEAR-OLD'S RAP

IT'S FRIDAY night.

More than 200 teens wearing sneakers and jeans sit at Norfolk's Jerusalem Baptist Church, ``Jammin' for Jesus.'' They are participating in the Ninth Annual Tidewater Youth and Advisory Fellowship conference.

Todd Davidson, a former fellowship president, is no stranger to the three-day conference. Tonight, however, he sits in the pastor's chair as the Rev. Davidson. He's anxious to address the crowd.

``Don't be hypnotized by Biggie's music,'' Davidson urges, recalling the image of the slain rap star Biggie Smalls. ``Because Biggie isn't here to give us `one more chance.' ''

Almost immediately, those who doodled on their programs stop and listen. Their preacher, a 19-year-old junior at the College of William and Mary, has caught their attention.

In a time when ``keeping it real'' means losing your life, Davidson suggests that the only one with which young people should keep it real is God.

``I want them to come to know Jesus as I know him as my Lord and Savior,'' Davidson says.

Davidson wasn't always a loyal follower. He listened to gangsta rap, too. But his mother would repeat: ``Garbage in, garbage out.''

She never made him give up the music, instead she gave him choices. He chose to cut out the gangsta, but still listen to other forms of rap.

He also chose when the time was right to become a preacher.

``I've been told since I was 10 years old that I was going to be a preacher,'' he said. ``But no one pressured me.''

Instead, his pastor, the Rev. I. Joseph Williams, gave Davidson opportunities to speak before the congregation at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. Then, on a winter's night last year, Davidson said he received his calling.

``I was sitting in my car. I looked up at the sky and saw the Lord's face,'' Davidson says. ``The voice of the Lord told me it was time.''

Time to preach. Time to reach folks his age.

``There is no feeling that sex, drugs or alcohol can give you that can replace the feeling of the Holy Spirit,'' Davidson tells the crowd. MEMO: Aisha Durham is junior at Virginia Commonwealth University. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

The Rev. Todd Davidson...



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