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Preach it, Teech: Minister mixes God, hip-hop
SANTA ANA, Calif. — As Jason “Teech” Darden grabs a microphone,…
‘I surrender all’
Young believers commit their lives to Christ at the SonQuest Youth Conference.
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ORLANDO, FLA. — Surrounded by about 1,000 youths, parents and ministers — speakers blaring and colored lights flashing as the crowd sang “Jesus Is Lord” — two young girls stood still in embrace.
Olivia and Johanna Jackson, sisters by birth, had just become sisters in rebirth as they surrendered all to Christ at the 50th anniversary SonQuest Youth Conference on Labor Day weekend.
Olivia and Johanna Jackson embrace after their baptism.
There, in a collapsible pool beside the ballroom stage, Nick Iddings, their youth minister from the North Brevard Church of Christ in Titusville, Fla., baptized them — first the older sister, Olivia, 13, and a little later “JoJo,” 12.
Moments before, keynote speaker Jason Darden related “Surrender,” this year’s SonQuest theme, to the scene on stage: a cabin behind a stream of water.
Jason Darden delivers a keynote to around 1,000 youths, parents and ministers.
Darden — a Bible professor at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., and minister for the Searcy Church of Christ — told the audience to think of the stream’s current as God’s Holy Spirit pushing them in the right direction.
“If you continue trying to swim upstream and go in a different direction of the Holy Spirit, you’re going to tire yourself out,” he said. “You’re going to wear yourself out. You’re going to frustrate yourself, and it’s going to be problematic.
Darden waves a white flag of surrender as he invites youths to be baptized.
“So tonight, let the Holy Spirit move you. Let it move you into the direction of that baptistery right there. Don’t swim upstream anymore.
“Surrender — I surrender all,” he added, referencing the classic hymn — sung earlier — and waving a white flag in the air.
Darden’s words resonated with the Jackson sisters as Stephen Maxwell, worship minister for the Memorial Road Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, led “Great Are You Lord.”
“I just started breathing really hard, and my heart was beating really fast, and I was shaking a little bit — but I was just like, ‘I’m ready. I should do it now when I have the chance,’” JoJo told The Christian Chronicle.
Nick Iddings baptizes Johanna “JoJo” Jackson at SonQuest.
“It kind of felt like I was tiring myself out because I was dragging getting baptized for so long because I was nervous,” Olivia said in agreement. “But once you get baptized, it feels like I’m kind of free now.”
Earlier, in a breakout class titled “Garden 2 Garden: From Rebellion to Redemption,” Leon Stewart, youth minister for the Melbourne Church of Christ in West Melbourne, Fla., asked students to write down something they should surrender.
Olivia Jackson confesses that Jesus is Lord before her baptism.
“I wrote that I want to surrender my life to Jesus because I’ve been thinking about that for a while,” Olivia recalled.
The sisters were two of 14 — including a couple more from the North Brevard church — who put on Christ in baptism that night.
‘Fun, faith and fellowship’
SonQuest isn’t all serious.
Between classes, worship and keynotes, youth groups played games together — including blackout laser tag, dodgeball and hockey — and competed against strangers in challenges hosted by emcees Kenny Backhaus and John “Beef” Branard.
SonQuest attendees participate in “Bible, Shakespeare or Taylor Swift.”
Winners of golden tickets from challenges like “Bible, Shakespeare or Taylor Swift” — where attendees had to guess which originated various quotes — went on to compete in the Gauntlet.
Two finalists raced to stack cups, flip bottles, unroll duct tape, eat doughnuts without using their hands, chug a bottle of maple syrup and bob for fish in a “lake” of whipped cream — all for the grand prize of a Nintendo Switch 2.
The focus is on “fun, faith and fellowship,” as SonQuest director James Moore described it.
Finalists compete in the Gauntlet at SonQuest.
Moore, a member of the Orange Avenue Church of Christ in Eustis, Fla., has led the youth conference for 47 of its 51 years.
He also serves as the acting chairman of the Chronicle’s board of trustees and was the longtime president of Mount Dora Christian Academy and Children’s Home just outside Orlando.
James Moore has directed the SonQuest Youth Conference since 1979.
SonQuest, originally called AOK for Accent on Kinship, began as a ministry of the Concord Street Church of Christ in downtown Orlando and met in the Mount Dora gym. Attendees slept around the campus — even on classroom floors.
As the event grew, it moved to various hotels and eventually the Rosen Centre convention space, also transitioning to the oversight of the Holly Hill Church of Christ near Daytona Beach, Fla.
SonQuest attendees walk about the Rosen Centre conference space.
“It’s been a thrill of my life to watch teenagers grow and develop,” Moore said of his time as director. Though now 80 and retired, he has no immediate plans to leave his SonQuest role.
Moore enjoys watching young believers demonstrate their passion in worship and develop new friendships.
“These kids love to sing, and they’ll pour their heart out in praise,” he observed. “And they will get excited about their singing because kids love music, and they love Christian music, and they love a cappella.”
But most of all, Moore appreciates the opportunity to grow their faith.
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“It’s been an exciting experience to see teenagers who hunger and thirst for God,” he said. “Many of them come to SonQuest … empty. They’re looking for something. Their home life is in turmoil.
“Some of these kids are trying to find out who they are and why they exist and what is their purpose. They’re trying to break habits and areas of immorality in their own life. They’re trying to find a way to look for purpose and meaning. And SonQuest provides an opportunity for them to do that.”
‘Wash your sins away’
Many teens who attend the event enter ministry themselves, including emcees Backhaus and Branard — now preachers for the Orange Avenue church and the Maricamp Road Church of Christ in Ocala, Fla., respectively.
“There are adults around here whose lives have been changed because of SonQuest, because of being here (and) investing in a place like this,” Backhaus told the crowd.
Kenny Backhaus, left, and John “Beef” Branard welcome youths to SonQuest.
He recounted being baptized on a Sunday at his first SonQuest.
“That was the day when it just finally sat in my heart that it was time to give my life to Jesus,” he said, “and I will never regret that decision to be baptized into Christ at SonQuest in 1997.”
As Darden extended the invitation, he urged youths to “be strong and courageous,” the rallying cry of Joshua as he led the Israelites into the promised land.
“Thank God for people who aren’t afraid to speak up,” Darden said. “Thank God for people who have enough courage to say, ‘The way the world is heading is wrong, but I’m willing to stand up and to speak the truth and to do something about it.’
“And I’m hoping and praying that you have the courage like that tonight. And now, what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, wash your sins away, calling on the name of the Lord.”
CALVIN COCKRELL is Managing Editor for The Christian Chronicle and serves as the young adult minister for the North Tuscaloosa Church of Christ in Alabama. Reach him at [email protected].
