NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–More than 2,500 teens are planning to take a public stand for moral purity Oct. 2 by walking across the Golden Gate Bridge carrying thousands of signed True Love Waits pledge cards.
The youth attending the event in San Francisco will represent several thousand other teens who have mailed in their signed pledge for participation in the latest teen sexual abstinence campaign, Crossing Bridges with Purity, said Jimmy Hester, co-coordinator for the campaign directed from the headquarters of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tenn.
“The 1999 national True Love Waits display provides teenagers across America an opportunity to state their beliefs about sexual abstinence until marriage,” Hester said.
True Love Waits is a worldwide campaign designed to challenge teenagers to make a promise to God to abstain from sex until they enter a biblical marriage relationship.
It was created in April 1993 by LifeWay. In 1994, more than 211,000 True Love Waits cards covered the National Mall in Washington, and in 1996, more than 350,000 cards were stacked to the roof of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. National True Love Waits leaders estimate more than 1 million teens have signed cards pledging sexual abstinence until marriage.
On Friday, Oct. 1, teens will participate in a concert and rally at First Baptist Church, San Francisco, where they will learn of the next day’s activities and receive encouragement and prayer, Hester said.
The following day, teenagers will begin carrying cards over the bridge beginning at 7 a.m. Pacific Time. Youth groups with special assignments will carry signed pledge cards mounted on large poster board across the bridge beginning at 9 a.m. San Francisco law restricts more than 50 demonstrators on the bridge at one time.
“The most important part of the morning is the mile-long, student display at the Marina Green,” Hester said. “Over 2,500 youth will form a mile-long human display in a park area at the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge at 11:30 a.m.”
TLW officials are establishing security measures to guard against groups who might harass the teens, Hester said.
In the afternoon, some youth groups will provide various ministries throughout San Francisco and others will travel to Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara, Calif., where they will attend Joy Fest concerts during the afternoon and evening.
The California Southern Baptist Convention is coordinating the ministry effort — called Bridge the Bay Ministry Projects — on the afternoon of Oct. 2. Contact Nathan Pylate for more information at (559) 229-9533, ext. 254, or e-mail him at [email protected].
True Love Waits rallies will be a part of Joy Fest, a Christian music event, Hester said. Concerts run until midnight on Oct. 2. Tickets are $34.99 at the gate, $29.50 in advance, and $28.50 for the group rate. For the group rate, call Celebration Concerts at (408) 369-8222. The lineup for the day includes the Supertones, Anointed, Avalon, Nicole Nordeman, Plankeye, Flight 180, Project 86, Stavesacre, P.O.D., and Jenny Owens. Tickets also include all rides and park attractions.
Photos of the day’s events will posted on the True Love Waits Internet site (http://www.truelovewaits.com/) by Saturday evening, Hester said.
Employees of the California Southern Baptist Convention and Golden Gate Theological Seminary in Mill Valley have worked with LifeWay to coordinate this latest TLW display.
