FREDERICKTOWN — NBA star Michael Redd was the featured speaker at this year’s ROCC Fest in Fredericktown. A large crowd filled with young people listened as Redd shared his faith and insight grown during his years playing basketball for the OSU Buckeyes and the Milwaukee Bucks.
“I believe God wants to use this generation,” he told the youths. “God wants to use you, and he has a plan for all of our lives.”
Redd, who said he was raised in a Christian home, the son of a pastor, told the youths he had grown up “going through the motions.”
He described the formality of going to church, but said he “still didn’t know who Jesus was on a personal level.”
“When I turned 17, I made up my mind that I wanted to serve God and dedicate my life to Him. He changed my life,” he said.
Redd has donated time and resources to working with young people. He began giving motivational speeches to youths about five years ago, and the young people in the crowds on Saturday were eager to meet with him before and after he spoke
After leading several in prayer, Redd told the group that he and other counselors would be available to meet with the youths and continue praying and speaking with them.
As a professional athlete faced with pressure from many sides, Redd told the youths that facing temptation down can be difficult, but living life as God has asked is worth the challenge. Redd assured them that he understands all about peer pressure.
“I’m challenged a lot with temptations — drugs, alcohol and sex,” he said.
He told the youths that God wants them to remain separate from those downfalls.
Redd said after he addressed the large crowd that using his “star power” to reach young people was what he was meant to do.
“It’s the call of God on my life,” said Redd.
He said he feels drawn to reach all people regardless of their background, much like Jesus did.
Reaching youths where they’re at is what ROCC Fest is all about, according to one of the event organizers, Heather Brake.
“We do this to spread the message of Christ to youth in a relevant way on their level,” she explained.
ROCC stands for Real Outreaching Christian Community.
The music festival, which is in its third year, is sponsored by local churches and businesses, and free to the community. Groups of teens travel from throughout the state and beyond to see the national recording artists the festival features each year.
Rain and mud did nothing to dampen the spirits of the crowds during the six-hour festival, which is gaining a national following.
One of this year’s headliners, The Devil Wears Prada, is a rock band from Dayton, currently on tour and working on a new album. Drummer Daniel Williams said the six-member band decided during its second concert that it would use their music to reach people for God.
“I think there are two kinds of Christian music,” Williams explained. “Worship and ministry, and we are more of a ministry band.
“Jesus went into the dark places to show them the light. We tell everybody what we believe, and put it out there. We always take time out of our set to talk about God,” he said, adding that what the youths do with the message is up to them.
Several of the teens at the festival follow bands from concert to concert during the summer. Seventeen-year-old Chris Clark and 16-year-old Chris Cockrell were part of a group of 10 youths that came from Columbus to see This Fires Embrace.
Even though Clark and Cockrell said they don’t always regularly attend church, they said they enjoy the Christian music because of its message.
Local teens Andy Toms and Neil Brown of Fredericktown were helping some of the bands with merchandise sales during the festival. They both said they enjoyed hearing new groups they were unfamiliar with, as well as bands they had heard in the past.
Barry MacKichan, the lead singer of Kiros, (Greek for “a divinely appointed moment”) was one of several musicians who met with youths after the concerts, posing for pictures and signing autographs.
MacKichan said he became a Christian when he was 15, and that he understands the difficulties youths face, and the role God can play in their lives. He said the band desires for their music to reach people.
“We’ve always tried really hard to be a band with a message,” he said. “We want our music to mean something. If we can show people hope, and that Jesus loves them, then we’re doing our job.”
