Jan 03, 02
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Christ
Christians are befriending young people who have hangovers from all-night drug-and-dancing parties called raves.
Raves are "a very dark scene" where a lot of teen-agers and young people in their 20s "are being sucked into drugs and the occult," Keith Stryker, 27, pastor of River of Life Church in Chicago, told Religion Today. The purpose of a rave is "to get a euphoric experience from dancing for hours on end to the music while tripping on the drugs and being with friends," Stryker said. "Some kids just go for the natural high of dancing for hours and hours." People as young as 12 and as old as 30 attend. Raves often involve a thousand or more people and are held in warehouses or fields on Fridays and Saturdays, or during the week, and cost $15-$25 for admission, Stryker said. Ravers maintain a cheerful outlook on life, and dress to have fun, Stryker said. They wear anything from bright and baggy to tight-fitting clothes, have piercings on their lips, nose, eyebrows, and cheeks, dye their hair bright colors, suck on baby pacifiers, carry teddy bears or Elmo backpacks, or resemble '60s hippies with bellbottoms and hemp necklaces. Others look "very average," he said. In Chicago, 200-300 ravers gather at Montrose Beach on Sunday mornings "to chill and to watch the sunrise, come down from their highs, or get high on marijuana, E (the drug Ecstasy), acid, or crack," Stryker said. Stryker and about 20 church members meet at 5:30 a.m. for prayer, then head to Montrose Beach to hand out free food and chat with the ravers. For the next three hours they pass out muffins and invitations to attend River of Life, and talk to the young people about Jesus Christ. "We prayed with a lot of kids as they allowed us, and we found a mostly receptive crowd to share Jesus with and make friends," Stryker said. A lot of them "are from Christian homes or are Christians living in sin and a lot of carnality." One young man had become a Christian two years ago but "obviously was falling into sin that God was trying to take him out of, and he was confronted with the reality of his sin as we talked to him," Stryker said. Others are involved in Buddhism or "self-created religions," he said. The golden rule of ravers is PLUR – peace, love, unity, respect, Stryker said. "To have an open mind is what many young people today seek. They are open to other beliefs, other ideas and philosophies. It's postmodernism in its purist form, a true absence of absolutes except the one that there are no absolutes. This mentality makes it okay for someone to talk to a Christian without having to buy into what a Christian says. They say, 'That's good for you. If that's what you believe, then that's good.' Relationships are key in reaching kids like this." 
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Jan 07, 02
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haha..
"or crack." yes we all do crack..!! fo sure brotha.. jeezus.. wtf do they think we do.. "rave" on main and hastings? lost soul_
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Jan 09, 02
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this very interesting to me~
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