By Ben Lockridge

blockridge@themeridianstar.com



Christy Dukes is the youth minister at Center Ridge Baptist Church and primary organizer for a new youth conference called America’s Next Top Generation.

Dukes said that the church has focused on teenage bullying as one of their primary topics.

“Bullying has gone to a whole new level today,” Dukes said. “It’s gone to the internet where kids taunt one another; so that’s a topic we will deal with.”

Andrea Davis, assistant administrator for the church, said from a parental view, things have changed dramatically.

“Peer pressure has elevated. When I was raising my kids, we could talk, and we had a real honest relationship. The youth today have a bond amongst themselves, and a lot of them are not letting the parents and community leaders in. So we are trying to be creative in reaching these kids,” Davis said.

While some of the focus is the parent and child relationship and bullying, another focus will be on prison life in the hopes that this generation never ends up behind bars.

“We will have Eddie Spencer as our speaker on that. Hopefully he will help keep these kids out of prison,” Dukes said.

Eddie Spencer’s autobiography entitled “Inmate 46857,” is a book that tells the story of his life in prison and redemption through God.

The keynote speaker on Bullying will be Dr. Marian Swindell of Mississippi State University-Meridian.

“She will speak on how dangerous the situation has become for teens. Everything has changed since Columbine and other school violence events. Those are all direct examples of what bullying can produce,” Dukes said.

This is the third year that the church has held a youth conference, but in years past the topic was primarily sex related; but after a lot of prayer the church decided this new direction was needed.

“However, I’m sure we’ll go ahead and throw in some things about sex as well,” Dukes added.

The event is free to all and happens on July 25. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. at Center Ridge Baptist Church in Shubuta for both teens and parents. The church is located at 760 County Road 267 in Shubuta. For more information, call (601) 776-3649.