where does the name battlecry come from

     Every one at my church asked me, "What does Battlecry mean?" The truth, and history is pretty simple, but I have to go back a few months to explain. A friend of mine had asked if I would be willing to do some grunt work for him at a gentleman's house that he worked at. They were wanting an area of his yard dug out for a driveway, and my friend was physically unable to do the work.

     One day, while working, I had been listening to music, and contemplating my new role as the youth leader at my church. I have weekly meetings with our Senior Pastor, and one of the things we had been discussing was developing an identity for our Youth Program; Something that went beyond "College Park Youth." It is our goal to develop a strong Youth Program that provides a fun, safe, and Christ filled environment for our teens, as well as providing outreach ministry to our local community. It was on this morning that two names hit me...Front line, and Battlecry.

     The names popped into my head, and flooded my thoughts. It was all I could think about for the rest of the day. In part, the name developed from one of my favorite songs by the Christian rock band Pillar, "Front line." I immediately had the lyrics stuck in my head (Come on, we all do it.), and all I could think about was, "Everybody with your fist raised high, let me hear your battle cry tonight, stand aside or step aside, we're on the front lines." I jammed the rest of the day, but nothing I did could release the names from my head. God was filling me with an idea. Seeded deep in my brain, but no real answers.

     When I got home later that day, I remember excitedly telling my wife, and the response I received was, "Well what does it mean?" I didn't know. It wasn't until I attended the Pacific Northwest Youth Leaders Convention that I would have a few revelations: 1) God would call me to full time ministry, and 2)God would give me direction for the name Battlecry.

     So what is Battlecry? While there are several biblical references to the concept (see Joshua 6:5, Samuel 17), the name Battlecry doesn't really come directly from a biblical verse. Rather, it is the representation of standing up and being accounted as a Christian, without fear. (See Psalm 27:1) Battlecry is about equipping today's youth for the Spiritual Front line by teaching them to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20), and not being afraid to say, "I AM a child of God." 

     Our goal is simple. We want to teach youth to be loving, compassionate, merciful, and forgiving followers of Christ. We want them to stand tall and be proud to say they are Christians, and we want them to exemplify Christ's love and compassion.