About 125 people attended a ministry event at South Hagerstown High School, area director Kevin Smoot said. Seven other athletic fields in Maryland, four in addition to Martinsburg in West Virginia and four in Pennsylvania were expected to host similar rallies, according to the Fields of Faith Web site devoted to the student-to-student event.
North Hagerstown High School hosted the first Fields of Faith event in the Western Maryland/Eastern Panhandle area last year, Smoot said.
Kylee Cox of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., was excited to worship with other young people.
"This will definitely make a bigger impact," Cox said before the performance of The 10:20 Band, a Christian band comprised of members of The Living Room's youth group.
Cox, 20, said she stays involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes group in Berkeley Springs and plans to minister to young people when she finishes college courses online.
"I love it, it's definitely one of my passions," Cox said.
Before sharing a passage in the Bible about Josiah, a teenage Middle East king of Judah, Hedgesville High School FCA member Mary Hall admitted that speaking in front of people wasn't her "strong point." But Hall said she believes that God calls Christians to "step out of our shell and to just be a light for other people because if they can't see it, they're not going to want to change."
Hall explained how Josiah was 8 years old when he became king and was 16 when he began to bring about positive change.
"Through him, God changes a whole nation," Hall said.
"If you are searching with all of your heart, you will find God," Hall later told the crowd.
Martinsburg High School student Blake Debord was excited to give his testimony and hoped his peers would hear something that would encourage them to give their life to Christ.
Holloman, who hopes to be a missionary, said the aim of the event was not to condemn people.
"We're here to turn them towards Christ," Holloman said.
