2024 Teens Conference: The Power of Music
In his ‘Introduction to the Book of Psalms' published in 2002 as part of a series of little literary paperbacks to some books in the Bible, Paul David Hewson, popularly known as Bono, spoke to the power of music. The globally renowned activist and leader of the rock band, U2, had been invited to write the introduction by the publishing house that presented individual books from the King James Version of the Bible as separate volumes. “Explaining faith is impossible...Vision over visibility...instinct over intellect...A songwriter plays a chord with the faith that he will hear the next one in his head,” Bono wrote. “One of the writers of the psalms was a musician, a harp-player whose talents were required at ‘the palace' as the only medicine that would still the demons of the moody and insecure King Saul of Israel; a thought that still inspires, if not quite explaining Marilyn singing for Kennedy, or the Spice Girls in the court of Prince Charles...”
Bono then went on to expand on the uplifting powers of music: “Psalms and hymns were my first taste of inspirational music. I liked the words, but I wasn't sure about the tunes--with the exception of Psalm 23, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.' I remember them as droned and chanted rather than sung. Still, in an odd way, they prepared me for the honesty of John Lennon, the baroque language of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, the open throat of Al Green and Stevie Wonder--when I hear these singers, I am reconnected to a part of me I have no explanation for...my ‘soul' I guess.”
I doubt if Pastor Evaristus Azodoh, a consultant urologist and ‘old Soja', is a fan of Bono. But in choosing ‘The Power of Music' as the theme for the 2024 edition of The Annual Teens Career Conference of The Everlasting Arms Parish (TEAP) of RCCG Abuja, he argues that “Music is more than just melodies and lyrics; it has the power to uplift, inspire, and transform.” For this year, former Cross River State Governor, Mr Donald Duke, a lawyer and saxophonist of high repute, is a special guest among other confirmed speakers, including Dare Art Alade, an award-winning singer, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur and Mrs Bukola Bekes, a respected gospel artiste and music minister at the RCCG, City of David Parish, Lagos.
Specifically, the objectives of the Teens Career Conference are to: Teach the teenagers to take responsibility for their future; Have their imagination fired through interaction with accomplished professionals in the society; Make them realize that no matter the odds, they can reach their goals, and get them to understand that God still intervenes in the affairs of men. Although a Christian programme, physical participation at the Conference is open to teens and youth of all religious backgrounds from Abuja and the environs.
Speakers at previous editions of the Conference include UBA Chairman, Mr Tony Elumelu, CFR, wife of the former Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, Executive Vice Chairman of Famfa Oil, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, ace comedian, Mr Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome, popularly known as Ali Baba, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor, Mrs Serah Alade, former Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Chair, Mrs Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, former PENCOM Director General, Ms Chinelo Anohu, Nollywood actor, Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD), Nollywood actress, Linda Ejiofor (who was joined by her husband, Ibrahim) and wife of the late former Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Mrs Charity Shekari. Others are former House of Representatives Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara, former Deputy European Union Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ambassador Robert Young, former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi as well as Ms Dorota Oakley Matuszyk, Ms Juliet Lamin (now of blessed memory), Dr Helen Paul, Messrs Samson Itodo, Seun Onigbinde, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Chinedu Azodoh, J.J. Omojuwa and Mrs Omowale David-Ashiru.
Participation at this hybrid event is strictly by online registration. Interested teenagers and young adults who seek to attend can register at the Conference website: www.rccgteapteens.ng