Photos by Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Jazzron Harris of Oxford, N.C., (center) raises his fist during a performance.

Aushequa Harris (center) prays before a performance at Saturday's Next Generation Christian Conference.

In a world where many teens know every word of a Soulja Boy or Lil Wayne song but can't remember the Ten Commandments or recite the Lord's Prayer, pastors and youth ministers across the nation are in a battle to bring their youths to Christ.

"Young people aren't going to stop listening to hip-hop," said Samad Bilal founder of New Generations Christian Conference, which stopped by Paradise Cathedral in Roanoke on Saturday.

The all-day conference focuses on bringing the word of God to young people who are influenced by today's hip-hop culture.

"When they were born, hip-hop was here," said Bilal, who is a youth minister to 850 teens in Raleigh, N.C. "And they're never going to stop listening to it. So we figured 'Hey, we might as well meet them in the middle.' We can still give them the word of God and still give them what they want."

Five years ago, Bilal, whose stage name is COG, or Child of God, turned in his days with an old-time gospel singing quartet for his Holy Hip-Hop ministry. Gospel rap can be traced back to the early 1990s in cities such as New York and Washington, D.C.

Bilal, 37, wore a long, white T-shirt, iced-out microphone chain and baggy denim jeans at the show. He said it all started when his daughter was doing chores while listening to rap group Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz, song, "Nothins Free," which glorified prostitution.

Bilal, who is the father of five, told his daughter: "I don't want to hear that in my house." His daughter responded, "Well, why don't you make some music that I can listen to?"

And that is exactly what he did.

Bilal's recreational hobby of making hip-hop gospel for his daughter quickly turned into something larger than what he expected -- it turned into a movement. So much so that he decided to create a whole conference using his Holy Hip-Hop ministry.

On Saturday afternoon, he was heard chanting lyrics over popular hip-hop chart beats and even rapped over Petey Pablo's hit "Raise Up," transforming the secular song into an entertaining song teens can use to memorize all the books in the Bible. Other Christian rap groups from North Carolina performed alongside COG.

The Next Generation Conference debut event in Bridgetown, Barbados, attracted more than 5,000 people, he said.

However, those numbers were not seen at Paradise Cathedral in Roanoke. Several of the churches in Roanoke that he called to participate in the conference said they didn't even have a youth department to attend, he said.

Sharon Jones, member of Pilgrim Baptist Church and co-coordinator of the event, said someone sent her a Bilal CD that inspired her to contact Bilal to bring his conference to Roanoke.

"Something's got to change," she said Saturday with tears swelling up in her eyes. "With all the shootings on Melrose -- and that doesn't speak to anyone?"

Bilal said that social trends such as gang violence and teen pregnancy call for a dramatic change in the way the word of God is delivered to youth. He said he believes he can do this through his hip-hop.

However, he said that many churches are not receptive to the idea of the music.

"The world doesn't really want to hear it," Bilal said. "The kids want to listen to what the world plays and then the church is thinking that you're doing what the world does, so it's like your fighting a battle on each end. ... We're for real about this, we are real ministers and we really are here for these young people."

Jones agreed. "A lot of traditional churches are just stuck in traditional ways and traditional values. They're just saying that the youth are defiant and hardheaded instead of trying to reach them in a way that they will respond to," she said.

Bilal said there is no point in making youths listen to gospel music in church if they are only going to listen to it on Sundays.

"There are six other days of the week," he said. "Where's there a rule that says what the music has to sound like? Music is the sheet of paper. The words are what give it power."

Bilal explained that churches need to put the power back into the hands of the future generation. "The reason why we call this the Next Generation Conference is because this generation is the next generation of the church. If we don't teach them up in the right way now, in a way that's going to keep them in the church, then the church is just going to die."

Jakeenon Jenkins, the disc jockey of the conference, also known as DJ Ace, 15, of Raleigh, N.C., said he is a Christian but still listens to secular music -- in fact, he says he has even announced for major secular rap artists.

"I know who I am in Christ," Jakeenon said. "I know I'm saved."

He explained his reasoning as this: "Kids are going to be kids. Kids are going to listen to what they want to listen to."

Jakeenon said that all songs have some meaning to them whether it is a positive or negative one.

"You've got to know that's it's just a song. I'm still going to listen to rap, but I'm not going to do everything they say in the song," he said.

Jakeenon said he has fun being a Christian and following God's commandments.

"You can still go to church and still have a swag -- a swag is your style and what makes you," he said.

Jakeenon said he encourages youths not to idolize secular rap artists.

"Soulja Boy and Lil Wayne -- it's not all about them, they are just artists. Half of these artists today don't really live the lives that they talk about in their songs. People need to stop putting all of their attention on them and instead focus on God. There's only one God."