G1 PowerUP Experience

Paul ‘pda’ Allen of PaJam is adding to his extensive music resume the title of Youth Pastor. That’s right… PDA was ordained in August 2010 by Bishop Andrew Merritt of the Straight Gate International Church, Inc. (SGIC) and officially installed as the new Youth Director of its G1 (God First) Youth Ministries in October 2010. And on the eve of celebrating one year as the Youth Director, PDA (affectionately called…Minister P) along with his wife Keisha, executed a huge youth conference called the G1 PowerUP Experience (www.g1youth.com) that made a significant impact on youth in the city of Detroit.

The mission of the conference was to inspire, motivate and equip youth to be powered up for the 2011/2012 school year. In order to make this event the success that it was PDA called on some of his industry friends to take the event over the top. Participating musical artists included J Moss, LeCrae, Canton Jones, James Fortune, Kierra “KiKi” Sheard, 21:03 and Chris Clark. Spiritual enrichment was brought by keynote speakers, Pastor Irishea Hilliard (daughter of Dr. I.V. Hilliard) of Houston, TX and Minister David Merritt of the SGIC, Detroit, MI. The contributing sponsors included McDonald’s, Jason Richardson of the Orlando Magics, former football great Barry Sanders, Tom Seabron and RadioOne. One of the main participating sponsors was Henry Ford Health System which provided health care checks for blood pressure, sickle cell, diabetes, vision, dental and cholesterol for every individual that attended. Additionally, every youth was able to receive access to educational resources, the opportunity to speak with college recruiters and free back to school book bags with supplies. Minister P states, “The best part of this conference were the souls, young and old that came to Christ… that is what makes it worth it all.” The effect that this conference had on young people didn’t just stop here.

Thus PDA incorporated his passion for music and his love for youth to produce a G1 mixtape that exposed the God-given gifts, talents and abilities of youth. Minister P and his wife had the idea to take one of the songs, “Warzone” and create a production that included poetry, mime, liturgical dance, stepping, singing and rapping. The G1 Youth yielded such a powerful performance that it became the number one requested video during the G1 PowerUP Conference. PDA is looking forward to doing bigger and better things with G1 Youth as he follows the leading of his Bishop and the Holy Spirit.