NATCHEZ &045; A crowd of social workers, therapists and leaders in work to assist Mississippi’s children

gathered Wednesday at the Natchez Convention Center for an annual conference, &uot;Lookin’ to the Future.&uot;

Social worker Rhonda Wright of Kilmichael said the conferences always have given her information and inspiration. &uot;I look forward to this conference,&uot; she said. &uot;I enjoy the atmosphere and the information.&uot;

Now working in a group home for high-functioning mentally retarded adults, she also has been a foster parent and may take that role again in the near future. &uot;I’m interested in what I’ll learn about foster parenting today,&uot; she said.

The three-day conference, sponsored by Southern Christian Services for Children and Youth of Jackson, opened with a presentation by the Rev. Dr. Lewis M. Anthony, who told the participants the greatest threat to America is &uot;not bin Laden but the families that don’t work and the children who aren’t loved. You’re special because you understand that better than most.&uot;

Anthony, senior pastor of the historic Metropolitan Wesley African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Washington, D.C., said today’s generation of young people lack hope and vision for the future.

&uot;This is the first generation of children to have a vision smaller than the womb that produced them. It’s the first generation we’ve produced that has to be worried about being aborted after birth. If ever we needed Christian folks to give Christian service unapologetically, it’s now,&uot; he said.

He talked of sponges and filters to explain how the sad state of youth came to be, giving parental alcoholism and verbal abuse as two examples of what drips into the sponge that is the child’s soul.

&uot;With verbal abuse, you lacerate them with words that tell them they will never be anything. What drips out of mamas and daddies drips down on the children, and they soak it up,&uot; he said.

Anthony went on to describe personalities adopted by children in troubled situations &045; some denying it, some hiding from it, some trying to repair the damage of hurtful relationships.

The joker who gets in trouble in school for making classmates laugh may be doing so out of desperation. &uot;He’s laughing to keep from crying.&uot;

The filters in young people’s lives begin with homes and family, go on to the school and the church. He lamented the loss of the power of each over the lives of children, recalling his own upbringing and the strict rules of behavior and the strict attendance at school and church.

&uot;Your mama didn’t get a grant to take care of you,&uot; he said. &uot;She loved the hell out of you and said it would be hell if you didn’t do what she said.&uot;

The conference theme is &uot;Great Expectations.&uot; Anthony spoke to that theme, saying, &uot;God’s great expectations are wrapped in human flesh. They’re called children.&uot;

He told the children and family advocates that they must persist in their efforts.

&uot;Make sure you understand the difference between a calling and a vocation. Calling makes a difference in a child’s life. Vocation pays the bills,&uot; he said. &uot;You must weed out the vocational and elevate those who are called. Don’t let the process overwhelm your purpose.&uot;

Sue Cherney, executive director of Southern Christian Services for Children and Youth, said 400 participants are expected to attend the conference. She said the theme of &uot;Great Expectations&uot; has significance.

&uot;It’s a reflection of our belief that our children and youth, everyone of them, should be able to look to the future with hope that god has a plan for them,&uot; she said.

The conference continues today with an 8:30 a.m. keynote presentation by Barry L. Duncan, co-director of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change in Chicago. Workshops and programs continue through the day to 5 p.m.