More than 100 young people pledged to wait until marriage to have sex at a youth seminar last Friday evening.

Organiser Daron Lowe (who is also known as Pastor D), youth minister of Radnor Road Christian Fellowship said the "True Love Waits'' seminar was open to all young people above age 12.

"I would like young people to know that not everyone's `doing it','' he said.

"Abstinence is not some old fashioned concept.'' Pastor Lowe added that for a teen who is pregnant or has a STD: "We want them to know the collective church is there to help.'' Pastor Lowe said more than 400 teens from across the Christian denominations attended. Most came with youth groups and some were sent by parents.

The seminar featured skits and discussions about pre-marital sex and its consequences.

Jenna Simmons, 18, said she enjoyed the seminar and thought it was organised well. She said: "It was good because it went into Bermuda statistics. It is a good seminar for teens and even single adults.'' Participants discussed "why wait to have sex'', "how far is too far'', "how to say no and mean it'', and "the Bible's answer to pre-marital sex''.

The international campaign has been joined by hundreds of thousands of teens who choose to abstain.

"We focused on teen pregnancy,'' Pastor Lowe said. "Although there was a decrease last year in teen pregnancy from 71 to 50 teen births reported to Teen Services, just one is too many.'' The discussions also focused on sexually transmitted diseases and how young people can make decisions of their own and avoid sex until marriage.

Pastor Lowe added: "I believe it's important that we just show the facts. We showed pictures that were quite graphic.'' The seminar also showed STDs and AIDS are not an adult problem and affect teens. "The incubation period for AIDS is so long. People have been promiscuous during their teens.'' Pastor Lowe added that young people in Bermuda may also believe it is a US problem and something they need not be concerned with.

The True Love Waits pledge is designed to challenge teens with the truth about pre-marital sex.

The pledge reads: "Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, my friends, my future mate, and my future children and society to be sexually abstinent from this day until the day I enter a biblical marriage relationship.'' Ms Simmons said the True Love Waits seminar and pledge was a special experience: "It teaches that sex is something special to share with your husband. It keeps us free from disease and pregnancy.''