'The leader we need is you,' Beck tells 17,000 at BYU

PROVO — The answers to America's problems aren't found in Washington, they're found in the people of America.That's what radio and TV personality Glenn Beck told a vocal crowd of

nearly 17,000 gathered at BYU's Marriott Center Sunday evening for

America's Freedom Festival's annual Patriotic Service.

      "In a time when America is begging for a leader; in a time when

America is shouting out, 'Where is the leader, when will he step

forward?' I am here to tell you: You are the leader — the leader we

seek. The leader we need is you; it always has been.

      "We are the United States of America," he said. "We can solve any problem."

      Beck said the signers of the Declaration Independence, in "hot,

humid, not-yet-riddled-with-gangs Philadelphia," put "we the people" at

the very top of the document in big, bold letters for a reason — to

remind the people of America who would shape the nation's destiny, even

with all of its problems.

      "Hope is the recognition of who we truly are," Beck said. "Not in

who we've allowed ourselves to become — all we have to do is remember."

      Beck repeatedly told the crowd it is vital for Americans to

remember how important God is in America's past and future. He said the

pilgrims humbly came to the American continent according to God's will.

Like those pioneers, he said, America needs pioneers now.

      "We are this country's next great dispensation's pioneers," he

said. "We are the ones that are going to take us into a new place,

beyond your wildest imagination. It will be hard, it will be rough,

but, oh, how we will have this tale to tell."