Source: The Washington Post

By Julie Zauzmer, Kirkland An and Michelle Boorstein

Rappers and pastors, spoken word poets and authors appealed Saturday to thousands of evangelicals gathered around the Washington Monument in baking heat to recommit to prayer and hope at a time of intense racial and political polarization and growing secularism.

People streamed into prayer tents, asking volunteers for prayers to “reset” their lives, their families, their country. They got on their knees by the thousands, appealing to God to “break racism” at the call of charismatic evangelist Lou Engle, one of dozens of preachers in the hours-long lineup. They told personal stories of division in their lives that brought them to America’s capital for what aimed to be one of the bigger faith outreach events in the United States in years. Possibly an entire Bible’s worth of verses was written on the t-shirts in the crowd.

The event, scheduled to last from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., ended just after 4 p.m. because of the excessive heat. U.S. Park Police and Nick Hall, who organized the event, said that emergency medical technicians were overwhelmed by a large number of people who passed out in the heat.

Hall told the crowd that the hastened ending was all right: “It was never about coming to the Mall. It was always about being sent from the Mall,” he said. “This is about sending a generation out from the Mall who are saying, ‘God, we wanna go — we wanna give everything for Jesus.’”

In the seven hours the event lasted, attendees heard impassioned prayers, sermons, songs, raps and poetry about unity in faith.

Calling people to their knees on the grass, Engle shouted references to Minneapolis, Ferguson and Dallas — now shorthand for America’s modern-day racial violence, places where police killed black men and where, more recently, a black soldier gunned down five white police officers.

In the audience was Heather Crowe, who came from Pennsylvania with her daughter and other female relatives seeking healing. Recently neighbors and even relatives had chided her 18-year-old daughter for dating an African-American, saying “Are you serious?” Between that and the recent police-involved killings, she said a big Christian concert suddenly seemed needed. Her family is white.

“It became more apparent we needed to be here, to feel like we were united,” Crowe said. Of her daughter, who is heading to college this fall, she said: “As a mother, you’re anxious for what the future holds for her. I’ve always told her to be a light in the darkness.”

The event, called “Together,” featured some of the biggest-name musicians and evangelists in contemporary evangelical Christianity. It was aimed at more theologically conservative young evangelicals, with organizers calling it a “reset” for Christians who feel exhausted from battling the mainstream culture and sidelined by secularism.

“I think a lot of believers that are teenagers feel that they’re the only Christian on their [sports] team, the only Christian who works at the McDonald’s where they work.” The huge concert-style gathering shows these young people “the church is alive,” Mark Hall, a youth pastor who is the lead singer of the rock band Casting Crowns, said after their set. “Teenagers need moments.”

Hall said the timing of the long-planned event, falling amid violent events worldwide, was fated. “It’s something that God saw coming. He saw that we were gonna need it.”

A new poll by Pew Research showed 41 percent of “evangelical or born-again” Protestants say it has become more difficult to be an evangelical Christian in the U.S. in recent years; 34% answered the question the same way in September 2014.

Evangelicals are deeply divided about the causes and solutions to racism. A new poll this week shows 73 percent of white evangelicals — the vast majority of evangelicals are white — say they would support Donald Trump, a candidate who 66 percent of Americans believe is biased against minority groups.

[This rapper is trying to get his fellow evangelicals to talk about race. Not everyone is on board.]

Anjelica and Joseph Tynes, an African-American couple who attended the event on Saturday, said they arrived hoping to hear a message of racial reconciliation aimed at evangelicals. Anjelica said she wondered beforehand if a one-time event could really make a difference, but when she saw the crowd on the Mall, she changed her mind. In fact, she thought the day of prayer would do more for racial healing than the presidential election could.

“If Trump’s in office, we’re responsible to pray for Trump,” she said. “If Hillary’s in office, we’re responsible to pray for Hillary.”

The Tyneses, like many others on the Mall, said they would not discuss whom they’re voting for, preferring instead to devote the day to prayer. There wasn’t a political sign or shirt in sight.

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