c. 2004 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Standing on a stage in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, Bishop John Gimenez told the crowd gathered for the “America for Jesus” rally Friday (Oct. 22) that the nation is like the prodigal son.

“He ended up in a pigpen,” Gimenez said of the biblical character described in the Gospel of Luke. “It seems to me that America has done just that. We have wasted the things that the Father has given to us.”

For the fourth time in 24 years, the Pentecostal co-founder of a Virginia Beach, Va., megachurch gathered evangelical Christians on the National Mall for prayer. Moving beyond his previous emphasis on “Washington for Jesus,” which he spearheaded in 1980, 1988 and 1996, Gimenez urged prayer for the nation. Although the event was held less than two weeks before Election Day, he emphasized that the rally was not principally about politics.

“We’re here about Jesus,” he said, drawing cheers. “`We’re not here about no political parties.”

Signs scattered in the grass declared “Elect Jesus Christ Head of your Life” and featured a crossed-out “2004” replaced with the word “Forever.”

People in the crowd of thousands, bundled up with scarves, hats and gloves on the chilly, cloudy day, said the pending election was on their list of prayers for the day. But they were not necessarily seeking divine intervention for a particular candidate.

Jennifer Hauser of Richmond, Va., a member of a Petersburg, Va., branch of Gimenez’s church, said she was praying that the “right man” would be elected.

But like Gimenez, the 28-year-old mother of four was concerned about issues beyond the election, such as court rulings against mandatory prayer in schools.

“You can’t pray in the schools anymore,” she said. “A lot of prayer is needed … for the country.”

Lee and Betty Pittman, members of a Pentecostal church in Chicago, flew to the rally to show their support for prayer for the nation.

“It’s important that we make a stand that Jesus Christ is still in charge of this nation,” said Lee Pittman, a retired engineer. “He started this nation and he’s still in charge and we want to give him some room for what he wants to do in this nation.”

National Association of Evangelicals President Ted Haggard led more than an hour of prayers for repentance. Though he couldn’t predict what the outcome of the event would be, he credited Gimenez’s prayer rally of 1980 with changes in the nation that included President Reagan’s election and a boost to the economy.

“God decides how he’s going to bless a nation based on what the church does,” he said in an interview shortly after leaving the stage.

“It could be that us being here will cause God to smile and make America stronger and better and healthier …. or it could be just another meeting, but we are trusting that God will do a miracle.”

The prayer rally came just a week after another crowd of evangelicals gathered for the “Mayday for Marriage” event that affirmed traditional marriage and criticized a Massachusetts court decision permitting same-sex marriage.

Pastor Anne Gimenez, the bishop’s wife and senior pastor of Rock Church in Virginia Beach, said this rally was focused more generally on seeking God’s help to recalibrate America’s “moral compass.”

“We believe that prayer is more powerful than protest,” she said at a news conference held as prayers continued to be uttered from the nearby stage over loudspeakers. “When you protest, you’re talking to man, but when you pray you’re talking to God Almighty.”

Her husband told Religion News Service that both President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, as well as members of Congress, were invited to pray with the crowd but did not attend.

“If you don’t see them here, they said `No,”’ said Gimenez. “But the ones you see here are the ones that get the job done. It’s the little guys.”

Organizers estimated that the crowd totaled at least 25,000. The National Park Service no longer gives crowd estimates.

Speakers, as well as crowd members, represented numerous ethnic and racial groups. Prayers in the morning were uttered by people with French, Korean, Native American and Hispanic backgrounds.

“In the name of Jesus, forgive us our sins,” cried Pastor Sun Fannin of Sunshine Ministries in Greenfield, Ind., a native of Korea. “Lord, you’ve been so faithful to us, yet we’ve failed you many times.”

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On the perimeter of the crowd, there were displays representing causes to which many evangelicals are sympathetic.

The most prominent _ though hidden from the crowd by a bank of green portable toilets _ was a Ten Commandments monument that was removed from the Alabama state judicial building shortly before former state Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office last year for putting it there. The 5,280-pound granite structure sat in the middle of a truck bed. Some members of the crowd touched it and had their photo taken with it.

Dalh Brown of Salem, Va., thought the rally was the perfect place for the monument.

“You can’t separate government and God,” said Brown, a Southern Baptist seminary student who would like to see duplicates of the monument in judicial buildings across the nation. “My prayer is that it’s going to go back into the courthouses of America … all courthouses.”

About 20 supporters of American Atheists held a small protest on the outskirts of the rally and monument display to declare their opposition to both.

“They have freedom of religion,” said Rick Wingrove, Virginia state director of American Atheists. “What they can’t do is use the schools, the courts and the legislature as an extension of their ministry.”

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