WASHINGTON -- 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 racial and political polarization and growing secularism.
People streamed into prayer tents, asking volunteers for prayers to "reset" their lives, their families and their country.
At the call of evangelist Lou Engle, they got on their knees by the thousands, appealing to God to "break racism." They told stories about occurrences in their lives that inspired them to travel to the nation's capital to participate in one of the bigger faith outreach events in the United States in years.
Calling for people to kneel on the grass, Engle shouted references to Minneapolis; Ferguson, Mo.; and Dallas -- now shorthand for America's modern-day racial violence -- places where police officers killed black men or a black man gunned down five white police officers.
In the audience was Heather Crowe, who traveled from Pennsylvania with her daughter and other relatives to seek healing. She said neighbors and even relatives had recently chided her 18-year-old daughter for dating a black man, saying, "Are you serious?" Between that and the recent police-involved killings, she said, attending a Christian concert suddenly seemed necessary. 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 12-hour event called "Together" features some of the biggest-name musicians and evangelists in contemporary evangelical Christianity. It was aimed at theologically conservative young evangelicals. Organizers called 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 concert-style gathering shows these young people "the church is alive," said Mark Hall, a youth pastor and the lead singer of the rock band Casting Crowns.
He said the timing of the long-planned event, falling amid violent events worldwide, is fate. "It's something that God saw coming," he said. "He saw that we were gonna need it."
A new poll by Pew Research shows that 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. That's compared with 34 percent who answered that way in September 2014.
Evangelicals are divided over the causes of racial bias and its solutions.
Experts and evangelists said Saturday's lineup was diverse -- racially, culturally and gender-wise -- in a country of more homogeneous churches. A theme among the speakers and attendees was the need for unity and reconciliation. Writer Ann Voskamp and spoken-word poet Amena Brown joined for a poem-prayer that weaved together references to American Indians, slave ships and cotton pickers.
The Together event is the brainchild of 34-year-old evangelist and event-planner Nick Hall. Almost all of the people appearing at Saturday's event were evangelical, but Hall was also to share a greeting from Pope Francis.
"We're not saying it's time to compromise Scripture," Hall told the crowd. "But there is something about reaching across the aisle. ... We didn't come for a show, we didn't come for a concert. ... We need to hear from heaven!"
Francis produced a promotional video for the event, encouraging viewers to "Give [Jesus] a try! You don't have anything to lose!"
Even among the call for unity, some evangelical leaders discouraged too much involvement by the Catholic pope, showing the continuing debate over how to define "Christian" and who gets a say.
Among those appearing Saturday were Christian rapper and Grammy-winner Lecrae, gospel musician Kirk Franklin and Dallas pastor Tony Evans, all of whom are black. Also on the lineup are preachers Francis Chan, whose parents were from China, and Ravi Zacharias, who is of Indian descent.
Among the women appearing were Australian evangelist Christine Caine, women's leadership minister Jennie Allen, pastor Laurel Bunker and spoken-word poet Brown. Bunker and Brown are black.
Many parts of evangelical America do not accept women as preachers. Giving women equal billing with the male figures is a shift.
Attendees had different perspectives on the event's makeup.
Paul Yi, 17, was not surprised by the lack of Asian-Americans in the lineup, despite the large number of Asian-Americans in the audience. He attended the event with members of his Korean-American church in Maryland.
"It's no problem. We're all here to worship God. Don't look at the worshippers," he said.
Rene Aviles, 35, attended the gathering with his wife and two children in hopes that they would learn about unity in a divided country. He said he would have liked to see more Hispanic speakers in the lineup, considering they are the largest minority group in evangelicalism at 11 percent.
"Deep down, as a born El Salvadorean, yeah, that would have been nice to see," Aviles said.
A Section on 07/17/2016