Millions of people have participated in the hugely popular prayer and fasting movement called TheCall which has had events across the United States and around the world.
On Aug. 16, the movement will hit the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to pray for revival and the nation to change ahead of the historic November presidential election. The expected number of participants: 1 million.
TheCall founder Lou Engle spoke to The Christian Post last week about the much-anticipated D.C. event and how participants will pray for the election and political issues.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
CP: I often hear Christian leaders mention TheCall with great excitement. Can you tell me what makes TheCall so exciting and how it is different from other prayer and revival initiatives?
Engle: Well, I’m thrilled about every prayer and revival initiative, and they all have their part and place. But TheCall springs from the Book of Joel where the nation is in deep trouble and in a crisis. And the prescription to that crisis is Joel 2: blow the trumpet, gather all the inhabitants of the land…proclaim a fast, let the leaders - the young and the old - come together and let them cry before God and repent and then God would turn and pour out his spirit.
So it really is God’s prescription during times of crisis – a united, massive gathering of fasting and prayer. And it is in this context that God says, “Drop your denomination, your race, your age barriers and gather together to me in a particular way” and He will answer those prayers of a united gathering.
And that is the vision of TheCall before the election of 2000. And now here coming up in 2008 we are in I believe a moral crisis of a huge magnitude in America. And leaders across America are saying there isn’t a lot of hope in the political realm, there isn’t a lot of hope anywhere. We need divine intervention. With this crisis, we are blowing the trumpet and calling the nation to fasting and prayer.
CP: The first TheCall D.C. occurred in fall 2000 during an election year, and again this movement will be held in D.C. in August before another historic election year. Do you purposely hold a D.C. event every election year? And what do you pray for in terms of the election?
Engle: We don’t purposely hold gatherings before elections, but this one I felt was so critical because the ideologies that are being promoted through different candidates have the implications just like in 2000.
The implications are huge for the issues of abortion, issue of marriage, or the kind of judges that don’t keep opening the door to the legality of every kind supposed freedom – which is really no freedom. It is really licensing to break away from the foundational moral principle upon which society will really flourish.
We are in crisis I believe in this election. And that is part of the reason we’re holding this.
Another reason is we did seven TheCalls and then we raised up a prayer movement the last three-and-a-half years praying for the ending of abortion and the healing of mothers. We believe this is not just another social issues, this is an issue on the par of slavery. The shedding of innocent blood - Abraham Lincoln understood the civil war to be God’s discipline on a nation because of the shedding of the blood of the slave. Continue >>
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The intentions are good.
But we need to be focused on the moral leadership within the church itself first.
Does a march on Washington really show that Christians care about the church, about each other, about being One?
If that is not the message, then we are not requiring any more from our national leaders than we require from within the church.
Of course, I did not really mean "stop praying." You people are so humorless.
Maybe I should have said, "Pray for any president other than Bush." That way, our prayers will be answered, too.
Luke 18:1 "Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up."
1 Thessalonians 5:17 "pray continually;"
As for me and my house, we will follow the teachings of God and not hlerwin.
Stop praying, please. Look what the 2000 prayer got us for a president.
Thing only thing I will say is that the Republicans controlled the white house, congress til 06, and the supreme court, and we still have abortion.
if you haven't heard of the prayer movement for abortion that Lou talks about in this article, check out www.bound4life.com