THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996 TAG: 9604270388
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Busloads of churchgoers from South Hampton Roads will head to Washington on Monday for ``Washington for Jesus '96,'' a massive, two-day prayer rally aimed at restoring the nation's moral character.
The event, conceived and organized by the Rev. John Gimenez, of the 4,000-member Rock Church in Virginia Beach, is expected to draw Christians from across the nation to pray about social issues including abortion, racism and drug addiction.
``There will be an outpouring of miraculousness, a revival that we've never seen anything like before,'' Gimenez said this week. ``We are going to see the backsliders coming by the droves.''
The event is a reprise of two similar rallies held in 1988 and 1980. The first rally, orchestrated by Gimenez and a group of religious leaders including Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson, is widely considered to have been a major turning point in mobilizing the evangelical vote.
Gimenez said the rallies are nonpolitical. However, some of the issues targeted for prayer, such as abortion and homosexuality, are the subject of legislative debate in Washington and in many states.
Gimenez said participants will spotlight those issues as sinful behavior in a religious context, rather than focusing on political action. ``Sin is sin. It all gets you to the same place,'' he said.
The lineup of speakers includes several with national reputations: Jerry Falwell, chancellor at Liberty University in Lynchburg and founder of the now-defunct Moral Majority; Richard Roberts, president of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla.; and John and Carol Arnott, pastors at a Toronto church that is the site of a charismatic revival known as ``holy laughter.''
Pat Robertson is not scheduled to address the crowd, but he and the crew of ``The 700 Club,'' his weekday news and religious show, will be broadcasting on Tuesday from the Capitol Mall, where the crowd is expected to gather.
Organizers said they have no accurate estimate of how many people are coming. Gimenez said he expects ``hundreds of thousands,'' and he has heard about large contingents coming by plane and bus from churches in California and Chicago.
Attendance at previous events has been much disputed. Organizers claim that the event drew 500,000 in 1980 and close to 1 million in 1988, but official estimates put the crowd at 200,000 in 1980, and about half that in 1988.
Organizers said churches from all parts of Virginia have said they will be sending participants, although Gimenez said he couldn't guess how many people are coming from South Hampton Roads. His own church and the Rock Church of Franklin are each sending several busloads.
Calvary Revival Church in Norfolk, led by the Rev. Courtney McBath, is sending four busloads, but interest has outstripped the church's transportation plans.
``We ordered the number of buses we thought would be appropriate, but in the last four days, we've been inundated,'' said the Rev. Mark Lawrence, youth director at the church. ``To our church, it will bring a stronger sense of unity and cooperation. It helps us focus not only on the vision of this church but on what God wants to do in the nation.'' by CNB