Just thinking back a couple of years on that the Lord did at FreedomFest DC is really something.

FreedomFEST 2005: July 4, 2005 was our 20th annual outreach on the National Mall! Over 350 people made spiritual decisions for Christ. We also connected them to like-minded churches for follow up. A number of people, churches and ministries served together to reach out to the thousands on the Mall that day! We are grateful to God and to so many people who made 2005 happen!

in 2006, we experienced another incredible year. For one thing, in all of the years that we’ve been on the Mall, we never experienced a storm like we had on 7/4/06. We lost 4 large tents. The winds hit speeds of 60 MPH. The Mall was evacuated at about 4:30 pm. During the storm, I thought that we’d had to pack things up and the day was over. God had other plans. After the storm cleared, we went out and salvaged things and put the stage back together and we had 3 more bands come on. People connected and heard the gospel — and it was another great year!

One woman found our website by searching for it and sent us an email mentioning how she was out on the Mall getting ready to march in the Independence Day Parade when she heard one of the bands singing and praising God. She stopped, listened and reflected about the words that she was hearing. She let us know that God really touched her heart that day!

That’s a great question!  Our passion is twofold:  GO, REACH and UNIFY LIKE-MINDED CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.  It’s lived out two passages in the Bible:

1) Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

2) I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony.  My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father–that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.  I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are– I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me. (John 17:20-23)

We believe that God tells us as the church to GO – not just COME.  That means going to where the people are.  And, why not go to the biggest gathering of people around in the DC area!?  Usuallly, over 500,000 people gather on the Mall each July 4th.  We’re living out Matthew 28.  And, we also live it out because we not experience people beginning a new personal relationship with Christ, we help connect them to a good, healthy church for discipleship and relationship.  \r\nWe believe that linking like-minded churches together to reach out says something to the world around us.  That’s what Jesus was praying for in John 17.