Please enjoy the following guest post from Pastor Brad Wells (https://gracewaydc.com/):
Jonah 1:2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”
Jonah 3:2 “Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.”
He was an unlikely candidate for ministry, but the day I saw Leslee Daniels walking toward me on that dirt road, I felt God say, “This is the guy.” Perhaps it was the dreadlocks, or the disheveled clothing, or the homemade cigarette tucked behind his ear, but he didn’t quite look like a preacher. I asked him to become my sports news announcer at our radio station in Papua New Guinea, and about a year later, Leslee accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.
Fast forward seven years on March 3, 2013, Preacher Les took the pulpit and began his message, “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry against it…”
After weeks of praying and seeking counsel, God’s voice sounded like thunder. The answer was clear—I was to leave my beloved mission field and move to Washington, DC to “cry against” it. As one of the many confirmations of this calling, God had used my “Timothy” in Papua New Guinea to declare it.
But, how does one “cry against” a city? This has been the quest of my life — and the lives of my dear family — for the past eight years. We started with a football in the park. Then a service on the Capitol lawn. I spent many hours walking the streets and witnessing as I was given opportunity. Regular church services began at a local art center in January 2015. Visits to congressional offices, singing and passing out tracts at metro stops, door to door canvassing— we “cried” any way we could think of.
On February 13, 2016 the news of the passing of late Justice Antonin Scalia reached our heavy hearts. One of the most conservative justices on the Supreme Court and a giant of constitutional law, he had bolstered a slim majority. How could we expect to hold any legal and moral ground if another liberal justice was appointed?
It was with this incredible sense of urgency we gathered on the frosty steps of the Supreme Court for the very first “Supreme Prayer” that Saturday night. We repented of the sins of our crumbling nation and begged God for mercy — and the miracle of another conservative justice.
We gathered again on February 20th; and on the 27th. Before we knew it, we had been praying at the Supreme Court for over six years. Our numbers have grown. God has given us far more than we asked for — three conservative justices! No greater evidence of their unprecedented significance was the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the victories for religious liberty in 2022.
Weekly prayer at the Supreme Court is another way to “cry against” this great city. Standing between the Capitol and the highest court in the land, we cry to God for mercy.
And, Pastor Les joined us for a Supreme Court Prayer Meeting in 2018. It seemed as if the calling had come full circle, though there is significant work that still needs to be done in prayer for our nation and our leaders.
AMERICAN CHRISTIANS, PLEASE CRY AGAINST YOUR OWN GREAT CITY BY GATHERING WEEKLY FOR PRAYER WITH OTHERS. Arise and cry against it!
