August 28, 2012 | Filed under: Life & Society,Top Stories | By: Heather Clark

Thousands are expected to participate in prayer efforts beginning next month centered around the upcoming presidential election.
America for Jesus, an organization led by megachurch leader Anne Gimenez of Virginia Beach, Virginia, will host an event called The Awakening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 28th and 29th. According to the event website, the event is "[a] solemn assembly to summon together the whole body of Christ to pray for the church and our nation." Besides Gimenez, other organizers include Cindy Jacobs of Generals International, Lou Engle of The Call, Ron Luce of Teen Mania and Bonnie Camarda of Spanish Clergy of Philadelphia. A youth rally will kick-off the event on Friday night, followed by the official prayer gathering on Saturday, which is expected to have upwards of 60,000 people in attendance.
According to John Blanchard, national coordinator for the event and son-in-law of Gimenez, America for Jesus has been around for at least twenty years, beginning with the Washington for Jesus rally in 1980. Blanchard has been involved since 1996.
He states that while the event may speak of the election, is not politically motivated.
"What we feel is God telling us to organize a prayer gathering," Blanchard explained. "America is headed in the wrong direction. … We believe that the economic downturn and the moral depravity that is going on can be tied to turning our back on God as a nation."
He said, however, instead of focusing on the sins of unbelievers, the gathering will be focused on "asking God to forgive the Church for the sins of the Church."
"We know there are a lot of things that we have to repent of as Christians and as a nation," he stated, noting that one of them is the responsibility to be salt and light. "Salt is a preservative, and if you turn the lights off, it gets awful dark."
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