Saturday, April 6, 2024
Rita, Sande, Faith, Dennis & Mary BethThe Great Plains Rocky Mountain Region Aglow DC Team was comprised of Sande Lofberg, Regional Director, Rita Lewis, Wyoming Aglow Prayer Coordinator, and Dennis and Mary Beth Phillips, new Aglow Global Partners. The team members were met by Terry Peck at Reagan International Airport and taken to their home in Springfield, Virginia. Terry and his wife, Tina, provided us with wonderful accommodations for the duration of our visit. Tina, who is DC President for the Aglow Mid-Atlantic Region, organized the agenda for our visit and graciously shuttled us daily to and from DC for our activities.
Sunday, April 7, 2024
We awoke to a delicious breakfast provided by the Pecks. After breakfast, Tina drove us to David’s Tent on the Washington Mall, where we met Jeff Wright of National Prayer Embassy. Jeff, who has been leading prayer tours in Washington DC since 1983, drove us through the streets of DC, stopping at many historically and spiritually significant locations and leading us in prayer at each stop. This drive included the Capitol, the Supreme Court, National Mall monuments, Pennsylvania Avenue, including a stop near the White House, the Iwo Jima monument, and Embassy Row. We drove by the Israeli Embassy and stopped nearby to pray for Israel.
As part of the tour, we attended the Sunday morning worship service at Antioch DC Church on Massachusetts Avenue. This was a highlight for the team as we got to worship, pray, and receive excellent teaching on spiritual warfare from Pastor Chase Moore. We were deeply impressed with how spiritually vibrant this church is, especially considering how physically young most of the attendees of the service appeared. After the service, we had an excellent lunch at the Sababa Israeli Restaurant on Connecticut Avenue.
After lunch we went back to David’s Tent and participated in the pro-Israel rally for the release of the hostages in Israel, joining many thousands of Israel supporters on the National Mall. We then rested for a brief time in David’s Tent as we waited for Tina to pick us up. It was an amazing, exhausting, blessed day!
Monday, April 8, 2024
This day was spent at the Peck home. Again, we were served a nourishing breakfast. We conversed with Tina and Terry so that we could get acquainted; the Peck’s are wonderful people and we felt very blessed to get to know them!
At 9:00 AM Claire Lopez of Lopez Liberty LLC joined us. She gave us her expert views regarding the situation in the Middle East. She provided us with an understanding of how to pray for Israel in its war with Hamas and for Jews and Muslims in general. After our time with Claire, we had lunch, followed by a meeting with Faith McDonnell who is Director of Advocacy with Katartismos Global, Inc. Kartartismos is a charity organization associated with the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word (ADLW) and raises funds for ministry needs associated with the ADLW. The organization supports global Christian missions work. Faith was brilliant, and delightful, and shared with us much information on work that Kartartismos is supporting around the globe to encourage the persecuted church. We received much information from Faith regarding how to pray for the many ministries Kartartismos supports.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
This was a busy and amazing day. We arose early this morning. Tina drove us to the Family Research Council building to participate in a breakfast prayer meeting, beginning at 7:30 AM, led by FRC Chaplain Jay Johnston. Along the way, we picked up Alice Holland, who currently serves as Mid-Atlantic Prayer Coordinator for Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. We were joined at the meeting by several FRC staffers and other faithful Mid-Atlantic prayer leaders, including Juin Killingsworth, Maryland State Coordinator for National Day of Prayer, and Nancy McGuirk former Regional Director of the Mid-Atlantic Region.
One of the staffers who joined the meeting was Quena González who leads the Family Research Council's government affairs division. Quena is a close friend of the Phillips whom they had not seen since 2017—it was a sweet reunion! Also participating were Kathy and Dean Redwing; Kathy is the Northwest Region Mid-Columbia/Washington State South President. Kathy and Dean are serving as “house hosts” at the American Christian Trust. We also marched for Israel on Sunday with them and Mark Pritchett Project Coordinator for American Christian Trust
After the prayer meeting, we went over to the Dirksen Senate Building to participate in a Bible study luncheon with Senate Chaplain Barry Black. There were ~30-40 people at the 11:30 AM study. Chaplain Black entitled the study “How to Get Up When Life Knocks You Down” using Romans 5:1-5 as his text. With humor and depth, he reminded us how to joyfully face all circumstances with perseverance and resilience. Chaplain Black served in the U.S. Navy rising to the rank of Rear Admiral. He served as the 22nd Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Navy prior to his appointment as Senate Chaplain.
After the Bible study, we walked over to the Supreme Court building and prayed through its halls and over the Supreme Court Room Chamber.
We then walked over to the Faith and Liberty building on 2nd Street near the Supreme Court to meet with Peggy Nienaber, who currently serves as the Senior Vice President for Faith & Liberty. The mission statement of the organization is to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people in the Nation’s Capital through prayer, Bible studies, worship, fellowship, and pastoral care. Peggy has oversight of various ministry programs and events that focus on building strong alliances on Capital Hill. She also serves as President of the Capitol Forum Club a meeting held inside the U.S. Capitol. Peggy shared with us the vision of the Faith and Liberty. We prayed with Peggy for the success of their great work.
Next, we walked back to the Capitol building to meet and pray with House Chaplain Margaret Kibben. We were truly blessed during our time with this amazing woman. She shared with us her story of service and ministry. She served in the Marine Corps/U.S. Navy. She rose to the rank of Rear Admiral and served as the 18th Chaplain of the Marine Corps and the 26th Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Navy. She pointed out to us that this is the first time both incumbent Congressional Chaplains of Congress served as military chaplains. Chaplain Kibben shared with us her vision of her role as House Chaplain and told us how she would like for us to pray for her in carrying out her job.
Before the trip, Dennis had been given a prayer challenge coin. In Chaplain Kibben’s office, there is a glass coffee table full of the coins and Dennis felt led to give her the coin he had been given prior to the trip. She was delighted to add it to her collection.
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
After breakfast and the Peck’s, Tina drove us to the U.S. Capitol Building where we met Pastor Dan Cummins for a tour of the building. Pastor Cummins, with his wife Joanne, co-founded Capitol Worship Ministries to serve the staff of the Capitol. In the Capitol, they host a staff Bible study on Tuesdays, and on Wednesday evenings they lead a Worship and Communion Service in Statuary Hall in the Capitol. In our tour of the Capitol Dan showed us many of the important features of the building. The highlight of the tour was when he took us to the House Speaker’s Balcony overlooking the National Mall where Mary Beth had a chance to lead us in prayer for our Nation!
After the Capitol Tour, we had lunch at the Dirksen Senate Office Building Cafeteria and then went to Senator John Thune’s Office where we met with two of Senator Thune’s staffers. We shared with them our concerns regarding election integrity, the strife in Israel, the Border Crisis and not entering an agreement with the W.H.O.
At the conclusion of that meeting, we walked over to a building on 2nd Street, a couple of doors down from the Faith and Liberty Building. There we met with Jason Hershey, the founder of David's Tent DC and the American Center for Prayer and Revival.
David’s Tent is a prayer and worship tent located on the National Mall where worship, praise, and prayer are ongoing 24/7/365. Jason shared with us his heart regarding this incredible ministry and its future. He gave us several important points for which he wants prayer.
Tina picked us up from our meeting with Jason and drove us over to The American Christian Trust's “Sanctuary of Prayer” near the Israeli Embassy. There we met with Mark Pritchett, The Project administrator for the Trust. In this amazing house, guests are accommodated at nominal rates up to one week. Volunteer staff at the house serve the needs of the guests including breakfast each morning and dinner on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evening. Kathy and Dean Redwing were serving as hosts at the time of our visit and joined us in our conversations with Mark. Guests take on a commitment of prayer including a three-hour prayer session each day of their stay and are encouraged to do prayer walks at important locations around DC. We had an amazing couple of hours in the house to finish out our last day in DC. Tina picked us up and drove us back to Springfield, VA for our last night in their home.
After the trip, Rita Lewis said, “It was so encouraging to meet and hear of the prayer ministries happening in Washington DC. As I was sharing recently about my trip, someone commented that with all the prayer happening, evil is still so prominent there. My response was, ‘Can you imagine what it would be like without the prayer.’ Isaiah 60:2, For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; BUT the Lord will arise over you Washington DC, And His Glory will be seen upon you.”