An estimated 3,600 people filled Lawyer’s Mall and spilled out onto nearby streets to join with Franklin Graham for a time of prayer during Tuesday’s Decision America Tour stop in Maryland.
“Our country’s in trouble,” Franklin Graham opened to a chorus of “Amens.”
“No individual—only God can turn it around.”
Those words ring true for Arthur Willison, a native of Cumberland, Maryland, who served in the Army. He smiled Tuesday, saying his whole goal of being there was to pray for America’s leaders.
“Our nation’s leaders are just human beings like you and I so they certainly need our prayers,” Arthur said. With a son serving in the Navy, he particularly prays for President Barack Obama and the people who make decisions around those serving in the Armed Forces.
“They need guidance from God to make good, sound decisions because the lives of many people are in their hands,” Arthur said.
Praying for the current leaders is a must, but it’s also crucial to lift up those on the 2016 ballot.
Tuesday marked the 48th stop on Franklin Graham’s Decision America Tour, and for the 48th time, he urged those in attendance to pray for elected officials and take it a step further by actually getting involved politically.
“We need the Christian voice,” Franklin Graham said, explicitly encouraging Marylanders to elect men and women who will lead America back to being one nation under God.
Chief Melvin Russell, of the Baltimore Police Department, has seen the difference God’s people can make. As chief of the Community Collaboration Division, he works particularly with local churches to strengthen area neighborhoods.
Baltimore made headlines in 2015 for civil unrest and then again that year for posting its second-most homicides on record. But the narrative is changing in his city, Russell said.
“There’s a movement that’s happening throughout the streets of Baltimore,” he said. “The anointing is falling. It’s falling fresh. It’s moving throughout the city. And lives are being changed.”
Attending Tuesday’s prayer rally was a boost for the chief, who also serves as a pastor in the Baltimore area.
“It’s just good every now and then to go somewhere to be replenished with like-minded people that share the same vision, serve the same God because even as you’re out on those streets, it gets draining sometimes,” Russell said. “But this right here, this charges my battery, let’s me go back and run a little stronger.”
Franklin Graham encouraged believers crammed into every corner possible on the State House lawn to return to their communities more passionate than ever about serving God, particularly in the political realm.
“Friends, we’re losing our country,” Franklin Graham said toward the end of the rally. “I’m going to all 50 State Capitols. This is our 48th state.
“I’m going to all 50 states for a reason. I want to wake up the church. We’ve got to start praying, but we’ve got to get involved. We cannot sit on the sidelines, and this whole idea of separation of church and state, that’s nothing but a lie. America needs the Christian voice.”
Nelta Tayman of nearby Glen Burnie, Maryland, could not agree more. She was so excited to be at Tuesday’s rally, she teared up just talking about it. For her, voting is not optional.
“Right now it’s everything,” said Nelta, whose husband served 22 years in the Air Force. “We’re in such a crisis. Unless we get out and vote, how can we make a change?”
