More than 100 people of various ages and ethnicities gathered Saturday morning at Lighthouse Church of All Nations in Alsip to pray for peace and protection from violence in the wake of recent killings in Dallas, suburban Minnesota and Baton Rouge, La.
The nondenominational megachurch’s founding pastor, Dan Willis, said he conceived of the vigil Friday while flying home from Mexico.
“I’m a real high-energy, positive guy, and my heart, man, I got so heavy in my heart,” said Willis, who founded the church 38 years ago as a teenager.
Dressed in a black “There’s Power in the Name of Jesus” T-shirt, Willis said the shootings inspired him to reorient weekend services at the nearly 6,000-member church around 20-somethings and violence.
“That’s a demographic that desperately needs to be reached,” he said. “They’re more grown than teenagers, but yet that’s where they can really start doing some damage.”
Willis opened the prayer service by offering his appreciation and thanks to two church members who work in law enforcement before opening the floor to a succession of church pastors who delivered impassioned pleas for peace, hope and love.
Congregants offered prayers both for police officers killed in the line of duty and the victims of police-involved shootings. Other prayers targeted children, 20-somethings, families, Latinos and cities that have experienced turmoil and civil unrest in the wake of police violence and violence against police.
One pastor, Virginia Bradley, told the story of her daughter, Amy, who as a 9-year-old was struck in the head by a bullet while sitting on the sofa inside her home. She said the young shooter, who fired from outside the house through a window, had done so as part of a gang initiation.
“The doctors told me she might not make it through the night,” Bradley, who works as a 911 dispatcher, told the congregation. “But you know what? There is a God, and I cried out to him. … And you know what? My daughter is now in her 30s.”
At one point, the congregation was instructed to turn, face the street — where a police cruiser was stationed with lights flashing — and stretch out their hands toward the police in prayer.
“Give us respect for those that are in authority, Lord God,” one of the pastors said. “God, give those that are in authority respect for those that are under them, Lord God. Let us respect one another, Lord God. … And let us, Lord God, treat others the way we want to be treated in Jesus’ name, Lord God.”
After the service, Faith Reeves, a Chicago police officer and Lighthouse member for three years, said the vigil had raised her spirits after a trying week.
“It’s really uplifting,” she said. “Because the last few days I’ve been just so emotional, can’t eat, sleep or anything. But I feel a lot better, a lot more hope that I know everything is going to be all right.”
Willis said he feels sharing that sense of hope and love with his congregants, in the midst of a world full of hatred and violence, is his personal assignment from God.
“The president cannot do it, governors cannot do it, mayors cannot do it. It’s just got way bigger than all of that. It’s got to be all of us working together,” he said. “We can make all the gun laws and ordinances — and do everything we need to do, yes — but that alone is not sufficient. All of that will not take violence out of somebody’s heart.
“It’s not always a weapon in somebody’s hand. It’s a weapon in somebody’s heart. So I try to deal with, take the weapon out of their heart. If you take the weapon out of their heart, they’ll drop the weapon in their hand.”
Lighthouse’s weekend activities will center on its young adults, whom Willis calls the “LOL” or Love Out Loud ministry.
“We can’t rescue all of them,” he said. “But for the one that you did, it makes all the difference in the world. And that’s the way I approach every weekend.”
Twitter @ZakKoeske
