David’s Tent is caught between two competing, but both valuable, visions for the National Mall, and Capital City. King David’s vision for His Capital City: A place for all Israel to gather, worship and give thanks to the Lord! (Psalms 122)
Thank you all that have been praying for David’s Tent DC’s new location. We consider every prayer part of our worship and declaration that Jesus is Worthy of the highest, centermost places of our lives and culture. Through this all, we’re still singing at the Tent!
Thank you for so many that have put their efforts together to contact members in Congress too. Your efforts opened up a great dialogue with the National Park Service (NPS) yesterday. They didn’t give us an option, but there was a discussion about the possibility of an option.
The possibility of the option floated, would have us stay where we are at Constitutions Gardens Plaza, but be coexisting with the construction trailers and equipment for the restoration project of the lock-keepers house on the corner. They warned us that we have to measure it out to see if we’d all fit there and there would be much noise throughout the day, but it’s a possibility of an option for us. (This would only be to buy us time, not a long term solution. Eventually a restaurant will be build on our spot.) This will be further explored as we walk the site all together next Wednesday afternoon, making measurements to see if we’d even all fit there. It’s a tight squeeze for sure.
In my guts, I’m skeptical this is “it.” But we will be considering it in the meantime. Let’s contend for His best in faith, prayer and action! Yesterday’s meeting was bountifully productive though. We were honored to have a great candid dialogue with those that we are working with at the NPS permits office.
The NPS permits office wasn’t notified until recently that this reconstruction project of Constitution Gardens is starting. It was planned for a long time, but on hold. Suddenly the funding came in and triggered the quick beginning, The notified us as soon as it was handed to them. The permits office hasn’t been given a solid start date yet, just a commission to not permit anybody there after our current permit runs out March 10.
The NPS permits office is bound to the constraints put on them from higher up. They explained their conundrum with us. Several years ago, congress gave them the mandate to make the mall area beautiful and fulfill the vision of George Washington to have the Capitol in the midst of rolling green hill spaces. The NPS just in the last couple years put 8 million dollars into the reconstruction of the sod on the main stretch of the mall. Next is Washington Monument Grounds, as piece by piece, they are redoing the turf. Which is why the new turf regulations were enacted last year, and our tent can’t be on grass any more than 5 days at a time now.
So why not just make more hardscape places? With each new monument, museum or restaurant, that vision of a Capitol surrounded by rolling green spaces is being chipped away. The NPS was mandated by congress to defend that vision and get the mall area looking beautiful.
On the other hand, the NPS is also to be permitting 1st amendment demonstrations on those same areas. These two visions, beautify the National Mall and make room for 1st Amendment demonstration, conflict greatly, at great cost and stress for all involved.
This is why your calls and letters to congress were and are so important. Keep them rolling! I want to be clear: I do not think the NPS is being malicious toward us. I would say the opposite. I really trust they are trying to find a solution, but their hands are tied. We need Congress or the Executive Branch to act. What is OUR GENERATIONS vision for our Capital City? Will 24/7 worship and Praise, and Jesus Himself, be part of our vision for the Capital going forward?
We’ve come full circle back to the vision of David’s Tent DC! King David made the Lord the central vision in his administration. With a 24/7 worship tent employing 4288 musicians and singers adjacent to his palace, David wanted to be sure God knew, that he had enthroned God over his administration. Will the David hearts arise!?
So far, from the response that I’m getting. I’m encouraged! There is a remnant in congress, and around America, that loves Jesus with all their hearts and not only do they know that He’s the Lord, but have also made Him their Lord.
That’s how long David’s Tent has been running and our American Sign Language (ASL) team has been serving with the tent. It is quite hard to believe how quickly time flies. It is truly amazing how something so simple like going to the tent every day to worship from our hearts can become one of the greatest and deepest lessons that we will ever learn in life. I am so grateful for the people I have encountered such as the people who were simply passing by the tent, to the regular attendees, to the people who were just visiting for a few hours, and to our faithful David’s Tent staff. Whether the conversation between a person and I was just for a minute or for an hour, I still felt each person I met made a difference. It is not David’s Tent that brought each person to the tent, but God.
I am humbled and honored that the leaders for David’s Tent were open to having the American Sign Language aspect of worship in the tent. Having this opportunity to serve this team with ASL has broken many barriers and opened new doors for Deaf people like myself and for the Deaf community as whole. I personally already love worship, but with this experience, I have gained a new insight on how to worship and fell deeper in love with Jesus.
It is a bittersweet feeling as the ASL team will complete our commitment with David’s Tent on November 8th even when David’s Tent will continue indefinitely. However, it does not mean that we will not take what we have learned from God through David’s Tent and be able to share our stories with other people in the Deaf community. It is a marvelous thing to witness when the diversity in God’s kingdom is brought together to worship only one person: Jesus Christ. I know for a fact that David’s Tent has shifted some grounds for His kingdom come. I am looking forward to see the harvest that has been planted for this past year with each of us: Deaf and hearing alike.
One of the lessons that I would like to share for what God has taught me for this past year is “morning glory.” I am not a morning person. I do not think I ever will be a morning person. I have tried hard to train myself to be a morning person, but I think I have finally come to accept the terms that I am just simply not a morning person.
In the beginning, our ASL team was assigned for a morning shift starting at 7am. I was mortified because this means I have to get up early! Maybe for some of you 7am is not early, but it is early for me! I was trying to think of how I would be able to have energy before the sun comes out! It was a rough start and I really felt it would be impossible for me to continue for a whole year with this time shift! Well, I definitely made it. Our time shift did change throughout the year, but it always remained in the morning.
Over time, my heart began to change. I started to see the wonderful things about the morning. At David’s Tent, I get to see plenty of flocks of beautiful birds flying around the National Mall.
I get to see the sun rising up slowly to kiss the sky. I get to see the morning mist that sleeps on the grass. I get to see life in the city before it becomes alive. Most of all, I get to experience God’s love, first thing in the morning, before anything else. Proverbs 3:9 come in mind for this. We talk about honoring the Lord with our finances, but what about our time too? That moment when dawn breaks, before we even bother getting out of bed, do we honor the Lord with our time? Spend our quiet time first thing in the morning? Just something to think about.
No, I have not transformed into a giddy morning person, but I am a lot more grateful for the beauty of getting up early in the morning. I am grateful for being able to worship through sign language. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to serve Jesus with David’s Tent. Most of all, I am grateful for God has taught me about His original morning glory that just constantly overwhelms me in every way possible.
We love it when worship teams from around America come and join the 10,000 hour love song at David’s Tent! The staff is always refreshed during the time when these teams come. We have wonderful stories of worshippers from all over the United States. There was the team that drove from Nebraska, led two hours, and drove right back. We have had people fly in and back from California or Florida with no other agenda than to stay for three days leading worship and praying for our country. In addition, we have had intercession teams that came, encouraged us, and prayed for America alongside us here in Washington DC. Every team or person who comes to serve is such a blessing! This month is a complete year, 365 days, that God has received continual worship in DC! In light of this, I’m going to share one of my favorite testimonies that happened within the year.
During the spring, when we were still at the Washington Monument, we had a team of not just adults, but families, from San Diego, California that was in for a week to lead worship two hours every day. Their team alone was so large that they filled the tent! Since they had a full band, many people were drawn to the tent during their worship sets. We were delighted to be able to get to know this team well because they were scheduled to lead worship during our morning watch.
On Saturday of that week, David’s Tent also had a youth group from North Carolina that was scheduled to lead worship right after the CA group. They had led at the Tent before, so we knew that they were a very lively African-American youth group who worshipped God joyfully.
Here at David’s Tent we actually try to have smooth transitions from one team to another so the song continues. Before any team leads worship, we ask them to come to the Tent at least an hour early. In that way, they can enjoy worship and connect with God before they’re leading others into worship. Sometimes it works out well; sometimes it does not. Fortunately, this time both of the groups transitioned so well. As requested, the North Carolina team was there for about an hour of the California group’s worship. Both teams were very large so together they filled the tent to overflowing. During that one hour, the NC team’s bass player came up and joined in because the CA group didn’t have a bass player that day.
As it reached the last half hour before group transitions, the North Carolina team members joined in exuberant worship with the San Diego team. The tent was filled with joy! And then, when the time came to do the full transition, the San Diego group stayed in the tent and worshipped with the North Carolina team! Even though this was my day off, my teammates came home and shared about this crazy- awesome transition between two completely different worship teams from different places in America. We all rejoiced how God was glorified through their unity.
On Sunday I actually was scheduled to staff during our watch. About an hour before their scheduled worship time of 9 – 11 AM, which would be their last time to lead before going home, the San Diego team showed up. A few minutes later the North Carolina team showed up stating that they were scheduled to lead worship during the 9-11 set. As watch leader, my husband, Dan, followed the protocol of asking both groups to show him their confirmation emails. Most of the time, when a scheduling problem has occurred, one of the teams had read their designated time wrong. Therefore, it’s easy to dissipate the confusion and explain to one of the groups that they had read the email incorrectly. However, as Dan scanned the emails on this day, he realized that both teams had in fact been scheduled for the exact same time: 9 to 11 AM. This time, it was our fault as David’s Tent staff. As my husband tried to negotiate a compromise that was agreeable to both teams, it was clear that both groups had a strong desire to lead two hours of worship. It was suggested and reluctantly accepted that both teams would only have one hour to lead worship.
While I watched this process, my heart started racing as I remembered the testimony of our staff from yesterday about the unity that happened as these two teams made their transition. With Holy Spirit leading, I approached the large group made up of both teams and said, “Guys, I think that God is doing something big here within the body of Christ related to unity!” Everyone paused to listen as I shared how I had heard about their set transition yesterday. It was such an amazing time that drew many people into the tent. My spirit was sure that God had big plans for today as well! By each team sacrificing their own desires, they were bringing unity on earth just as Jesus prayed in his last prayer before he went to the cross. As I spoke, I could feel the Spirit welling up within me. God’s Spirit was on the move! I was getting really, really excited about what God wanted to do in the body of Christ. As the Spirit swept through the group, everyone was in agreement. ”Amens!” were shouted out as I began to pray for the teams.
The next two hours were glorious; probably one of my favorite sets at the tent. You see, both teams were there for the whole two hours, and both teams were worshiping together! No division! No grumbling! It was a beautiful day outside and there was many people on the national mall that were drawn to the music. Our staff was overwhelmed greeting people who wanted to know what was happening. David’s Tent was overflowing with people! At the end of the two hour set, both team’s members were so excited that they ended up just mingling and talking. The conversations grew so loud, in fact, that one of our staff had to ask the groups to continue talking outside as we wanted to honor the next person that was leading worship.
Outside the Tent, I approached both groups and apologized again for the scheduling error. The North Carolina team leader said, “No worries! Honestly it was God’s plan. The San Diego team has invited our youth group team to join them for a worship event this summer, and our youth group is so excited about going.”
It’s not often that we double- book at David’s Tent. We have an amazing scheduling team that coordinates with all the worship teams that come to David’s Tent, and they are diligent to make sure that there isn’t a double booking. Honestly, in the 10 months that I’ve been serving at David’s Tent, it’s happened only once or twice. However, God had His own master plan that day!! Out of the scheduling misunderstanding, God called forth unity in the body of Christ. Master scheduler that He is, Father united two teams for a day so He would be glorified.
Many on the National Mall that day gave witness to the worship produced through the joint team’s unity. However, God’s plan was so much bigger than that. On the foundation of obedience, as the two teams laid down their own desires and chose unity, God built up a continual relationship with the body of Christ between youth in North Carolina and an older family team from San Diego, California.
Save the date… 9/11/16 – Be with us at David’s Tent DC on that day! A number of national prayer ministries are coming together to have a special time of prayer with us at the tent on Sept. 11th. We believe a new 9 11 is rising… a new 9 11 that is full of restoration, not destruction. Is it time for Amos 9:11 in our nation?
“In that day “I will restore David’s fallen shelter— I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins— and will rebuild it as it used to be, Amos 9:11 NIV
Hope, Faith, and Peace in Jesus will overcome fear in America. The Lord will repair our nation’s broken walls and restore it’s ruins. Join in on site or via webcast for a special day at David’s Tent on Sept 11th this year. It’s an honor for David’s Tent DC to host this special prayer gathering on our anniversary no less. What a privilege to give God the Glory for the first year in our nation’s history that 24/7 worship and prayer has taken place continuously in our capital city of Washington DC. Hundreds of worship teams, prayer ministries and churches and thousands of individuals have kept the fire on the altar day and night for a full year as of 9/11/16.
“IfMyPeople2016” is the name of this very special event happening at David’sTent on 9 11. It’s based on a verse most know well from 2 Chron. 7:14. But the focus is on the “IF”. Let’s press in for fresh faith in the reality of His Word, still true in 2016… “He will heal our land.” Save the date… 9/11/16 to be with us at David’s Tent DC for an amazing one year anniversary celebration of 24/7 on the National Mall and a truly remarkable gathering of prayer ministries to help fuel our 24/7 fires.
Immediately following the IfMyPeople Event, David’sTent will have 90 minutes of full on celebratory worship that is the hallmark of DavidsTent, to usher in our second year. Watch and share the promo video below. Get more info at IfMyPeople2016.com
Dan & Carole McClelland, ASL Leaders at DavidsTentDC
God is a God that loves to partner with His children! He loves to invites us along as He touches hearts here on earth. “Going to work” with Dad, is one of my favorite things! I love how He gently nudges my heart toward a person or a group and softly whispers “Carole, I want to touch his heart today, will you join me?” At David’s Tent, I have the honor of going to work with Dad.
One Saturday, we had a team in from a Texas house of prayer. As they entered the tent, I knew that God wanted to touch hearts and he was inviting me to join Him. At David’s tent, we believe that as the worship team is completely focusing upward towards Jesus and ministering to His heart, God will be faithful and minister to the people in the tent and around the area. I knew that this worship team would vertically worship God and through their worship God would pour out Himself to His people today. On that day, as I was greeting people who came into the tent, a woman walked in, and she shared that she had passed this tent so many times but for various reasons never stopped in. Today, however, she just wanted to let our staff know how encouraged she was by the tent even though she wasn’t able to come in until now. She continued telling me that, like herself, there was many others that knew about David’s Tent in DC who didn’t always have the time to come in and worship. Still they were very encouraged and thankful for what we were giving up to make this happen. God was using her to touch my heart.
When this woman, Kristen, came into the tent with her infant son and sat down, we started talking. I learned she lived very close to the tent and was an active member of a local church in DC. I was just about to pray for her, as she and son had to leave, when an older gentleman around 60 came in. I greeted him saying, “Welcome to David’s Tent. Have you been here before?” I could see he had a scared look on his face. Suddenly he started crying, saying, “I’m terrified! I’m terrified! I’m terrified!” With as soft and sweet of a voice as I could manage, I said, “It’s okay. You can sit down. You’re welcome here.” Even though I was not completely sure what was going on inside of his heart, I knew that God wanted to do a healing work inside this man.
He then continued to explain that he had passed the tent many, many times but had never had the courage to come in. He was afraid that people would judge him because of the past sins that he’d done in his life. As we talked, he continued to interject into every other sentence, “I am terrified. I am terrified.” Kristen overheard what he was saying, and she approached him and said, “I said the exact same thing to this staff person about five minutes ago. God has really put you on my heart as I have listened. May I pray for you? “
The three of us (well four including the baby) went outside the tent so we could pray. I asked the man if he minded if we put our hands on him as we prayed. As he nodded his head yes, he started crying. Kristen prayed a very powerful prayer that brought more tears to the man’s eyes. He thanked her for praying and said, “The one thing that I would like to offer you is the only thing that I can. I will sing you a song.” Immediately he started singing Jesus Loves Me. As he lifted his beautiful voice in song, Kristen and I sang along with him.
Kristen said her goodbyes and said that she would come to the tent even if she only had 10 minutes. In response, I encouraged her to come; God wanted to use her in powerful ways no matter how short the time.
After she left, I introduced myself to the man, Terry. We decided to sit on a bench and talk. As we did, Terry started telling me that he never told anyone the things he was sharing because he felt like he was going to be rejected and judged. He continued that he hadn’t walked into a church for many years. However, today he felt that he had to come into the tent and tell someone. He shared for an hour-and–a-half. During this time, I mostly listened and gave some encouragement here and there. Towards the end of our discussion, Holy Spirit prompted me that I was to look him in the eye and say, “Terry, God wants you to know some things. The first is that He says to you what He said to Jesus during his baptism: ‘You are my son, Terry. I love you and I’m very proud of you.’ ” Again tears rolled down his eyes as I just hugged him. I continued and said, “God wants you to know that He forgives you for these things for which you have repented. You have taken a bold step in trusting Him today by coming into the tent.”
I finished by praying for continual boldness for him, by encouraging him to develop healthy relationships with other believers, and by giving him a sincere hug.
God had done so much in just one morning by pouring into people’s lives. Not only into other people’s lives, but Father was doing a huge work in me as I was able to partner with Him to bring healing to one of His sons, my brother in Christ.
When the Texas team was done with their two hour set, I knew I had to share the testimony of what God did during the morning. Our Heavenly Father had used them to draw people to His presence. As I shared, the team members also broke down in tears for the opportunity to partner with Father in His work. Through their worship and sincere hearts, God was continuing to do His mighty works at David’s Tent and throughout DC.
There are people who know how to mathematically come up with a generally accurate number as to crowd sizes at large events. I am not one of them. However I do suppose that several hundred thousand people gathered in DC in the name of Jesus for Together 2016.
It was a HUGE win for the Home Team!
Though it was super sad to see it end early due to an excruciatingly high heat index, it was at that very moment that I heard what I believe the Lord Jesus wanted to tell the Whole Church of America. The single greatest message of the day. It was the sermon on the Mount. Jesus speaking to His people through Nick Hall, straight out of Matthew7:24. Nick basically concluded that they didn’t gather people there to just stay there, but to send them out. And with that, Nick challenged everyone there to go out and actually spend time doing all that they were just charged to do.
If we the church would only actually do all that Jesus has instructed us! It’s in plain language written down clearly in a book for all to read! A house build on a rock, hears the Word and put’s it into practice!
Pastor Dave Owens at Embassy Church in NW Washington DC (One of my home churches) reflected with me on Sunday that as he walked away he was watching people minister to one another and to the lost on the streets all around the mall!
At David’s Tent we saw a ground swell at about 4:30 as people were exiting Together. People packed into the tent. It was full and overflowing. Then is started to rain. People packed even closer like sardines underneath the canopy of the tent and worshipped with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. As the clouds departed and the rain held it’s peace, four rainbows appeared at the same time over Washington DC! And a crowd of people encircled David’s Tent while holding hands and worshipping with all their voice.
It was a picture of Together. People that didn’t know each other before, holding hands in a unified circle, around the worship of Jesus Christ.
As the worship circle ran it’s course, a “fire tunnel” (Two rows of people facing each other pray for people as they walk down the center between them.) was born and for the next two hours people were getting prayed for, ministered to, and encouraged anew with the Holy Spirit. All of this happened spontaneously outside of the direction of any of the David’s Tent staff. I can say with certainty that many left Together and immediately began putting the Word into Practice.
When I left the tent at about 9:30pm there were still a remnant of worshippers filling the tent and the courts of the Lord with their worship.
Wow! What a day…
Four rainbows! I’ve never met a single human being that could do that…
Thank you all that have been praying for David’s Tent DC’s new location. We consider every prayer part of our worship and declaration that Jesus is Worthy of the highest, centermost places of our lives and culture. Through this all, we’re still singing at the Tent!
14 months.
In the beginning, our ASL team was assigned for a morning shift starting at 7am. I was mortified because this means I have to get up early! Maybe for some of you 7am is not early, but it is early for me! I was trying to think of how I would be able to have energy before the sun comes out! It was a rough start and I really felt it would be impossible for me to continue for a whole year with this time shift! Well, I definitely made it. Our time shift did change throughout the year, but it always remained in the morning.
