July 16 is a little more than a month away, and is designated as the day Christians will meet on the National Mall in Washington to come together around Jesus in unified prayer, worship and a call for change. This gathering is called Together 2016, which hopes to propel a cultural shift from division to unity, from apathy to action, from unbelief to faith, from shame to grace, from pride to humility, from fear to hope, and from hate to love.
Participating in this movement is the Madison Ministerial Association. Dr. Gary Cox is the president of this association and the pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church.
“This is a one-time event and, to my knowledge, it has never happened like this before, nor for the specific reasons that Christians are being called together en masse,” said Cox. “The goal is 1,000,000 believers of all Christian denominational stripes and ethnicities as well as locales calling out to the Lord with humble, repentant hearts, asking Him to forgive us, unifying us, and sweep over this nation with gospel - changing impact.”
Cox states that many churches have become “lukewarm,” and that a total of 1,500 pastors leave the pastorate every month in the United States alone. The average size church in America has around 85 members and most of our churches are unhealthy and even dying.
“We need a massive renewal and revival that only God can give us,” said Cox. “We need to become salty salt and a very bright light to our nation, and, it’s largely because we have not been what God called us to be, that our nation has no moral or ethical compass and we are adrift on a sea of relativism, humanism, and ungodliness the likes of which we have never experienced in our 240 year history as a nation. We anticipate that it will be a 'Nehemiah 9' kind of event.”
At Together 2016, there will be several guest speakers who will challenge individuals in various ways, singers and singing groups that will stir up emotions, times of prayer and repentance and more. The actual schedule of events and times have not yet been published. Some of the guests include Hillsong United, Lecrae, Kari Jobe, Ronnie Floyd and many more. To view a full directory of each guest, visit www.reset2016-.com.
Cox believes attending Together 2016 is important because God’s people need to repent of much that reflects how we have been co-opted by the culture instead of being conformed to the image of Christ.
“With the support of the Madison County Ministerial Association, we have secured a bus that will seat 56 individuals,” said Cox. “We have a very affordable hotel that has reserved 28 rooms for us. We will depart on July 15 and return on July 17, so [those wanting to attend] will miss only one day of work. Most of us will find a way to go and do whatever we really want to do. This is an opportunity of a lifetime.”
For more information and costs of Together 2016, email 1pastorgary@comcast.net.