Millions of Americans Turning 9/11 Into Day of Prayer for Country's Future

While the dust of the collapsed towers still floated over New York on and after 9/11, church pews were filled with those stunned by the vulnerability uncovered in America, but it seemed when the dust cleared so did the pews.

That, decided a network of prominent leaders from a broad coalition of evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic ministries, didn't bode well for the nation.

And under the banner of Cry Out America, they've been working to alert people that at a minimum, the nation needs to pay attention to the message that could be coming from day of the death and destruction.

And the message is not that America no longer is a Christian nation, or that Christian employers are going to be required by the government to violate their faith and pay for abortifacients, or that the problem is those who cling to their Bibles, all developments from just the last few years.

"I think most Christians in America have awakened to ask the question, 'What happened to my country?'" Billy Wilson, executive director of the International Center for Spiritual Renewal, Empowered21 and The Awakening America Alliance, told WND.

"Somehow the church has lost her influence, and the only way to regain that is to increase our connection to God personally. I would say intimately with a relationship with Jesus Christ," he said.

The Cry Out events are simply a joining of the faithful for a moment of united, public pray for awakening and revival across America. The date picked for the prayer gathering is Sept. 11, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by radical Muslim terrorists who killed almost 3,000 people on that morning under clear blue skies over New York and Washington.

Officials said more than 1,700 churches and ministries are poised to hold prayer events in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. There are more than 900 coordinators in counties across the nation and this year's assemblies are expected easily to exceed last year's official 2,531 prayer events.

More than 2.5 million are expected.

Wilson said the 9/11 attacks shook the nation to the core, because "we saw the collapse of things we thought were certain, of things we thought would never fall and we saw an invasion of darkness and fear in our nation that we had never experienced.

"Some days I wake up and ask myself, 'How in the world did America get in this shape? How did we become this dark in my generation?' I believe that it can change but it can only change if the people of God unite in prayer."

Judy Seifert, coordinator in Ohio, said, "We have 29 county coordinators of the 88 counties in Ohio, which will be officially holding observances on 9/11. Several of the counties without coordinators will be participating through churches and individual prayers. I am continually taken back by the great presence of the Lord that sweeps in upon us; as we join our hands and hearts, cross-denominational lines, and cry out to God for mercy and pardon for America."

She continued, "While things appear bleak for our nation, we must stop and remember the Scriptures that remind us, to see the whole matter, you have to examine things from God's point of view. When we look behind the public scenes, and look at what God's people are doing, it's only then that we see the vast moving of His hand at work in our behalf. And His hand is moving mightily in opening large venues of prayer throughout our nation. When God's people pray, God moves! Our sin has caused judgments to fall upon us as a nation. But we have hope in the goodness of our Lord. For His great name's sake, God always extends opportunity to repent and return to Him."