An afternoon of prayer, worship and healing in Nashville drew tens of thousands of citizens, police, pastors and leaders to the Tennessee state capitol grounds Saturday, where they lifted the name of Jesus above the heartbreak of six innocent deaths at a Christian elementary school.
About 5,000 people including Nashville-area worship leaders gathered six days after a demonic attack carried out by a murderous former student killed six people—three students and three staff members—at The Covenant School.
Healing and comfort through prayer, worship and community were the hopes for the Nashville Day of Prayer.
Five months before Monday’s horrific assault by a disturbed shooter, worship leader Sean Feucht’s #KingdomToTheCapital tour chose Nashville for a stop on this particular Saturday.
“God had it planned that we would be right here, right now,” Feucht said minutes after opening the event on Saturday afternoon.
“This isn’t an accident; we’re here in a moment of crisis,” Feucht said after declaring Jeremiah 33:6 over the city.
The verse reads, “I will bring it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth” (MEV).
Strumming his guitar before the crowd, Feucht pointed to the Lord for solutions and answers.
“We’re here because we need You, God. We make space for You to do what only You can,” Feucht said.
He declared the name of Jesus over pain and fear, then led the crowd in singing “Our God Reigns.”
One of the most powerful prayers in the Bible is found in the Old Testament when God’s people were surrounded by an enemy army larger than Judah, Feucht said.
King Jehoshaphat didn’t have the resources or ability to conquer Midianite fighters, so he prayed: “God, we don’t know what to do but our eyes are on You.”
Then, for the first time, the king sent out worshipers ahead of the army.
“I believe God has commissioned worshipers to go ahead of this city, to bring healing and to facilitate a place where He can encounter His people. This is why we are here today,” Feucht said.
He welcomed a father and well-known pastor, Steve Berger, whose son went to heaven prematurely in an unrelated death years ago.
“I’m sharing from my experience and grief but, more importantly, from my hope found in the Word of God,” Berger said.
He reminded the crowd that heaven is a place prepared by Jesus Himself, according to John 14:1-3.
“Therefore, don’t be afraid or distressed when I say to you with all sensitivity, compassion and no flippancy at all that Hallie (Scruggs), Evelyn (Dieckhaus), William (Kenney), Cynthia (Peak), Katherine (Koonce) and Mike (Hill) were welcomed into their prepared place by the Son of God Himself,” Berger said.
Heaven is a place where life reigns and death dies, Berger said, quoting Jesus as recorded in John’s Gospel chapter 11, verses 25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Life has the final word over every single child of God, Berger said.
“Our believing ones are alive in heaven right now; they are not dead. They are in heaven’s atmosphere and surroundings. The only thing that’s dead in heaven is death itself.
“Heaven is a place that’s exceedingly better than earth,” Berger said.
Finally, heaven is a place of reunion with loved ones, he said.
Another leader, Pastor Rob McCoy, offered a testimony of God’s faithfulness in his city, where he was a mayor during an equally tragic event. He said Nashville—grieving similar losses—will emerge from its pain, too.
View the Nashville Day of Prayer in its entirety here. It will also air on the Trinity Broadcasting Network Monday night, April 3. {eoa}
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Steve Rees is a former general assignment reporter who, with one other journalist, first wrote about the national men’s movement Promise Keepers from his home in Colorado. Rees and Promise Keepers Founder Bill McCartney attended the Boulder Vineyard. Today Rees writes in his free time.
Bill Wiese 
Paul McGuire 
