Young Faithful

Mary Schuler, a home-schooled Winnetka teenager, believes the nation’s young people need spiritual renewal. So earlier this week she flew to Washington, D.C., where she will spend today fasting and praying with thousands of other teenagers on the Mall.

The event, CallDC, was organized by the pastor of a Pasadena church, who hopes to draw 100,000 young people and their parents from all over the nation for a dawn-to-dusk prayer rally.

“I’m going to pray for the spiritual growth of a nation,” said Mary, who is 16. “With all the shootings and the violence, we really need it.”

Mary made the trip with 13 others from the Four Square Church on the Way in Van Nuys, where she regularly worships.

Todd Afshar, a graduate of Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, goes to the same church and signed up for the event the minute he heard about it. The 18-year-old has participated in large prayer rallies before but never one this big.

“Hopefully, it will give us new vision and new hope,” said Afshar, who will be a freshman at Azusa Pacific University this fall. “Prayer can happen anywhere, but it’s going to have more of an impact just seeing so many people, the unity.”

Besides worship, the nondenominational rally, which is free, will include well-known evangelists, Christian guest speakers and musical entertainment by popular Christian artists Michael W. Smith and Rebecca St. James.

The event is aimed at young people from middle school to college age, but all ages are welcome, organizers said.

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Scheduled to speak are Bill McCartney, founder of the men’s spiritual movement Promise Keepers, and Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ ministries.

Also scheduled to speak is Darrell Scott, the father of 17-year-old Rachel Scott, who was killed in last year’s Columbine High School tragedy in Colorado.

Organizers believe the gathering will show the world that young people are taking a stand against moral decline while demonstrating their Christian faith.

“There’s a crucial moral crisis in our nation, specially among young people and we need to see a revival and awakening,” said Che Ahn, event organizer and pastor of the Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena.

Ahn said 200 churches from the Los Angeles area will participate in the rally, which cost $1.6 million to produce. Funding came from private donations and a national coalition of evangelical churches and ministries.

“An anonymous woman gave us $100,000 last year to get the event going,” Ahn said. “The Columbine shooting happened a week later, and it really fueled our conviction to get youth together.”

Ahn and his volunteers promoted the event by calling churches throughout the nation, creating a Web site and mailing thousands of colorful brochures designed by youths at his church.

The brochure contains inspirational phrases, such as: “The madness needs to stop” and “It’s time to pray like never before.”

Leaf Zwerling, a youth pastor at the Church on the Way, believes CallDC will help correct misconceptions about American youth.

“This generation has very much been labeled incorrectly as troubled, and here we will see young people taking a stance,” Zwerling said. “The group’s size will get the world’s attention and young people will take notice.”