Capital Church, located in Vienna, Virginia, annually hosts the Easter sunrise service at the Lincoln Memorial. This year, more than 8,000 people gathered at the service.
More than 8,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday morning for the 37th annual Easter sunrise service hosted by Capital Church, located in Vienna, Virginia.
"Washington, D.C. is arguably one of the most influential cities in the world, and I do believe it is important in the heart of the most influential city of the world to declare on Easter morning our faith in the risen Lord," Amos Dodge, the lead pastor of Capital Church, told the Christian Post. "I think it is important to reclaim some of our own spiritual heritage and we do that from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and declare our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again."
The service featured a grand worship session, including Michael Tait, the lead singer of the band Newsboys, and a choir and orchestra.
Dodge also preached a sermon on the meaning of celebrating Easter: that Jesus, in his death and resurrection, makes the gospel stand apart from any other religion. Dodge noted that no other prominent religious figure has come back from the grave.
This year's attendance has been the most that Capital Church had ever seen. The Associated Press reports that some 6,000 people attended last year, and that the organizers said there was "a record crowd" in this year's gathering. The event was also available to watch via livestream.
The Christian Post reports that the first gathering in 1979 had about 150 people.
"I was walking on the mall on a spring day in 1979, and I went past the Lincoln reflecting pool and I thought, what a great place for a sunrise service," the report quotes Dodge recalling. "I thought it was a thought. Now I know it was a whisper of the Holy Spirit."
