Together 2016: Thousands Brave 90+ Temperatures to Pray for America

WASHINGTON – Recording artists, popular preachers and believers from around the country packed the National Mall Saturday to pray for America.

"Together 2016" has been in the works for the last five years and it was scheduled to last 12 hours. But extreme heat conditions and 400 to 500 ambulance calls for heat-related illnesses forced the park operators to shut things down after just seven hours.

Saturday temperatures quickly climbed above 90 degrees in Washington, D.C., but the steamy weather didn't keep hundreds of thousands from answering the call to stand together to worship and pray. The call came from minister and author Nick Hall. And recording artists like Hillsong United, Lecrae and Matthew West lent their voices to the experience.

Hall told CBN News, "This isn't about perfect people gathering; this is about imperfect people, and we are all gathering to seek the perfect one. There is only one answer. It is Jesus."

"I was overwhelmed by the crowd, just the size of the crowd," singer Matthew West told CBN News.

"There were thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, standing in that place today, celebrating the God who forgives, the God who renews and the God who could bring healing to a hurting nation," he said.  

Plans to pack the National Mall with a million praying people began five years ago at an estimated cost of $10 million. The timing couldn't have been more perfect in light of recent weeks of police brutality, attacks on police, and terror attacks.

Unfortunately, the extreme temperatures caused the parks department to shut the event down about five hours early after hundreds were treated for heat-related illnesses.

Michael Robertson traveled from Akron, Ohio, to participate.

Robertson told CBN News, "I love that we are together. It's good to see a glimpse of what heaven might be like one day. Just a glimpse, but when it comes down to it, we have to at one point, whether it is at nine o'clock or now, be ready to walk out of here and live it out."

Christian concert organizer Ryan Romeo was there when Nick Hall first shared his vision and announced plans for "Together 2016." That was five years ago.  

Romeo was saddened to see the event end early.

"It's heartbreaking. Five years in the planning," Romeo said. "That was a hard thing, but I talked to one of the leaders right after and he said, you know, I just have to trust that the Lord had something in that, even with tears in his eyes, that I have to trust that God knows what he is doing, and something amazing is going to happen, even though it ended early."

In the end, the true measure of success is what changes in the hearts of people after they left the park on Saturday.