| Page 2 of 2 < |
Ending 2006 With 'Amen'
For those looking for a place to go after midnight, Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington held a post-New Year's Eve party featuring several Christian bands, including Fertile Ground.
And starting Wednesday, more than 9,000 people a night are expected to turn out for a massive Christian "New Year's Revival" at the Washington Convention Center, co-sponsored by Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church, a District Pentecostal church, and First Baptist Church of Glenarden, based in Landover. This is the second year for the revival, said Deacon Stanley Featherstone of First Baptist.
  Lizzie Johnson of Woodbridge, a member of New Life Anointed Ministries International, prays during services yesterday morning. (By Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post) |
For New Life Anointed Ministries -- one of a growing number of southern Prince William County churches crowding alongside Interstate 95 with car dealers, commuter parking lots and the outlet stores of Potomac Mills mall -- there was plenty to celebrate last night.
After 13 years of bouncing from one facility to the next, the expanding church will finally have a permanent home when it moves into what will eventually be a $16 million complex in Woodbridge later this year.
Along with housing a 3,500-seat sanctuary on the 23-acre site, the church will finally be able to pull together its scattered social services programs into one place, said Reeves, a 50-year-old retired Army major who launched the church with five worshipers in the basement of his Woodbridge home in 1993.
Since then, The Life has grown to 3,100 members. It runs a Christian preschool and child-care program, funds adult day-care programs for the elderly, gives away 60 tons of food to the needy each year, equips 1,500 students with back-to-school supplies and offers an extensive mentoring program for children.
In its new facility, said Reeves, a shelter for abused women, a job-training facility, a school and a youth center are planned.
At the church's joyous celebration last night at Hylton Memorial Chapel, a religious center in Woodbridge that the church rented for the occasion, worshipers rocked the rafters with hymns of praise and shouts of joy.
"God, you brought us through another year," roared Reeves as midnight approached. "And for that, Lord, we thank you!"
Staff writer Hamil R. Harris contributed to this report.
