Ending 2006 With 'Amen'
Many Celebrations Across Region Focus on Religion Rather Than Spirits

By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 1, 2007

Perched in pews instead of on bar stools and singing hymns instead of "Auld Lang Syne," thousands of Washington area residents rang in 2007 last night at Christian-themed celebrations that featured midnight religious conversions rather than champagne-drenched revelry.

"We're thanking God for bringing us through another year," said Dorcas Rodgers, 34, of Stafford County, who with her husband and children joined 2,000 members of her Woodbridge church, New Life Anointed Ministries International, for a six-hour New Year's Eve celebration that featured the church's five choirs, hip-hop performers, Bible readings and a thunderous sermon by church pastor Eugene Reeves.

"Other people outside the church celebrate in another way," Rodgers said. "But we're celebrating by coming together with our brothers and sisters in the church."

Such large and elaborate New Year's celebrations are growing increasingly popular among evangelical churches. The events provide the faithful with family-friendly festivities and -- just as important, say church leaders -- they are an attractive way to help pull unbelievers into the Christian fold.

As the year draws to a close, "people want to make positive changes in their lives," said Georgette Patterson, director of marketing for New Life Anointed Ministries International, known as The Life. At church New Year's Eve celebrations, "they hear a message that is uplifting."

At megachurch McLean Bible, the all-night New Year's Eve party for teenagers has swelled from a few hundred to 1,500 kids in the past three years. Last night's celebration, at McLean Bible's worship complex off Route 7 in Fairfax County, featured Christian rock bands, video games, a climbing wall and movies.

At midnight, several hundred youthful attendees were expected to come forward to be "saved," said Denny Harris, the church's director of ministry operations.

"That's what it's all about," Harris said. "Being able to impact them spiritually and having Jesus Christ transform their life."

Similar conversions were expected at other events, including a New Year's Eve party for several thousand at Jericho City of Praise in Landover that was to feature a full-immersion baptism at 1 a.m.

"We are following Jesus's example," said City of Praise pastor Betty Peebles, noting that Jesus launched his ministry with a baptism in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. "What better way to start the new year?"

At the Community of Hope AME Church, which meets at what used to be a furniture store in the Iverson Mall area, the Rev. Tony Lee and his members held a New Year's "Spiritual Jam" featuring comedian Sean Sarvis, Black Entertainment Television host Jeff Johnson, better known as "Cousin Jeff," and D.J. Flex, an on-air personality at WPGC (95.5 FM).

"Our goal is to show that young people can have a good time in the name of the Lord," said church spokeswoman Xenia Eiland.

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.

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.