The media couldn't understand it. How could hundreds of thousands of people come together without a political agenda on an intensely hot summer day?
It was a shocking day indeed when more than 350,000 people gathered at the National Mall during last weekend's Together 2016 event, Pulse movement founder Nick Hall tells Charisma News.
"The mainstream media was shocked they were to have such a mass event that was largely not political at all. It's literally just a bunch of people praying and lifting up Jesus and sharing love of Christ. It really wasn't negative toward any person or group, just Jesus all day long," Hall says.
The gospel message was so powerful that now "leaders from Africa, Europe, China, Russia, all they want is to take it back to their parts of the world," he says.
That day, July 16, 2016, the Holy Spirit knocked hundreds of thousands of young people to their knees as they chanted "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus."
"The entire National Mall was full of people on their knees, silent before the Lord," Hall says. "If you think about a largely teenage and millennial generation who are normally totally loud and rambunctious, to see them prostrate and quiet and still, you could tell the Spirit was really at work."
Drenda Butler, one of the participants, tells Charisma News that the event proved that "we still live in a nation where hundreds of thousands of Christians can gather in our capital to worship Jesus without persecution."
She says it was inspiring to see people of various races, church backgrounds and life experiences gathered together in one place. "The media makes it seem like our nation has lost all hope, but Together 2016 showed me that in Christ, anything is possible and any barrier can be broken," she says.
The thousands of people professing their faith in Jesus and hope for the world also spilled into social media.
"The fact that #JesusChangesEverything is trending brings HOPE to a hurting world," pastor Greg Locke tweeted.
Louie Giglio posted: "// o n o u r k n e e s // #jesuschangeseverything ..."
Country sensation band Rascal Flatts even chimed in: "I wish I could be @JesusIsTheReset in DC today! We are on tour or I would be there. Plant the seed! #JesusChangesEverything --Gary LeVox."
Hall says the July 16 event was just the beginning.
"We've said it's 'Fill the mall, now it's time to fill them all.' It's a prophetic word for this generation: Fill every cafeteria, school, coffee shop, stadium and street corner; the message of Jesus belongs everywhere," he says. "It's time for the church to get her swagger back."
