More than 20 members of Congress, along with pastors and leaders from around the world, gathered in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5 to pray earnestly for the nation to turn to God and to repent of personal, societal and national sin.
Held at the Museum of the Bible and hosted by the Family Research Council and Well Versed, the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance drew some 500 people, while many others around the world watched by livestream.
Jim Garlow, founder and CEO of Well Versed, opened the meeting by emphasizing how it differed from many other large-scale prayer events. “This is not a prayer breakfast,” Garlow said. “This is not an ecumenical gathering. This is a Biblical gathering—we’re riveted to the Scriptures. This is not an interreligious prayer service. We will not be praying to Buddha. We will not recognize Allah from the Quran. We will pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Garlow said that the purpose of prayer is to bring people into alignment with the Word of God. “We don’t believe,” he said, “that governmental leaders can pray together and then go back on the floor and vote in opposite ways on issues the Scriptures are clear about.”
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, added: “We come in the Name and the authority of Jesus Christ, who has been given all authority in Heaven and on Earth, and we have been commissioned to operate in that authority today. May the Holy Spirit shake this place as we encounter a holy God who is the ruler of all of the nations.”
The event included somber calls to repentance from evangelist Nick Vujicic and from Jonathan Cahn, founder of Beth Israel Worship Center in Wayne, New Jersey. “The answer is revival,” Cahn said. “For if we change the government but do not change the people, the unchanged people will change the government back. If we turn the laws but we don’t turn the hearts, then the unturned hearts will turn the laws back again. The only way America can be great again is for America to turn back to the God who made America great in the first place.”
And so, at times tearful, at times joyful and at all times humbly seeking God’s face and forgiveness, 22 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and two U.S. senators took turns praying. Some of their pleas:
“Lord, as hearts in America have turned from You, we now reap what we have sowed. Father, we stand today in need of Your mercy.” —Rep. Keith Self, Texas
“With lifted hands, Lord, we come before You today, humbly, not deserving, but praying that Your Word—Your powerful, living Word—will go forth this day into this nation to heal our land and bring light into darkness.” —Rep. Gary Palmer, Alabama
“Father, we come before You today as a people seeking—seeking Your face. … May we find ourselves this morning in a posture of repentance and brokenness, recognizing that the only healer of our souls, the only true healer of our nation, will be You, Lord Jesus. And so today, we humble ourselves before You and we come seeking Your face.” —Rep. Mark Harris, North Carolina
“Your precious Word defines good and evil. It gives us the wisdom that we need as legislators. Lord, Your Word is the food that can make America healthy again. May Your Word be exalted and believed in our nation again.” —Rep. Mary Miller, Illinois
“Father, we can’t change anything. We can’t even change ourselves. Only You can change this nation and the direction of this nation.” —Rep. Rick Allen, Georgia
“Lord, we know that no government can save us. Only faithfulness and obedience to You will save our country. … Let us stand up against evil and realize that the only salvation we have is through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” —Rep. Brian Babin, Texas
“Lord, we ask You for the wisdom, discernment and stamina to do the thing that You have called each one of us—all of us here—to do. May we be found faithful. Hear us, guide us, be among us. We trust it, pray it, believe it all, in Jesus’ Name.” — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
Among other leaders who prayed was Pam Pryor, a former senior official in the U.S. State Department. “Father,” she prayed, “I first want to ask forgiveness for the things that we have exported from our country under the name of foreign policy. Lord, when we condition the aid to other countries only if they accept godless, immoral things, Father, forgive us. Give us strength, Lord, to do it right this time.”
Representatives from more than 20 other nations added prayers for their own lands. These included Tristan Azbej, Hungary’s state secretary for the aid of persecuted Christians; Eduard Heger, former prime minister of Slovakia; and Alojz Peterle, former prime minister of Slovenia.
“We’re in the process of trying to bring repentance,” Garlow told Decision. “Repentance before a holy and righteous God, and second, to reestablish the Word of God as the plumb line, the standard for all matters—including government.” ©2025 BGEA
Photograph: Family Research Council YouTube Channel