Together 2016 -- A Defining Moment for This Generation

The Assemblies of God is joining with organizers of Together 2016 to promote and endorse this national event designed to draw the Church from across the nation and across denominations to Washington, D.C., and the National Mall on July 16 to come together in “unified prayer, worship, and a call for catalytic change.”

The event will feature some of the most recognizable Christian voices in the world, including: Ravi Zacharias, Christine Caine, Josh McDowell, Luis Palau, Sammy Rodriguez, Bob Lenz, Mark Batterson, Francis Chan, and more. Musicians attending are just as renown and include: Michael W. Smith, Kari Jobe, Jeremy Camp, Casting Crowns, Matthew West, Hillsong United, Lecrae, Crowder, Kirk Franklin — to name a few.

Nick Hall, founder of PULSE, a ministry at the center of some of the largest student-led prayer and outreach efforts in the world, is the originator and lead for Together 2016. Hall also sits on the leadership teams for the U.S. Lausanne Committee, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), and the student advisory team for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).

“Together 2016 has been five years in the making,” Hall says. “But it was actually birthed 10 years ago when PULSE was founded. From the very beginning, everything we’ve ever done has been for this moment and this type of gathering — for a revival in our time; a defining moment for this generation.”

Hall explains that Together 2016 is about bringing together denominations, movements, ministries, student organizations, parachurch organizations, and others in united, humble prayer and then just take God at His Word in 2 Chronicles 7:14.

“When we began this, we didn’t plan it to be in such a time of division in this nation — political climate, economic, racial — so many different divides,” Hall says. “But there seems to be a longing for unity in the church and the world, a kairos moment that God has orchestrated that He alone can do — a supernatural solution . . . for this day, for this generation.”

Hall says that in the past, there has been a constant cry to reach the next generation for Jesus, where parents and grandparents agreed in prayer for their children and grandchildren. Together 2016, Hall believes, is a generation-defining moment and an answer to those prayers, where not only is this “next generation” introduced to Jesus, but commissioned to reach their world for Jesus.

“Ten or 20 years from now, I believe they (those in attendance at Together 2016) will be the leaders of our churches and ministries,” Hall says, “and they’ll look back at this window of time and see it as the day their vision for God shifted . . . when they realized God wanted them to do unbelievable things and were ‘unleashed’ for the Kingdom.”

“There’s a hunger among our Assemblies of God youth to be difference makers for Christ,” says Heath Adamsom, senior director of AG national Youth Ministries. “I believe Together 2016 would be an exceptional precursor for our youth to experience leading up to our National Youth Convention in Louisville in August.”

Hall says the event will focus on four pillars that he believes every follower of Jesus can agree upon: prayer by joining or establishing a prayer group, learning through Bible reading, sharing the gospel message, and demonstrating Jesus’ love through acts of compassion.

In support of Together 2016, the National Association of Evangelicals has announced "Pray Together Sunday," slated for July 10, which leads up to Together 2016. According to the NAE website, "We want to cover the event [Together 2016] in prayer, and we invite your church to spend a moment in prayer during your July 10 service asking God to work in and through our nation."

“God is up to something here, and when He’s doing something, I know I don’t want to miss it,” Hall says. “And if we all come with that expectation, that God is going to do something amazing, then He is going to blow us all away with what He does!” only Jesus brings — to change our generation forever."

Dan Van Veen

Dan Van Veen is news editor of AG News. Prior to transitioning to AG News in 2001, Van Veen served as managing editor of AG U.S. Missions American Horizon magazine for five years. He attends Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri, where he and his wife, Lori, teach preschool Sunday School and 4- and 5-year-old Rainbows boys and girls on Wednesdays.