Halloween prayer gathering planned on National Mall 

Christian leaders plan to pray for America just three days before the midterm elections, gathering on the National Mall on Halloween. 

The Nehemiah Alliance will hold the Oct. 31 gathering in Washington, D.C. Christian singer Michael W. Smith, pro-life leader Alveda King and evangelist Lou Engle will participate. King is Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece.

The free, all-day event⁠ will run from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and will be livestreamed.

The gathering comes near the end of a 52-day prayer effort that stretches from sundown on Sept. 10 and ends at sundown Nov. 1. The organizing group takes its name from Nehemiah, the biblical figure who led the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls in 52 days.

Organizers want believers to help rebuild America’s spiritual life, starting close to home. They ask people to pray for their families and local schools.

The effort also coincides with America’s 250th anniversary.

Barbara Ann Jeter, Nehemiah Alliance’s executive director, told⁠ CBN News she sought support from politicians just as Nehemiah sought permission from the king.

“It’s not political, but there is something about getting the blessing of those that God’s placed in authority,” she said.

The gathering will happen three days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Jeter wants participants to “pray for these upcoming elections” and other concerns in their communities.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, has endorsed⁠ the effort. The alliance also lists proclamations from Republican governors, including Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

Jeter said she chose Oct. 31 because it is Halloween and Reformation Day. Many Protestants observe the latter to mark Martin Luther’s challenge to church practices in 1517. Jeter said she wants the gathering to bring the light of Christ into a night often linked with darkness.

King said the group wants more than a big crowd.

“We are praying for surrendered hearts, restored families, awakened churches and lives transformed by Jesus Christ,” she wrote⁠ on her ministry’s website.

Jeter urged people to fast during the gathering.

“Fast as the Holy Spirit leads you,” she told CBN News⁠. “We definitely want people fasting the day of Halloween.”

King also released an updated edition of her book America, Return to God for the country’s 250th anniversary. She called the Nehemiah Alliance’s campaign “a clarion call to every generation to repent and unite in faith and love.”

Other Christian leaders have held large prayer gatherings on the Mall before elections.

Franklin Graham led⁠ a prayer march there on Sept. 26, 2020. Then-Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise appearance. Participants stopped to pray as they walked from the Lincoln Memorial toward the Capitol.

Similarly, Engle’s A Million Women gathering⁠ happened on Oct. 12, 2024, a few weeks before the presidential election. That event also called people to fast and repent.

Other gatherings have happened outside election years. Heartlander News reported⁠ that thousands attended Communion America on the Mall from Oct. 9-12, 2025, for worship and prayer. Awaken the Dawn hosted that separate event. Thousands attended a prayer rally in May on the National Mall called Rededicate 250 to honor the nation’s 250th birthday.  

(Image credit: Rededicate 250)