Does Highway of Holiness pave way to holy destiny?

I-35 in Texas and Minnesota is getting attention because of a biblical passage from Isaiah 35:8.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

FORT WORTH, Texas — They call it the Highway of Holiness.

About 1,500 miles of pavement, stretching from Laredo, Texas, to northern Minnesota, best known as Interstate 35.

Some churchgoers and religious leaders believe that the interstate has a holy destiny, and many are trying to make sure that it is reached.

“We’re using I-35 as a springboard to get America praying,” said Steve Hill, pastor of the Heartland World Ministries Church in Las Colinas, Texas, a Dallas suburb. “We’re trying to set this nation on fire for God.”

So he said he and others are praying for safer neighborhoods. For people who live near the highway. For adult establishments near the highway.

And for the soul of every person in the world, whether or not they are near I-35, he said.

But the religious leaders are focusing on I-35, and the land around it, because of a passage in the Old Testament from the book of Isaiah — 35:8.

“And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness ... ,” the verse begins.

When Cindy Jacobs read Isaiah 35, she kept thinking Isaiah 35, Interstate 35, Isaiah 35.

And she wondered.

“We felt like I-35 could be the road they were talking about,” said Jacobs, a self-proclaimed prophet who with her husband co-founded Generals International, based in Red Oak, Texas, south of Dallas. “And we thought, wouldn’t it be great if there was a revival of faith?”

A nationwide prayer effort — Light the Highway — took place last year. The event involved setting up 24-hour prayer rooms in at least a dozen cities, meeting with churches, holding “purity sieges” outside night clubs, offering street evangelism, even praying as they drove on the road.

The Heartland World Ministries Church, one of several churches that participated in the effort, knocked on 8,000 doors in Las Colinas alone, talking to people about God, Hill said.

“We believe in the power of prayer, but we also believe in putting feet to the prayer,” Hill said.

Televangelist Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcast Network recently aired a segment on this effort.

Robertson weighed in on the effort, saying it would be wonderful if it did spur a reformation.

“Traffic’s heavy on this busy interstate, but it’s nothing compared to what’s happening on the side of the road,” he said. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful ... cut a line right down the middle of America and let it spread to both coasts.”

The churches involved in the effort indicate that the real effort is just beginning.

“We want everyone who drives on [I-35] or lives near it, to have a fresh encounter with Jesus Christ and feel his love and power,” said Joe Oden, a Heartland evangelist. “We would like to see everyone in America touched by God. We are just focusing on one area.”

Jacob said she expects to see results.

“We want a holy nation,” she said. “Prayer works.”

X Online, visit the Web site at www.lightthehighway.org.