Christian Groups: I-35 a Holy Highway

People drive on it every day, sometimes cursing along the way, but thousands of people consider Interstate 35 to be a holy road.

 
The highway that stretches from Laredo to Duluth, Minn., has grabbed the attention of Christians across the country, including those in Austin. Members of Christian groups along the I-35 corridor said the highway was mentioned in the Bible, and in order to fulfill a prophecy, it needs a little saving first.

 
According to Light The Highway, the worldwide movement is driving thousands to prayer on the interstate. Christians said the Old Testament's book of Isaiah prophesizes I-35 will be the United States' "Highway of Holiness."

 
Isaiah 35:8 reads: "And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it."

 
"Everything we do, we want to make sure scripture is backing us up," said Austin's PromiseLand Church Pastor Charlie Lujan. "I-35 being Isaiah 35, it just matched."

 
Lujan conducted a five-week 24-hour prayer vigil and organized what he called a "purity siege" along Austin's famed Sixth Street. The sieges are part of the I-35 project, a nationwide movement to save those at bars, gay clubs and abortion clinics in cities along the interstate.

 
"If you just draw a line right down the middle of the nation, and go to these strategic cities along the way and just cry out holiness and purity, we believe there's going to be a referendum, a change, a radical change in our nation," Lujan said.

 
Pastor Greg McDonell of Central Presbyterian Church advertises a congregation accepting of all, including homosexuals.

 
"I'd be willing to say, that for me, is ridiculous," McDonell said. "We sense we should love them and help them be fully integrated into the life of our community."

 
McDonell said though he loves all his Christian brothers and sisters,  the Isaiah connection to I-35 is not only absurd, but the movement is misguided. He said so much prayer should go toward helping those who are hungry and sick.

 
"The power is in our Lord and not, for me, in some campaign to identify someone else's impurity," McDonnell said.

 
The groups held their prayer vigils and purity sieges throughout the month of November and until Sunday. Members plan to revive their highway salvation efforts in January.