“Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”
ISAIAH 58:12
Jesus didn’t just hang out in religious places with religious people.
He also hung out at wells—natural gathering places in ancient culture. We have a core conviction at National Community Church: the church belongs in the middle of the marketplace.
We’re not just trying to build a church, we’re trying to bless a city to the third and fourth generation. What does that look like? It’s seeking the peace and prosperity of the city (Jeremiah 29:7). It’s turning a crackhouse into Ebenezers coffeehouse, an abandoned apartment building into the DC Dream Center, and the 1891 Navy Yard Car Barn into the Capital Turnaround.
Over the last three decades, God has called us and strategically positioned us to redeem spaces architecturally, historically, and relationally to be a blessing to the community and to be a crossroads for the church and the neighborhood.
This is the story of God’s redemptive action in our city as we have practiced building for mission. We pray that these stories will inspire you towards restoration and redemptive action for your city, as well.
IT ALL BEGINS WITH PRAYER.
“On a hot August day in 1996, I felt prompted to pray a circle around Capitol Hill,” says Pastor Mark Batterson, Lead Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. “It was inspired by the promise in Joshua 1:3: ‘I will give you everywhere you set your foot.’
“That 4.7-mile prayer walk was the catalyst for many miracles we witnessed during that season. It’s no coincidence that we now own several properties right on that prayer circle—
Ebenezers Coffeehouse, the Miracle Theatre, and Capital Turnaround.”
He concludes, “Of course, it’s not about buildings. But those buildings are the physical location of spiritual breakthroughs. In those physical spaces, we have seen thousands of people discover the transforming power of God’s grace!”
We dream big, pray hard, and think long. God honors bold prayers because bold prayers honor God.
We put feet to our faith by praying and walking circles around the places where we live, where we work, and where we play.
We circle our city and pray for racial reconciliation. We circle our neighborhoods as we serve our friends on the street. We circle our homes, our schools, our churches, businesses, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the White House. Prayer is the difference between the best we can do and the best God can do.
View through a doorway in the Capital Turnaround’s construction zone
EBENEZERS COFFEEHOUSE
“ Hitherto the Lord has helped us . . . ”
A bold vision to serve coffee with a cause turned a crackhouse into a coffeehouse. Ebenezers Coffeehouse opened in the spring of 2006 on Capitol Hill right near Union Station. It has served more than a million customers and given more than $1 million to kingdom initiatives.
In ancient culture, wells were the natural gathering places for the community. Ebenezers is a postmodern well that has served its neighbors, nearby businesses, our friends experiencing homelessness, and members of Congress alike.
In fact, National Community Church gathered at Ebenezers after our meeting place at Union Station was closed. We squeezed people into our coffeehouse every Sunday for worship and prayed for a more permanent location.
Voted the #1 coffeehouse in DC on multiple occasions, Ebenezers has served as a third place where church and community cross paths.
Ever since it opened, Ebenezers has sourced fair-trade coffee. In 2023, Ebenezers extended its relationship with partner farmers by launching coffee roasting. The coffee served and sold at Ebenezers Coffeehouse is now roasted in-house.
THE MIRACLE THEATRE
The Meader Theatre opened on December 27, 1909 as a vaudeville theater on Barracks Row on Capitol Hill. The building continued to operate as a movie theatre under several different names until 1960.
In 1962, The People’s Church purchased the building and served the Capitol Hill community for half a century, seeding the neighborhood with prayers for revival.
The Miracle Theatre today
After the majority of The People’s Church had migrated to the suburbs, Pastor Michael Hall considered selling the building, even looking at an offer from a nightclub. But The People’s Church believed that the building would always be used for God’s purposes. This divine opportunity fueled a friendship between Pastor Mark and Pastor Hall. NCC made an offer on the property. That led to a double miracle that answered prayers for both congregations.
Pastor Hall would later share a vision he had of young people filling the building and praising God.
“
At the time, I thought the vision was for us. Now I know it was for you. ”
– Pastor Michael Hall
Renaming the property “The Miracle Theatre,” NCC restored the building’s rich history as a theater and began meeting there for Sunday services.
After a decade as an NCC church location, The Miracle Theatre now operates as a venue for hosting films, live performances, parties, and conferences. It is the oldest movie theater in Washington, DC. The Miracle Theatre also serves as a home for multiple church plants while they seek a permanent location.
DC DREAM CENTER
DC Dream Center’s history goes back three decades to the founding of the Southeast White House by Sammie Morrison and Scott Dimock. These two DC residents, one Black, one white, had a passion for racial unity. These two friends worked tirelessly for decades to establish the regular reconciliation events, mentoring, and family support programs that DCDC continues today. In 2010, Morrison and Dimock, both in
“ This Dream Center isn’t about any one of us. It’s about all of us—and all of those who came before us—who gave us this moment in time. ”
– Ernest Clover
Executive Director DC Dream Center
DC Dream Center Grand Opening with DC Mayor Muriel Bowser August 23, 2017
Listening to community members about their needs, the Dream Center was built specifically to accommodate many of the programs that Southeast White House had been offering for decades. During the 2020 pandemic, the Center repurposed to give out more than one million pounds of groceries and more than 64,000 free meals.
The Southeast White House gave birth to the DC Dream Center.
DCDC is a true community partner, working with Howard University on ending opioid addiction; with the Community Service Agency
Building Futures Program; DC City government; and others. For hundreds of individuals, we pray DCDC is a place where hope becomes habit.
CAPITAL TURNAROUND
now holds its worship services in this space.
As NCC continued to grow, it became clear that a larger venue would be needed. Through a series of miracles, NCC was able to purchase an entire city block just blocks from the Miracle Theatre, in the historic Navy Yard.
Repairing and rerouting streetcars across the nation’s capital for the Capital Transit Company, the Navy Yard Car Barn was the service garage and turnaround for DC streetcars for nearly a century. After 1962, various entities rented the aging facility until NCC purchased it in August 2014—eighteen years to the day from Pastor Mark’s prayer walk across the city. Using a phased renovation plan, the goal is to create a multi-use facility to meet various needs of the city.
Navy Yard Car Barn interior, circa 1919
NCC began holding services in the first completed portion of the large venue on June 30, 2019. Gatherings came to an abrupt halt due to the global pandemic just nine months later, and the doors were closed by city ordinance for the next 13 months.
Through that challenge, we began filming online services on Thursday nights, which eventually turned into our House of Prayer, an engine for miracles and revival.
The historic car barn now serves as headquarters for National Community Church. It is also used as an event venue with a variety of versatile spaces for hosting retreats, corporate meetings, conferences, graduations, city townhalls, and other social events.
Capital Turnaround also houses a full-service child development center to answer the call of DC officials for additional child care facilities in the city. This space serves as the home for NCC Kids on Sundays.
Still in the works, the final phase of Capital Turnaround construction will include an open-hall marketplace where visionaries and entrepreneurs can launch and grow businesses with purpose.
When Paul was in Athens, he walked into the Aeropagus and competed for the truth in the marketplace of ideas (Acts 17). As a creative minority, we are called to create culture. How?
By writing better books, making better music, producing better films, drafting better legislation, and last but not least, starting better businesses. Instead of complaining about what’s wrong, we criticize by creating.
Show me the size of your dream and I’ll show you the size of your God.
One of the first things we do when God grants us a building is hand out the Sharpie markers. We invite people to spend concentrated time inscribing prayers onto the walls and floors before construction even begins.
This prayerful foundation, stronger than any steel beams, undergirds the vision and will ultimately outlast the building itself.
