From a Detroit crack house to the National Mall: The pastor Colorado sees in June

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice

Lorenzo Sewell sold drugs on Detroit’s east side as a kid. His father went to prison for murder. His younger brother was killed by a car. Today he stands on the National Mall with House Speaker Mike Johnson and War Secretary Pete Hegseth, part of a national moment of rededication that organizers expect to draw 15,000 people.

“We can be in a crack house or we can be in the White House,” Sewell said on Fox & Friends Weekend Sunday morning. He says faith took him from the one toward the other. “God loves us and willing to reach out to us regardless.”

Next month, Colorado will meet him in person.

Sewell now leads Detroit’s 180 Church and is one of the faith leaders at Rededicate 250, the National Mall gathering marking the country’s approach to its 250th birthday.

Colorado audiences will hear from him directly at Rocky Mountain Voice’s Freedom Festival, June 26-27 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock. Sewell is scheduled for the main stage Saturday afternoon before delivering the invocation later that night at the Mountain Majesty Gala.

Rededicate 250’s organizers tied today’s event to May 17, the same date the Second Continental Congress called for a day of “humiliation, fasting and prayer” in 1776. Six weeks later, the colonies declared independence.

Freedom 250—the nonprofit coordinating the gathering alongside the White House’s semiquincentennial effort—built the day around that anniversary. Programming stretches from a sunrise assembly near the Capitol to an evening worship concert on 12th Street. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are all expected to appear.

Sewell already carried a national profile before the rededication today.

He spoke on the closing night of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Months later, during President Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Sewell delivered a benediction that echoed themes from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

One idea ties his appearances together. On Sunday morning, Rachel Campos-Duffy asked him why the country needed to rededicate itself at all. 

Sewell went to the promise God made to Solomon. “God gives King Solomon what I call a heavenly hypothesis. If, then,” he told her. “If my people that are called by my name, if they humble themselves and pray, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” A lot of Americans, he said, think the country is in a worst-case scenario. “But that’s okay, because God said, ‘If you’re just willing to humble yourself, pray, seek my face, I’ll do the rest.'”

Not everyone sees the day the way its organizers do. Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called Rededicate 250 a “government-run church service” on the National Mall and argued it elevates one view of Christianity as the national religion. Interfaith and civil-rights groups projected messages near the Mall objecting that the country was not founded as a Christian nation.

Campos-Duffy raised that criticism with him on air. Sewell would not take the premise. “That’s a semantic salad,” he said. “How do you define Christian nationalism when our Founding Fathers, they looked at the God of the Bible as the one they needed to be able to defeat the proverbial Pharaoh, King George?” 

The country’s founders openly relied on biblical principles and viewed faith as central to the nation’s beginning, he argued. In his view, the gathering reflects Americans who still see that heritage as part of the country’s identity.

Washington will keep arguing about all of it. The part that belongs to Colorado is closer to home. Freedom Fest is built around two birthdays, not one. It bills itself as a celebration of America’s 250th and Colorado’s 150th, a state milestone no other audience in the country shares.

The festival is just days before Colorado’s June primary and organizers say they expect more than 2,000 attendees over the two-day event. More than 30 speakers are slated to appear, including independent journalist Nick Shirley and investigative researcher DataRepublican.

Sewell gave a benediction at Trump’s inauguration. Today he stands with the faith leaders at the rededication on the Mall. In June he gives the invocation again, this time at the Freedom Fest gala in Castle Rock, after taking the main stage that afternoon. Colorado readers will hear that voice in a room, not off a screen. 

RMV’s own program introduces him the same way: a redemption story, and a benediction at Trump’s 2025 inauguration.

The Right Side Broadcasting Network is carrying Rededicate 250 live from the National Mall, with speakers including Johnson, Rubio and Sen. Tim Scott. Watch here:

Editor’s note: Pastor Lorenzo Sewell is a featured speaker at the Rocky Mountain Voice Freedom Festival, June 26–27 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock, speaking on the main stage Saturday afternoon and giving the invocation at the Mountain Majesty Gala that evening. Tickets and the full speaker lineup are here: https://events.rockymountainvoice.com/events/rmv-freedom-fest-2026