Saturday morning, North Carolina will have its day at one of the biggest praise and worship events in the nation — David’s Tent — when a local church’s praise and worship team hits the stage.

River City Christian Center of Washington traveled to Washington, D.C. on Friday to participate in David’s Tent, a 50-day, 24/7 praise and worship event on the White House Ellipse, said Angie Robertson, a member and wife of the church’s pastor, Danny Robertson. This year’s event, which started on Sept. 15 and lasts until Nov. 4, brings praise and worship teams from all over the nation together. The team will perform Saturday morning, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. This will be the first year a team from Beaufort County will participate. Earlier this year, a team from Harvest church participated, according to Robertson.

Robertson said her church’s large praise team consists of five guitarists, two keyboardists, two drummers and six vocalists. Matthew Lilley, who heads the Boiler Room, a place of worship in downtown Greenville, was chosen to coordinate the North Carolina day of David’s Tent, which started at 7 p.m. on Friday and lasts until 7 p.m. today. Lilley asked Robertson if her team would be interested in participating and that facilitated the group’s trip to D.C., Robertson said.

“It’s still growing,” Robertson said. “We’re bringing everybody with us. It’s a pretty big team and we’re always growing. We rotate if people have a heart to worship and want to be a part of the team. I feel incredibly blessed that we have so many people with the gift and talent and also the desire to participate.

“What an awesome opportunity and honor to go represent North Carolina, and the thing that so impresses me about this organization is there’s been different causes and movements to repent and turn from sin. This is just a call to come and worship Jesus. That’s something we could do with great joy. It’s very exciting to be a part of this. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us and since we’re such a large band, it’s great we can spend time together and worship together, with all these other North Carolina bands and worshippers.”

David’s Tent was founded by Jason Hershey and started in 2012 with 40 days of continuous praise, according to davidstentdc.org. The vision was initially a smaller event at a local park in DC called McPherson Square, but when the National Park Service suggested the planners of the event conduct it on the White House Ellipse, they knew it was a “God moment,” the website says. According to the NPS, it had never given a permit for more than 14 days on the National Mall, yet it granted a 45-day permit for David’s Tent. That first year, 167 worship teams responded with over 10,000 participants.

“He’s done it three years,” said Delores Morgan, a member of River City Christian Center and its praise team. “He has a heart for the nation and praying for the nation. They got permission and it blew his mind that they even gave him permission. He set us this huge tent, called David’s Tent and they’ve got sound equipment and some instruments.”

This year, the event was extended to 50 days long, according to the website. This was done so each state would have an allotted day of praise — 50 days for 50 states. To the knowledge of the administration of David’s Tent, no nation has conducted an event like this in their capital city since King David in 1000 B.C. And that’s what the event is inspired from — King David, who pitched a tent near his palace and hired more than 4,000 worshippers to minster to the Lord there continually throughout David’s 33-year reign.

River City Christian Center is located at 3806 River Rd. in Washington. For more information about David’s Tent, visit davidstentdc.org.