VIENNA, Virginia (WUSA9)--McLean Bible Church is non-denominational and attracts people of all faiths and little faith. It is one of the country's largest mega-churches.
Lon Solomon is the church's senior pastor. He was born and raised in a Jewish home in Portsmouth, Virginia.
"I still am Jewish," Solomon tells WUSA9's Bruce Johnson. "You don't stop."
Solomon preaches at the non denominational christian McLean Bible. On Sundays an average 17-thousand worshipers pack the Northern Virginia church--which sits on a sprawling 100 million dollar complex.
Solomon's story is at least part of the draw. Before he turned evangelist, Solomon was a drug addict and dealer while a student in Chapel Hill North Carolina.
"I stared smoking dope, starting dropping LSD. I was a mess man. And then we started importing drugs from overseas. From Amsterdam....We had a friend who would bring it in and we would cut it up and sell it on the campus and that is how I paid for school because my parents didn't have any money and they were separated and so that is how I paid for things."
Solomon says a street evangelist in Chapel Hill first introduced him to the bible and Jesus Christ.
"I looked in his eyes and I knew he had what I was looking for. I didn't know what it was, but there was a peace, a contentment, a joy, something shining out of him."
By 1980 he was pastor at McLean Bible and a church that was started with but five families eventually grew to a congregation so big the church was able to buy 43 acres of land and a massive complex owned by the National Wildlife Federation. The church's nearly one-hundred-million-dollar mortgage was recently paid off.
McLean Bible is a mega-church with mega resources. Starting with an annual budget of more than thirty-million dollars--a staff of more than 250 people. There is a ministry here for every need.
None stands out more than what goes on inside this Jill's House that sits on the main campus. Jill's House is named for Lon and wife, Brenda Solomon's, special needs daughter.
"I was so broken that I couldn't fix this for my daughter," says Solomon. "Every father feels that responsibility to try and fix it for his children."
Jill's House has been called a Disneyland for special needs children and teens. A safe, fun place full of activities. They can spend a night or weekend giving their parents much needed time for themselves.
"The figure we have been given is that 80-percent of marriages with a special needs child ends in divorce because the pressures are just so horrible on that marriage. And we want to preserve those marriages and preserve those families."
Jill's House is now its own non-profit and expanding to other states. McLean Bible has satellite campuses in Tysons, Arlington, Loudoun, Montgomery, and Prince William counties, with plans to expand into Southeast DC.
