Lionel Washington is one of the founding members of The Young Tribulation Force in the Left Behind: The Kids series. His whole family (which included his mother Lucinda, who was the senior editor of the Chicago office of the Global Weekly) disappeared in the Rapture except for his Uncle André, who died in a fire set by LeRoy Banks, and at the end of the series Lionel finds out that he became a believer right before he died. Lionel is the only African-American main character in the series. Lionel becomes a believer in Christ. He later loses an arm in a rock slide, but later gained it back in the Glorious Appearing.
While he was at a Global Community shooting range when he was in the Morale Monitor program, he scored the highest.
His father gave him a pocket knife as a present for his thirteenth birthday. In Ominous Choices, he used it to cut off his arm with the assistance of Nurse Wanda.
Appearances
- 1. The Vanishings (first POV)
- 2. Second Chance (becomes a believer)
- 3. Through the Flames
- 4. Facing the Future
- 5. Nicolae High
- 6. The Underground
- 7. Busted!
- 8. Death Strike
- 9. The Search
- 10. On the Run
- 11. Into the Storm
- 12. Earthquake!
- 13. The Showdown
- 14. Judgment Day
- 15. Battling the Commander
- 16. Fire from Heaven
- 17. Terror in the Stadium
- 18. Darkening Skies
- 19. Attack of Apollyon
- 20. A Dangerous Plan
- 21. Secrets of New Babylon
- 22. Escape from New Babylon
- 23. Horsemen of Terror
- 24. Uplink from the Underground
- 25. Death at the Gala
- 26. The Beast Arises
- 27. Wildfire!
- 28. The Mark of the Beast
- 29. Breakout!
- 30. Murder in the Holy Place
- 31. Escape to Masada
- 32. War of the Dragon
- 33. Attack on Petra
- 34. Bounty Hunters
- 35. The Rise of False Messiahs
- 36. Ominous Choices
- 37. Heat Wave
- 38. The Perils of Love
- 39. The Road to War
- 40. Triumphant Return
- Left Behind (voice)
Trivia
- In the dramatic audio presentations, he is played by Rafael Chestang.
- Lionel, Judd, and Vicki are the only three characters to appear in all 40 books of the Left Behind: The Kids series.
- Lionel is considered to be the tritagonist of the Left Behind: The Kids series.
- Lionel had the highest amount of appearances of all the Young Tribulation Force members, appearing in 41 books.
- Lionel is one of 12 Young Tribulation Force members to be alive at the Glorious Appearing.
- Lionel was the only member of the Washington-Dupree family to survive to the Glorious Appearing.
- Lionel shares the same first name as Tribulation Force member Lionel Whalum.
- Lionel was the first of the four original Young Tribulation Force members to become a believer.
- Lionel's mother, Lucinda Washington, worked on the same newspaper as Cameron Williams prior to the Rapture.
- Lionel was the only original Young Tribulation Force member to make an appearance in any of the adult Left Behind novels, answering the phone when Cameron Williams called the Washington house in Left Behind.
- Lionel was one of only five Young Tribulation Force members to appear in the adult Left Behind novels, with the other four being Sam Goldberg, Conrad Graham, Darrion Stahley, and Charlie.
- Lionel became close friends with Sam Goldberg during the time they spent in Israel together.
- Lionel was the last of the four original YTF members to interact with Laverne Jenness.
- Lionel is the only Young Tribulation Force member that is confirmed to have attended at least one Chicago White Sox game.
- Lionel considered Abraham Lincoln to be a great president, probably because of Lincoln's viewpoint against slavery and his contributions to helping the African-American community.
- Lionel is considered to be the third most important character in the Left Behind: The Kids series, behind Judd Thompson Jr. and Vicki Byrne Thompson.
- Lionel was 17 years old when he made the hard decision to amputate his arm.
- Lionel is the only Young Tribulation Force member to have amputated one of his body parts.
- Lionel was 20 years old at the Glorious Appearing.
- Lionel was the only original member of the Young Tribulation Force not to interact with Bruce Barnes during the reunion in book 40.
- Lionel discovered his uncle Andre became a believer just moments before he died.
- Lionel sustained two serious injuries during the series. Lionel's head was hit by a tree which caused him to experience amnesia and lose his memory. Lionel later was forced to amputate his arm when the Global Community was closing in on him when he was trapped by a boulder.
- Lionel was disappointed when the name of Lincoln Junior High School was changed to Global Community Middle School, because he liked going to a school named after Lincoln.
- Lionel spent only one semester as a student at Global Community Middle School.
- Lionel was the only Young Tribulation Force member to graduate from Global Community Middle School.
- Lionel's activity in Global Community Middle School was never narrated or shown.
- Lionel was the only Young Tribulation Force member to have been both a student at Global Community Middle School and Nicolae Carpathia High School.
- Lionel is one of the only three characters that appeared in Left Behind that survived to the Glorious Appearing, with the other characters being Rayford Steele and Chaim Rosenzweig.