At Faith & Action Ministry Center: Pastor Gary Ansdell (left foreground), visits Rob Schenck with a delegation from Ambassadors for Peace, a group that works for international religious liberty, especially in Muslim countries.

I’m into my second day of a three-day private prayer and fasting retreat at a friend’s fishing cottage in southern Louisiana. Except for an occasional dog bark or gull call, it’s utterly silent here–the perfect atmosphere for intense prayer.

This morning I woke up at 4:00 and will pray until about 11:00 tonight. I’ve already prayed through the more than 1000 specific requests that came into our office. I’ve now started speaking to God the first few thousand names of the more than 50,000 total friends of Faith and Action. It’s very demanding (especially on my eyes!), but it’s also wonderful and interesting. The panoply of people God has given us–from every state, several provinces of Canada, and even a few other countries–is astounding!

In case you’re interested, I’m doing this is by using a portion of scripture as a framework, then announcing several thousand names, one-by-one (and only first names!), and offering up thanks for each.  (See the photo with this post. If you’re concerned by my posture–yes, I do change positions regularly!) I take brief and routine breaks, then choose a new scripture text and begin again.

This has been a spiritually renewing exercise for me and it’s already given me a much deeper connection to our growing family of supporters. Like anyone, I get bored with some of the endless lists of sometimes difficult-to-pronounce names in the Bible, but now I appreciate more why they are there. Names equate to the people who bear them. Names are very important and are inextricably connected to our identity, personal value and human dignity. I’ve pledged to our supporters that they will never be simply a computer file number to us!

Just saying these names aloud in prayer draws me closer to each one and strengthens the bond we already have in the Lord.

If you’re on this list, I thank you for the privilege of letting me pray for you. In the end, I may get more out of it than you do!

- Rob

A fair number of people have criticized Rev. Pat Mahoney and me for our anointing and prayer service inside the Inauguration walkway at the US Capitol that President-Elect Obama will take just before he is sworn in as the 44th president. Interestingly, it’s come from both ends of the political and religious spectrums. Atheists and secularists are outraged we would bring “religion” so “grotesquely” into a such a grand civic exercise, while plenty of Christians think our prayers somehow suggest we approve of all of Mr. Obama’s policies and practices.

As for the anti-religionists, the only thing I can say is they’ll never be satisfied until all references to God and God-fearing people are utterly purged from the social and political landscape. (Think Cuba, China or the old Soviet Union!) Keep in mind, too, this wasn’t our doing. Mr. Obama featured religion prominently in his campaign and the then DNC Chair, Howard Dean, set out to capture the religious vote, even hiring a Pentecostal minister to direct the initiative. (Pentecostals, by the way, routinely practice anointing.)

And as for Christians and other God-fearing people, all I can say is God’s Word and long-time Christian practices mandate, “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority . . .” (See I Timothy 1:1-2) Note St. Paul says, “kings,” not just, “some kings,” and, “ALL THAT ARE IN AUTHORITY,” not just “some in authority,” or “the authorities we like.” Christians discontent with our prayer service also need to pay special attention to EVERYTHING we said and read during that service. If you haven’t watched it yet, please view it now, giving special attention to the prayer Reverend Mahoney read.  Watch the piece here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE73OoC-njM.  To read the prayer read by Rev. Mahoney during the anointing service, point your browser here: http://www.earnedmedia.org/graham_pray_1231.htm.

I will continue to pray assiduously for Mr. Obama and the members of his administration. Perhaps one of our critics out there think there is something MORE powerful we can do?

Oh, incidentally, the Bible also commands us to “love our enemies,” so I’ll be doing that, too.

Rob +

The sites and sounds of CHRIST-mas reach a long way, but today I was struck with just how far is the reach of this unique holy-day. Sure, I expect to see at least a few nativity scenes on display, even in disputed territory. Christmas carols are also ubiquitous, including in Burger Kings and Wendy’s. For some reason, though, hearing the words to “O Holy Night” in a thruway men’s room really made an impression.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining.

It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

‘Til he appeared and the soul felt His worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born.

O holy night -O night -O night divine!

That’s a lot of religion for a public toilet, but it really fits. After all, Jesus was not born in a palace or a resort. The Savior made His debut in a pretty earthy setting. A stall for farm animals is generally marked by a distinctive odor, not different from a roadside john.

Just as it is with the songs about that first Christmas, no place is off limits for the Christ who is the center of those songs. You’ll find Him present in the most gritty, grimy and stinky places of life.

I haven’t heard a tear-jerking testimony about a toilet-stall conversion, yet, but I expect I will before I go to Heaven. I know that beautiful hymn must have touched some hearts today in the men’s room–I just didn’t have the nerve to ask anybody to raise his hand . . .

Rob +

Rev. Rob Schenck

Faith and Action

www.faithandaction.org

109 2nd St, NE

Washington, DC 20002

202-546-8329

I’m finishing up my amazing whirlwind visit to Germany to see Angelika and Gerd Brunnquell, the landlords of our second Capitol Hill property. I spent Tuesday, October 28, mostly sleeping off the red-eye flight across the Atlantic. (I got very sick during the layover in Amsterdam, but recovered quickly, Praise God!) After checking in at Frankfurt’s Hotel InterContinental on Wilhelm Leuschner Strasse, I took a quick night-time “Joshua-Caleb tour” of downtown and went to bed early to re-set my body clock. In the morning I went for a short walk along the nearby Main River (that’s pronounced MY’-EHN), then grabbed a cab to meet up with Elisabeth Heim, a mutual friend to the Brunquells, who was herself visiting Frankfurt and offered me a ride to Hassfurt, where she and the Brunnquells live. (Her presence in Frankfurt was no coincidence–read on!)

I’ll interrupt the narrative to say that I would normally not accept a ride alone with a strange woman, especially in a foreign country. In fact, I tried to decline and told the Brunnquells of my plans to take the train, but my hosts would not hear of it. In deference to them, I reluctantly accepted. It violated the rules I’ve assiduously adhered to for 30 years of traveling ministry, but this exception turned out to be a great blessing. Elisabeth is a “salt-of-earth” Christian with a fascinatingly eclectic history. Raised in a Catholic home, she drifted far from her childhood faith, lived a wild life as a secularist content with her successful career and night-time partying life. By her mid-forties she had burned out and her soul was empty. She cried out to the Lord who “saved” her, found her way to a predominantly African and African-American English-language Evangelical church near Frankfurt, and was eventually ordained a deaconess there. She spent several years as the de-facto administrator of the church until circumstances led her back to her native Franconian village of Hassfurt. She got to know the Brunnquells after she returned to the Catholic church there.

Elisabeth was an answer to prayer for more than one reason. First, she simply offered Christian fellowship and that’s blessing enough, but more than that, she offered refreshingly honest Christian fellowship. She’s a down-to-earth Christian–a raw work of grace who still smokes, in spite of the scoldings she routinely gets from holiness-minded brothers and sisters! She told me she often would sneak behind her former Baptist church to have a cig, sometimes after she had just finished preaching! Anyway, Elisabeth also gave me a good overview of church life and the larger Christian community in Germany, something I had on my mind as I walked and prayed earlier.

Once in Hassfurt, I was quickly settled into the Brunnquell’s delightful home in this picturesque hamlet. Angelika (whose late mother, Irmgard Romer, had occupied the house in Washington we now lease from Angelika) was a delightful host even though she’s recovering from a badly broken leg! Her husband Gerd helped a great deal in offering hospitality, but Angelika still did way too much for me on her two canes! In any case, they made me feel immediately like family, beginning with a sensational home-cooked German lunch. (I LOVE German food–and there was a lot there to love! At night they took me to a classic German restaurant, called a Guest House or “Gasthaus.”) But, I digress . . .

It was later, just before we went to dinner, that I explained the totality of our vision to build a vigorous Christian ministry on Capitol Hill, extending throughout the United States and around the world, and how I see the Brunnquells and their property fitting into it. (They own the second of our buildings at 113 2nd Street, NE.) Not only did I find them completely sympathetic, but, in fact, passionately appreciative of how God has moved in and through our work to date. I also discovered that Angelika and Gerd are people of extraordinary prayer. They hold regular prayer meetings in homes and periodic prayer retreats for hundreds of people from their region. They are founding members of the Charismatic Catholic community in Germany and also possess a remarkably “ecumenical” perspective on Christianity. I did not feel at all a stranger among them, even though I was the only “Protestant” at the table. (See my photo of our long talking session at the dining room table.)

After I shared our vision, answered their questions and heard their affirmation of our work and more than keen interest in its success, we prayed together. It was a beautiful time. Another of their friends and a faithful member of their prayer community, Thomas Rambacher, gave me two Bible passages to mediate on and Gerd gave me a third. It was all very encouraging. Angelika and Gerd did not completely embrace the specifics of my proposal to them, including our intention to make an offer on the purchase of their Washington property, but they assured me of their continued prayer for and with us, and their complete and ongoing support for our work. I believe in those moments our relationship was really solidified. That, more than anything else, is what I prayed would be accomplished here by the grace of God.

What I’ve come away with after this time with the Brunnquells is a sense of Christian family, friendship and mutual support. I also have a promise that before they do anything else with the house on 2nd Street, they will talk in detail with us and allow us to first make a purchase offer to them. That’s all they committed to at this stage, but they promised to keep the matter in prayer. Still, it’s a work in progress, and they join me in being sincerely open to whatever God may say to us about the future. For now, we’ve got something worth far more than a deed–we have a relationship with each other forged in Heaven!

Thanks for your prayers for this trip. The answers went far beyond my expectations!

More will follow . . .

Rob +_

I’m traveling to Frankfurt, Germany to meet with friends and talk about working more closely together in various ministry endeavors. Please pray for our good success. I recorded this video while passing through Amsterdam. Haven’t been here since 1985. Still a very friendly place!

Is Mormonism on par with Christianity? Are Mormons Christian? I’ve spent the last few days in Salt Lake City, where among many other things I visited the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), the official name for the “Mormon Church.” This came in the midst of an ongoing dialogue I’ve had with seasoned LDS church leaders going back nearly two years. I’ve done a lot of reading on LDS history, beliefs and practices. It’s fascinating. People have different experiences with Mormons, but mine have been overwhelmingly positive.  (I’ve got to tell you one thing–the LDS Church has a very, very impressive division called “Humanitarian.” They dispense an enormous amount of life-saving humanitarian relief to indigent and suffering people around the world. According to them, regardless of a person’s or group’s religious, ethnic or national origen. They also say it comes without the quid-pro-quo of proselytization.) Interesting and complex bunch of people.

Barack Obama recently answered questions on abortion by Cameron Strang, publisher of Relevant Magazine (www.relevantmagazine.com). Obama said this about late-term abortion:”I have repeatedly said that I think it’s entirely appropriate for states to restrict or even prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is a strict, well-defined exception for the health of the mother. Now, I don’t think that “mental distress” qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term. Otherwise, as long as there is such a medical exception in place, I think we can prohibit late-term abortions.”

Some pro-abortion commentators say this comment flies in the face of the lesser known but just as important Supreme Court case, Doe v. Bolton, the companion case to Roe v. Wade.

What do you think? Has Barack Obama called Doe v. Bolton into question?

Rob