With Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota

Unless you live in Minnesota, you may not know the name Tim Pawlenty, but if you watch the news, you’ve probably seen his face.

Pawlenty is the governor of Minnesota and a former state legislator there. The reason you’ve likely seen him is because he’s making the rounds inside the Republican Party and on the talk shows as an “unannounced” presidential “pre-candidate.” That’s my way of saying he’s clearly testing the political waters for a potential presidential run in 2012.

I caught up with Governor Pawlenty when he came to town this week to address the Susan B. Anthony List, an organization that supports principally pro-life women candidates.  (I know what you’re thinking: So why aren’t they supporting Sarah Palin instead of Tim Pawlenty? Answer: They aren’t supporting anyone at this stage—and she’s speaking at their annual breakfast next month.)

The reason I went to the dinner was specifically to ask the Governor one question: What church does he attend? I knew everything else about him—well, everything else that can be known—but I didn’t know exactly about his church affiliation. When I huddled with him away from the crowd, he told me: Woodale Church of Eden, Minnesota. He’s attended there since the early 1980’s.

Born, baptized and raised Catholic, he moved over to the then Baptist church (it’s since become non-denominational Evangelical) after he met his wife, who had been raised in the congregation.

The Pawlentys’ pastor is the Reverend Dr. Leith Anderson, whom I’ve met several times. He’s an author, former Christian college president and now president of the National Association of Evangelicals. He’s also a fellow signer with me (and hundreds of others) of the Manhattan Declaration, a document stating that the signers pledge not to comply with rules and laws forcing us to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideals that go against our religious consciences.

Keep an eye and a prayer on Tim Pawlenty. If nothing else, he’s a refreshing voice of conscience in the political arena.

Just got definite word the President will infringe on the sanctity of marriage and the family in tonight’s State of the Union address, when he asks Congress to repeal the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on homosexual behavior in the military. The proposal is a huge problem for morale and for the privacy of our men and women in uniform, not to mention for chaplains and even our relationship to other nations and cultures. Watch for my post on this after the State of the Union.

Rob +

Yesterday’s election of Scott Brown to the US Senate is rocking Washington, DC. It’s as if everyone here is dazed–Democrats and Republicans alike. Brown is an interesting study. Pro-abortion voices decry him as anti-choice and pro-life voices decry him as not pro-life enough, while gay groups denounce him as “homophobic” for not supporting same-sex marriage and pro-family groups thump him for advocating “civil unions.”

I’ve gotten a lot of E-mails on Senator-Elect Brown, including from a top sitting US Senator and top Christian leaders in Massachusetts and elsewhere. He is an interesting study. As far as I can tell, Sen. Brown is what 18th Century founder of the Methodist Church John Wesley called a “Bible Christian.” The best information I have is that the Brown family’s home church is New England Chapel in Franklin, MA. It’s in the network of new Christian Reformed Churches. That is, the congregation is contemporary in its culture and style, “Evangelical” in its ethos, and soft in its delivery of its message. At its core ,though, it’s old-time Calvinistic Reformed Christianity, which can be strict and severe. (See Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin.) Still, Brown seems to define himself religiously. Among other things, he has a serious relationship to a community of Catholic nuns; definitely not typical of Christian Reformed.

Senator Brown’s pastor, Chris Mitchell , a graduate of the evangelically renowned Gordon-Conwell Seminary, where Billy Graham once chaired the board, seems like the kind of minister I generally keep company with and the church is very familiar in the way in conducts its ministries. (We posted a video of one of their recent baptismal services–check it out on our Faith and Action homepage.)

I’ll post more on Scott Brown and his faith. For now, I encourage you to pray for the senator-elect from the Bay State. He’ll need it–badly.

Rob +

Today I stood alone outside the All Souls Unitarian Church in Northwest Washington, DC, as inside Mayor Adrian Fenty signed into law so-called “same-sex marriage” for the Nation’s Capital. It was bitter-sweet. I expected others to be there, but nary a soul showed up to witness to the Truth about God-ordained “Holy Matrimony.” Still, it was a rich time of ministry. I prayed, read aloud the Scriptures about marriage to those going into the ceremony and later ministered to many as they exited.

In the taxi heading over from our ministry center, I asked the Lord to fill me with His love so I was sure to communicate that rather than condemn those who are so often deeply wounded people. Because of short attention spans and the very cold weather, I spent the better part of the time simply announcing, “Love is a gift from God, but marriage is reserved for a man and a woman.” God’s answer to my prayer was evident in the unusual exchanges I had. Most people paused, thanked me and went on their way. This was far different from the punches, cigarette burns, spitting and even urinating on that I’ve gotten in other similar situations. (Perhaps it’s that the new “law” made them feel empowered, I don’t know. Whatever it was, it made the whole exercise not only spiritually uplifting, but actually enjoyable.)

I did gently and respectfully confront the mayor as he left the building. He “thanked” me for sharing my opinion with him. What really made the day though, was when a self-identified “lesbian activist” engaged me in conversation. We talked about God’s will for human sexuality, marriage, the complementarity between male and female, and her long history of personal hurts and disappointments. As we talked, she admitted her sin (as I did), prayed with me and asked God’s forgiveness. She cried her eyes out and we hugged, promising to stay in touch by E-mail. It was blessed and beautiful.

I should also mention the horse-mounted police officer assigned to “keep an eye on me” said about what was going on inside the church, “This isn’t right.” He then thanked me for being there and doing what I did. My spirit bore witness with his that he was a fellow Christian believer. Please pray for all these people.

You can watch some of this in the videos soon to be posted below.

For more on this read on at our Myspace and Facebook Pages!

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

– Philippians 4:4-7

Cultural seismometers may go crazy today, but it doesn’t mean we all must dive under our beds. There is a way to stay on balance even when the earth beneath you is shifting—and it’s simpler than you may think . . .

It’s 3:45 AM and I am up, wide-awake and praying. No, not about the impending California State Supreme Court decision affecting marriage. Nor am I praying about President Obama’s pick for the next US Supreme Court, which he may announce today.

Instead, I’ve been praying for my father, Hank Schenck, who is dying of cancer. Oh, I’ll get around to praying for the other things, but Dad comes first. I tell you this because it’s helping me to keep things in proper perspective. There are the things that matter; and then there are the things that really matter.

When I was in Bible college preparing for the ministry, my mentors drove into me, “God first, family second, everything else third.”

Like so many things, I didn’t get the practical implementation of this quite right until only recently. Ask my now adult kids about the time I “allocated” to them during my early years of ministry. Back then I was sure it was plenty, given all the demands on my life, but it wasn’t—not by a long shot.

So, while today carries a potential double-whammy to one of the core institutions in human civilization and American culture (and I draw a critical distinction between the two), one thing remains immanently more important: Dad.

I say it again because a lot of people may be shaken up by what happens today: The California Supreme Court, representing the judicial branch of the largest state in our Union, may rule that a constitutional amendment by the people of that state is, well, unconstitutional. To my layman’s mind, that seems ludicrous, because the only way to change a constitution is by amendment. If the court strikes down this amendment, it will say two things: The California state constitution is immutable and seven judges are the only ones ever able to discern its meaning and application. That’s weird.

Should President Obama announce his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court today, it could signal a prospective federal justice sympathetic to such an outcome in California and receptive to a national challenge on the definition of marriage. (I know the President has affirmed that marriage is only for a man and woman, but his legal philosophy makes room for a different finding on that question once its examined by his judicial appointees.)

Notwithstanding the outcomes of all these machinations, one thing remains clear to me: God, family and everything else remains the order for today, tomorrow and forever. Even if I lived in some God-awful place, like Somalia, or North Korea, or Cuba, these would still be the right priorities for me.

Should Prop 8’s success go down in flames today, “God, Family, Then Everything Else,” will not only stand, it will become our “modus vivendi,” or way of living, in the midst of cultural tension. This is the way the early Christians transformed the Roman world, a cultural environment in far greater conflict with Biblical Truth than what we here experience now or may experience in the near future.

It was because of their love of God, love of one another and love for even their enemies, that the first generations of Christians were able to be salt and light. Many of their killers were converted in the end and whole empires embraced their message.

When I’m done praying for Dad this morning, I’ll pray for the rest of my family, friends and loved ones. Then I’ll pray for my enemies and the enemies of God’s people around the world. Then, I’ll pray for the California Supreme Court, the people of California, our President and his impending nominee for the High Court. Oh, and I’ll pray for our country and for countries around the world that are far worse off than our own.

That should keep me on balance—and get more done than if I spend a sleepless night fretting about all of this.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Let us pray . . .