For the 16th year in a row, I was humbled to open the annual prayer service we hold in the US Capitol focused on ending the terrible blight of abortion. Each year hundreds of the most dedicated pro-life activists in our country attend this two-hour  gathering. While most of the program is given to prayer and scripture reading, we do hear from from distinguished leaders on the sacredness of  human life. This year they included our great friend of so many years, Fr. Frank Pavone, president of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, the primary sponsor of the event. Joining him was Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and the firey Bishop Harry Jackson, an outstanding voice in the African-American pro-life community.

This is the only uncompromosing prayer and preaching event of its kind ever held INSIDE the US Capitol complex. It doesn’t happen without a herculean struggle, though. Every year we get right up to start time and we’re still threatened with expulsion, even though we go through all the proper channels for approval. This year we were rescued by Virginia congressman Randy Forbes, a fine Christianwho navigated treacherous political waters to ensure we could hold our event. Even so, as we sang–accapella as directed–an emissary was sent to shut us down.  Notwithstanding the opposition, we had “church” today in the US Capitol, with Christians of every tradition praying together and listening to the Word being powerfully proclaimed!

Hope you can join us next year–always on or about Januray 22. Mark your calendar now!!

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 +