JOIN ME IN PRAYER!

Hope you’re joining me in daily prayer for our government officials. I’ve been preaching a message to churches across the country urging God’s people to pray for our nation’s leaders as never before.

These are troubled times, but there’s a scriptural formula for finding peace in troubled times. It’s found in 1 Timothy 2: 1 – 3. We’re putting that principle into practice EVERY DAY with a short, 2-3 minute prayer.

If you visit our website every day for a just a few minutes—when it’s convenient for you—you can follow along with me. At the end of a year, we will have prayed for every top government official on both the state and federal levels—at just 2 or 3 minutes a day!

Let’s do this together. As my friend, Pastor Charles Nestor of Calvary Chapel South Orlando, told his congregation after I preached on this passage, “This is something every person can do. You don’t have to be a preacher, or evangelist, or missionary to Capitol Hill. Every Christian can pray!”

Hey, let’s really commit to do this together. Join me every day for our 1 Timothy 2 Daily Prayer sessions right here at our website. You’ll see the difference it makes—prayer does work!

See you in prayer . . .

Rob +

OK, I give in, I can’t write anything today without mentioning Michael Jackson, and I say that with all due respect. Actually, the announcement of the pop culture icon’s sudden death yesterday did give me a tinge of sadness, though I was not among his music fans. I knew just enough about his enormously public, yet supremely lonely existence that it left me lamenting he never found the source of true happiness. Robbed of his childhood by a father obsessed with achieving vicarious fame and fortune through the exploitation of his children, Jackson was disfigured by his stardom, literally and figuratively. While his moral behavior was more than suspect, he still consistently professed his belief in God and Jesus. As an Evangelical Christian, I do believe in last-minute personal redemption. Only God knows what was in Michael Jackson’s heart and mind at the moment he breathed his last.

That’s not what I intended to post here, today. Instead, it was about another post—the Washington Post, that is. A reporter called me yesterday to ask about the two recent high-profile moral scandals with political connections: Senator John Ensign and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. I’ve met both, but only briefly, that’s why I thought it curious the Post called me. Halfway through the 35-minute interview, it became clear the article wasn’t really about them, their admissions of infidelity or my commentary on either. It was instead about a tangential connection both men had to “C Street House,” a Christian outreach that has been something of model for our own, at least in part. “C Street,” as it’s affectionately known, is, like our ministry center, a 19th century Victorian row house located on “the other side” of Capitol Hill; that is, on the south side of the Capitol, near the chamber of the House of Representatives. We’re more on the “north side,” near the Senate, in many ways a world away. If you think of north as being “above” south, then you understand how senators see themselves in reference to the “south chamber.”

Anyway, I digress. The Post reporter pressed me for information on the somewhat “secretive” C Street House. I knew what he meant. Operated by the little-known Fellowship Foundation, “C Street” and other related Fellowship programs are extremely discreet, sometimes obsessively so. Unless you’re a donor, volunteer or participant, the only thing you may ever hear about them is their sponsorship of the annual National Prayer Breakfast featuring the President, among other national and international luminaries. What I explained to the Post is that all ministries in Washington need to protect the confidence of those we minister to, and I’m sure that’s a primary motive for C Street’s low profile. I know Doug Coe, the 50-year leader of the Fellowship, and he does hold an amazing range of confidences, from Hillary Clinton to Tom Coburn. Still, I think the Fellowship has been just a tad bit too clandestine. Jesus said, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing” (John 18:20).

We’re probably way too “out there” for the Fellowship Foundation’s taste, but I do believe we’re not to hide what we have under any kind of bushel basket; it’s too valuable to too many. As Jesus seemed to suggest, it also opens us up to questions about our real intentions, something the Post reporter tried to grasp, but in the end, didn’t quite get. He did get close to my final point, and it was more about me and our Faith and Action team, than it was about our comrades in the Fellowship. I warned that the great seduction in doing ministry in Washington is to get caught up in the aura of power, prestige and personality cults that dominate here. One of the parallel temptations is to accommodate the people we seek to reach, rather than challenge them. Sadly, that may mean we look the other way at their compromising behavior instead of saying as Nathan did to King David, “Thou art the man!” (See 2 Samuel 12.) In a day when every potentate was an Ahmadinejad, and far more menacing, Nathan was literally putting his head on the chapping block, a fate far worse than what may be for us in Washington a simple scaring away a few otherwise curious politicians. You can read the Post article here.

Finally, on this, I sent my own “Thou art the man” letter to Governor Sanford yesterday, urging him in a pastoral way to immediately resign his office. You’ll understand why when you read the letter below.

On my way to Florida this weekend to preach for the first time in weeks. I was silenced by oral surgery, but I’m on the mend and will be fully back in the game this Sunday. If you’re anywhere near Orlando Sunday morning, join long-time friend Pastor Charles Nestor and me at Calvary Chapel South Orlando. Their website has all the info you need.

Back to you next week  . . .

Rob +

June 25, 2009

The Honorable Mark Sanford
P. O. Box 12267
Columbia, SC 29211

My dear Governor:

Your recent public disclosure of marital infidelity has induced me to write this letter. I send you this communiqué in my capacity as an ordained minister in the Evangelical tradition, a pastor, a shepherd of souls, and as one who has prayed for you, thanked God for your leadership and always spoken well of you in public and in private. You have not solicited my counsel, but I feel a burden to share it with you, for whatever it may be worth.

Please know that I offer this as a fellow sinner saved only by God’s grace. He knows of my personal failings and sinful impulses, just as he knew always of yours. According to the New Testament definition of sin, my list is as long as yours. Our Lord died for us, “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:7-9). This is what makes the Gospel truly “Good News.”

Having said all this, I humbly offer to you this pastoral advice: First, when these sins overtake us and ruin what is best of our lives, it is better to say less to the public and more to God and to those who have been injured by us. I urge you to now observe an extended period of public silence and address your interior spiritual life and the repair of your family. I also admonish you to immediately step down from public office. It has been my experience and that of many others in the ministry, that such turbulent and injurious human failings, such as this one in your life, require our complete and undivided attention.

After 25 years of ordained ministry, 15 of them serving individuals in high public office on Capitol Hill, I am convinced holding on to such an office does nothing to promote personal or family healing, but, in fact, almost always adds to the damage done. For the sake of your family, all those you love, the people of your state, and your own soul, I urge you to immediately resign your office and step down as governor of South Carolina.

While distance may interfere with my ability to serve you further in any way, I make myself available to you at any time. Be assured of my constant prayers for you. I am,

Very truly yours in Christ,

Rev. Rob Schenck
President

Still healing from my surgery this week, so I won’t spend a lot of time on the keyboard. I found even this wears me out. I did think you might be interested in an article I wrote some time ago, but was just published in the Evangel, the quarterly journal of the Evangelical Church Alliance (ECA), America’s oldest association of independent evangelical church leaders, churches and institutions. I serve as chair of the ECA’s Committee on Church and Society. My commentary addresses the new challenges that serious Christians of all persuasions face in light of the new president and his administration. You can download it here or cut and paste the following URL into your browser address window: http://www.ecainternational.org/images/images_A4697/Spring%202009.pdf .

More when I’m better. Thanks for your prayers!

Your missionary to our nation’s leaders,

Rob Schenck

I got quite the reaction to my commentary and prayers, re: The upcoming confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the pick of President Barack Obama for US Supreme Court. I’ll share a few of the comments here, but will lead with the most cogent, from my good friend and advisor Patti Lyman. Patti is an immigration attorney specializing in religious persecution cases. She and her husband, Frank, are sharp, witty, and a ball of fun. We love them in the Lord. Patti is much more conservative than I am, politically, that is. I do appreciate her perspectives and stand corrected on one very important point: My poor choice of words in my recent E-mail. I referred to “Judge Sotomayor’s strong Catholic background.” As you can see, Patti objected. She’s right. I should have written, “Judge Sotomayor’s strong Catholic education,” because that’s what I meant. The record on the nominee’s religious sensibilities does seem to indicate she has been mostly a non-observant, “secularist” Catholic. Here’s what Patti wrote:

“Rob, with all due respect, referring to this nominee’s “strong Catholic background” is misleading to those who sincerely rely on you as a source of credible information on these matters.  She attended Catholic school (I assume her mother’s decision), she is Catholic by identification, and reportedly attends mass. (At least George Tiller served as a “church” usher.) However, there is no evidence that she has any personal fidelity whatsoever to the primary tenets of the Christian faith or Christian morality.  She does not see people as equal before God, but shamefully labels them as greater or lesser, depending upon their race, per her own statements and opinions.  Even worse, she is a rabid supporter of notoriously pro-abortion groups whose agendas she worked hard to advance, as outlined not only by me but other independent sources.

Just as David Duke could not be fairly referenced without stating his association with racist groups, this nominee’s “Catholic” background is not fairly referenced without making clear her voluntary associations and conduct which contradict that identity.

Maybe I’m the only pain in the neck who notices these things, and I’m sure I’m a real buzzkill in the midst of this fiesta, but someone has to say it.

Your sister and friend,

Patti “

Now, here’s some other stuff that came back to me generated either by the E-mail or the YouTube video of my prayers and anointing at the hearing room doors:

“Rob Schenck is truly and amazing man of God. I got to hear him speak many times at my church and I have spoke to him in person about how my miscarriage kept a young girl from aborting her baby. He speaks the word of God and I think it is awesome that God placed him where he is today to have an impact on our government. Praise the Lord Rob is doing God’s work.”

“Can you please pray for the rapture to come and take you and all others like you away so we can finally be from your ridiculous mythology?”

“I do not see anything wrong with this prayer – quite of the contrary – very biblical since God is still on the throne using His people on earth to bring about His will of the earth.”

“um, he should be charged, I’m a christian, but I believe anointment oil to be idolatrous, and I think he should be charged with defacing public property frankly.”

As you can see, the comments run the gamut. One point for my critics, God commanded the Israelites to anoint the Tabernacle and George Washington used oil in dedicating the US Capitol. So . . .

Now, on a few other recent topics:

Shooting at the Holocaust Museum: A profoundly sad episode in the life of our nation. My dad, who is Jewish, gave his four children (my twin brother, Paul, and older sisters) a thorough education in the horrors of the Holocaust and made sure we followed every development in the American struggle for civil rights. It was from that foundation that Paul and I launched into the pro-life movement 21 years ago. I’ve been in the Holocaust Museum countless times. No doubt I was cleared many times by the fallen officer, Stephen Tyrone Johns, a six-year veteran of the security department there. The perpetrator’s hatred and unspeakably evil act in such a hallowed place makes this a terrible reminder of just how sinful human beings can be.

I went to the site just minutes after the crime. It brought back awful memories of another shooting, at the US Capitol in 1998. I was there  to present a Ten Commandments plaque to the then majority leader of the House of Representatives. We had just concluded when we were ordered to evacuate because there was “a gunman at large. An officer’s been shot.” It turned out to be two officers, J.J. Chestnut and John Michael Gibson, both of whom died. Officer Chestnut had cleared us through security that morning, saying of our Ten Commandments sculpture, “Praise God! That’s what we need here, the Word of God!” Officer Gibson was Minority Leader Tom DeLay’s guard. He took the fatal bullet as Congressman DeLay huddled in prayer with tourists behind the barred door of his office. When the Senate chaplain learned I had a group of pastors with me, we were all conscripted to minister to the huge number of tourists held by police as material witnesses. What a memory.

A post script on Obama speech to Muslim world: I mentioned in my earlier post my discomfort with Mr. Obama’s references to Israel. It’s worth listening to all six parts of radio personality Dennis Prager on the Cairo speech. Mr. Prager is a “modern Orthodox” Jewish commentator. He also has a comprehensive and well-informed knowledge of Christianity and Christians. I don’t agree with everything he says, but he brings an interesting and worthwhile perspective. You’ll find it here.  Also, believe it or not, I recommend this piece in the Washington Post
about Israeli Prime Minister Beyamin Netanyahu’s response to Mr. Obama. Mr. Netanyahu delivered a strong apologia for Zionism, including the Jewish side of the historical struggle for a homeland, in a speech at Bar Ilan University. Since he delivered it in Hebrew, you may do better to simply read the transcript here.

Back after I recover from my (mild) surgery this week . . .

Rob +

OBAMA SPEECH TO MUSLIM WORLD: MASTERFUL BUT MISSING CRUCIAL ELEMENT

It took me longer than I thought to carefully—and prayerfully—analyze the President’s recent Cairo speech to the Islamic world. As is so often the case, it was masterfully crafted. The precision, nuance and phraseology were perfectly pitched. It was a speech I would have in large part felt comfortable making myself. (Save for a few salient portions, especially on Israel, but that’s a whole other commentary!) In fact—and it’s hard to sound modest in saying—but, I had made similarly toned remarks extemporaneously during my first visit to Morocco five years ago. (Not that anyone noticed!)

Like the President, I think a lot of good can come from focusing on what makes the largely Christian West similar to the Islamic East. There’s one big impediment in this, though. Before I address it, let me first dwell a little on what I think we do have in common with Muslims. Then I’ll point out two real big ones the President left out. That oversight, whether deliberate or inadvertent, may prove fatal to Mr. Obama’s attempted rapprochement.

What we have most in common is a belief in God. Virtually all Americans (something like 97 + percent) say they believe in God. We also regularly worship. A large segment of the US population routinely visits a church, synagogue or other house of worship. West and East, American and Islamic, also hold to the existence of an all-powerful Creator as a foundational worldview.

These components of American life are slipping, to be sure. That may soon create new problems with the Islamic world, as is the case with radically secularized European nations.

Now, onto those things the President didn’t mention, but may become the biggest obstacles in the road ahead.

The first is modesty for young people. In my initial face-to-face meeting with Islamic leaders in Morocco, one of them asked, “Why do Americans want to make our daughters here into prostitutes?”

It was a stunning opener. I was momentarily speechless. He then went on to say, “Your young entertainers, like Brittany Spears, are more immodest than prostitutes in our country. No prostitute here would dress or act like she does.” I responded by assuring my interlocutor that Christian Americans shared exactly his concern, that our families and churches reinforce modesty in dress and behavior for young people. His look of incredulity eventually gave way to relief and he smiled warmly.

The second is the sacredness of marriage as between a man and woman. Another eye-popping opener in that first exchange: “Are you the kind of Christians that believe in homosexual marriage?”

The Islamic world is outraged over American news video of men engaging in publicly overt sexual behavior with other men, and women with women. In the Islamic world, homosexual activity is supremely immoral and even criminal. The prospect of increased US public sanction of so-called “same-sex” marriage is an insurmountable hurtle in American-Islamic relations.

Make no mistake about it; Islam is about building civilizations compatible with Islamic religious and moral law. As Christians we have serious conflict with Islam’s theological portrayal of the nature of God, the claim of the Koran for being the last and purest revelation of the means of salvation and the imposition of Sharia law, but we do agree with the majority of their highest moral principles. The sanctity of marriage and the family is one of those cardinal tenets.

I don’t know if the President overlooked these critical factors on purpose or out of ignorance, but they threaten any long-term success in reducing suspicion and contempt for Americans. It’s not enough for the President to decry the murderous acts of extremists. Even if that were accomplished (and it’s a very long way off), the more important, and far more personal discomfort of losing children to immorality is a greater and more universal source of anxiety to Muslims.

But I digress. What I really want to get to is the much, much larger, and far more challenging question of religious “freedom” in the Muslim world. We must face the fact that Islam teaches unequivocally that Muslims are not free to change their religions and other religions are not free to suggest Muslims may want to embrace a different faith. In some moderate countries, like Morocco, the punishment for proselytizing can be as mild as a courteous reprimand or even polite deportation. In other severe countries it can be prison, and in rare instances, execution. For Muslim converts, the penalties for conversion are almost always terrifying—from complete social isolation, forced dispossession or exile, to vigilante murder or state execution.

Carefully crafted language, subtle, nuanced and easily put aside, is not enough to bridge these massive chasms. If Mr. Obama is to truly effect a change in relations with the Muslim world, he must deftly and quickly move leading voices in Islam—and not the marginally religious or secular ones—to unequivocally denounce these repressive principles and declare complete religious freedom—not just “tolerance.” At present, “religious freedom” in Muslim lands mostly means the “freedom” to be whatever religion one was born into. That’s not “ religious freedom,” that’s simply “ethnic tolerance.”

To practice true freedom, the Muslim world must embrace the immutable “right” to change one’s religion at will.

I’d like to think that the obviously brilliant and articulate Mr. Obama and his Yale and Harvard educated minions can make all this happen, but I’m afraid they cannot. It will take another kind of wisdom, the kind a sheep’s skin from the loftiest institutions cannot produce:

“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing,” says the Apostle Paul.

“No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” (1 Corinthians 2:6-7)

Let’s pray that President Obama, who told the Muslim world, “I’m a Christian,” is, in fact, a praying Christian who is truly seeking “God’s secret wisdom.” Without it, there will only have been that momentary good will and exhilaration in the Great Hall of Cairo University and the West Wing T.V. viewing rooms, and not much more.

As I write this post my Southwest flight to Seattle is just reaching cruise altitude. Unfortunately, I missed the President’s historic Cairo speech to the Muslim world, but I’ll view it on the Internet as soon as we land at our stopover in Chicago.

The speech is important no matter what the President said. I’ve traveled to the Muslim world to conduct formal dialogues between Christian and Muslim religious leaders. I have a Muslim family member. (As well as Jewish and Christian of every variety.) One of my dearest friends in Washington is the ambassador of a Muslim kingdom.

Whether we know it or not, or like it or not, there is a global Muslim resurgence that we must engage, first, as Christians, and as Americans. It in part defines the new global religious, cultural and political landscape.

Sadly, an aberrant, violent and primitive Islam has captured the attention of the international media, with its voracious hunger for fear, conflict and blood. They are also actively recruiting young alienated, hopeless and angry Muslim men—and some women—and radicalizing them.  The numbers of these distorted extremists, though, are miniscule when compared to the hundreds of millions of peaceful, reasonable and even morally compatible Muslims.

In order for meaningful progress to be made in relations with the Muslim world, one big issue must be faced honestly, and I hope the President included it in his speech. Islam is as much about building an earthly kingdom as it is building a heavenly one. In contrast, Christians wait for another time and place for this. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36 NIV)

Of course, Christians have not always obeyed this principle. The recent shooting of an abortion doctor is tragic evidence of this. But violations of the boundary between the earthly and heavenly realms, such as the Crusades of a thousand years ago, often had much more to do with earthly power and politics than with heavenly religion.

Still, it’s when Christians depend on earthly strategies and weapons to advance Christ’s kingdom that we get into serious trouble. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV) For Christians, the true meaning of the “separation of church and state,” is the clear distinction between spheres of jurisdiction. The church, the family and civil government each have their own realms of authority. The church teaches transcendent truth and cares for souls; the family, marriages, children, progeny and property; the civil government is charged with keeping the citizenry safe and secure.

Islam generally blends all three of these spheres together without apology. For Al Qaida or the Taliban, there is no problem carrying an AK47 in the same hand with a Koran, or having a mullah mete out the death penalty and maybe even serve as excutioner.

President Obama tells us he is a “devout Christian.” If so, he must be aware of these seriously consequential differences between the Christian-informed West and the Muslim world. This chasm must be addressed candidly, and ultimately resolved by reasonable Islamic leaders.

One thing is certain; a fruitful dialogue cannot be successfully achieved by using the language and tactics of radical secularism. Islam, not matter where it exists, is a distinctly religious worldview. Some of that worldview is held in common with truly devout Christians: The existence of a transcendent and all-powerful Creator God; the fact He has revealed His moral will for humanity; a concern for personal modesty and a sacred regard for the family. Muslims even believe in Jesus and adore Mary. They call Christians and Jews, “people of the Book.”

To achieve any manner of peaceful coexistence with our Muslim neighbors will require the sincere use of religious language and concepts. I’ve been told our diplomatic corps are given only a few hours of training in this. They will need a whole lot more if they’re to be even marginally successful, if they can be successful at all.

The best people to facilitate a successful dialogue are true believers. As I said, I haven’t heard the President’s speech, but we’ve begun our descent into Chicago, so I will shortly. I hope and pray he understands the true nature of this conflict and is willing to call on those who are spiritually and religiously discerning and articulate.

Back with more analysis after I’ve analyzed the speech.

Rob +

Here’s just a summary of what’s happened during the last 72 hours:

- Sunday was wonderful! Cheryl and I were hosted by Pastor Gary and Terri Hamrick at Cornerstone Chapel in nearby Leesburg, Virginia. It was a great time of ministry as I preached (or as Calvary Chapel church folk call it, “taught”) at four morning services! (I don’t know how Pastor Hamrick does it every week!) There was a very warm response to the ministry there. This is one of the capital region’s most significant evangelical churches. We met hundreds, if not thousands of people, made lots of new friends and enjoyed the time with Hamricks immensely. Check them out at www.cornerstonechapel.net

- I went immediately from the end of the last service at Cornerstone to Dulles airport where I was scheduled to catch the only flight of the day to Newark, New Jersey, that would get me there in time to preside at an ordination service for the Evangelical Church Alliance. (The ministerial candidate was a young man named Ezra Sohn who serves on the pastoral staff of the dynamic, highly evangelical and Korean speaking Bethany United Methodist Church in Wayne, New Jersey.) Because of high winds in Newark the flight was delayed indefinitely, so I literally ran the length of the terminal and barely got on board a flight to JFK. This flight was delayed, though, because the first officer over slept at his hotel! (That’ll make you a praying passenger!) Anyway, I got there, survived a harrowing taxi ride and we had a beautiful ceremony. I did an immediate turn-around to the airport, though, to get back to Washington for what follows . . .

- Monday morning started early with a breakfast meeting in the US Capitol during which I hosted Tim Geoglien, formally of the White House and now a V.P at Focus on the Family, for a speech. We had the normal group I generally meet with there, plus many guests. It was a very special day because it was my first time back to the weekly gathering since our Faith and Action program director and my executive assistant, Peggy Birchfield-Neinaber, was elected president of the group. As an added bonus, the regular prayer was offered by Jack Crans of Point Man Ministries, another of our allied ministry partners.

- Following breakfast we hosted a number of pastors and other guests at our ministry center, briefing them on what we do on Capitol Hill. At some point I was summoned across the street to address a news conference sponsored by Rev. Pat Mahoney on the tragic shooting of the abortion doctor George Tiller in Wichita, KS. My comments denouncing the shooting made headlines across the country, but I was unaware of it until the next day.

- In the afternoon we took our guests just a few doors up the street to the headquarters of the American Center for Law and Justice where our friends Jay and Pam Sekulow hosted a luncheon for us. Jay just returned from Israel and gave us a full briefing on the situation there, as well as his insights on significant changes in US-Israeli relations.

- From then on into the night we were engaged in a number of activities on Capitol Hill. It was one breathless time of private and public prayer and ministry–and it’s not over! As I write this, some of our volunteer extended ministry team members are just across the way in a prayer meeting with a top US senator and will later participate in an afternoon strategy session. Later on, I’ll do a live television interview for the Christian Broadcasting Network from their studios across town.

While this kind of schedule is challenge for anyone to keep up with, I wouldn’t exchange it for anything. It’s your prayers, friendship and generous giving that keep us going. Thank you for being part of the team!

Back later . . .

Rob