ANYTHING BUT BORED!

Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting:

What you read in the newspapers, hear on radio or see on television isn’t everything that goes on around here. While my primary responsibility is to lead Faith and Action in its mission to “Challenge Capitol Hill with Biblical Truth and Change the Nation One Policymaker at a Time,” there’s plenty more seats I occupy for the sake of the Gospel.

Here are just a few:

- The National Pro-Life Religious Council (NPRC). As a board member and past president, I advise and do some work for this virtually unique organization. Its aim is really two-fold, to pray and work for a pro-life witness within major Christian denominations and provide an alternative voice to apostate, pro-abortion, liberal “churches.” The NPRC is now the prime sponsor of our National Memorial for the Pre-born and their Mothers and Fathers, the only full-scale pro-life Christian worship service held inside the US Capitol complex here on Capitol Hill. “The Memorial,” as we call it, is a remembrance of all the victims of abortion—babies, mothers and fathers—as well as a celebration of God’s gift of Life. It coincides with the annual March for Life. Both events fall on January 22, the exact anniversary of the infamous Roe V. Wade Supreme Court decision that opened the blood gates of abortion. Watch for more information at our website, http://www.faithandaction.org/.

- The Institute on Religion and Public Policy (IRPP). As a board member and member of the President’s Circle, I advise the IRPP on achieving its objective of promoting Religious Liberty as the foundation to all human rights. The Institute under its founding president, my friend, Joseph Grieboski, does unparalleled work. It was Joe who first invited me to Morocco, the beginning of our ongoing Christian Friendship Mission there. That same delegation of Evangelicals included Faith and Action trustee and founder of the huge Creation Christian music festivals, Harry Thomas. He has put together the only two large-scale Christian music festivals in the Arab speaking world, both in the fabled Moroccan city of Marrakech. The last festival drew some 200,000 attendees!

My latest foray with the IRPP was to Sudan and its deeply troubled Darfur region. Joe and his team do a masterful job engaging even the most hostile governments. We met with high-level officials and toured refugee camps, talking at great length with local tribal leaders.

- The National Clergy Council (NCC). I serve as president of this organization, originally founded by my brother, Dr. Paul Schenck, as a pro-life action group of pastors in Western New York. The NCC quickly grew into a much larger network with a more expansive set of concerns including the Sanctity of Life, the Sanctity of Marriage and the Family and the Public Acknowledgment of God. Today the NCC involves thousands of church leaders from all traditions including Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant. In fact, we now have a denomination represented for every letter of the alphabet! The NCC is a powerful force here on the Hill. Elected officials know how powerfully persuasive the pulpit is—and that the average pastor shakes hands with hundreds of people (read that voters) each week.

- The Evangelical Church Alliance (ECA). The ECA is America’s oldest association of Evangelical Christian clergy, dating back to the late 19th century and the archetypal revival movements of D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey and I am in my third term as a board member and in my second term as chairman of the Committee on Church and Society. We also maintain the largest number of active duty military chaplains from Evangelical ranks. The ECA not only provides for me a place of rich fellowship, but also Biblical accountability. My involvement with the ECA is a great asset as it adds substantial credibility to my opinions here on Capitol Hill and throughout the country, particularly with the media.

- The Capitol Hill Executive Service Club. As an active member and past board member, this 35-year old networking group provides much needed friendship, mutual encouragement and incomparable access to people and places here. The Club hosts a weekly parade of unique leaders that address our Thursday morning breakfast meeting. The seven years I’ve been with them have been some of the most memorable and worthwhile I’ve sent with any particular group. On any given week we may host a Supreme Court justice, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a world-class author or senior United States senator. Here in Washington, people equal access and vital information. A get a lot of both—not to mention quality friendships and alliances—from this unique collection of America’s finest!

- The Council for National Policy (CNP). Feared by every liberal, the CNP is one of the oldest and most influential culturally and politically conservative groups in the nation. I can’t say much about who sits among its members, but I can say it has had an unparalleled role in shaping public policy and opinion since the days of Ronald Reagan. Thought not an exclusively Christian group, it includes many of America’s top conservative Christians. As a new member of the CNP board of governors, I now have an unmatched opportunity to play a decisive role in preserving what is best about America.

As you can see, with this and so much more—my regular preaching schedule, frequent media interviews, routine consultations with many more groups—I’m anything but bored!

More later---for now, I’ve got to get to work!