http://gallery.mac.com/robschenck#100512
Sunday, June 29, 2008
VIDEO POST FROM CREATION
Check out my video post on the last two days of Creation--from 27,000 feet!
The Third and Fourth Days of Creation
Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting:
Days 3 and 4 of Creation (The festival version in Pennsylvania--not Origin of the Universe Version of much greater substance!)
I wound up my part in this year’s Creation music festival by tossing the second half of my afternoon seminar to my twin brother, Paul. I had originally planned to finish it up and literally run for my waiting car so I could get to the Baltimore airport in time for my 6:50 flight to Tampa. I’m speaking Sunday morning at the wonderful Calvary Chapel South Orlando where my friend Charles Nestor II is pastor. The trip between the festival site and the airport was over three hours, making it a bit too close for comfort. So, at the last minute I asked Paul to take the second half of the presentation. To be honest, I felt he had a better handle on the material than I did. The title of my talk was “Juno’s Moment: It Has Fingernails.” Festival founder Harry Thomas had told me he was hoping for a pro-life message this year. I was all too happy to comply. As you know, Paul and I have given the last 20 years of our lives and ministries to championing this very first of our God-given human rights.
The title was taken from the film “Juno,” written by “Diablo Cody” (a pseudonym for writer . . .) and starring the precocious Ellen Page. It follows the most-time hilariously quirky main character, Juno McDuff, who at 16 discovers she’s pregnant. Her first impulse is to get an abortion, but after encountering a classmate holding a pro-life sign outside the clinic, she thinks twice about her “choice.” “Juno’s Moment” comes when Su Chin calls out to her, “Your baby has a beating heart ya’ know!” And then the zinger, “It has fingernails!” At that, Juno pauses but shrugs her shoulders. (It’s worth watching this scene on YouTube.) The idea germinates, though, and ultimately she decides to keep the baby and adopts her out to a well-deserving couple.
The film is enormously popular with young people. It garnered four Oscar nominations. (Although I’m not sure it won any.) When I asked the hundreds of kids who attended how many had seen it, a whoop when up and so did an overwhelming number of hands. The point of my talk was to come at this paramount moral issue from a completely different angle, and that is the question of “human rights.” One thing I discovered talking to kids at Creation is that they don’t list “abortion” or “the sanctity of life” as one of their top concerns. (We did scores of audio and video interviews.) When we asked them what they were concerned about, they said things like, “the economy,” “the war in Iraq,” “AIDS and poverty in Africa,” and “free health care and college tuition.”
As with any generational transition, these kids don’t use the same language or pursue the same associations as their parents. They want to make their own mark on the world—and serve Christ in their own way. I fully understand that. It was true of me 35 years ago. Back then I was a longhaired, counter-culture, last vestige of a hippie. Conventional “church religion” wasn’t appealing to me. The “Jesus People” movement was—and I grabbed on to it. Jesus was a radical who challenged the status quo. This generation is looking for a similar Savior—one who will buck the system and “speak truth to authority.” I don’t know about you, but I definitely see that Jesus in the Gospel. We can start there.
My brother made an interesting observation: The sin, sadness and problems of this time in world history is different from what shaped him and me as Christians. It goes without saying that it is that much different from what shaped their grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ worlds. The “enemy” in the world today is not communism or fascism, but killer diseases, tribal conflicts and what they see as rapacious capitalism that exploits the ignorant for financial gain. Whether they are right or wrong in these assessments, it is what is motivating them. Like the early apostles, we need to connect with those concerns and use them as platforms to deliver biblical and historically Christian truth in a way that connects with them.
My time at Creation was much more for listening and learning than for preaching and lecturing. I’m far from an expert in how to talk to these kids, let alone disciple, train and mobilize them, but we must. The average age of our Faith and Action support base is 55. We “senior Christians” may be older and wiser, but lack the energy, time and skills of these young people. The work of God needs them. “Of such is the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus said.
I thank God for the thousands of kids who committed their lives to Christ this year. (Our own Tanie and Jacqueline Guy supervised the extremely demanding prayer tent ministry.) Yet, these kids need a lot of spiritual care, teaching and training and direction. Pray for them and pray for us. I may be turning 50 this year, but I’m only now resolving to spend a lot more time with this emerging generation.
Thank God for our friend and Faith and Action trustee Harry Thomas who is older than me but more committed to kids than ever. He founded the Creation festival 30 years ago and is still giving it his all. Thank God for his partner Tim Landis and the more than 2400 volunteers who poured their lives into Creation this year. If you want to get the full impact, you have to come next year. If you’re over 45, bring earplugs—and an open mind and heart!
(Register now for a big discount at www.creationfest.com.)
Your grateful missionary to elected and appointed officials,
Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
www.faithandaction.org
109 2nd St, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
FIRST DAY AT CREATION
Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting from deep inside the woods of middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania!
I've posted my first video blog from the fantastic Creation music festival in Mount Union, PA. Enjoy!
http://gallery.mac.com/robschenck/100483
Back with more video posts as this wonderful event unfolds. For more info visit www.creationfest.com
Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
www.faithandaction.org
109 2nd St, NE
Washington, Dc 20002
202-546-8329
Monday, June 23, 2008
CREATION IN FOUR DAYS RATHER THAN SIX!
Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting:
Tuesday I head up from Washington to Mt. Union, Pennsylvania, where I will once again experience Creation. (This is the four-day music festival version, not the far more dramatic Six-Day Origin-of-the-Universe version!) It all gets underway Wednesday, June 25 and concludes Sunday morning, June 29.
Creation Northeast '08 is the largest, longest running Christian music festival of it's kind. Started by my good friend and board member of our ministry, Harry Thomas, Creation draws tens of thousands of young--and old--people from every kind of Christian background. (It draws plenty of non-Christians, too.)
Harry asked if I would bring a pro-life message this year. As you know, Life is one of my passions, so it was easy to say, Yes! I speak on Saturday, June 28, at 3:00 PM, in the Woods II natural amphitheater. There's still time to register--just go to www.creationfest.com.
During the entire event I'll also be in our booth in the exhibit area conducting interviews for National Pro-Life Radio.net. To listen in logon at www.nplr.net.
Hope you'll be at Creation '08--Be there or be square! If not, hope you'll logon to www.nplr.net and listen in to my conversations with young people. If you're like me, you want to know what's on their minds and hearts, expecially as we approach the coming presidential election.
Meet you in Mount Union or online!
Your grateful missionary to elected and appointed officials,
Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
www.faithandaction.org
109 2nd St, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
Tuesday I head up from Washington to Mt. Union, Pennsylvania, where I will once again experience Creation. (This is the four-day music festival version, not the far more dramatic Six-Day Origin-of-the-Universe version!) It all gets underway Wednesday, June 25 and concludes Sunday morning, June 29.
Creation Northeast '08 is the largest, longest running Christian music festival of it's kind. Started by my good friend and board member of our ministry, Harry Thomas, Creation draws tens of thousands of young--and old--people from every kind of Christian background. (It draws plenty of non-Christians, too.)
Harry asked if I would bring a pro-life message this year. As you know, Life is one of my passions, so it was easy to say, Yes! I speak on Saturday, June 28, at 3:00 PM, in the Woods II natural amphitheater. There's still time to register--just go to www.creationfest.com.
During the entire event I'll also be in our booth in the exhibit area conducting interviews for National Pro-Life Radio.net. To listen in logon at www.nplr.net.
Hope you'll be at Creation '08--Be there or be square! If not, hope you'll logon to www.nplr.net and listen in to my conversations with young people. If you're like me, you want to know what's on their minds and hearts, expecially as we approach the coming presidential election.
Meet you in Mount Union or online!
Your grateful missionary to elected and appointed officials,
Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
www.faithandaction.org
109 2nd St, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
Friday, June 20, 2008
LOTS OF "STUFF" GOING ON!
Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting:
There's so much "stuff" going on around here there isn't time or space to write about all of it, but I thought you'd appreciate something of an overview. I know you pray for this ministry, carry a concern for it and generously support it, so here's your well-deserved briefing:
Our team is feverishly working on these projects during the summer months--
1) The big "Ten Commandments" Supreme Court case. I use quotation marks because this case is really not a Ten Commandments case at all. That is, the real question is on free speech, specifically by a municipality. This case out of Utah involves a challenge to the city of Pleasant Grove that displays a Ten Commandments sculpture in one of its city parks. Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice and a long-time friend to my brother Paul and me will argue the case. We handle this type of thing quite differently, though, then do legal groups like the ACLJ. Jay must rightfully argue this on the strict meaning of the law. We'll get that in, too, of course, but we use these legal platforms in another way. As you know, Faith and Action isn't a legal firm (like the ACLJ or Liberty Counsel) and we aren't a lobby group like CWA Action or the Family Research Council. We are an evangelistic outreach--proclaiming the Gospel and biblical truth to those in public office. So, we use these platforms to telegraph important truths and prophetic messages from Scripture and historical Christian moral instruction.
(A little side note: I recently helped host a forum that included one of the more outstanding Supreme Court justices. During his remarks the Justice said he takes the kind of brief we are submitting very seriously and tries to give them careful attention. Nice to know.)
2) Just as we're wrapping up the case with the Ten Commandments, another big one is brewing. Atheist activist Michael Newdow argued for the second time against the words "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year. They're expected to announce their decision on it any day. I pray I'm wrong, but I expect they'll once again strike down "Under God" as supremely illegal. (After all, that's what a court means whenever it declares something "unconstitutional," which I expect the Ninth Circuit to do on the Pledge, as they did in 2002. Remember, the Constitution is the highest law of the land. Whatever doesn't comport with the Constitution in the eyes of any court violates the highest law of the land, making it "supremely illegal.") We're preparing our team to respond with a news conference at the Supreme Court within hours of the decision. We're also working with a strategy group on a legislative response from the Congress affirming "Under God" as a permanent part of the Pledge and taking away jurisdiction from the courts so it can stay that way. (You may find this legal report on the record of the case interesting: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1196762679367) I should also mention that we're working with the White House to have the Medal of Freedom conferred on 98-year old Dr. George Docherty, the minister who preached the famous 1954 sermon "Under God" that in part led to the insertion of the phrase into the Pledge.
3) In these waning days of the present administration, it's important to work on as many strong Christian appointments to office as possible. For strategic reasons, I can't tell you which ones we're working on, but we are prayerfully and diligently working on a few! Please pray with us that the right people will be placed into the right offices. (Like Joseph in Egypt, they'll be needed during a future famine!) This is not easy work--lots of phone calls, E-mail, letters, faxes, meetings, networking, etc., etc--and all this is extracurricular!
4) We've officially launched what has been until now our "unofficial" internship program, training up a new generation of missionaries to Capitol Hill! We have had interns work in our ministry center before, but to be honest, they've been more like office assistants. Our current intern is our test case for an actual mentorship. I'm still a young guy at 49 (!), but I won't be forever. If the Lord gives this nation a little more time, we'll need solid young people to take up the mantel. Please pray for this side of our work. It's more important than ever!
5) Speaking of young people, I'll be with a bunch of them next week. Wednesday, June 25 - Saturday, June 28, I'll be at Creation East '08, the largest, longest running Christian music festival of its kind in the world. Founder Harry Thomas is a member of our Faith and Action board and a very close friend. He specifically asked me to bring a pro-life message. I've entitled it "Juno's Moment," for a scene in the wildly popular youth film Juno. It's the story of a 16-year old girl who is pregnant and seeks an abortion. As she's entering the "clinic," she encounters a pro-life classmate who tells her, "Your baby has fingernails." That's the moment that changes Juno's life. Well, you can see where it's going! We'll also have a booth in the artists' tent from which we'll broadcast live on National Pro-Life Radio.Net (http://www.nplr.net/) I'll interview some of the nearly 100,000 young people who will be there about their attitudes on the Sanctity of Life, the upcoming elections and more. Be sure to join in!
6) Never one to waste a day, I'll step off the platform at Creation on Saturday afternoon and into a waiting car to zip off to the airport and fly to Florida where I will speak at the terrific Calvary Chapel South Orlando on Sunday morning. I've known Pastor Charles Nestor II since he was a little boy. (His dad, Charles I--I love how royal that sounds--is one of my closest buddies.) In fact, "Pastor Charles" (as the younger is known) was an intern at our church up in Buffalo, New York, all those years ago. During that time he lived in my basement--a trauma that no doubt still haunts him! Anyway, Calvary Chapel South is a great church. If you're within driving distance of Orlando on Sunday, June 29, come on by!
7) In addition to all the "regular" ministry stuff we do (and there's plenty of that), I have my other responsibilities: As chairman of the Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance (I have a board meeting for that coming up in July and I'll speak at the annual convention in Branson, Missouri); I'm also on the board of the Nobel Prize nominated Institute on Religion and Public Policy. President Joseph Griebowski, who was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from Marywood University, has asked me to serve as the first Senior Fellow for Domestic Religious Liberty Issues. I'm honored and if, after being properly vetted I pass, I do plan to accept. My other board memberships are also ramping up demands on my time and attention: The National Pro-Life Religious Council, the Council for National Policy and the biblically faithful Methodist Episcopal Church USA. As you can see, I need to trim back, so please pray with me on which ones go. I love them all, so it's a tough call, but something's going to give over these summer months!
8) Finally--for now--we're gearing up for the annual Reese RoundTable, a forum named for our friends, the intrepid soul-winning culture warriors Bernie and Lee Reese. The RoundTable gives us a unique platform to address the hard things in an otherwise politically correct town. This year will be particularly dicey because the forum will be held practically on the eve of the elections. We're prayerfully looking at a red hot subject but I can't tell you what it is quite yet. Stand by!
We'll, I've hardly gotten through the list but I've probably exhausted your patience. I just want you to see that we don't sit on our hands around here. We're busy doing the Lord's work because that's what you've sent us here to do! Speaking of . . . I better get back to work!
Your grateful missionary to Washington, DC,
Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
http://www.faithandaction.org/
109 2nd St., NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
There's so much "stuff" going on around here there isn't time or space to write about all of it, but I thought you'd appreciate something of an overview. I know you pray for this ministry, carry a concern for it and generously support it, so here's your well-deserved briefing:
Our team is feverishly working on these projects during the summer months--
1) The big "Ten Commandments" Supreme Court case. I use quotation marks because this case is really not a Ten Commandments case at all. That is, the real question is on free speech, specifically by a municipality. This case out of Utah involves a challenge to the city of Pleasant Grove that displays a Ten Commandments sculpture in one of its city parks. Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice and a long-time friend to my brother Paul and me will argue the case. We handle this type of thing quite differently, though, then do legal groups like the ACLJ. Jay must rightfully argue this on the strict meaning of the law. We'll get that in, too, of course, but we use these legal platforms in another way. As you know, Faith and Action isn't a legal firm (like the ACLJ or Liberty Counsel) and we aren't a lobby group like CWA Action or the Family Research Council. We are an evangelistic outreach--proclaiming the Gospel and biblical truth to those in public office. So, we use these platforms to telegraph important truths and prophetic messages from Scripture and historical Christian moral instruction.
(A little side note: I recently helped host a forum that included one of the more outstanding Supreme Court justices. During his remarks the Justice said he takes the kind of brief we are submitting very seriously and tries to give them careful attention. Nice to know.)
2) Just as we're wrapping up the case with the Ten Commandments, another big one is brewing. Atheist activist Michael Newdow argued for the second time against the words "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year. They're expected to announce their decision on it any day. I pray I'm wrong, but I expect they'll once again strike down "Under God" as supremely illegal. (After all, that's what a court means whenever it declares something "unconstitutional," which I expect the Ninth Circuit to do on the Pledge, as they did in 2002. Remember, the Constitution is the highest law of the land. Whatever doesn't comport with the Constitution in the eyes of any court violates the highest law of the land, making it "supremely illegal.") We're preparing our team to respond with a news conference at the Supreme Court within hours of the decision. We're also working with a strategy group on a legislative response from the Congress affirming "Under God" as a permanent part of the Pledge and taking away jurisdiction from the courts so it can stay that way. (You may find this legal report on the record of the case interesting: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1196762679367) I should also mention that we're working with the White House to have the Medal of Freedom conferred on 98-year old Dr. George Docherty, the minister who preached the famous 1954 sermon "Under God" that in part led to the insertion of the phrase into the Pledge.
3) In these waning days of the present administration, it's important to work on as many strong Christian appointments to office as possible. For strategic reasons, I can't tell you which ones we're working on, but we are prayerfully and diligently working on a few! Please pray with us that the right people will be placed into the right offices. (Like Joseph in Egypt, they'll be needed during a future famine!) This is not easy work--lots of phone calls, E-mail, letters, faxes, meetings, networking, etc., etc--and all this is extracurricular!
4) We've officially launched what has been until now our "unofficial" internship program, training up a new generation of missionaries to Capitol Hill! We have had interns work in our ministry center before, but to be honest, they've been more like office assistants. Our current intern is our test case for an actual mentorship. I'm still a young guy at 49 (!), but I won't be forever. If the Lord gives this nation a little more time, we'll need solid young people to take up the mantel. Please pray for this side of our work. It's more important than ever!
5) Speaking of young people, I'll be with a bunch of them next week. Wednesday, June 25 - Saturday, June 28, I'll be at Creation East '08, the largest, longest running Christian music festival of its kind in the world. Founder Harry Thomas is a member of our Faith and Action board and a very close friend. He specifically asked me to bring a pro-life message. I've entitled it "Juno's Moment," for a scene in the wildly popular youth film Juno. It's the story of a 16-year old girl who is pregnant and seeks an abortion. As she's entering the "clinic," she encounters a pro-life classmate who tells her, "Your baby has fingernails." That's the moment that changes Juno's life. Well, you can see where it's going! We'll also have a booth in the artists' tent from which we'll broadcast live on National Pro-Life Radio.Net (http://www.nplr.net/) I'll interview some of the nearly 100,000 young people who will be there about their attitudes on the Sanctity of Life, the upcoming elections and more. Be sure to join in!
6) Never one to waste a day, I'll step off the platform at Creation on Saturday afternoon and into a waiting car to zip off to the airport and fly to Florida where I will speak at the terrific Calvary Chapel South Orlando on Sunday morning. I've known Pastor Charles Nestor II since he was a little boy. (His dad, Charles I--I love how royal that sounds--is one of my closest buddies.) In fact, "Pastor Charles" (as the younger is known) was an intern at our church up in Buffalo, New York, all those years ago. During that time he lived in my basement--a trauma that no doubt still haunts him! Anyway, Calvary Chapel South is a great church. If you're within driving distance of Orlando on Sunday, June 29, come on by!
7) In addition to all the "regular" ministry stuff we do (and there's plenty of that), I have my other responsibilities: As chairman of the Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance (I have a board meeting for that coming up in July and I'll speak at the annual convention in Branson, Missouri); I'm also on the board of the Nobel Prize nominated Institute on Religion and Public Policy. President Joseph Griebowski, who was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from Marywood University, has asked me to serve as the first Senior Fellow for Domestic Religious Liberty Issues. I'm honored and if, after being properly vetted I pass, I do plan to accept. My other board memberships are also ramping up demands on my time and attention: The National Pro-Life Religious Council, the Council for National Policy and the biblically faithful Methodist Episcopal Church USA. As you can see, I need to trim back, so please pray with me on which ones go. I love them all, so it's a tough call, but something's going to give over these summer months!
8) Finally--for now--we're gearing up for the annual Reese RoundTable, a forum named for our friends, the intrepid soul-winning culture warriors Bernie and Lee Reese. The RoundTable gives us a unique platform to address the hard things in an otherwise politically correct town. This year will be particularly dicey because the forum will be held practically on the eve of the elections. We're prayerfully looking at a red hot subject but I can't tell you what it is quite yet. Stand by!
We'll, I've hardly gotten through the list but I've probably exhausted your patience. I just want you to see that we don't sit on our hands around here. We're busy doing the Lord's work because that's what you've sent us here to do! Speaking of . . . I better get back to work!
Your grateful missionary to Washington, DC,
Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
http://www.faithandaction.org/
109 2nd St., NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
Sunday, June 15, 2008
MY VIDEO TRIBUTE TO DAD AND DADS THIS FATHERS' DAY
Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting:
Most important post for today is this video:
http://gallery.mac.com/robschenck/100459.
You may prefer to read this background, though:
It's a rare Sunday morning for me. I'm sitting in an airline terminal waiting for a flight back home to Buffalo, New York. It feels odd not to be in a church somewhere getting ready to preach. My normal weekend is last flight out of Washington to somewhere in the country on Saturday night, preaching two or three times on Sunday morning and retuning late Sunday night or Monday morning.
Today, though, is different. My dad, Hank Schenck, is in a Buffalo nursing home. (With my mom, Marjorie, thank God because they need each other.) Both my folks are in fragile health. I get home at least once a month to see them. Mom extracted a promise from me last year that I've happily and assiduously stuck to ever since. She asked if I would come every month to see her before she dies. I timed this visit to do double-duty: Meet my promise to Mom and celebrate Dad.
I love my parents and I've never had any doubts they love me and my three siblings. They were far from perfect parents, but join the club. I have so much to thank them for that holidays like Fathers' Day are easy. Dad gave me love, life skills and constant support that are gifts from God to me. I only pray I passed some of that along to my own adult children, but you'd have to ask them!
In any case, here again is my video tribute to Dad as I sit here waiting for my flight to be called:
http://gallery.mac.com/robschenck/100459
Friday, June 13, 2008
REQUIEM FOR RUSSERT
Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting:
The big news here in Washington is the sudden death of journalistic luminary Tim Russert, NBC Washington bureau chief and host of Meet the Press. He was just 58 years old—seems so young to me now.
While I’m sure Tim was on the other side of me on many political and perhaps even moral issues, there were a few commendable facts known universally about him. In this town he enjoyed a rare reputation for loving his faith and his family above anything else.
I just heard Howard Fineman of Newsweek magazine musing on live television that if he’d ever consider converting from being Jewish to Catholic, it would be because of Tim Russert. “He was a great fisherman for his faith.” Even more impressive from Fineman was this, “Tim was the kind of guy who never pursued false gods, he pursued the real one.”
Hmm.
There is, in fact, endless commentary on Russert’s devout faith—and that’s saying a lot. Almost 90% of Washington journalists claim no religious affiliation or involvement. Russert was the opposite. He was faithful in his church attendance and was unashamed of it.
Perhaps the reason I feel as surprising as I do about this otherwise “mainline journalist” is because he was so “Buffalo.” As you may know, I grew up in Buffalo, as Tim did. Buffalo has a pronounced culture—a way of being. It wasn’t just his accent; it was his worldview and his values. He was down-to-earth and blue collar. Those are the people that filled my world back home.
Perhaps I’m getting caught up in the romance of the moment, but I feel saddened by this loss. Russert was sincere, warm, friendly and consummately civil. He was a true professional but didn’t seem overly impressed with himself. He loudly championed the family and quietly championed his Christian faith. Too bad we never heard anything from him on the sanctity of life because he lived life so well.
American journalism will be poorer for Tim Russert’s absence. My prayers go out to his wife, son and father—and to all those who loved him.
Rev. Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
http://www.faithandaction.org/
109 2nd St, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
The big news here in Washington is the sudden death of journalistic luminary Tim Russert, NBC Washington bureau chief and host of Meet the Press. He was just 58 years old—seems so young to me now.
While I’m sure Tim was on the other side of me on many political and perhaps even moral issues, there were a few commendable facts known universally about him. In this town he enjoyed a rare reputation for loving his faith and his family above anything else.
I just heard Howard Fineman of Newsweek magazine musing on live television that if he’d ever consider converting from being Jewish to Catholic, it would be because of Tim Russert. “He was a great fisherman for his faith.” Even more impressive from Fineman was this, “Tim was the kind of guy who never pursued false gods, he pursued the real one.”
Hmm.
There is, in fact, endless commentary on Russert’s devout faith—and that’s saying a lot. Almost 90% of Washington journalists claim no religious affiliation or involvement. Russert was the opposite. He was faithful in his church attendance and was unashamed of it.
Perhaps the reason I feel as surprising as I do about this otherwise “mainline journalist” is because he was so “Buffalo.” As you may know, I grew up in Buffalo, as Tim did. Buffalo has a pronounced culture—a way of being. It wasn’t just his accent; it was his worldview and his values. He was down-to-earth and blue collar. Those are the people that filled my world back home.
Perhaps I’m getting caught up in the romance of the moment, but I feel saddened by this loss. Russert was sincere, warm, friendly and consummately civil. He was a true professional but didn’t seem overly impressed with himself. He loudly championed the family and quietly championed his Christian faith. Too bad we never heard anything from him on the sanctity of life because he lived life so well.
American journalism will be poorer for Tim Russert’s absence. My prayers go out to his wife, son and father—and to all those who loved him.
Rev. Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
http://www.faithandaction.org/
109 2nd St, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
BACK ON LINE!
Your missionary to Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting:
One of the most annoying harassments came over the last few weeks when an anonymous complainant filed an accusation with Blogger.com that I was sending out a "spam blog." That resulted in an immediate "lock out" from this blog, thus explaining my absence over the last week. Sorry about that. Looks like my name has been cleared, though, and we're back in business!
Being away from this blog for that long left me with a greater appreciation for my "blog family." I wasn't sure if I'd keep this up because writing is a much more laborious style of communication for me. Now, though, I realize you, Reader, have become a familiar friend--a welcome visitor. To get downright sappy, I missed your company!
OK, enough of all that and on to the "raw meat." Yesterday (Monday, June 9) I attended a very interesting briefing at the National Press Club on trends among religious voters. It was put on by the Henry Institute at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The briefing was based on partial results from an exhaustive survey of 3002 Americans. The event yesterday was concerned with what the survey showed about political attitudes and preferences towards the end of the 2008 presidential primary process. Although some of the report was predictable, other parts were real eye-poppers. (Watch for my full analysis of what we heard in an upcoming article at our website: www.faithandaction.org.)
Bottom line on this: Religious voters, especially "traditionalists" (i.e., evangelical "conservatives" and traditional Roman Catholics) remain one of the most powerful and influential voting blocks in the country. And, while there are significant differences arising within these groups, they (or shall I say, "we") also remain committed to the paramount moral imperatives of the sanctity of life, marriage and the family and the public acknowledgement of God. (On the last point, an overwhelming majority of all biblically religious voters support the public display of the Ten Commandments!)
The most pronounced differences in voting trends over the last few years appear among so-called "modernist" Evangelicals and Catholics. It wasn't clear from the presentation yesterday what exactly classifies one as a "modernist," but I think it's somewhat self-explanatory. Anyway, the modernists are beginning to break more toward Democrat and other parties as opposed to voting Republican, but their numbers at this point are miniscule. This shift will not change the outcome much--at least not in near future elections.
Still, there was a big lesson in this report: Neither party has a lock on the religious electorate going into the future. That, in my estimation, is a good thing. Christians owe our allegiance to only one Sovereign and His name is Jesus. "We have no king but Jesus," declared the American revolutionaries. I'd like to add, "We have no party but God's Party."
It's only those parties and platforms most reflective of God's Party and Platform that should enjoy the support of God's people--and only passing support at that. Christians are owned by only one master; we have been "bought with a price." (1 Corinthians 7:23) Our allegiance lies elsewhere. It's important we demonstrate that fact from time to time. Come to think of it, now is a good time.
Please check out the full Henry Institute survey report. Makes for very interesting reading.
Back with more . . .
Rev. Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
www.faithandaction.org
109 2nd St., NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
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