A ray of hope . . . .
Billy Hallowell reports for The Blaze that on Jan. 23, 2015, hundreds of pastors flocked to the Baton Rouge River Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to gather resources, ideas and strategies on how they can successfully run for political office in 2016.
The Issachar Training Event was organized by the American Renewal Project, an organization that is working toward bringing 1,000 preachers into the public square next election cycle by advising pastors on how to approach running for office, how to run campaigns and how to offer up key messaging.
American Renewal Project founder David Lane told CBN News’ David Brody that he launched his mass initiative to recruit pastors to run for a wide array of elected positions in 2016 after he recognized a similarity between politicians and preachers: “I’m a political operative as you know. I saw that the skills as a successful politician are the same skills of a successful pastor. The skill set is about the same.”
So Lane launched the American Renewal Project after he began to think about the societal transformation that could happen if he was able to recruit 1,000 pastors to run in 2016 — a prospect that he said “would change America.”
Lane explains, “Somebody’s values are going to reign supreme. Our values or somebody else’s values. It’s our goal to bring spiritual men and women into the civil government arena.”
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal reportedly endorsed the Issachar Training Event in a letter to thousands of pastors last month, writing that the initiative would raise up a new generation of leaders, the Washington Times reported. Jindal wrote:
““We are going to discuss the importance of raising up the next generation of leaders in America who understand these challenging times and know what to do about them. There is a great need for the kind of leaders we read about in the Old Testament, ‘The Men of Issachar’ (1 Chronicles 12:32). We need such men and women of wisdom today who will accept the challenge to restore our Judeo-Christian heritage in America.”
While the training session was not officially connected to Jindal’s highly publicized “The Response” prayer rally, which was held the next day, the governor reportedly also made an appearance at the event. And both initiatives were reportedly funded by the American Renewal Project.
American Renewal Project and these pastors need our prayers!
~Éowyn
