Saturday, September 25, 2021
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary Bauer
Friends, the challenges we face are enormous. To defend our values, we are partnering with various allies, including Lindsey Communications, The Lindsey Foundation, Faith Wins and the Pacific Justice Institute to empower the resurgence of the Church vote. Below is their latest alert. Please share the resources included here with your church leaders and fellow worshippers. – Gary
The Church Finds Its Voice
A Coalition of Lindsey Communications, The Lindsey Foundation,
Faith Wins and the Pacific Justice Institute
to Empower the Resurgence of the Church Vote!
Comm #24: It’s On! The Church Finds Its Voice Brings America’s Forgotten History to the Church
Hello to our wonderful pastors and friends. Kielle here with you today, and I’m starting us off this time because I wanted to take a moment to recount the full story of how the Church Finds Its Voice coalition came to be. Now that the American Restoration Tour featuring David Barton is underway, planning to stop at an incredible total of 44 churches across the country, our small but mighty coalition of four is realizing quite quickly that, what started out as a simple question of “why can’t we just…” has grown into something much bigger and more important to the future of our nation than we could have imagined a couple of short years ago.
So, we thought we’d retell the story from the beginning. . .
Lindsey Communications and the Lindsey Foundation (me and Joan) were more than concerned over what was happening in our state of California, a bellwether state for the nation. You’d think the people of California would be flooding polling sites on Election Day, willing to do anything for some positive change. We were hearing the frustrations, but not seeing the actions from exasperated citizens. We also began hearing something that alarmed us. Pastors were openly admitting to avoiding any politically related talk, in their church or otherwise. It had become a taboo topic not to be touched on in church.
But wait, didn’t the Church used to be the “THE place” where citizens would hear sermons that were actually based directly on current political events? Across our nation’s history, most politicians have been pastors or men and women who have come up through the Church. You’ve read in these Comms all about our remarkable history of Christian leaders across so many decades. So where did that leave us, when now the Church — the place from which we as Christians and believers should gain wisdom on how to approach civic life and make positive change in our communities and our nation — is avoiding just this very topic?
As we continued to hear upsetting stories of churches being shut down and threats of pastors and church-goers being arrested during the height of the pandemic, we knew something must be done, not just to help strengthen Church leaders to address these issues, but to equip and empower them to find their voice again. We desperately needed a revival of the Church’s God-given role to raise up wise, political leaders, to share Biblical truth that influences policy and decisions at every level of politics, and so importantly. . . to educate congregations on the issues so they can vote in an informed way!
As Christians, we make up the majority of voters in the United States. . . 64% in fact! Imagine if we all voted . . . in every election . . . all the way down the ballot. Imagine if the Church raised up candidates for political office in every cycle. Just Imagine if we heard those Biblical axioms every Sunday in church that truthfully informed us on how to make a difference, at every level, in how our extraordinary, God-ordained nation is run.
But where were our people of faith in the civic process? So, this next question came about —
“Why don’t we just connect with all of the Christian churches?”
A massive undertaking in the form of such a simple question. I think I even said, “How many can there be?” Connect with the churches, remind them of their legal rights to preach on politics, policy, civics and elections, and then offer them support as they regain the strong voice they once had in this nation.
And that’s how it started . . . the idea to legally and civically equip and lift up every Church, pastor and faith leader. We were going to start with our state, the most populated state in the country (40 million people live here, by the way, I’m laughing to myself as I think back on the conversation). It was a monstrous task, and we knew we needed God’s miraculous provision to bring us just the right team to accomplish it. So we asked, and He delivered in a God-sized way . . . we met Chad Connelly.
As the former head of Faith Engagement for the Republican National Committee, Chad was the man behind the incredible 81% voter turnout for Trump in the 2016 election, as well as the Founder of Faith Wins. You know him because you’re friends with him (who isn’t?) . . . Chad is the relationship builder. And then we brought on the brilliant Brad Dacus, who we’ve known for decades through the work of the Lindsey Foundation and Lindsey Communications.
Brad is a Supreme Court case winning attorney and President of the Pacific Justice Institute, a no-charge firm dedicated solely to protecting the faith community from infringements on our Constitutional rights. We brought the idea and the backing, and they each brought their astounding, niche abilities to connect with and equip pastors, as well as to take this effort well beyond the boundaries of California. With our superstars on board, the plan quickly became a nationwide effort.
While we are a main coalition of 4, we are backed by the “Standing With” coalition, which consists of over 75 additional organizations supporting this work. By the 2020 election, the Church Finds Its Voice efforts had resulted in 750,000 new voter registrations, connections with nearly 17,000 faith leaders across the country, and reached over 11,000 churches.
It was by God’s grace and provision that the Church Finds Its Voice was able to have so much more of a reach and outcome than we could have ever anticipated during that first conversation two years ago. But God has clearly readied the hearts of churches and believers, and the response has been overwhelming.
As we began to prepare for the 2022 mid-term elections, we knew this work had to continue, and so we had another one of those “what if” conversations. This time we were mid-pandemic, post-2020 election, and with a new presidential administration installed, the topics that had rapidly risen to the top of everyone’s mind were fears over the continuing viability of our Republic, the move to rewrite our nation’s true history, and both the fate and state of education for the generations to come.
How do we combat these issues that increasingly put our Christian nation in danger? And so, here came our second “why don’t we just. . . ” question, but it came out as more of an impassioned statement. Not “why don’t we just,” but “we MUST let our pastor and faith leader friends hear from David Barton.”
No one knows our nation’s founding history better, and no one delivers the captivating and electrifying truth of how God has chosen just this country to be a Christian nation, raised up by Him to speak the truth of Jesus Christ to the world, than David Barton. Our Church Finds Its Voice work continues, and now includes a 44 stop, nationwide speaking tour featuring David Barton. The American Restoration Tour is underway now, and it’s already having even more of an impact than we were confident it would.
People have been praying for this country, and the hunger for the truth and to hear the voice of the Church has only grown. The Church is having its “for such a time as this” moment. This is the time we have been preparing for. . . the Church Find Its Voice will continue to equip and back you, and now David is making the connections for you through his brilliant sharing of our nation’s history. This is our call and our role as believers…this is what we were supposed to have been doing, and now we’re hearing that call, stepping up and letting our voice be heard.
Our coalition remains resolute in our desire to help people of faith have their voices heard in civic life, to supply and enable pastors and congregations to speak out, boldly preach on the issues, encourage the vote and come together to protect our nation’s biblical values. Let’s stand up proudly for our heritage as a Christian nation. We were with you at step one, and we’re with you every step of this journey.
With gratitude,
-Kielle
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Hey everyone, Chad here with the report from the road! The highlight for me is that we’ve now been in 6 cities in 3 states so far on our American Restoration tour and 1,108 people, including over 125 pastors, have now seen America’s Greatest Christian Historian, David Barton!
We’re literally in the middle of all of the travel — in fact, when I leave tomorrow for meetings in Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, California, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan — I won’t be home for 2 nights in a row for over a month. This is the time that we make sure people understand that God’s role in our nation is irreplaceable. Another huge highlight for me personally is that Jim and Joan traveled with us through our first four meetings in the state of Georgia, and we had a blast!
I could tell so many stories — the older couple in South Georgia who said that they were ready to give up until they heard David Barton on the tour and now they’re re-energized for the fights ahead, or the pastor in South Carolina who said, “I thought I knew my history — I didn’t know 10% of what he covered!” Or the young couple in Pennsylvania who bought David’s new book, “The American Story” for each of their kids to read, or the now over one dozen pastors who came to me and have said, “I want to host a David Barton American Restoration Tour event in my town!”
I really could tell you dozens of stories already from only the first 6 meetings but this will have to suffice with this added note: If we are ANYWHERE near you on the tour, and you can go to the
www.faithwins.us site for the full schedule and details, you do not need to miss it! I promise you that everyone leaves saying, “More people NEED to hear this!”
God bless ya’ll, please keep us in your prayers. As you can imagine, this is intense and busy and has SO MANY moving parts. Our team is performing spectacularly, and we are doing what we set out to do — motivate, inspire and activate more Christians to get involved right where they are to make a difference in our nation!
Thank you and God bless! I hope to see you on the Tour!
Chad
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Here’s an update from Brad Dacus, President of Pacific Justice Institute:
Thousands of parents, teachers, pastors, and community leaders have reached out to PJI in the last few months as they navigate the uncharted territory of vaccine mandates and unconstitutional government overreach. We’ve been offering legal support and encouragement as tens of thousands have downloaded the resources for students, employees, and employers. Every single day hundreds of Americans receive specific assistance from one of our attorneys or staff.
As we speak, PJI has over 50 cases in active litigation across the nation, and many of which are related to forced vaccination by employers. Christian schools have been able to stay open. Nurses, policemen, and public-school teachers have kept their careers because of the legal assistance they have received. A couple times a month, our attorneys host a zoom call with organizations and non-profits from all over the country to answer questions and cover relevant topics. We are here to help in such a time, and we will continue to expand to help as many people as we can.
One of the ways we have been helping pastors and churches is by training and encouraging them on how they can legally and effectively be a voice for truth to those with whom they have influence. And now more than ever, pastors are taking a stand and are beginning to find their voice in the community. Churches are becoming a voice of reason, and they are beginning to take a stand in a loving yet courageous way. Many churches who were unaware of their access to legal help are helping their congregants fight to keep their jobs/careers all while maintaining their convictions.
Pastors and faith leaders across the country are uniting people, whereas the media and our government are trying to divide. Pastors are informing their people, while big tech is censoring helpful and needed information. The church is infusing courage and faith in a moment filled with so much anxiety and fear. The church is certainly finding its voice and churches are beginning to stand together to help their communities navigate challenging and complex issues.
As rumblings of new lockdowns and mandates are on the horizon, we see countries like Australia completely gripped with fear as their COVID case counts and death rate do not live up to the totalitarian measures that are being taken. We must remember that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7) We must with love and power, and with one voice, stand up to those who are attempting to leverage the fears of others for personal and political gain.
The reality is that the coronavirus is not going away and it will be just like every other virus that has become a part of daily life. We can continue to develop our treatment plan as there will be hundreds of other variants throughout the next 20-30 years. Ultimately, we cannot live in fear and we cannot remain in bondage to the unknown. Many of the decisions that are made are leveraging what is unknown for some sort of control or manipulation. This will end when Americans stand up to those who are abusing their power.
Finally, let me reassure you that the law is on your side and the Constitution is on the side of freedom and religious liberty.
So, do not be silent. This is the moment that your church and community need to hear the truth, and you are legally and constitutionally powerful to be able to proclaim it. Know the difference between new laws passed by the legislature in your state and guidance made by an elected or appointed official. Speak out with a good spirit against those mandates that limit the freedoms guaranteed by our founders. Let us at Pacific Justice Institute stand with you as you make your voice heard in your community.
-Brad
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Hey, Joan here. We’re well underway with the American Restoration Tour, and I’ve had the privilege of being present at most of the Tour events. It’s been an honor to get to meet many of you, and it’s been thrilling to watch the Church in city after city, freshly grab ahold of the truth about our wonderful country’s history.
David Barton, our nation’s leading historian, in telling this history is telling a history of you, the leaders of the Church.
It was always the Church who led in developing our Republic to be founded on the Word of God. Our very Constitution is a document of Biblical direction about law, civil society, defense, private property, economics and everything else.
You will carry it forward. You first because the Church should lead. When it does, our country thrives. If silenced, our country fades.
Our coalition of our four organizations is pledged to bring you America’s forgotten history this fall. We pray this will strengthen you in your civic life.
So very many stand with us in advocating for you, rooting for you, praying for you, and empowering you.
With all our very best,
Joan
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We stand with you and are praying for you!
-Joan, Brad, Chad and Kielle
Your Church Finds Its Voice Leadership
*Please share and forward on to your networks!
Contact Us:
Chad Connelly
President, Faith Wins
To read more about Church Do’s and Don’ts and for an expanded list of resources and contacts to call for help, please visit:
http://faithwins.us/resources/Brad Dacus
President, Pacific Justice Institute
Joan Holt Lindsey
Founder and President, Lindsey Communications
Kielle C. Horton
President, the Lindsey Foundation
