Sunday, December 20, 2020
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary Bauer
Friends, the stakes in the Georgia runoff elections are enormous. The fate of our country and the future of religious liberty are on the line. 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 #16: The Church "Woke" Up
Our Dearest Pastors,
How much do we love you? You'd probably be surprised and laugh a little bit at us if you knew how we applaud you, pray for you, cheer you, give of our resources, of our time, reach out to our networks...basically all we’ve got. For you! You have always been the key. The fulcrum around which our freedoms turn.
It's trite, I know, and I hesitate to say this, but this is a time to say that our efforts are for "such a time as this." The Church as you know has been under heavy attack for decades in an unholy push to make you silent. How untrue it is to make you think that your voice should stay separate and away from a public arena where government decisions and policy issues are weighed, measured and implemented. Ha!!
No! That is NOT what scripture ever said. How ironic that a minority of so-called "intelligentsia," who would like all citizens to be what they call "woke," is in fact wholly terrified that the Church would come awake. And I mean that in the Godly sense. This is that "such a time," when the Church as a whole across the country has indeed awakened, stretched, found its voice, and come to full realization that God never wanted us to be silent and separate.
In fact, He commanded us to be the biggest voice of all in this country. The Church is commanded to keep believers awake to the miracle God wrought when He founded the United States of America on faith.
This was the year that all of you pastors and ministry leaders stepped up and got engaged and got involved and fulfilled the calling that God put on all of us who follow Him and live in this biblically based country.
You did it!
Oh wow and oh boy, did you ever!
We are thanking God with overflowing hearts because in 2016 the evangelical turnout was historically high, but just now in 2020, it exploded. In 2016, there were roughly 32 million evangelical voters. Last month, 41 million. . . Forty. One. Million.
Now the Enemy attacks. The focus is Georgia. And the team at Faith Wins and our coalition, is encouraging and exhorting the Church there to keep the momentum going and to vote. The Senate races underway, now deciding for just two seats, will make the difference between keeping our country able to practice faith or losing our rights to do so.
Isn't that weird, never thought I'd say that, but it's true. Seems like every election we've had in my lifetime is "the most important election of our lifetime." I never really, really thought that. Now I really, really know that.
I want you to hear from Chad Connelly, who's on the ground in Georgia, because what he has to say is just mind blowing.
-------------------------------------------------------
From Chad Connelly:
There is a LOT of information we DO NOT yet know for sure about the election in November. Here is what we DO KNOW:
Donald Trump received the second highest number of votes for president in U.S. history. He shattered the previous record held for most Republican votes in U.S. history. Until this 2020 election, Barack Obama held the record for most votes with 69,498,516 in 2008. Obama was less popular in 2012 and received 65,915,795, almost 3.5 million LESS votes than he received just four years before, making President Trump's numbers even more impressive.
Donald Trump set a record in 2016 for the most Republican votes in U.S. history, with just under 63 million (62,984,828). In fact, with reporting still being completed, it is now projected that Donald Trump will end up with approximately 73-75 MILLION votes, giving him an increase of 10-12 MILLION new votes in 2020 compared to his record setting number in 2016.
We have done the first measurement of church voter registration that I know of on a mass basis. I'll detail this in our end of year report and break it down more, but our organization can confirm that the churches that we connected with registered just under 750,000 new Christian voters this cycle.
Our goal was higher, but with the virus complications that limited our time, travel and meetings, we still traveled to 15 states and conducted 79 in-person meetings with 2,645 pastors in those meetings. We had a little over 16,000 pastors from all 50 states on our zoom or conference calls or in person from just over 11,500 different churches.
Early reports on evangelical voting indicate that some 41 MILLION evangelicals voted in 2020, which would shatter the previous high of just over 32 million.
While that is exciting news and shows us that Christian voters were more engaged in 2020 than at any time in modern political history, and their votes impacted local, state and federal races across the nation, it also shows us that the UNTAPPED Christian vote remains somewhere between 30-40 million.
There are an awful lot of people sitting in pews across America who simply do not think their vote counts. We have work to do.
The major feedback I have received from pastors is that many of them had pushback from a small number of their congregants as they became more vocal. Too many people in the pews sincerely believe that a pastor teaching them the Biblical view of issues like abortion, religious liberty, marriage or the defense of Israel constitute "politics."
I beg to differ and in our talks, I have told thousands of pastors a quote a pastor buddy in DC told me, "It is inconceivable that the God who created human government would want His own people NOT to be involved."
In fact, I don't believe that those issues are "political" at all, but are spiritual. Yes, they have been politicized by the media and by leftists in churches, but that fact DOES NOT remove our responsibility to be salt and light in our culture and it certainly doesn't remove a pastor or leader's responsibility to teach their people the Biblical view of those issues.
We cannot let people who don't even believe in the Bible to tell us how to approach issues. That has happened over many years and only shows me how much work we have to do and how we have to increase our relationships in every state with key influential pastors so that the Christian voice is heard and felt everywhere in every public arena.
In the meantime, please be in prayer for our Pastor Tour of Georgia this week where we have 12 meetings in 12 different cities in the state over a 5-day period. We are doing all we can to maximize the Christian vote in the January 5th runoffs there.
God Bless and Merry Christmas! God isn't surprised by anything and Romans 8:28 is still true!
While a 501c3 can't advocate for or against a party or candidate, this reporting of Republican votes coming from evangelical churches is simply factual and doesn't reflect a bias of the organization to any candidate or party. Evangelicals have historically voted significantly for candidates or parties supporting what they see as Biblical issues.
-Chad
------------------------------------------------------------------
Now a great update from Peter Mordh, who is the Church Finds Its Voice Liaison for the Pacific Justice Institute; (he's on the ground right now in Georgia):
We have been contacting every pastor we know in Georgia to make sure they are encouraging and reminding their members to vote on January 5th. These crucial run-off elections will determine the balance of power in the United States Senate and will send a message to the rest of the country about whether or not this important swing state is still conservative.
We have had meals and in-person meetings with around 100 pastors as we wanted to pray for the election and remind them of their legal right to stand for truth. We targeted the counties surrounding Atlanta where the majority for conservative vote was lacking in the November election. There were over 24,000 conservatives who voted in the spring primary but failed to vote on Nov. 3.
The response from the pastors we have spoken to has been overwhelmingly positive as they are all so thankful we would fly out to help Georgians get out and vote in this historic election.
-Peter
------------------------------------------------------------------
Action Steps to Take Right Now That the Georgia Runoff Election is FAIR!!
Call and email the Georgia state leadership, Elections Office and Boards in these counties where the election integrity concerns are greatest.
**In most cases, it takes a minimum of 50 calls or emails as the threshold for action to be taken.**
Highlighted emails/numbers indicate the most critical priorities. It absolutely does not matter if you live in Georgia! Call and email anyway...they need to hear from us all.
When someone answers, introduce yourself. Say you're a citizen and a voter and that you'd like to express your opinion about the runoff elections or ask a question about the runoffs.
In those cases, that's all you have to do as an intro to explain why you're calling. Then let them know how you feel about the importance of ensuring election integrity and that every legal vote should count and that ONLY legal votes from legal voters count. Ask them what they are doing to ensure that questions of election integrity are being thoroughly addressed.
Georgia: Help with the Runoffs! Call and email...
Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp
(404) 656-1776
Send a message to Governor Kemp through the Constituent Services Chat Box: https://georgia.gov/contact-georgiagov
Lt. Governor, Geoff Duncan
(404) 656-5030
Attorney General of Georgia, Chris Carr
Phone: (404) 458-3600
Georgia State Election Board
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Chairperson
Phone: (404) 656-2881
[email protected]
Mrs. Rebecca N. Sullivan, Vice Chair
Phone: (404) 651-5935
Email: [email protected]
Mr. David J. Worley
Phone: 404-205-8400
Email: [email protected]
Click here to Contact GA Elections Officials By County
--------------------------------------------------------
Pastor friends, your work has had a tremendous effect already on this election. Look what you've been able to do!! 41 Million Votes!!! Our job now is to ensure that every one of those votes matters and counts. You have found your voice…please keep using it in every way you can, and let's get the vote out in the Georgia runoff elections!
THIS IS ALL THAT MATTERS NOW!
The outcome of those races will drastically change the course of politics, policy and the ability to practice our faith freely in this nation for the next four years and beyond.
Your charge now, as pastors and faith leaders, is to implore your congregations to Vote, Vote, Vote! It Matters, It Matters...Every Single Vote MATTERS!
We are with you...praying for you constantly, and we thank you for the sacred, important work we know you will continue doing in the weeks to come.
-Joan, Brad, Chad and Kielle - Your Church Finds Its Voice Leadership
 SHARE VIA SOCIAL MEDIA
|
|
