This month, I lost a dear friend, County Judge of Henderson County, Richard Sanders. He truly was the gentle giant as people described him.

Richard was a football player in high school, real estate developer, regional representative for Congressman Jeb Hensarling for 8 years, and then a two-term County Judge, the top administrator, for the county that he loved.

Throughout his career, Richard embodied the ideal public servant, and was a true example of why good, Christian people are needed to help navigate the muck and mire of local, county, and state government.

My hope in sharing this profile is to not only testify of what this humble man meant to me, but to inspire us all that public service is a worthy profession. We need more men and women of character and courage to step up and serve.

After doubling up on homeschooling so we would have extra vacation days the week of Thanksgiving, I was ready to be done with any form of studying! Instead I sat down to work on this new project - Christians Engaged - and immediately put myself back into study mode. I decided that I wanted to know more about what the word ENGAGED meant.  If we were going to ask people to “engage” - what was it and what were we hoping to see occur? What would be our messaging? …

When something really historic happens, we often mark the day by noting where we were on that day, and by what we were doing at the moment…

On August 28th, 1963 when 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak, I was a 16 year-old high school student preparing my clothes for the first day of my junior year. School would be starting in a few days and I was watching TV as I ironed my new school clothes. I was scared, excited and resolved at the same time…

Our nation is in a culture war. The fight is real, and the consequences will impact future generations to be sure.  The time is now for the Body of Christ to rise up and take our place to protect the God-ordained liberties and values this country was founded on.

It is time to join with ONE VOICE as believers in Christ, as Christians in this nation.

Did you know that the only time that the blessing of God is literally COMMANDED in scripture is found in Psalms 133 when “God’s people dwell together in UNITY”…

There is so much vying for our time and attention nowadays. How are we able to slow down and gather direction for the road ahead? 

Here are some thoughts to consider as we look at all there is to do in 2020…

The Christmas story in sum: God incarnate, Man divine. Jesus was fully God and fully human. An essential truth of the Gospel. The Bible teaches that Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Jesus possessed every essential quality of being human, yet remained fully God.

You have probably heard the expression – wise men still seek Him.

As we think about the Christmas story and the miracle of God being born as a humble baby in the flesh – I want to move our hearts and minds toward the act and demonstration of worship and why it is important to combat the extremely ugly PRIDE that attacks our hearts as leaders.

Here is God in a humble form – a BABY - that in the natural shouldn’t cause wise men to marvel or seek after, but when they see Him, they fall on the ground and worship Him. Then they open their treasures that they are carrying on their journey and they present these extraordinary gifts to the baby king. This is extravagant worship!

On the morning of January 1, 2012, I woke up with an urgency in my spirit. I knew it had to do with America. People everywhere were becoming concerned with America’s direction but most didn’t seem to know what to do. That included me.

When I got into politics as an activist over 15 years ago and then as a career, my father, a former pastor, questioned whether I was doing the right thing. He didn’t want me to leave what he considered to be the “call on my life” to teach the Bible. He had this idea in his mind that Christians couldn’t really get involved with politics without corrupting themselves with the “evil”. He believed it was a corrupting game. I told him politely that I believed he was wrong.

Have you ever been intrigued by true stories filled with mystery, love affairs, crimes, assassinations and coups,  military strategy, law and courts, prophecies given and fulfilled, science and creation, the rise and fall of nations,  family discord and restoration, ancestry, adoption, details and destinies of individual lives, and supernatural miracles and events?  

Years ago, I read the statistics connecting Christians and voting. I was shocked! Only 50% of all Christians are registered to vote, and of the half that are registered to vote only half of those ACTUALLY vote, and of the half that actually vote only half of those actually vote Biblical values. The implications of these statistics are mind-boggling. I quickly realized that if we could raise those statistics even slightly, we could change our country.

I love to pray! I love to ponder on prayer, and I love to wait to hear or discern God’s direction or responses to those prayers. As I was reading Psalm 37 today, I was struck by the clarity with which that Psalm illustrated God’s powerful love and protection for His people. We are all familiar with these verses:

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways to Him, and He will do it.” Psalm 37:4-5

The CHURCH of Jesus Christ, all of us together regardless of denomination or worship styles, have a power at our fingertips that we aren’t using. It is a secret weapon that isn’t really that secret, but it might as well be - we aren’t using it to it’s potential. What am I talking about? The power of our VOTE. Yes, simply VOTING.

We think about prayer. We think about God sometimes. Maybe sometimes. Are we asleep or awake? dHere a quote from our culture over the last few months. I must say I never saw this messenger coming.

“People who don’t believe are asleep. They are the walking dead, but this is the awakening!”

Guess who said that?