A screen shot of video from Calvary’s Web site showing Pastor Skip Heitzig praying for Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen Weh on April 18.
The pastor of an Albuquerque megachurch allowed Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen Weh to speak to the church and prayed for him in front of the congregation. Because Weh’s opponents weren’t invited to do the same, that’s an implicit endorsement – and it’s not appropriate.
In October 2008, my church’s pastor asked me and several others to take part in a panel discussion about the upcoming election. He asked people of different political persuasions to be on the panel because he wanted the congregation to know it was OK to worship in the same church but disagree on political issues – in other words, to know it was OK to vote for John McCain or Barack Obama.
So we talked about political issues in front of a few dozen people on a Wednesday night. It was clear we had some disagreements, but everyone on the panel was respectful and made the event a safe place to discuss those differences.
Though my church is evangelical – meaning that most people there fall somewhere on the conservative side of the political, moral and social spectrums – the response to our panel discussion was largely positive. A few who are Democrats or were thinking about voting for Obama told me they were thankful that our pastor sought to foster a climate in which political disagreement was safe.
That incident made me proud of my church and my pastor – a conservative man in a very conservative culture who has the wisdom to understand that his mission isn’t political: It’s about healing division, repairing hearts and relationships and helping people find and grow in their faith.
A prayer and a political speech
Heath Haussamen
With that experience in mind, I read with interest a recent Albuquerque Journal report about Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen Weh being allowed to speak at four services of the city’s 14,000-member Calvary of Albuquerque megachurch during the weekend of April 18.
I decided to check out the situation for myself. I watched video of the service and saw the church’s pastor, Skip Heitzig, pray for Weh, who is a member of the church. Heitzig told the church that Weh had asked for prayer. He said he would “love to pray for anybody who wants to represent the Lord in that arena.”
Then Heitzig delved into politics.
“Allen’s been a part of our church for some time,” he told the church. “He’s not a career politician. I’m sort of stealing all of his lines here, but he’s fought in the military. He’s been a Marine. He’s fought for our county on many occasions. And he’s been in business, but again he feels like the Lord is calling him and he wants us to pray for him, so we’ll do that.”
Weh didn’t ask for votes but did give a brief speech.
“I’m running for governor to change the way we do business in this state and restore integrity to the office of chief executive,” Weh said. “As Skip said, I am not a career politician. I’ve never run for public office before in my life. I’m a businessman. I’m a retired U.S. Marine. I’m a father, I’m a grandfather, and I’m a Christian with faith. And those are the experiences and skills I will take to the governor’s office if I’m elected as your governor.”
When Heitzig prayed, he didn’t ask God to help Weh win. Instead, he asked “that Your will might be done, whatever that is,” and that Weh would have the strength to handle whatever God’s will would bring.
A pastor’s influence
I’m glad Heitzig didn’t explicitly endorse Weh or ask God to do so. But I’m still uncomfortable with how this played out.
Weh may not have asked for votes. But he certainly made the case for why he’s a strong candidate, using familiar lines from his campaign speeches and news releases.
Had all the other Republican – and Democratic – gubernatorial candidates been invited to do the same, I’d have no issue with the situation. But I verified with three other campaigns that they didn’t receive an invitation.
In my view, the fact that other candidates weren’t offered the same opportunity makes this an implicit endorsement of Weh. Pastors have a huge amount of influence over their flocks, particularly in evangelical churches. What they say goes unquestioned by many. And when a pastor gives someone the opportunity to sell himself before the congregation, it’s an implicit statement of support for whatever that person is doing.
Unless his opponents are also given the opportunity to sell themselves.
There are rules that prevent churches from engaging in partisan politics, but I don’t think this situation threatens the church’s standing with the IRS because there was no explicit endorsement by Heitzig or plea for votes by Weh.
Promoting understanding or spreading division?
However, the implicit endorsement raises a deeper issue.
Pastors can use their influence as a healing force – to find common ground, foster a culture of treating all people as human beings, and promote a spirit of love and understanding. Such churches help heal society’s ills.
I believe what my church did with the 2008 panel discussion is a great example of that.
Pastors can also use their influence to spread the disease of division by engaging in partisan politics. I watched a number of evangelical churches do that in 2008 by giving tacit support to McCain in special events featuring some high-profile national speakers.
Churches that engage in partisan politics alienate the other half of the country. In 2008, I actually heard one of those high-profile, McCain-supporting speakers use the word “enemy” to describe people who work in Hollywood.
People aren’t our enemies. War, disease, poverty… those are some of our enemies.
Give the other candidates the same opportunity
I don’t know what Heitzig’s motive was in allowing Weh to speak before the church and receive prayer without inviting the other candidates to do the same. Heitzig is in Israel and currently unreachable, the church told me, so I wasn’t able to ask if he even considered inviting the other candidates.
However, Heitzig said during that April 18 service that he would be happy to pray for “anybody who wants to represent the Lord” in the political arena. Now he needs to give the other gubernatorial candidates that opportunity by inviting them to come before his church.
That would let parishioners know they’re welcome to worship Jesus even if they don’t support Weh’s candidacy. It would let people of all political persuasions know that Calvary of Albuquerque is a safe place to grow in their faith. It would be a strong step toward demonstrating some integrity.