Now THAT'S What I'm Talkin' About!

Really?!?! A well-known Bible thumper working side by side with an openly gay mayor? Can they possibly have anything in common? In a word, yes. With their differences clearly on display for all to see, Evangelist Luis Palau and Mayor Sam Adams stood together at the front of Portland, Oregon's Hinson Baptist Church to kick off the second annual Season of Service.

What's a bible-believing, soul-winning, on fire for

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Jesus evangelist doing standing next to an openly homosexual, politically liberal mayor? The very thing, I believe we might find Jesus doing. Jesus was repeatedly taken to task for "hanging out with the wrong crowd" to which he responded, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous but sinners." (Matthew 9:12-13)

Somehow this evangelist and this mayor recognized that "the least of these" in their city needed help and that opportunity was not a liberal or conservative issue. That need was not somebody else's job. That need was something that all people should address - maybe most of all the believers among us.

Tom Krattenmaker's article in USA Today lays out the dynamics of this dynamic partnership (perhaps the way church and state should be relating...) and signals the growing cultural awareness brought on by the unavoidable acts of mercy being committed by Christians. He states, "the evangelical church may be losing its temporal power but winning something more important: its soul."

He might just be right.