***NEWS RELEASE***

For Immediate Release
October 22, 2012

CONTACT:
Karyn Price, Hamilton Strategies
Deborah Hamilton, Hamilton Strategies

Key Facts:

• Susquehanna Polling and Research recently showed Republican candidate Mitt Romney leading President Obama by 4 percentage points in a poll of likely Pennsylvania voters.
• With only 30 million of the 60 million professing Christians in America predicted to vote, pastors must assume their leadership role and teach Biblical truth about voting, civic duty, and moral issues that impact the culture, especially in Pennsylvania.
• The last opportunity to preach on such issues for the 2012 presidential election will be Sunday, November 4, 2012 – the final Sunday before the election and the last pre-election Pulpit Sunday sponsored by the PA Pastors’ Network.

PHILADELPHIA – Pennsylvania remains a critical swing state in the upcoming Presidential election. With two starkly divergent views for America being proposed by the candidates, voters – both in Pennsylvania and across the nation – must consider carefully what impact their vote will have on all aspects of life, including the impact on their right to religious freedom, on the culture of the nation and on future generations.

To help Christians better understand what the Bible says about voting, civic duty, and the moral issues that impact campaigns, the PA Pastors’ Network has instituted a series of Pulpit Sundays leading up to the Presidential election. The last pre-election Pulpit Sunday will be held on Sunday, November 4, 2012.

“The upcoming election is the perhaps the most critical in our country’s history,” said Sam Rohrer, President of the Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network. “America is in deep trouble – economically, politically, and spiritually. Most know we’re at a crossroads. Some compare us to being on the Titanic and we must get off.  Others say we’re bankrupt and our solution is a balanced budget.  I agree that we’re at a fork in the road for America but our choice is not the normal choice. This fork isn’t to the right or left, it’s up or down. The choice? Either the God of the Bible, or the federal government. One saves – the other enslaves. Psalm 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD…” It is for this reason that we are urging pastors to preach bold from their pulpits about the critical nature of this election, the need for prayer and fasting and for Christian people to exercise their freedom to vote for candidates that most closely align with Biblical principles.”

The PA Pastors’ Network is urging pastors to do three specific things in the last Pulpit Sunday before the election. First, the PPN is asking pastors to preach about the economic and spiritual troubles confronting our nation on Nov 4 and the solution being found in prayer and repentance as the solution.  Pastors must demonstrate to their congregations that God promises blessings for those who obey him but judges those nations that forget Him. As Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”  Secondly, the PPN is also asking pastors to follow Ezekiel 22:30 and lead their congregations to “stand in the gap” for Biblical truth by promoting a 48-hour period of prayer and fasting from 6 p.m. on Sunday, November 4 through 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 6. Thirdly, the PPN is asking Pastors to urge their congregations to vote consistent with Biblical principles and to seek at least 90% voter participation. Pastors and Christians that plan to participate can make this commitment public by signing up on the home page of the PA Pastors’ Network.

“This impact of preaching, praying, fasting, and voting is so powerful, that we are seeking the participation of a minimum of 500 pastors who publicly commit to leading their congregations in these important actions.”  concluded Rohrer. “We know that James wrote in chapter 5, verse 16 of his letter that ‘the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,’ so we as Christians must be ignited in prayer leading up to this election.”

Alliance Defending Freedom offers a wide variety of resources on their Pulpit Freedom Sunday website to assist pastors who are threatened by anyone who preaches about politicized issues. In addition, PPN offers sermon notes on a variety of cultural topics, like same-sex marriage, family, and abortion, among others. The PA Pastors’ Network also offers bulletin inserts and voting criteria with which to Biblically and constitutionally measure the candidates. To request any of these resources in advance of the last Pulpit Sunday, pastors or lay people can contact the Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network at http://www.papastors.net/contact.

The Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network is a group of biblically faithful clergy and church liaisons whose objective is to build a permanent infrastructure of like-minded clergy who affirm the authority of Scripture, take seriously Jesus’ command to be the “salt and light” to the culture, encourage informed Christian thinking about contemporary social issues; examine public policy issues without politicizing their pulpits and engage their congregations in taking part in our political process on a non-partisan basis.

The Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network is a part of Let Freedom Ring, Inc., a 501c(4) non-profit organization.

###