“As a young man I must have tried a dozen techniques that people said were sure to guarantee a measure of passion that would transport me above the ordinary and ineffective. In each case I eagerly embraced whatever it was I was supposed to do or say. But the results, if any, were short lived, and what I discovered was that there are no shortcuts, no gimmicks, no easy way to cultivate intimacy with God and attain the resulting passion that should carry one through life’s journey.”

Gordon MacDonald, Restoring Your Spiritual Passion

Pure Scum: The Left-Out, the Right-Brained, and the Grace of God

Who is Mike Sares?

Mike Sares pastors the most interesting church in Denver. Don’t believe me? Try pastoring a church named Scum of the Earth. Bravery embodied. In Pure Scum: The Left-Out, the Right-Brained and the Grace of God, Sares admits the name wasn’t his first choice. “Perhaps I was afraid of it,” he writes. “Maybe I was too insecure to lead a church with a name like that.” But as the reader thumbs the pages it becomes clear the name is perfect for the ministry, a blend of shock and awesome grace.

Sares took the scenic route to ministry through jobs in advertising, sales, a steel mill and high school English as a teacher. He has attended denominations as divergent as Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and PCUSA but is ordained in The Alliance for Renewal Churches. He recounts his experience leading to his ministry at Scum as an encouraging story for anyone stuck in that place between calling and fruition.

What is Pure Scum about?

Pure Scum is written in an easy style and is part story of his Sares’ life, part philosophy of his ministry, and part devotional.

Early on Sares asks “Could it be that vision, passion and suffering are closely related?” His journey begs the question. The answer emerges throughout the book as the reader senses how deeply he cares for those to whom he is called to minister and how appropriately his own journey prepared him to ministry to them.

Sares tells of his conversion during high school and his long trek to ministry. He knew he was called early in his Christian life and was involved in leadership but not in a full-time position. He recounts the years between a word from God that confirmed he would have a ministry and his actually entering seminary with frustration. Believing God has called you but being unable to enter that calling is a special form of suffering. Like torture but less humane.

During those long years, God was quiet but not silent. Sares heard form God in one of those inside-your-head-but-not-you  moments that a band would someday come from his ministry. Eventually, this turned out to be the band we know as Five Iron Frenzy. The Bible study they started would evolve into Scum of the Earth.

The picture of Sares’ philosophy of ministry comes together in the stories he shares about his people. Gothic Sean’s story is moving as Sares describes a Goth kid with a passion for sharing Christ with his community. The reader quickly will realize that the impact of a struggling human being like Sean can often be greater than that of one who hides their suffering. His struggles were very real and Sares recounts dozens of hospital trips and hangovers. But he also tells of sitting in a Goth bar while Sean dances and occasionally brings people over to introduce them. There Sares’ ministry reached a world some of us do not even realize exists. “Make no mistake,” he writes in his eulogy for Sean who died, frozen on the streets of Boulder, Colorado, “Sean was a missionary to Capitol Hill, and he said so.”

The story of Kate’s poem delivered on Christmas Eve is equally emotional and riveting. Imagine what would happen if someone wanted to read a poem containing the F-bomb in your church. On Christmas Eve. In most churches that conversation would die before it even started. At Scum, Sares not only has the conversation but decides to go ahead with the reading, all the while processing the pastoral calculus. “I had to decide whom I was going to offend – the young woman who was tentatively placing her foot into the door of the church for the first time in years, or mature, faithful Christians who might leave me and Scum of the Earth but never leave Jesus and his church.” The poem and congregational response is worth the price of the book.

As I read these and other stories I could not help but wonder who we are trying to minister to in our churches. Our churches, as if they belong to us. Are there people we do not even see because we are too busy trying to make ourselves happy? Are people wrestling with the Living God because of our ministry? Or are they lulled to sleep because we refuse to be challenging? Jesus calls all kinds of people to himself regardless – or perhaps because of – their struggles or lot in life. Am I comfortable with that? With them? Sares challenges me (and will you if you read this book) to be more concerned about bringing the Gospel to people who can be overlooked than my own success or profit.

Who should read Pure Scum?

Pure Scum is one of those books aimed at a large section of the population but not specifically targeted at anyone. Christians will be most interested in the book, of course. I know a few people who believe Christians are judgmental jerks who might be surprised by Sares and his ministry, too.

In the Christian camp, Pure Scum will challenge pastors to reevaluate their ministries and consider whether they are listening to the Spirit as they serve. The Spirit pops up throughout the book as Sares tells the stories of the Spirit moving him toward people and the Lord, always keeping his eye on the prize. The Lord may not be calling you to reach the same people as Sares but He is calling you to listen and be ready even when you think you know better. Lay people will be dared to open up themselves to others that perhaps have fallen off their radar, people who may look different but who are loved by God tenaciously.

Pure Scum is an encouraging read in the tradition of Acts that will bolster the faith of Christians everywhere.

I am resigning from ever thinking myself too good to work hard again. It’s not as if I don’t work. I just never wanted hard work to be so…well…hard, consistently and relentlessly hard.

It was one thing when I was in school. I worked hard at my classes and 40 hours a week (or close to it) for a Fortune 500 company making just enough for my family to survive. I was proud of how hard I worked while other students were given scholarships or government handouts of food and health insurance. We took a little and definitely made the most of programs that dropped free food on campus or gave freebies to seminary students. Our parents even helped as they could but we never depended solely on them or anyone for our subsistence. I had a real job and it provided well enough for our family.

Then I graduated, we moved out of the campus bubble, and began to look for work as a pastor. One advantage we had was my job which meant there was no crushing urgency to secure any ministry I could. Then again, there also was little dependence on God.

I thought the monthly struggle to make ends meet would subside and life would be wonderful when I finally found that ministry I had been dreaming of for so long. Instead, the last nearly three years found me slipping into a victim mentality wondering why it was so difficult to overcome the economy and my own fears. Why wouldn’t anyone give me so much as an interview for a job for which I’d spent years preparing? Why couldn’t I make more money no matter how hard I tried?

Finally, I realized that’s all bunk.

The fact is that no one is ever going to give me a job if I don’t earn it. My family and I are never going to live the life we want if we don’t work hard, sometimes excruciatingly so, to get it. I’m not a victim of the economy. I’m a product of my own laziness.

Two insights finally brought me back into the light. First, my grandparents and parents worked faithfully for decades to obtain what they have. No one ever gave them anything. They didn’t win the lottery and they certainly don’t live like it. They had to face the Great depression, WWII, Vietnam, and President Carter not to mention numerous other personal adversities and yet I have never heard any of them complain. What’s my problem again?

The second insight came to me as I listened to talk radio awhile back. Several hosts had entrepreneurs on their programs who talked about their beginnings in business. As you might expect, these stories were inspirational tales of small businesses who overcame adversity to become successful businesses. Challenges like cash flow and finding markets threatened constantly until finally through sheer creativity, ingenuity, and persistence the business owner triumphed. Not that they were suddenly without problems but they became successful enough to create further opportunities.

From these insights I gleaned another: Accomplishment is the key to confidence. Why do successful people seem so confident? Because they risk more and therefore accomplish more. The more they accomplish the more confident they are.

What have I accomplished? A few things: I have produced a fantastic family of four beautiful children with my beautiful and amazing wife. I persevered to obtain a three year Master of Divinity in nine years. As a result, I know how to study the Bible better than most. I’m proud of these things and a few others.

But it’s time to stop being so dang afraid of risk, to stop being afraid of hard work. Life isn’t easy for anyone. Note to self: get used to it. There is a lot more to accomplish.

That’s why I am writing again. It’s something I’m passionate about and hope will be interesting and valuable to the intended audience.

Thanks for reading and tell your friends.

The fact that people do not remember on Tuesday morning the sermon they heard 48 hours earlier is both a blessing and a curse of ministry. On the one hand, it’s hard to take that your message is simply one drop of the bombardment of input people receive in any given week. You expended considerable effort to craft a biblical message that is as interesting and valuable. You want people to remember it. On the other, even pastors are fallen human beings who fail, sometimes miserably even when preaching.

I once heard a seasoned pastor describe this as “laying a homelitical egg.” He said after those sermons where you just as soon let the floor open up and swallow you as greet anyone, you are very glad people will forget it all by Tuesday.

Nevertheless, you and I are called to speak God’s truth to people and to do our best at it each week. Part of our job is to consider how to communicate truth.

I should say one thing about what I am assuming about you. I assume that what you want more than anything when you prepare a sermon is to actually communicate the Gospel to people. I assume you care if people remember the truths you mined and meditated on all week.

This doesn’t mean it’s an ego trip. When I have had the opportunity to preach I am often thankful for the prayer I learned to pray from other pastors that goes something like this: “Lord, help them remember what was from you and forget what was from me. If it was valuable and leads them to you let them keep it and remember it. If it sends them in the wrong direction, may they forget every word.” I don’t care if anyone remembers me. I want them to remember what God says to them through me. If you feel differently, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear it. (Note: I mean it. No snarkiness intended.)

The list below is 9 things to think about as you are preparing the presentation of the the material you’ve dug from Scripture.

Without further ado:

• Preach about just one subject at a time – This advice might seem like first year seminary stuff but you’d be surprised how many pastors violate it. In their zeal to speak from the Biblical text they fail to find the central thought in the passage and carpet bomb the congregation with too many topics. It might be fine in a Sunday School lesson or a small group but in a sermon it just loses people. They look like they are taking notes on their iPhones but I promise, that’s not what’s happening. They are on Facebook while you are preaching. Or they are texting each other about where to eat after the sermon. Keep working with the text until you find the central point (the “big idea” as Hadden Robinson calls it in Biblical Preaching.) If you can’t find just one point then it’s time to break up the text.

• Consider your audience – I once heard a pastor preach a sermon in which his main illustration was about feeding babies. Someone in the congregation had recently given birth. When I say recently, I mean really recently as in earlier that morning. So I get why he did it. But when I glanced around at the congregation I realized that he was preaching to a room full of people who had been walking with the Lord longer than he’d been alive. Octogenarians were everywhere. Most of these people hadn’t changed a diaper in decades. Did they get the point? Sure. Just like babies need nourishment so does their spiritual life. Check. Did he know his audience? I’m being charitable saying no. Either he didn’t know them or he didn’t care which is worse. Do you think anyone, including the pastor, remembers that sermon? I remembered the sermon because of this observation but it’s the only thing I remember about it.

• Tell more jokes – I know some pastors who discourage humor in the pulpit. They object that the task of preaching is serious business. It most certainly is. The task of preaching the Word of God is too serious not to use all the tools available to you. Don’t be trite or trivial but realize humor is a tool. Like a good craftsman, learn to use the tools available to you and always use the right one for the job. Sometimes humor can obscure a good point. Avoid it then. But other times, those glorious, miraculous times, it connects to the audience and they get it. You can almost see the light bulbs go on as the laughter spreads across the sanctuary. If you see this opportunity then, by all means, say something funny. For an example of a pastor who uses humor well listen to Mike Householder at Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, Iowa. First thing you’ll notice is that he is not funny all the time but when he is it is very effective.

• Be brutally honest – Nothing is more memorable than the truth especially when someone says something  you know is true but have never heard said out loud before. One temptation in preaching (there are so many) is to sugar coat things or to attack them from the side hoping everyone knows what you are talking about. Those sermons probably don’t even make it to Tuesday. But think about a time when you heard a pastor call out a specific lack of faith and you realized he was talking about you. Do you still remember it? Of course you do.

• Tell a good story – The most memorable sermon at our church in the past year was when our pastor, preached last Memorial Day. He told the story of Jacob DeShazer and Mitsuo Fuchida to speak about forgiveness and grace. Most people in the room had never heard the story of two men who fought against one another in the Pacific theater during WWII but no one who was there will forget their dramatic story of reconciliation through Christ. Sometimes when I am tempted to hold a grudge I remember that sermon and figure if WWII wasn’t enough to keep these men apart my issues probably aren’t either. See? Memorable truth.

• Use one unifying image or illustration to make your point – This one I learned from personal experience. I had a nice illustration to end my sermon with about a tree and how fruit grows. It was great. A week after I preached the sermon I realized how much more effective the rest of the sermon would have been if instead of throwing the  illustration in at the end I used as a unifying theme of the message. Chalk this one up to experience learned the hard way. You ever learn anything that way?

• Offer more detail – As you tell stories, paint a picture in people’s minds. The more vivid the picture the more likely someone is to remember it. Recently in a Sunday School I’m teaching with another guy, we covered the myths about the Nativity story and we did it by digging into the details of the story separating fact from fiction. Some folks were astonished to learn the Holy Family were probably not in some Motel 8′s barn but more likely in the stable area of a family member’s home. Their whole idea of Christmas was rocked. I guarantee they’ll never forget it. We ruined Christmas pageants for the rest of their lives. For a nice example of detailed preaching, see Jeff Gilmore’s series called In the Fullness of Time, from January 2008. Gilmore does a fantastic job of offering details that make the sermon come alive.

• Package your points in threes – I hesitate to even bring this up. It’s so overdone. “Three points and a poem” is a tired cliche. But inside every cliche is a nugget of truth. Let me give you an example to explain why I believe this one. Once I heard a pastor preach a nineteen point sermon. (Yeah, 19!) I kept the notes just to remind myself never to inflict that on a congregation. Great points. Needed message. Way too long. By the end I was wishing he believed in “three points and a poem” and hoping the pot roast wasn’t burning. You know as well as I do that capturing the attention span of your audience is critical to helping your message be heard. The maximum attention span in adults is about 20 minutes and shrinking. Breaking your sermon up into smaller chunks (still observing the first point above!) will help keep people’s attention and if they are paying attention they just might remember that very important message you have for them. Alliteration is optional.

• Be passionate about your subject - I heard Alistair Begg say something that stuck with me in one of his sermons on the radio about how he gets ready to preach. He offered what I think is an old preachers saying:
• I think myself empty
• I read myself full
• I write myself clear
• I pray myself hot

I love that last part. The question is worth asking yourself: Am I passionate about the subject I am preaching today? Has God convicted me of its relevance to me and the people placed in my care? If so, great! Preach on and with conviction! If not, is it worth preaching?

Did I miss something? Share it with me below. I’d love to hear it!

While there is a lesson about never giving up in the Cardinals’ improbable run to the World Series, there is another one for our spiritual lives from the losing team.

Texas Rangers’ outfielder Josh Hamilton is known as a committed Christian and credits God for turning around his life and career. He blasted a huge home run in the 10th inning of Game 6 to put his team ahead by two runs. But his home run heroics are only half the story.

After the game, Hamilton explained to the press that God told him he was going to hit a home run in the at bat. “He told me, ‘You haven’t hit one in a while, and this is the time you’re going to,’” he said. And he did on the first pitch. For the briefest of moments it looked like the home run from God would win the game – and the Series – for his team in what would have been an inspiring cap to his comeback.

But it was not to be. David Freese, the Cardinals’ third baseman belted a home run of his own in the 11th inning to win Game 6 and force a Game 7 which the Cardinals would win the next night easily. It was a wonderful end for the Cards, not so wonderful for Hamilton and his Rangers. Imagine his heartbreak as the zenith of Major League Baseball sailed into the night on a long ball to straightaway center field.

What about his message from God? “There was a period at the end of [the sentence],” Hamilton said. “He didn’t say, ‘You’re going to hit it and you’re going to win.’” This is why the phrase “God moves in mysterious ways,” is a cliché. Did God set Hamilton up for disappointment?

This curve ball in the at bat of our faith happens to all of us eventually. It happens because we take a limited amount of information God has revealed and extrapolate it to a meaning He has not.

Why would we hold God to something He has not promised? One reason is our natural tendency to hear what we want to hear. Jesus promised that his yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matthew 11:30) and we hear our life will be easier. Proverbs reminds us that godly and healthy habits are best developed early (“train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it,” Proverbs 22:6) and we hear that our children will never reject the Lord because they were raised in the church. The list goes on.

There is a deeper reason, too. The central struggle of the spiritual walk with God is learning to surrender to His will and to abdicate our own. We struggle with God’s mysterious ways because they are so different from what we think is the ideal. Even Jesus longed for a more ideal resolution to his life as he prayed in Gethsemane (Luke 22:42) but when he faced death, Jesus did not attempt to control the outcome to suit his desires. He was resolutely abandoned to the will of His trusted Father.

Are there any outcomes you are trying to control? Are you failing to trust God for the results of your ministry? This is a difficult question for many leaders who feel responsibility to produce. Spiritual “production” is not easily quantifiable and almost never controllable which complicates the pastor’s task immeasurably. Without a heart purposefully set on trusting God your ministry vision can be lowered from seeking Christlikeness in your people to bottom lines in your budgets, from prayer with your Father to power on your board. Once this happens, outlandish expectations of God – and disappointment when He does not live up to them – are inevitable.

How do we learn to follow in faith through the steps God has revealed into those He has not? In the history of the Church there has only ever been one answer to this question: we must get know God as He has revealed Himself.

That means we must stop thinking of God impersonally. I am convinced one of the reasons we are surprised by God’s ways is because we expect Him to work like an ATM. We punch in our PIN combination of prayer, Bible reading, holy-ish living and expect God to spit out the blessings we request. It is a very impersonal view and sometimes we don’t even realize we are taking it. But God is a person; not a human person, but He is personal. Persons often surprise us. Machines only do when they malfunction.

When you want to get to know someone you spend time with them. This is hardly surprising. But many of us, pastors included, neglect spending time with God and therefore do not know Him. Jesus had a habit of prayer that led to his intimacy with the Father. Christians overlook this point by assuming Jesus was automatically intimate with the Father by virtue of being God himself. But Jesus made prayer his habit. How can we do with any less?

But we often do settle by allowing information about God to substitute for intimacy with God. This temptation is especially seductive for professional Christians. For many, seminary training launches an unending pursuit of knowledge about Scripture. The deeper we dig, the more we know and the smarter we sound and the bigger our heads can become. But knowledge about God is not the same as knowledge of God and should never be mistaken for genuine relationship.

When I find myself struggling to control what happens in my life I often return to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Reflecting, I notice how Jesus trusts his Father. and watch as he struggles with and commits to God’s will. Try reading Mark 13:32-42 several times and reflect. There is no better picture of trust in God in desperate times.

Will doing these things change God’s mysterious ways? No. God will always be somewhat mysterious and His ways will remain not our ways. Like every good mystery, God demands investigation and small clues and cues lead to deeper, eternal truths about His character. Slowly, we find we trust Him because we know Him. When we do we find He is always faithful.

Did God set Josh Hamilton up for disappointment? Hardly. Hamilton seems to understand that God promised him a home run, not a World Series ring. The home run and the experience of trusting God’s voice while going to the plate are their own reward.

What ways do you find you must trust outcomes to God? Do you ever struggle in your ministry to rely on Him? What practices have you developed to help bring you back to trust?

We started by driving out to Indianola to see Rick Perry. The event was held in a private dining room at The Sports Page. The crowd was about 100 people (my guesstimate). The first thing I noticed is just how many media types are there. Cameras of all kinds are everywhere so we needed to be prepared to be filmed and photographed.

Sheriff Joe

The Warren County Republican GOP chairman Rick Halvorsen started the meeting by introducing someone we had not expected to see: Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona who has made headlines for his unique handling of inmates. The Sheriff mostly spoke about Perry’s stance on illegal immigration and his policies to handle illegals.

After a couple of minutes Sheriff Joe introduced “the next President of the United States,” Gov. Rick Perry. His speech emphasized his record on taxes, immigration, his faith, as well as a few barbs at other candidates. He declared himself the true conservative in the race.

Governor Perry Speaks to the crowd

During the question and answer portion, a woman forgot her questions to which Perry quipped “I have that problem sometimes, too.” His good humor revealed underlying humility, a rare quality in politicians at this level.

The crowd was mostly subdued and those I spoke to were interested but not yet decided if Perry was their man. My informal and unscientific survey agreed with recent polls that Evangelicals like Perry but are also considering Santorum which explains why Perry called out the former Senator’s earmarking past.

After the official part of the program was the meet and greet. I managed to get Perry to sign the one of the stickers his campaign passed out. Two days later I happened on a video of this on MSNBC. We were just watching TV to catch up on what the liberals were saying and there I was! Everyone is entitled to 15 minutes, I guess.

Ron Paul speaks to his supporters

The same evening we decided to catch the Ron Paul event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Now that we had a little experience we thought we knew what to expect but Paul’s event had a different flavor altogether. The first indication we had that this event would be different was the people outside selling buttons. Freelance vendors don’t show up unless there are going to be a good crowd. The second was the fact that you had to have pre-reserved passes to get in before 6:30 PM when the event was scheduled at 7:00 PM.

I passed the time until the event started by chatting with two gentlemen sitting nearby. One was a solid Paul supporter. The other was still undecided but from Chicago so his vote does not have to be decided so quickly.

When the event was close to starting we saw Ron Paul slip in the door behind the stage. The crowd, which by now had grown to nearly 500 people, erupted in cheers. The pre-event music was very patriotic and a graphic on a large screen to the right of the stage declared that Paul received more military donations than the other candidates.

Once the rally started two odd things happened. First, the crowd was led in singing songs like “America, the Beautiful” which made it feel like a worship service complete with a designated song leader. The crowd sang along but it was awkward.

Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson looks on during a campaign stop for republican presidential hopeful U.S. Rep Ron Paul (R-TX) at the Sioux Center Public Library on December 30, 2011 in Sioux Center, Iowa.

Second, a man was introduced as a “special guest” who turned out to be Kent Sorenson, an Iowa state senator who until about an hour before was working on Michele Bachmann’s campaign as her Iowa campaign chairman. This was big news and no one outside the hall had heard it yet. Sorenson defected from Bachmann’s campaign to Paul’s apparently because Paul had endorsed him and helped his own campaign in the past. Why he waited until a week before the caucus remains a mystery.

Finally, Ron Paul got up to speak. What interested me is that Paul never seemed to look at his notes. In fact, I’m not even sure he had notes. He simply spoke and every line was designed for applause. The crowd was raucous and mostly made up of young people which is also consistent with the book on Paul’s support.

My favorite moment came when someone from the Occupy movement began shouting something indistinguishable interrupting Paul’s speech. He handled it perfectly by looking stoically at the crowd while the loudmouth was escorted out. “Isn’t freedom of speech wonderful?” Paul asked? The crowd roared in agreement.

I often hear from conservative pundits that Ron Paul is a little far out there on some of his positions. During his speech I discovered what they mean for myself. Paul insists that “America cannot be the world’s policeman.” Perhaps the United States cannot deploy troops everywhere but some of those deployments are valuable and not simply carryovers from past wars. Paul railed about the number of bases the U.S. keeps around the world but it takes only a moment of intelligent thought to realize our military commanders must see some strategic purpose in keeping a base in Germans or South Korea and other places as well. I found his foreign policy statements short-sighted, naive, and unequal to the reality of a dangerous world.

We left without plunging into the multitude of admirers waiting for photographs with the candidate.

Mitt Romney, Ann Romney, and Chris Christie enter the crowd

The last event we attended was a Mitt Romney event two days later at a local grocery store. It was freezing and rainy. We arrived early to find the cafe full but ordered breakfast anyway and were surprised when it arrived quickly.

We learned of this event from a robocall from the campaign and were excited because Chris Christie was the special guest campaigning with the Romney’s. It had to be held outside because of the crowd coming. This was easily the most exciting of the three events we attended and garnered the most national media because of Romney’s front-runner status.

It was clear, too, that this was the most organized and professional campaign we had seen. Perry’s event was organized but its intimacy siphoned the grandeur of meeting a man who would like to be president. The Paul event felt unwieldy in spite of the crowd’s enthusiasm. Romney’s, by contrast, was polished down to every detail. I realized this when some staffers pulled out paper towels to wipe the small stage set up for the appearance. They were taking no chances. Intangibles are an imprecise way to evaluate candidates but the whole thing felt presidential.

Govenor Christie Addresses the Crowd

About 20 minutes late Romney, his wife, and Christie appeared from their tour bus. Romney was standing at the door of the bus as it pulled up. He was ready to engage the audience.

Romney greeted the crowd and then introduced Christie. He spoke for only a couple of minutes with the highlight coming as he said he’d be back “Jersey-style” if Iowa did not show up for Romney. The crowd cheered the possibility of the New Jersey governor coming back next fall to stump for Romney when he mentioned it. Some have speculated that Christie would be a good VP choice for Romney. If he wins the nomination, Romney could do a lot worse. It would also make this appearance one of the first of the ticket together. (Politics, like life, is full of what-if’s and possibilities. Who knows if this ticket will happen?)

Ann Romney said a few nice things about her husband’s character and career and introduced him as “the next president of the United States” (where have I heard that before?).

Romney gave his short stump speech mostly knocking Barack Obama and emphasizing the need to return to the founding values of the country. He encouraged people to come out to the caucus on Tuesday.

Mitt Romney Shakes Hands

Once his speech was over the three worked the crowd. Mrs. Romney shook hands until she could get to the bus and climbed aboard. Christie was a bit more sociable and worked one side of the crowd while Romney took the other.

It was at this point that I realized the caliber of the event. I turned around and saw none other than Chris Matthews plodding through the crowd trying to get to Romney. Let me tell you he is a tall man, much taller than I expected. And he looks way older in person than he appears on television. I asked him how he liked the Java Joe’s coffee because he had broadcast his show from there the previous evening. He mumbled something about drinking Starbucks International that morning and having too much sugar.

Chris Matthews looking bleary-eyed

Matthews eventually came back around and started barking questions at people. “Who is supporting Mitt Romney?” “Don’t you want to be on national television?” “Why do you like Romney?” As if he couldn’t believe anyone would. A woman who I had been chatting with there urged me to jump into his spotlight which I declined. I’m no match for a liberal gun like that and too irresolute in my support so far. I did not want to say something that could be misinterpreted, as media sharks like Matthews are known to do. Or maybe I was just chicken.

Romney chats with Andrea Mitchell

Later we stood in the background as Mitt Romney sat for an interview with Andrea Mitchell of NBC. What I like about Romney is his unflappability. I know some who think this is a liability but he really does look, sound, and come across as a potential president. Should the externals be as important as they are? Maybe not but the subconscious messages a candidate sends make or break their campaign. As Romney was questioned by Mitchell he did nothing but smile that grandfatherly smile of his. It would be condescending if it did not seem so sincere. We could not hear the questions nor the answers but we caught it later on MSNBC and Mitchell was grilling Romney trying to get him to commit to releasing his tax returns. Romney was having none of it and deftly deflected her barbs while staying on message.

Romney and Christie on Fox & Friends

The Iowa caucuses are a time when candidates can be seen up close and personal. They can be inspected and often asked questions directly. The people you normally only read about or see video of are right in front of you wanting to shake your hand, asking for your vote.

We did not see all the candidates. I would have liked to see Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum but they were both stumping in the farther reaches of the state and we couldn’t make it. By the time I caucus in Colorado one or the other of the two may not even be in the race. Much depends on what happens today.

Get out and caucus, Iowa! Vote for the person who best represents your view and recommend a few to the country. It’s your moment in the spotlight and it won’t come around for four more years.

I was going to link this over at the Facebook fan page but was so excited I quickly realized I had more to say than Facebook could accommodate. So you get a blog post instead.

The Charlotte Observer had an amazing story today that I think all Christian, especially American Christians, should read about the religious revolution underway all over the globe. The article is about a speech given by Philip Jenkins to a small group of people in Charlotte, NC. He claims that the religious revolution is happening right now and is likely to keep on trucking.

The reason: The staggering growth in the number of Christians in Asia, Latin America and especially Africa – a phenomenon he called “a global religious revolution” and one that “reverses a trend that people had been used to for several hundred years.”

Long have I heard about G. K. Chesterton and his amazing writing. Finally, I picked up his book Orthodoxy at the suggestion of my cousin and found this passage:

The democratic contention is that government (helping to rule the tribe) is a thing like falling in love, and not a thing like dropping into poetry. It is not something analogous to playing the church organ, painting on vellum, discovering the North Pole (that insidious habit), looping the loop, being Astronomer Royal, and so on. For these things we do not wish a man to do at all unless he does them well. It is, on the contrary, a thing analogous to writing one’s own love-letters or blowing one’s own nose. These things we want a man to do for himself, even if he does them badly.

I am not here arguing the truth of any of the conceptions; I know that some moderns are asking to have their wives chosen by scientists, and they may soon be asking, for all I know, to have their noses blown by nurses. I merely say that mankind does recognize these universal human functions, and that democracy classes government among them. In short, the democratic faith is this: that the most terribly important things must be left to ordinary men themselves – the mating of the sexes, the rearing of the young, the laws of the state. This is democracy and in this I have always believed.

It is plainly obvious people ought to be left to govern themselves in the “most terribly important things.” Love that. Nice, Mr. Chesterton. We still believe it in America, too…for now.

photo credit: Abeeeer

Tonight is my favorite moment in American politics: the President’s annual State of the Union address to Congress. There is something regal about the moment when the Sergeant-at-Arms loudly announces, “Mister Speaker, the President of the United States!” I am always proud no matter the party affiliation of the man who enters the chamber. The President is warmly greeted by applause and handshakes as he makes his way into the chamber. It is one of his most majestic moments. The President always looks triumphant no matter what kind of rhetorical abuse he suffered the previous year.

State of the Union night is his night. It is his best chance of the year to communicate to the people – to us, the governed whose consent he must secure in order to lead. That makes this speech very important.

I have watched most SOTU speeches since I was a kid. I remember Ronald Reagan’s stately presence and grandfatherly voice. He defined the office for many. I remember seeing George H. W. Bush standing at the podium but can’t remember anything he said. Bill Clinton’s speeches were always too long but usually interesting even if I fundamentally disagreed with them. George W. Bush gave some great speeches mostly bookending his term. Of course, he had the great (which is to say large in significance) events of 9/11 and war to lend weight. I remember the exultant atmosphere of his last SOTU looking like he was starting the final mile of a marathon, joyous to see the finish line.

Tonight’s event is news because it is a special annual event, not because Barack Obama is giving another speech. His bully pulpit is worn out after two years of heavy use and abuse. I will be watching, though. Can Obama capture the magic again as he has on past occasions and win people over? Or will his speech be full of platitudes, half-truths, and bad policies? I guess we’ll all learn the answer together.

Lately, I tweet articles that I find interesting but since I have so many, I’ll link them here.

• Dennis Prager notes what you won’t see tonight. You won’t be surprised to learn it is religious in nature.
• Five dos and dont’s of SOTU.
• Peggy Noonan, who I respect and admire, thinks Obama stands a good chance of hitting a home run.
• Ever wonder how to decipher what the President really means? Fred Barnes has the key.

I’m curious. Do you watch the SOTU? Do you have any enduring memories of the political ritual? Share your thoughts below.

Palin finally responded. Here’s her video:

Sarah Palin: “America’s Enduring Strength” from Sarah Palin on Vimeo.

Most of the MSM attention is going to either the fact that Palin responded (see this piece at ABC’s The Note that claims Palin “once again, has found a way to become part of the story”) or focused on her use of the term “blood libel” (see Andrea Mitchell trying to be charitable). Nevermind that within hours of the event the media started to try to pin her for causing it. Others have defended Palin on this count better than I could so I’ll leave it to you to find them.

What I want to say is that I like this format for Palin. One writer noted that she comes across presidential. You might even say it is her most presidential moment yet. Whatever the accusations, Palin resisted the urge to attack back and instead focused on the tragedy and why America’s greatness will overcome it. That’s exactly the tone a public figure should ring when the unimaginable happens. I have to wonder if this might be a moment that proves pivotal convincing some – or maybe planting the seed – that Palin might, just might, have the inner qualities to occupy the Oval Office even if her resume doesn’t convince them.

I didn’t see Obama’s speech. I stopped listening to him somewhere around the 49th “major speech” on health care. I hope he was as presidential as Palin.

UPDATE: Rich Lowry liked Obama’s speech.

As I read the speech, I had the same reaction as usual that BO is lecturing us to be better. Lowry heard this as a subtle rebuke to the Left. Maybe it was and maybe merely reading it does not do it justice.