What Perry Gauthier has experienced in the nine years he's been Ministry Leader to the Nebraska State Legislature has confirmed the biblical truth he has always believed: that there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
Nebraska has a unicameral system, which is one-house government, and its legislators are called "Senators." Gauthier's weekly studies are regularly attended by 12 to 18 Senators.
Most of the Bible study series that he authors and teaches are specific to the needs and experiences of leaders in office. Among them are: Luke for Legislators, The Seven Sins in the Senate, and Jehovah's Jurisdiction and Jonah's Journey.
A common theme runs through the studies: that legislators today are dealing with the same issues that have plagued leaders throughout history. In introducing his series on Queen Esther, Gauthier said:
"Senators, every issue that presses on your life in this capitol happened long ago within the walls of an ancient palace in Persia.
"In the Biblical book of Esther, we find greed, promotion, political demotion, beauty, money, sex, power grabs by politicos, race hatred, sex trafficking, immoral legislation, intrigue, betrayal, sleepless nights, and stress off the charts.
"Welcome to the palace, Senators. I hope to help and guide you as we study for the next 20 weeks the series, The People and Power of the Palace."
This year Gauthier was invited to open the Unicameral Legislative Session in prayer and he asked for God's guidance for the legislators and prayed for the morality of laws.
"In my duties as a pastor-teacher, I long for Senators to know God's will as revealed in God's Word so they can apply it in God's world," Gauthier said. "Their job as governing officials is not easy, but here is some great news: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable....that [the Christian legislator] may be equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Gauthier is also Capitol Ministries' North America Director. In that role he is charged with supporting Ministry Leaders who lead discipleship Bible studies to legislators, and helping to establish new ministries in states that do not have them.
In collaboration with Ralph Drollinger, President and Founder of Capitol Ministries, Gauthier has made the 20-year Capitol Ministries goal of creating 50 Bible studies in 50 state capitals a priority in 2017.
Along with Faith, his wife and ministry partner, Gauthier is crisscrossing the nation in a 130-day journey to 30 states.
Stories about these trips will be featured on the Capitol Ministries internet home page in the weeks to come.
"In this first ever 30-state ministry tour our goal was to strengthen, pray for, strategize with, encourage, mentor, and shepherd each leader according to their specific Statehouse needs," Gauthier said.
Drollinger and Gauthier's objective was to solidify the North American ministry and to strengthen the bonds from capital to capital to produce national solidarity and greater effectiveness for Christ.
Before Gauthier became a pastor, he was an architect. That training is evident in how he sees this effort: "In my mind's eye, I picture steel cables connecting each statehouse for Christ. Our desire was to ratchet down on and tighten each cable. We wanted to increase the tensile strength between each leader through the loving bonds of fellowship, co-ministry, and faith in our common mission field."
Seeing the need for God's Word during his mission trips has strengthened Gauthier's commitment to help plant a CM Bible study ministry in all 50 state capitols.
"I pray that God will bring forth intentional, well-trained disciple-makers who will teach the Word of God in depth to state leaders," he said.
"Reaching legislators and constitutional officers with Scripture is vital because, by God's design, they reside in the nerve centers of culture and they influence much. Most of Paul's missionary journeys were to capital cities."
If you wish to pray for Perry or offer support, you may reach him at: perry@necapmin.org or on CM Nebraska's Facebook page: @CapitolMinistriesNe
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