ALEC State Legislators Find CM’s Mission “Exciting!”
Members of the Capitol Ministries leadership team shared the ministry’s mission to legislators from across the United States at the recent American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) 46th annual meeting held this year in Austin, Texas.
Perry Gauthier, CM’s North America Director, Faith Gauthier, his wife and ministry partner, and Brian Hanson, CM’s Director of International Ministries, hosted the Capitol Ministries booth and met with members of ALEC, a nonpartisan organization of state legislators who are dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets, and federalism.
ALEC’s website notes: “Comprised of nearly one-quarter of the country’s state legislators and stakeholders from across the policy spectrum, ALEC members represent more than 60 million Americans and provide jobs to more than 30 million people in the United States.”
“What an opportunity to rub shoulders with so many legislators from across this great country,” Hanson said. “Capitol Ministries was privileged to let it be known who we are and what we offer.”
The booth was flooded with legislators who were not acquainted with the ministry and wanted to learn about it, and many others who visited were already involved in a Capitol Ministries’ weekly exegetical Bible study in their state capitol.
“We were able to share with them Capitol Ministries’ mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ in the political arena around the world,” Hanson said. “We heard nothing but praise and gratitude for the ministry and we were able to connect so many with Capitol Ministries Ministry Leaders in their state capital.
“These political leaders were excited and genuinely happy that this ministry exists.”
Also representing Capitol Ministries was Jon Strain, Ministry Leader to the Idaho Legislature for five years; David Carolan, chairman of CM’s Texas advisory board; and Keith Hill, who heads CM’s Local Government Ministries in Austin.
The Capitol Ministries contingent also gave legislators copies of Ralph Drollinger’s four-volume book set, Oaks in Office; Biblical Essays for Political Leaders. After running out of the books, the Capitol Ministries team took names and will send sets to legislators in their home offices. 
U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry spoke at a break-out session where legislators could become more acquainted with Capitol Ministries.
Secretary Perry also attends the weekly Capitol Ministries Presidential Cabinet Bible study in Washington, D.C. that is led by CM president Ralph Drollinger.
Noting that all legislation reflects someone’s morality, Secretary Perry said Christian legislators would reflect biblical morality. Capitol Ministries is valuable because it strengthens Christian legislators by weekly teaching them the Word of God, he said.
At the break-out session, Gauthier explained that Capitol Ministries is not an activist organization, but is non-denominational, non-partisan, and co-ed; theologically, it is Bible-based, Evangelical, and trinitarian.
Gauthier said Capitol Ministries Bible studies could benefit ALEC members by helping them learn about and understand God’s precepts.
“All legislation is moral,” said Gauthier said. “It’s nonsensical that you can’t legislate it.
“As President Barak Obama said in a 2004 speech when he was a senator: ‘Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, William Jennings Bryan, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King – indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history – were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. To say that men and women should not inject their ‘personal morality’ into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.’
“President Obama is right and ALEC members need to know about Capitol Ministries’ totally dedicated, volunteer pastors who are devoted to helping legislators, regardless of their party affiliation or religious affiliation or denomination, understand the Judeo-Christian biblical perspective of morality that not only made America great, but is the most perfect ethical system in world history.”
Capitol Ministries focuses on reaching political leaders with the Word of God, provides pastoral counseling, and shares the free grace gospel that teaches that people are saved not by works, but by grace through faith.
“The Great Commission is about taking the gospel to every creature on earth, but the church has neglected reaching government officials, and that is who we minister to,” Gauthier said.
Capitol Ministries has nearly 70 ministries worldwide, mostly in the United States, Africa, and Latin America and has an objective of establishing ministries in 200 capitols in the next 15 years.
Gauthier was also invited to deliver the prayer at the annual dinner for ALEC state chairmen, and thanked God that the freedoms enjoyed in the United States came from Him.
Hanson said the experience of sharing the mission of Capitol Ministries with so many legislators was incredibly heartening.
“We ate meals with legislators, we drank coffee with legislators, we wrapped our arms around some of them and prayed with many,” Hanson said.
“The message went out loud and strong that Capitol Ministries is there to serve them. We offer a place where they can find trust and refuge. We offer a place where they can be challenged. We offer a place where they can grow and rejuvenate. We offer a place where they can hear the Word of God in the rooms and halls of their own political Statehouses and to walk in light in an arena filled with darkness.”