CM Ministries to Local Government Leaders Getting a Big Boost!

The Local Government Ministries initiative to reach city and county political leaders with the Word of God will be getting a significant boost this coming year, according to a report presented last week at the Capitol Ministries Annual Leaders Training Conference.

Staff volunteer Jerry Duncan reported that he and a group of volunteers are making substantial progress in identifying city council members, county commissioners, mayors, judges, and other elected and appointed local-level political leaders that, according to the U.S. Census, number 500,000 across the United States.

This valuable tool will support the significant effort that Capitol Ministries has been working on for several years to create sustainable, discipleship ministries to local leaders in the hometowns of America where most state and national leaders begin their careers.

Part of the initiative will see Members of the White House Cabinet, U.S. Senate, and House who attend and sponsor CM’s D.C. Bible studies, encouraging local leaders to read the very Bible studies that they will be delving into every week.

“The Local Government Ministries initiative will round out Capitol Ministries’ efforts to help fulfill the Great Commission by reaching political leaders at all levels of service,” said Ralph Drollinger, President and Founder of Capitol Ministries.

Jesus gives the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”

“We have established sustainable discipleship ministries in state governments, three national ministries in Washington, D.C., and ministries in at least 24 foreign nations and this will empower our efforts to take the Word of God to leaders in America’s local communities where most political leaders start out,” Drollinger said.

Duncan’s report was one of many given at the Capitol Ministry Leaders Training Conference that was held November 27-December 1.

Ministry Leaders, many of whom came with their ministry partner wives, traveled from across North America to attend the five-day conference at the Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center that is surrounded by towering redwoods and winding creeks, and is minutes away from the Pacific Ocean and the spectacular Big Basin State Park.

The purpose of the annual conference is to strengthen, encourage, and support existing Ministry Leaders, and provide training for new recruits who are beginning ministries to state elected senators and representatives and constitutional officers.

This year a new ministry has been established in Vermont; new leaders are replacing departing long-time leaders in Nevada and Oklahoma; and the leader of the independent Arizona ministry joined with Capitol Ministries.

Ministry leader candidates who are developing ministries to launch in other states next year also attended.

Training is provided on how to establish a ministry to political leaders; the value of evangelism, discipleship, and relationship-building; and the importance of leading Public Servants toward maturity in Christ, among many other topics.

In creating the discipleship ministries, Capitol Ministries partners Bible-teaching evangelists with Christian legislators who sponsor weekly Bible studies inside state capitols and invite their colleagues to attend.

Capitol Ministries has planted ministries in 42 states. Seeking to create additional ministries, CM is accepting applications from proven, intentional, deliberate, biblically reliant disciple makers who are passionate about evangelism and about teaching the Word of God. Click here to learn more.

“Our leaders seek to be audacious and intrepid as they minister in kings’ palaces (Proverbs 30:28),” Drollinger said. “We are looking for men whom it is obvious to all that the hand of God rests upon.”

This Bible verse implies that while lizards are not powerful in and of themselves, they have found a way to be inside the centers of power.

Perry Gauthier, CM Vice President and North America Director who oversees Ministry Leaders in the United States and Canada, said in addition to teaching the Word of God, Ministry Leaders provide spiritual support, friendship, and pastoral counseling to Christian Public Servants in times of trials, temptations, family struggles, and other difficulties.

Himself an experienced Ministry Leader who has led separate Bible studies to Nebraska legislators and staff for 10 years, Gauthier said the annual conference also provided opportunities for relationship building among Ministry Leaders and ministry couples, which is vital to sustainability.

“Capitol Ministries’ intensely-biblical methodology has been meticulously honed and fire tested through 22 years of ministry experience in U.S. capitols,” Gauthier said. “The training is indispensable.”