It is hard to imagine given the precarious condition of what was and should be the land of the free, the home of the brave and one nation under God, that projections are less than one-half of registered voters will bother to vote in this general election. That doesn’t count those who are eligible and who are not registered.
Not voting at all is indefensible, voting in ignorance is inexcusable and above all, in my opinion, Christians doing either or both is a sin. Samuel Adams, a dedicated Christian often referred to as “Father of the American Revolution,” admonished the people to be faithful in voting:
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual–or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.
If you have heard that before, repetition is an effective form of learning, and it is obvious that far too few people sitting in pews every Sunday have heard it at all or often enough. Offices from school boards, city councils, county commissions, state legislatures and governors to the direction of Congress are in the balance – along with the future of the country.
My message to pastors and to every Christian in particular, as well as every citizen who agrees we need to turn our nation and government to God and to the Constitution, is that whatever we have been doing is not good enough. It’s time to pull out the stops and execute.
It is not rocket science to dramatically increase the quantity and quality of church voter turnout, but it does take intentionality and execution. Desire, wishing and good intentions will indeed pave the road to hell.
The following are simple steps that every church can and should take in some form – and I assure you that the numbers now and in the future of citizens exercising our duties faithfully with rise exponentially. That will be all it takes to regain some sanity in state capitols and the nation’s Capitol while the church does what the church is called to do in making disciples and transforming lives.
Pastors – you must lead this in your church or it won’t be effective. Lay leaders, the pastors need you to step up and make this happen.
I’m going to focus on turnout rather than registration since we are essentially at the deadline to register for this election – but push hard through Oct. 4, meaning this is the last Sunday to register. The bottom line is that if biblically minded voters turn out in acceptable numbers (you can see how I define that below), we will turn the tide.
The basic objective of the Vote 100 plan is for every church to achieve as close to 100 percent voter registration and 100 percent voter turnout as possible in every election. Given that most elections are won in the fractional margins, even 10 percent of pastors and congregations with a biblical worldview performing these steps will impact every election in a major way. No excuses accepted!
Examples of effective actions to increase voter awareness and turnout in your church:
- Four weeks prior to election: Include announcements from the pulpit, on projection screens, on the church website, in church bulletins and using posters to begin awareness of upcoming election. Place special emphasis on the convenience of early voting, vote by mail, etc.
Distribute memo to adult Bible study and/or Sunday school teachers: Provide text for announcement in each class leading up to the election.
- Three weeks prior to election: Set up a voter awareness table to be staffed by the citizenship ministry team to provide early voting information, voting locations and nonpartisan voter guides.
Caravan to the polls for early voting Sunday (if your state has early voting)
- Two weeks prior to election: Preach an “election sermon” as done by preceding generations of pastors, giving scriptural and historical basis for choosing godly leaders.
- Sunday prior to election: Send a broadcast e-mail to church list with a special “get-out-the-vote” message by the senior pastor and links to poll location information.
- Evening before Election Day: Initiate automated phone calls with a “get-out-the-vote” script recorded by the senior pastor, calling through the entire church list prior to Election Day.
- Additional service: Send a reminder text message to all congregants who have signed up to receive information this way from the pastor/church.
We have churches measuring more than 90 percent voter turnout after implementing these methods!
Very few if any readers of WorldNetDaily need to be convinced to go vote, so what is important is that pastors take this plan and execute in your church. For those who are lay leaders or “just” members/attendees of a church, go to your pastor and offer to execute these steps under his authority.
Just keep one thought planted firmly in your mind through this and every election: “No vote left behind!” in your spheres of influence. Elections are won by those who show up, lost by those who don’t and decided in the margins.
Your action will decide the margin!
