Report from the Easter service yesterday - Baptist missionaries in.... Ohio?
Background- this is the church in which I and my wife were married. This is my in-laws church. It used to be run of the mill Southern Baptist - go to sermon - beat the Methodists to the buffet type thing. In the last few years (we go on Easter) the guest preachers have noticeably been more and more political. We almost left a couple of times. My in-laws are New Deal retired railroad Dems much like a lot of the congregation was.
So the preacher is giving the big sermon. Mostly it was flat and bad - he "Tebowed" all alone at the end when he called people up to pray with during the last (dreadful) song and no one stepped forward. The church is clearly using a program to bring in and keep youngsters and young families. It appears to be working as the congregation was noticeably younger and larger that two years ago (we were at Disneyworld last year).
But there was a part that got my attention. He was speaking about this church's missions. The one in Nicaragua (which I had heard of over the years) and the one in Ohio.
Ohio?
I joked to my wife in a whisper, "What is wrong with the people of Ohio?". I was born in Ohio so I was interested.
The sermon went on flatly and then a slick video presentation (huge video screens) about the missions began. Typical PR stuff - several people introduce themselves, talk about the missions, and thank you for your donation- so as it suggest that you have already agreed to donate. But, it was then presented the missing information about the missions in Ohio......
CLEVELAND
My wife and I's heads snapped toward each other. CLEVELAND?!?!? Oh cripes it all made sense. My father-in-law later mentioned that he wasn't crazy about Jonathan Falwell coming out to their church and having anything to do with them. They went to high school with Jerry so they know all about him. This church is in Roanoke about an hour from Lynchburg.
So the mission, it would appear, is to both convert Clevelanders -most likely on "traditional marriage" (read: split the black church vote) AND to lay the ground work pre-next election with news stories about "the rise of evangelicals in Cleveland" which will help explain when the stronghold of Cleveland's numbers dip enough for the right to win Ohio in a Presidential election ...as well as elections in between.
It reads like a PR playbook. Keep an eye on that.
