ODESSA — Mike McGhee, a member of First Baptist Church here who is stepping into a regional role as an organizer of religious freedom caucuses, is hopeful that Christians will be faithful in the difficult days to come.
McGhee, who is ending his time as a state representative in January, has an opportunity to work with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington D.C. as it launches a new initiative through the American Religious Freedom Program. McGhee’s work in Missouri runs parallel to that in other new caucuses being birthed in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. As momentum builds, the center aims to be in all 50 states.
“If you believe in prayer, and if you get enough people praying in the right direction, you may get the leadership in Washington to soften up some of their views on religious freedom,” McGhee said.
McGhee was part of a small group of God-fearing lawmakers in Missouri who worked for a total of 12 years to sponsor a right-to-pray measure that codified several religious liberty rights that Missouri citizens undeniably have from God. His labor in the 2012 Missouri General Assembly met with a historic outcome.
Kerry Messer, legislative liaison for the Christian Life Commission (CLC) of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), said it marked the first time since the 1960s that any state has voted on the issue. On Aug. 7, an astonishing 83 percent of Missouri voters showed up to pass it. Now McGhee is ready to travel and expand those gains among Christian citizens both in and around Missouri.
“We can’t let our guard down for a moment,” he said. “With the administration like it seems like it’s going to be, I think that we need to kick it up a notch—get it into a little bit higher gear.”
McGhee is referring to the Nov. 6 re-election of President Obama, which substantially affirmed and strengthened ObamaCare. McGhee calls the massive health care reform law the top threat to religious liberty—and life at its very core.
“I think he’s going to work to try and open up some more abortion facilities,” McGhee said. “I’m going to pray that he would not be successful or would not have that mindset.”
The details of McGhee’s new position are a work in progress. The American Religious Freedom Program, led by Executive Director Brian Walsh, aims to protect and enhance the religious freedoms of all faiths. Walsh was senior legal research fellow in former Attorney General Edwin Meese’s Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. McGhee said he may need another week or so to nail down specifics, which will include meeting with various lawmakers and getting them on board. Another general objective will be to get other states to follow the lead of Missouri and pass religious liberty amendments.
His pastor, Terry Hodges, has been a big help. Hodges is a member of the MBC Executive Board.
“If you hang around with Terry Hodges very long he’ll make a disciple out of you, I believe that,” McGhee said. “I believe that he is doing a lot of training in that direction in our church. I hope that he can give me the direction that I need to guide me and be pleasing to him and be pleasing to our Lord.”
McGhee is free to do this because he lost a race for state Senate to Rep. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg. He stops short of calling it a ministry, but he does seem to indicate that he is being nudged to do what
is right.
“I never prayed with my father,” he said. “The first time that I was in church with my father was when I buried him. How many other people are there out there that have found Christ that want to get their families involved, get their constituents involved, maybe do something different than what happened in my family?
“I think that many people back home look up to us leaders in the Legislature. This is just one more way that these young Christians can say, ‘Hey, our leaders do have the right mindset. They’re not all crooks. They’re not all out with somebody else’s woman or with somebody else’s man. They do go home. They do pray. They do try to follow the Ten Commandments. They do try to have Christian values.’ I do think it’s important that we show leadership across the board.”
McGhee said in the early stages of his work he has noticed excellent cooperation among Baptists and Catholics. This has encouraged him.
“I think we’re going to work closely together,” he said.