When I first learned of Franklin Graham’s vision to visit all 50 states and hold prayer rallies at each in his Decision America Tour 2016, one of the first thoughts that popped into my head was, “How will this be received by the public?” Next was admiration. It certainly seems like a daunting task, especially for me, an introvert, to think about. It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of a crowd and preach Jesus and politics at the same time.
On the sunny day of August 24, 2016, Franklin Graham made his 37th stop in an extremely blue state: my home state, Vermont. There were hundreds of people present who flooded in from all different parts of the state. For a small liberal state, I would say this quantifies as a substantial crowd. More people than I was expecting, at least. The realization that there are people in this state that would attend a rally of this nature was surprising to me. There was a wide array of people, with the obvious majority identifying as Christians. The crowd also included skeptics, patriotic people with flags plastered on their shirts, people with a small American flag sticking out of one pocket and a Christian flag out of the other, and those who made me sick touting posters reading "If you vote democrat, you are an enemy of God."
To set the record straight, Franklin Graham did not promote one political party over the other. He made it quite clear that neither the Democratic nor the Republican Party can save you and that neither one can save this nation: only Jesus can.
Franklin Graham did, however, encourage us to vote and to be informed voters and let our voices be heard. He quoted his father, Billy Graham, saying “‘I think it’s the duty of every individual Christian at election time to study the issues, study the candidates, and then go to the poll and vote." He explained that he believes it is the duty of every Christian man and woman to be involved, and if they are able, to run for a political office, whether it is on a small local scale, such as running for mayor or becoming involved on the school board, or running for something larger. He said it is estimated that over 20 million Christians stayed home from voting last presidential election. Franklin Graham was adamant that Christians need to speak out and make their voices heard. “Our job as Christians is to make the impact of Jesus Christ felt in every phase of life, everything: religious, social, economic, and political. But we must not do it in our own strength or wisdom. We can only do it as we surrender ourselves completely to God: allow Him to work in us and through us.”
Standing there with hundreds of other sweaty people burning to a crisp on the vibrant green lawn of our state capitol building in Montpelier, VT, I prayed. We joined together as one body and cried out to God to forgive the sins of our nation, the sins of our fathers, and our own sin. We prayed for guidance, wisdom, and strength for Governor Peter Shumlin and Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott as well as everyone else working in our government and state capitol building. We prayed for our law enforcement. We prayed for our nation.
Thank you, Franklin, for the organized opportunity to pray for our nation. I also want to thank you for encouraging Christians to get involved in politics and to stop being bystanders.
