April 19, 2024
As always, I want to thank you for your support of the Public Affairs Ministry this past year. Having lobbied at the Georgia State Capitol for 15 years, I believe this was the best year ever for getting good legislation across the finish line. These wins are a constant reminder that elections have consequences!
This is true whether it is a local, state, or national election. It is the people that we put in office that ultimately are responsible for good or bad legislation. This is why it is important that you should know as much as possible about the candidate’s position on issues before you vote.
This year, once again we are providing churches with voter guides from the Georgia Faith and Freedom Coalition. You can go to this website to order or download the guides to make available to your church members: https://gabaptist.org/2022voterguide/.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition has worked independently to gather the candidate’s views on topics important to Georgia Baptists and Christians overall.
Topics such as abortion on demand, increased taxpayer funding of abortion, border security, defunding police, protecting girls’ sports, defunding of Planned Parenthood, stopping casinos and election integrity are just a few of the issues that will be on the front burner in this year’s Nov. 8 state election.
I’d like to ask you, as your Public Affairs representative, to consider distributing these voter guides to your congregation starting in October. Early voting for the 2022 election begins October 17th.
I am not asking you to identify or endorse any candidate, only to ask your congregation to pray over the moral issues of our time and choose which candidates may best represent your Christian beliefs and values. You can also find a link on the Public Affairs website to download these guides to distribute.
Let me also say that no Cooperative Program or Mission Board funds were used in providing these voter guides. In Georgia, there are multiple organizations that have many of the same concerns as Georgia Baptists about what is happening in our state and nation. The Faith and Freedom Coalition is one of those organizations and they are providing this unbiased educational guide at their own expense across the state.
Thank you for considering the use of these voter guides. There is nothing that unprincipled politicians hate more than an educated electorate. I believe that God will use people to protect the freedom of our country if we will pray, educate ourselves, and vote our Christian values. Voting is one of our most sacred responsibilities as citizens of this great nation!
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Mike Griffin is the Public Affairs Representative of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
