If you found out your child’s school was pushing radical liberal views on your child, what would you do? Sadly, many Christian parents might do nothing. But not Rick Scarborough. When he discovered his daughter’s school was pushing an LGBT agenda on the students, he spoke out and exposed it.
Because of his boldness, many were encouraged to speak up as well. Rick, a Christian political advocate and former Southern Baptist pastor, continues to empower and equip Christians to take a stand for biblical values in the political and social arenas through the Jonathan Project. Founded in 2016, the Jonathan Project comes alongside local churches to educate people about biblical principles in politics as well as get them registered to vote.
I recently spoke with Rick on my podcast about what the Jonathan Project is doing in churches to prepare for the upcoming election. Using advanced technology, the Jonathan Project has a program in place that provides churches everything they need to reach their community and train attendees. They even put field staff in those churches upon request. And this is all at no cost to the churches—no strings attached.
“The church can take our videos and the church can take our Bible study lessons, which we’ve prepared,” he says. “It’s a series of lessons that can be taught up to two months in length to educate their people about our national Christian heritage, about our founders … all in a package that is beautiful in terms of the way it’s set up, but it’s all free.”
A fascinating aspect about this program is that it can track if people who registered to vote actually ended up making it to the polls. They can’t see how they voted, but the fact that they voted is public knowledge, Rick says.
“The Jonathan Project has a proven track record in the states where they work of making a enough difference, that it turns the tide in many of these razor-thin elections,” he says.
Although the organization doesn’t turn any church away that asks for help, they do focus on churches with conservative theology. This is because, as Rick puts it, “If your theology is conservative, your actions will typically be conservative and God-honoring.” Rick knows some may call this partisan, but he doesn’t make any apologies. He’s seen this play out enough times to know that churches that tend to be more conservative theologically tend to vote more biblically.
One thing about the organization that tends to make people wonder, though, is the name. Why call it the Jonathan Project? Rick tells me that it’s named after Jonathan in the Bible who was a friend to King David of ancient Israel. The king in those days was considered God’s anointed one.
“We see the pastor, in essence, as the anointed one in a given church,” Rick says. “And so our ministry is about being a friend of the pastor, to help him in one area where perhaps he’s too busy to give the kind of attention that he would like. But if they turn us loose with the tools we offer, we befriend the pastor by teaching the people, No. 1, their responsibility, and No. 2, how to [vote]. We even go to the extent of actually putting authorized registrars in that church so that every unregistered member is registered by the time we finished that program in that church.”
As we approach one of the most significant elections of our time this year, I’m grateful for organizations like the Jonathan Project that are actively and practically equipping Christians to vote biblically. In my book, God, Trump and the 2020 Election, I talk about several things that could keep Trump from winning, but I must admit, I didn’t realize a pandemic would be one of them! But God knew COVID-19 would affect the world the way it has, and He has a plan.
That’s why I’m encouraging you not only to vote, but to also encourage your conservative friends and family members to do the same. Make sure you listen to my full interview with Rick. And to learn more about the Jonathan Project, visit jonathanproject.org.
Also, I’m excited to announce that I’m going to be a guest on the Jonathan Project National Pastor/Faith Leader Call on Thursday, May 7, at 4:00 pm EDT. We will discuss the importance of evangelicals voting in the 2020 national election. If you want to tune in to this special call, make sure to register beforehand by clicking here!
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