Prestonwood Baptist Church Rises To Their Feet For Huckabee
By Susan Stilley
On Sunday morning my husband and I, with four children in tow, made the pilgrimage from Ft. Worth to Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, a Southern Baptist mecca of the DFW metroplex. Our purpose was to hear Mike Huckabee speak at the 11:00 a.m. service. We have been supporters of the Governor since early in the presidential campaign and while I knew he would deliver an inspiring message, I didn’t necessarily expect a mountaintop experience. That was before we arrived at the massive 7,000 seat auditorium and found that the only available seating was in the third balcony nosebleed section. We began our ascent and after settling into our mountain perch I discovered this was actually a preferable location. Thanks to big screens we could see close ups of those on stage but we also had a great panoramic view of the orchestra, the 500 member choir and most importantly, the congregation around and below us.
About thirty minutes into the service, Dr. Jack Graham introduced Governor Huckabee whom he has known for many years, lauding him as a man of faith, strong convictions and great character. For emphasis he held up the book Huckabee penned in the wake of the Clinton scandals, titled, Character Is the Issue: How People With Integrity Can Revolutionize America. When Huckabee walked up stage to the lectern, the majority of the congregation rose in a standing ovation.
Notice I said, the majority. The prolonged applause gave me a chance to eye the crowd and I detected some definite hold outs. They were scattered throughout the auditorium; a couple here, a family grouping there. It was clear they weren’t just busy re-adjusting their hymnal or doublechecking to see that their cell phones were turned off. They were definitely ‘not standing’ on purpose and in protest. Their body language spoke volumes. They were slumped back in their seats with arms crossed in front of their chest. Children looked quizzically at their parents, curious as to why everyone else stood and clapped enthusiastically while they remained seated. Some even had their head cocked to one side in skepticism as if to say, “I don’t approve of you politicking at our church Mr. Huckabee and Chuck Norris or no Chuck Norris, you are not my candidate! Harumph!” (Martial arts film star and member of Prestonwood, Chuck Norris, recently came out with a glowing endorsement of the Governor’s candidacy.)
Huckabee began by telling the crowd that he wasn’t going to talk politics, then proceeded to do one of the things he does best. He told a story. It was a hilarious recounting of a conference of governors in Utah during the year of the Olympics. It was proposed that the governors compete against one another in a bobsled race, which understandably made Huckabee a bit nervous as bobsledding isn’t exactly a pastime in snow-scarce Arkansas. An expert bobsledder was assigned to train Huckabee but the tutor turned out to be a teenage kid. The crowd erupted in laughter as Huckabee perfectly impersonated the teenage trainer’s instructions, complete with “Hey dude, you have to steer like this or you’ll, like, get hurt…” jargon.
The best stories are not only humorous but also contain a pearl of wisdom. In this case, the advice Huckabee gleaned from his young instructor was to “Steer for the curve ahead.” Don’t worry about the ice flying by you or the skid you just averted, but steer for the curve ahead. A good life lesson for everyone, not just politicians. It also fit nicely with his overall theme from Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
He wrapped up his talk with another useful illustration. A television station in Little Rock used to air a delayed broadcast of the Razorback basketball game at 10:30 p.m. During the 10:00 sports segment of the news, the anchor would warn that if you planned on watching the game and didn’t want to know the score, that you should turn the volume down. Huckabee admitted to never turning the volume down. If the Razorbacks lost, he reasoned, why stay up till 1:00 a.m. to be miserable? But if they won, he would pop some popcorn, relax and truly enjoy the game because he knew that no matter how bad things looked or how low the score was at half-time, his team would be victorious in the end.
At this point I expected him to make some reference to himself and where he stood in the presidential campaign. That seemed to me a natural connection, that he didn’t have the winning score (poll numbers) at this juncture but the game wasn’t over. However, true to his word not to talk politics, Huckabee took a different turn and encouraged us as believers. He told us not to worry about our own ‘score at half-time’ (our struggles, our failures) because we as believers know how the game ultimately turns out. We have the book of Revelation so we can relax because despite how bad things may look in our own lives, we know we will be victorious in the end.
What a relevant message to everyone, for who among us has never despaired because he ‘dropped the ball’ at a critical point in his life? Who hasn’t ‘taken a shot at the basket’ only to miss and disappoint those counting on him? I was impressed that while Huckabee could have easily made his speech more about himself and his own relationship to God (which is certainly an interesting story as well) he chose to focus on the glory of God and how we can have confidence in Him who promises to give us a hope and a future.
This modus operandi is indicative of how he conducts his political career as well. While every politician has to have a certain amount of ego or else they wouldn’t have the confidence to withstand the assaults and be elected to high office, I believe Mike Huckabee, more than any other presidential candidate, exemplifies a person who is truly more interested in serving others than gaining power for himself.
Evidently, I wasn’t the only one at Prestonwood who had that assessment. As Governor Huckabee left the podium the congregation rose in a second standing ovation that was electrifying. And what about the previous hold-outs? Those slouching in the pews with arms crossed and head tilted to one side in cynicism? With few exceptions, most of those were now on their feet cheering as well. Whereas before, their children were staring about the auditorium in confusion about whether they should clap or not, now their parents were practically hoisting them up by the scruff of the neck and admonishing them to show appreciation to the esteemed governor.
What is it that endears Mike Huckabee to his audiences? Natural personal charisma? Honed and mastered skills in the art of persuasion? The Spirit of God? Call it what you will, the fact remains that the more that Huckabee gains a hearing, the more converts he attracts. This explains why he won a whopping fifty-one percent of the onsite voting at the Value Voters conference. When Frank Luntz polled his research group at the last debate, many who were not familiar with Huckabee concluded afterward that he had won them over.
Even the most resistant feel a certain amount of pull from Huckabee’s magnetic charm. One commentator on the ultra-liberal Daily Kos website speculated on the effect Huckabee would have on independents, “What scares me is that when I see him speak, I find myself wanting to like him. I figure if I want to like him, knowing who and what he is, people who choose not to be informed may be much more easily swayed towards his candidacy.”
Indeed, what about all those independents? Of the current Republican field, who is in the best position to persuade the swing voters and independents? An important question to ponder as we enter primary season.
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6 comments:
Thank you for your beautifully written account of another milestone day in the Huckabee campaign. The Dallas Morning News had a good article, but of course they were unable to describe things with your discernment. A Spirit-led message like his will have a Spirit-empowered impact far beyond those people on that date. Praise the Lord!
I hope the fact that a Prestonwood minister was just arrested for meeting a 13-year girl with the intention to have sex doesn't spoil the mountaintop experience you had at the church.
Prestonwood baptist church, Joe Barron arrested Video! Really worth seeing!
http://yetmorefun.net/mov.php?v=Joe_Barron_arrested_Video
Why would what one stupid guy does tarnish my view of the whole church. I don't stop eating apples just because I once bit into one that had a worm in it.
Who was the worm? Joe Barron?
This is dumb! One stupid minister and you want to flush the whole church. Forget about "To Dallas with Love", "Global Day of Prayer", "Bridge Builders", or "90 Days of Blessing". Most of the ppl at Prestonwood hardly knew Barron, but some of you anons will never let it rest. In the 30 years of the church's existence, it has overcome far greater challenges. This is just a speed bump, to make us check our spiritual pulse.
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