The #1 political leader at Willow Creek Church is my friend, State Rep and Schaumburg Twp GOP Committeeman Paul Froehlich, whom some would call a "compassionate conservative" and others would call a "moderate". He strongly supports immigration for "compassionate conservative" reasons, unlike my "liberatrian - let the marketplace decide" reasons. Disturbing to me he votes for way too much spending of taxpayer money on wasteful pork.
What do others suggest he do with his de facto position at Willow Creek?
One of the "small groups" he has formed out of Willow Creek is a group of precinct captains who are key to his ground game.
His major potential political competition from the right is the Baptist church of a few thousand members that delivered an amazing GOTV as part of the Christain Coalition/Moral Majority in '94 but has since been little involved in politics. That subsequent lack of involvement is precisely why Froehlich was able to win the GOP leadership in '98 while the incumbents were asleep at the switch.
The greater threat is from the coalition of many small mainline protestant churches and large Catholic churches which are all led by pro-abortion, pro-socialist clergy and lay leaders and use church money to fund their liberal political activity.
Fascinating. I have often thought intuitively that the megachurch and compassionate conservatism fit together quite nicely...but the example you give is very concrete.
Don't look for the megachurch crowd to want to reign in spending. This is GWB's primary constituency, it seems to me.
(And in terms of November elections, I am grateful for them...though I don't approve of their theology!)
Large Catholic churches are pro-abortion? That is news to this Catholic.