In 1988, the Pat Robertson folks tried to get inside the party leadership. It did not completely work and they died down slightly. There was a resurgence in Clinton's second term that seems to have only grown more since President Bush's presidency.
Oh please... it's to counteract the secularism that the left is trying to push into the public domain under their misinformed opinion on the Constitutional separation of Church and State (e.g., remove all religious icons from public view). Pastors have been more vocal in telling their flocks to vote their conscience and stand up for their Bible-based convictions and many are choosing to do so, by being more actively involved. Nothing wrong with that. What's the alternative? Vote for a party that supports abortions and gay marriage? I think not. We are merely trying to bring the Republican Party back to it's basic core values. It's more like they have infiltrated our Churches and are seeking to promote "tolerance" of such issues.