Next Great Awakening

Several months ago, we noted that Jim Garlow and David Barton were leading a 12 day tour of the East Coast where participants would learn all about the Christian history of our nation and its founder and visit "the sites of the 1st and 2nd Great Awakening, while praying for the 3rd."

This "Next Great Awakening Tour" wrapped up in Washington, DC on July 4th and, as we noted last week, it was during this tour that both Barton and Garlow were featured on Glenn Beck's television program.  As it turns out, participants in this tour also got to participate in a taping of Beck's program and met with several Republican and Religious Right leaders, according to updates from Garlow's Skyline Church blog:

Day 2 ... we went on to New York City that night, where we were met by Mike Huckabee. He shared with our group for over an hour.

Day 4 ... [W]e went back to New York City [and] the women of our group went to the Glenn Beck Show for the taping of the Friday broadcast entitled, “Women of the Revolutionary War.”

Day 5 ... David Barton and I and our wives left Ocean Grove and were driven back to New York City to go to the taping of the Glenn Beck Show, along with a number of other pastors. Then we met with Glenn Beck for three hours after that taping.

Day 6 ... David and I flew back to New York City to be on the Glenn Beck Show with a group of about 7-8 pastors / Christian Leaders. Lance Wallnau flew in from Dallas to speak to the group in Philadelphia. Lance Wallnau was, as usual, exceptional in his laying out of how to see the culture transformed.

Day 7 ... we traveled to Washington, DC, where we met with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. Immediately following that we went to the Fairmont Hotel where Senator Rick Santorum gave one of the most impassioned speeches I have ever heard.

Day 8 – Saturday, July 3 – began with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich addressing our group. He was profound. Newt has the capacity to focus on macro-ideas in a way like no other. From there we made our way to Mt. Vernon, beloved home of George Washington. Rick Tyler, spokesman for Newt Gingrich and Founding Director of Renewing American Leadership, spoke to the group via the intercom on the way to/from Mt. Vernon, clarifying the nature of participation in civil governance.

We then went back to the Capital and met in the Longworth Congressional Building (home of the offices of the House of Representatives) for a talk by Congressman Bob McEwen entitled, “Politics: As Easy as PIE.”

On Day 9 – Sunday, July 4 – we attended Hope Christian Fellowship (Beltsville, MD), where we had arranged for Maggie Gallagher, the articulate founder of the National Organization for Marriage, to speak to our group, followed by the morning service, for which Bishop Harry Jackson – one of America’s most courageous pastors – had prepared a sermon appropriately entitled “The Next Great Awakening.”

At one point, Garlow and his wife were allowed to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier ... which, of course, made him realize that Elena Kagan should not be confirmed to the Supreme Court:

Later I found myself inwardly agitated as I began to reflect on the tragedy of Elena Kagan – an outspoken critic of the military [in spite of her attempts to deny it now] – being considered for a position on the Supreme Court. How unfortunate for our nation.