31 December 2011

By Patrick Butler | ResonateNews.com

     There was nothing in America generating the non-religious and religious ire, contempt, support, enthusiasm, warnings and media attention that The Response in Houston on Aug. 6. did. Dissecting the multi-layered and various responses to The Response prayer meeting would be fascinating, insightful, illuminating...and nearly impossible to get a grip on.

     Billed as a “prayer-meeting for the national good,” The Response quickly became, instead, a litmus test for just about everybody who knew of its existence. The event was used to quickly determine if supporters or detractors were “saved,” sane, stupid, seriously faithful or spiritually impaired.

    Surely none of this would have happened to the degree it did if the meeting had not been called for by Texas Governor     Rick Perry. The event became a lightening-rod as wide-eyed journalists envisioned an apocalypse if Perry should ascend to the White House after such a prayer meeting.

   From nearly every “corner” of the religious and non-religious landscape of the conceptual community of America came some sort of opinion, commentary, criticism or confession as to the motivation, purpose, agenda and validity of the event.

There were admonitions, from so-called “liberal” and “conservative” Christian circles alike, to avoid The Response because it was political. To the so-called secular media — a very inadequate descriptor — politics was mostly what they were interested in prior to an election year, to sell their papers, TV shows and podcasts by stirring up worst-case scenarios. Perry had not yet decided to run.

   And that was only the domestic response. International commentary was forthcoming as well, with the same confused conglomeration of “thought” about The Response. By the time the prayer day was actually taking place, "open-minded" Americans of all stripes had already decided if it was a good event — or not. Many believers, weary of pre-event wrangling, decided to do what good religious people seem to do best — ignoring the fuss and hoping it would just blow over.

“As soon as Perry finished speaking, the countenance of the reporters — who had been excited to finally see the object of their stories — fell. It was if the air had been let out of the newsroom. Perry virtually said nothing they could use. All he did was preach the gospel and talk about Jesus.”
— Cindy Mallette, ResonateNews reporter

Left out in the communications cold were event organizers themselves who were determined to keep The Response a “business meeting” between believers and their God. Doing business with God, it turned out on Aug. 6 , had nothing to do with voting, party platforms, “taking America back” or pointing fingers. Major themes were associated with Gospel-driven Christianity — repentance, thanksgiving, praise, and personal purity through helping the hurting — instead, and remained unreported. Repentance does not seem to make news headlines unless it is done in a courtroom.

The media room at Reliant Stadium was packed on Aug. 6 with reporters from major media from Los Angeles, New York, England and points in between, hoping to catch Gov. Perry declare a run for the presidency — or at least emphasize conservative, “foundational” politics. The BBC, NPR, CNN and others were also there.

An untold story of The Response was the media's response in the underground media room as Perry spoke for maybe 15 minutes, via closed-circuit, in the seven-hour event. Austin-based ResonateNews.com reporter Cindy Mallette observed that “As soon as Perry finished speaking, the countenance of the reporters — who had been excited to finally see the object of their stories — fell,” she said. “It was if the air had been let out of the newsroom. Perry virtually said nothing they could use. All he did was preach the gospel and talk about Jesus.”

   At the podium Perry said that God “was too wise to align himself with any political party,” and refused the golden opportunity to rally political troops for a presidential run. Instead, he asked for prayer for the families of special forces servicemen killed in Afghanistan in a operation hours previously.

    “Pray for our military families, especially for... the loved ones and warrior brothers of those special forces lost in Afghanistan yesterday,” Perry said. “Lift them up in your prayers.”

    There were about 44,000 people in attendance at The Response — led by the Rev. Dr. Doug Stringer, founder of Turning Point Ministries — with an estimated 80,000 “unique Web-streaming outlets” tuning in via the Internet. The atmosphere was peaceful, even sacred at times, with about equal emphasis on praise through music as prayers for peace and to be more “Christ-like” to a hurting world.,

   One person from tiny Waskom in Northeast Texas, located by the Louisiana border, observed that 44,000 believers was a “drop in the bucket” compared to the numbers of believers represented in Houston alone.

   That criticism was prescient: Could only 44,000 believers be gathered to pray in the tone of corporate intimacy that The Response was? The negative media blitz may have prevented the participation of tens of thousands of believers who missed a transcending experience. May wisdom prevail the next time around — if there is a next time.

   Stringer said, “Today may they (those who oppose The Response) be reminded, this has been about us and God.” Stringer went on to ask the gathering that “...we reflect Christ-likeness even to those who oppose us. May we continue to pray that the light shine so brightly that others are drawn to him... that we hate nothing but sin, fear no one but God and hate no one and nothing but sin.”

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