05 August 2011

By Raymond Billy | ResonateNews.com

The American Family Association has become a popular conduit that millions of Christians pass their political and public policy concerns through before formulating their opinions. Since its founding in 1977, the organization has made a mission of flagging political, media and commercial trends it sees as an affront to biblical morality. But in promoting The Response — Saturday's prayer and fast gathering called by Texas Gov. Rick Perry — AFA founder Don Wildmon is happy to turn the focus to what he is for, rather than what he's against, he told ResonateNews.com on Thursday.

Wildmon, 73, said the prayer event is the culmination of something he's been hoping to see.

 “About a year ago, I had the idea of a 1-million person rally on the National Mall in Washington. I talked to my friend David Lane (The Response national finance chairman) about the idea and we later decided to try Dallas for the event, which fell through, ” Wildmon recalled. “At some point, David began discussions with Gov. Perry about a day of prayer and fasting and the whole thing just sort of took off this past spring.”

Wildmon's role in The Response is to lend his prominent name to awareness-raising efforts for the event. He said he's please to do so, especially since Perry — a public official — has identified Christ as the antidote for what he sees as grave problems facing the nation morally, economically and even meteorologically.

Though he acknowledged The Response — which will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Houston's Reliant Stadium — is dubious in the minds of some Christians, Wildmon said the event has also united a cross-section of the faith's adherents.

“I thought this was a good idea. Obviously, some people don't think it is. But, to the best of my knowledge, nothing like this has ever happened before bringing people of different theological persuasions together,” Wildmon said. “I'm tickled about this. I believe the Lord's hand is in it.”

Wildmon said he shrugs off complaints from those who would like to see Christians remain doctrinally segregated.

“My theology is worlds apart from the theology of some of the people involved with The Response,” said Wildmon, a Methodist. “This event is catching criticism from folks who think it's associated with people who have bad theology. I've been around long enough not to get upset about what people think of me or what I'm doing.”

 Indeed, Wildmon has long been a target of people uncomfortable with his faith-based organization's influence on public affairs. He says he started the nonprofit AFA more than three decades ago after he “got disgusted with TV programing — the content, the language, the sexual overtones and violence.

“We wanted to make people aware of what was going on in the culture and how it would affect us if we didn't do something about it.”

The organization now has a number of mediums through which it gets its message across. AFA boasts more than 2 million subscribers to its online publications and its monthly AFA Journal has 180,000 subscribers. The organization owns and operates 200 radio stations across the U.S. Its family-oriented, Christ-centered broadcasting reaches millions of Americans each week. Wildmon — whose son, Tim, succeeded him as AFA chairman last year — said he's under no pretense that what he sees as the country's faltering morality can be totally regenerated by his work.

“We're not foolish enough to think we're going to solve all the world's problems — we can make a dent in them,” he said.

 Wildmon, who plans to be in Houston for the prayer event, said that he's praying for a spiritual revival within Christendom.

“My prayer is that people take their faith outside of the four walls of the church and live it,” he said.

The Response might play a huge role in making that “dent” in the culture, Wildmon said. Although AFA's activities often involve politics — and some news media outlets have used Wildmon's involvement in the prayer gathering to suggest it might have political objectives — the Mississippi resident said Saturday's event will be for spiritual purposes only.

“People may be coming expecting to see a political drama, but they'll be disappointed. It's going to lack drama. It won't make for good television,” Wildmon said. “It'll be perfectly boring — just people praying to God.”

The spectacle of Saturday's event is a distraction from its true purpose, Wildmon said. It's what takes place in the country after The Response that will determine whether it was a success, he said.

“If nothing comes out of it, it will have been a waste of time and money. But, I believe it might be a year or two before we know what the impact is,” Wildmon said.

ResonateNews.com reporter Cindy Mallette contributed to this article.

 

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