A Pastor with GUTS!

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness
and to seek your direction and guidance.

We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,'
but that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called itwelfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called itjustifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called itpolitics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called itambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today;
cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest.

In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively.

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story, 'and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.