Evangelical Christian organiser David Lane has a plan to bring America back to its former Christian glory. He will be recruiting 1,000 pastors from all over the country to help battle secular materialism and political correctness by getting to run for political office.
He said his plan—which he calls "Isaachar," after the Old Testament founder of one of the 12 tribes of Israel—seeks to help restore basic Christian values among Americans, the Washington Times reported.
"Two thousand pastors and spouses have attended our Issachar Training in 2015," Lane said. As of Thursday, around 508 pastors have already agreed in writing to consider running for political office over the next three years.
Issachar Project Director Steve W. Michael explained that their idea is to involve Christian ministers in important roles, with each pastor or office seeker responsible for attracting 300 volunteers per campaign. They could either run for a seat on the city council, local school board, or even in state legislature.
"After our Issachar events, we do live calls with our folks on (a) 'hot list,' folks who seem reasonably certain to run, and our 'mild list,' less definite about running but definitely interested, and 'cold list,' people who don't sound eager to run but may persuade others to," he said.
Lane's numerous supporters think that Isaachar is plain genius. His good friend Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz even said, "David Lane is a leader who, with his Issachar Training of pastors, is living out what my father, a pastor himself, taught me."
"'If the flock stumbles into a ditch, you don't blame the flock; you blame the shepherd,' my father told me," he added. "And I say if pastors are afraid to speak out on biblical standards of morality, then we shouldn't be surprised if we have a radical government in Washington hostile to the preservation of marriage, life and religious liberties."
Former U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich has also expressed his support for the project as he lauded Lane for being "one of the most important public policy entrepreneurs in America."
"For years he has quietly built a network of constitutional conservative activism among pastors," Gingrich said.
Aside from Isaachar, Lane also founded the California-based American Renewal Project, which is a community of people of faith who hope to enact a positive change on public policies.
