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Tarrant County pastors use pulpit to remind members to vote, listing candidates who are church members

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4 years ago

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DALLAS, TX – Two Northeast Tarrant County pastors stopped short of endorsing candidates in the May 1 municipal elections, but they listed church members who are running during part of their services last weekend.

Gateway Church senior pastor Robert Morris told congregants that a “family of churches” network met recently and decided to remind them about the local elections, which typically have lower turnout. Early voting is underway.

“We seem to get all stirred every four years about one election, and these other ones go by and we don’t do a thing about it,” Morris said Sunday from the pulpit.

As Morris spoke, a list of candidates running in Southlake, Colleyville and Grapevine council and school board races flashed on the screen.

“We realized that we have people running for these offices that are members of our churches,” he said. “We’re not endorsing the candidate … but we just thought that since they’re a member of the family of God, you might want to know if someone in the family, in this family of churches is running. I want you to pray for every person running for office.”

If Morris or other pastors were to explicitly endorse a candidate, they could run afoul of the Johnson Amendment, which restricts churches, nonprofits and other tax-exempt entities from political activity. While it does not restrict clergy from openly discussing political issues, endorsements cross the line and can put a church’s tax-exempt status at risk.

Church spokesman Lawrence Swicegood did not offer a comment about Morris’ remarks but said in an email that the “family of churches” Morris referred to were “churches in Grapevine, Colleyville and Southlake” that were invited to participate.

“We’re not exactly sure how many churches participated by making similar announcements to their congregation on Sunday morning,” Swicegood said.

First Baptist Grapevine senior pastor Doug Page urged his congregants to vote Sunday but explicitly said: “This is not an endorsement.”

Rather, Page said he was informing his congregation about members of the family of churches who are running for office.

“We need more and more Christians in place,” he said.

“Scripture teaches us that we can’t compartmentalize our Christianity,” he said by phone Wednesday. “But we don’t tell anyone who to vote for.”

While both pastors were clear that they were not endorsing candidates, that wasn’t necessarily clear to at least one candidate.

“What GREAT endorsements! I am humbled and deeply honored. The Christians are standing up and they are with us!” Grapevine City Council member Sharron Rogers, the Place 2 incumbent, wrote Sunday on her Facebook page.

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