Why I’m Making an Endorsement for President
I have never been that much into American politics. During election cycles, I have tried to declare the values of the Kingdom of God and call the church to put their trust in Jesus as our great King regardless of who was running for office. At times, that has caused misunderstanding because I haven’t lined up with a political party or endorsed any political candidates.
In the last presidential election, I received a fair amount of negative feedback because I was unwilling to endorse the republican candidate for the presidency. I directed people to place their hope in Jesus and His leadership. I called us to humble ourselves in the vein of 2 Chronicles 7:14 so that the Lord could heal our land. My impression was that both candidates were a sign of the Lord’s correction and judgment on our nation.
We are once again on the verge of another election cycle and this time my tune is very different. I shouldn’t think it strange, but God has completely surprised me. My worldview has not changed, but God has done something that is causing me to wonder, in a fresh way, what He is offering America and what He wants to do in American politics.
About 18 months ago, one of my dearest friends, Ryan Binkley told me he was flying to Atlanta and wanted to meet to talk about something special God was doing in his life. Ryan and I have been friends for 30 years. He was the young adult pastor when I was a youth pastor. We were running together, side by side for five years. Those were some of my favorite times in ministry. After a family tragedy, Ryan and his wife, Ellie, felt the Lord leading them to move back home to Dallas and join his father in business. Over the years we have stayed in deep friendship, taken vacations together, and visited as much as our schedules would permit.
Today Ryan is a very successful businessman and the pastor and founder of Create Church in Dallas. He’s one of the few people I’ve ever known who is anointed so powerfully in leadership that he can lead a successful business and a thriving local church.
When Ryan said he was coming to talk through some things, I knew it must be important, but truth be told, I had absolutely no clue what he was going to share. For three hours he shared how God had been speaking to him over the last seven years in dynamic and dramatic ways about something so shocking that, upon hearing it, I found myself filled with wonder and bewildered. God will do that to you sometimes.
The Lord had given Ryan multiple dreams, visions, and encounters about running for the office of President of the United States.
This was as unlikely a topic as anything I could have imagined. Ryan is not ambitious or arrogant. Ryan is a godly man directed by the Lord in everything he does. He lives a life of radical love and obedience. He has always cared for others above himself and lived in marked humility, even though he is incredibly gifted and successful. Ryan is an amazing leader, full of wisdom and understanding. Over the years, he has helped countless people in ministry and business. Quite honestly, he’s exactly what America needs in the presidency.
After he shared what he felt like the Lord was calling him to do, I looked at my friend and asked him, “Is there any way you cannot run for president and still feel like you’re obeying the Lord?”
Without blinking he said, “No.”
“You have your answer then…and I’ll be with you all the way through it.” I couldn’t believe what I was saying.
The last 18 months have been amazing. I have watched miracle after miracle happen for my friend, who is now being mentioned as one of the top 10 candidates for the republican nomination for president. That, in and of itself, is astounding. There are hundreds of people running for president, yet by God’s grace, he’s in the top group. He’s being called “the Pastor running for President”.
I know many people immediately shut down upon hearing this because the odds are next to impossible. Everyone in Ryan’s camp understands this. Nobody is under the delusion that this would take nothing short of a miracle. But if God was able to take David, a nobody, from a nowhere town and lift him to lead His people Israel, I believe God can raise up a pastor and make him the president.
I believe God is offering America a season of mercy. I believe He is giving us an invitation to revival. Ryan’s message is clear, God wants to give America a spiritual and economic revival (The economic revival is not that everyone gets rich, it’s that we avert the legitimate disaster that is coming our way because of $30 trillion in national debt). He is declaring unity as the way forward and calling all of us to love our neighbor.
Friends, I have never endorsed a presidential candidate, but today that changes!
I endorse Ryan Binkley as the republican candidate for President of the United States.
What if God is doing something so dramatic in our nation right now that none of us could have imagined it just a few short years ago? What if He has found a David to lead the nation back from the brink of destruction and into a season of revival?
If what I am sharing has sparked your faith in any way, I want to ask you to do 4 things:
1) Go to Ryan’s website and read the vision that he has for the nation.
2) Give at least $1 to Ryan’s campaign. (He needs 40,000 unique donors to qualify for the first Fox News Debate in a few short weeks. He has been adding thousands of donors a day. It’s been amazing to watch the momentum continue to swell at just the right time.)
3) Pray!! Pray for God to cover Ryan and Ellie and their family. Pray for God to put His words in Ryan’s mouth. Pray for protection and provision in all that God is leading them to do. Pray for the donors to come in and that Ryan makes the debate stage later this month.
4) Believe! I believe God is not done with America. I believe we are going to see a Third Great Awakening. Let’s not give up hope. Let’s believe until we see the breakthrough!