Few things have influenced my preaching as much as the election of Donald Trump!

In 34 years of ministry, countless experiences have touched my heart and soul, and a variety of personal, church, national, and world events have influenced the way I have sought to interpret and apply Scripture to my life, as well as the way I have sought to help the people to whom I preach on Sunday mornings apply it to their lives. But nothing has had a more profound impact on what I share and how I share it than the behavior and administration of our nation’s 45th president.

Like so many pastors, in seminary I was encouraged to preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. I have always believed that the Gospel is nothing if it is not political, and that there is no way to faithfully and effectively preach without dealing with politics of the day. But at the same time I have also sought to avoid partisanship, and to refrain from either demonizing one party or idolizing another.      

My hope and prayer is that all of these messages will inform both your faith AND your politics; for as our walks with God are deepened, so too should our walks with one another. At times our faith is indeed intensely personal, but it is never private. It is lived out in our world, and thus our civic life cannot help but be impacted by the faith we profess with our lips.

If these messages offend you, be sure that it is ME doing the offending and not Scripture or the Spirit. For if it is either of them, that is between you and God. But if it is indeed me, I apologize. My goal is never to offend, only to be faithful.  

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Bob Melone, Jr. is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He serves as pastor of Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Bob is a graduate of American University (B.S.), Princeton Seminary (M.Div.), and Gordon-Conwell Seminary (D.Min.). He and his wife, Jeanne, have three adult children.