No thanks Billy Graham—that’s the message John McCain had for the renowned evangelist, who had requested to meet with the presidential candidate. A letter to Graham from the McCain campaign read: “I must pass along our regrets and do not foresee an opportunity to add this event to the calendar. I know you will understand that with the tremendous demands on his time and the large volume of similar requests, events such as this are extremely difficult to schedule even though each one is important.” The exchange comes only weeks after McCain severed ties with pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley over controversy that erupted when the media highlighted controversial segments of the preachers’ past sermons. [newsmax.com, 6/8/08] I think this is a HUGE mistake on McCain's part here. Billy Graham has never been controversial in the media and has always been highly respected by believers and non-believers.

The November presidential election is Barack Obama’s to lose, according to the latest Barna poll. The survey found that even with John McCain’s existing strong support from evangelicals—which the study found stands at 78 percent, compared to 9 percent support for Obama—would still not be enough to win McCain the White House. Barna’s study shows six factors that favor Obama, including the fact that Obama holds a 50 percent to 35 percent lead over McCain among registered voters and that Obama’s supporters are more committed than McCain’s. [barna.org, 6/9/08] I hope this holds true :-)

A group of Baptist missionaries and pastors is calling for the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board (IMB) to reverse its controversial guidelines for missionaries enacted in 2005. The guidelines prohibit the appointment of any missionary candidate who acknowledges using a “private prayer language.” They also require candidates to be baptized in a Southern Baptist church, even if a candidate has been baptized by immersion in another evangelical church. The group opposing the guidelines released a statement that read: “Our conviction is that these guidelines stray far beyond the parameters set forth by our denominational confession of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message.” The statement—which initially had 37 signatories—also claimed the restrictions of the IMB were tantamount to “intrusive scrutiny into the sanctity of the personal prayer closet” and “dictating to local churches what constitutes a legitimate Christian baptism.” [abpnews.com, 6/5/08] If you are baptized in a different church "by immersion" then what's the problem? Again, this is a classic example of church politics, legalism and authoritarian leadership.