This week on the podcast my husband, Mike Murphy, joins me. He is a pastor at Christ Church of Oak Brook, in Oak Brook, IL. One of the topics that occupies a lot of our conversational time in our home these days is the presidential race. Mike has watched almost every debate. I can’t bring myself to do that, but I poke my head in and out, and I certainly overhear his groaning and laughter as I sit in the other room to escape having the same reactions.

While there may be some humorous moments at a debate, there are sadly too many moments available for groaning. What Mike has thought through is a grid to run the presidential candidates through. There are still primaries to go, and certainly when they are done, the election itself. As followers of Christ we need to be thoughtful about this process and we need to pay attention to who we might back as the best candidate. We aren’t always going to agree, but that’s not the issue. We are called to be thoughtful and to think about who might best live out the values of Christ if elected to office. Guaranteed we will come up with different candidates that we believe fit that description. That doesn’t matter as much as really thinking through the process and voting our conscience, not someone else conscience.

Here is the grid Mike gives on the podcast.

These are the things a candidate should embody according to Mike:

1. Are they smart enough to occupy the office of President
2. Are they a person of integrity
3. Do they have enough credible experience to take the job
4. Are they electable (this applies mostly to the primaries)
5. Can they unify the country
6. Are they truthful
7. Are they accepted by other world leaders
8. Are they a person of compassion
9. Are they knowledgeable about the broader issues in the world

You might have other criteria to add to your grid. This, at least, give us a starting point.

Mike also talks about his weekly top 10 lists he posts on Facebook on Fridays. Those are always thought provoking, sometimes aggravating, and at times humorous. You can friend him on Facebook here.

I mention on the podcast that I’m thinking of doing more than one podcast a week and wondered what people thought of that. You can email your thoughts to faithconvo@gmail.com. And, you can support the podcast by assigning a monetary value to it. Is one episode worth .25 or 1.00? At the bottom of the home page there are a series of icons. Click on the first one, it’s a P, and it isn’t for Pinterest. It’s for Patreon, and it’s a way to support Faith Conversations.

Lastly, I’d appreciate it as you listen each week to the podcast, if you would consider sharing the link on your Facebook page and letting others know. Podcasts grow slowly, one “SHARE” at a time.

Thanks!