John Gillespie and Congressman J.C. Watts, co-host of the House/Senate Majority Faith-based Summit, visit during one of the meeting breaks.

U.S. Congressmen Tom Petri selected Jan and I to represent Wisconsin at the first Faith-based Government Summit on April 20 & 21, in Washington D.C. It was a great honor to attend with leaders from 500 other charities from across America. We founded Rawhide Boys Ranch 35 years ago, a faith-based, nonprofit rehabilitation program for teenagers, and we have experienced firsthand an "anti-faith" attitude in some dealings with government.

The Summit revealed a new effort by President Bush to "partner" with all programs providing services to needy children and adults, if they are faith-based or not. I can say all 500 delegates voiced unanimous concern - they are tired of the prejudice by government because they may have "God" in their organizations name.

Congressman Zack Wamp of Tennessee led all 500 of us on a thrilling tour of the capitol. He shared story after story of the religious values that were part of the founding of America. It can be seen in paintings, writings, and engravings in almost every room. Etched in marble, above the House Speakers podium in large letters are the words "In God We Trust".

Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin met with John & Jan during a nationally televised noon luncheon at the Library of Congress.

Congressman Wamp is chairman of the National Prayer Breakfast and coordinates a Congressional prayer and share breakfast at
8 AM every Thursday morning. Dozens of legislators attend regularly. It was encouraging to hear all of the speakers during the two day event share their faith in the Lord.

Speakers at a Tuesday evening reception were Attorney General John Ashcroft and Vice President Dick Cheney. The Vice President said, "The church and God are our hope of the future." Faith-based organizations must be treated by the government with equal respect of other organizations.

John & Jan pose on the Capitol steps with Congressman Zack Wamp of Tennessee, during a tour lead by the Congressman.

Stephen Goldsmith, former Mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana, shared that a summer student work program he ran, funded with a Federal grant was declared in violation because one of the crews did a voluntary prayer before they ate their noon lunch.

Speaker of the House, Congressman Dennis Haster, said, "Family values and caring parents are the strength of America. We must not discourage God from being part of this strength."

U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said students often share their belief the constitution requires the separation of government and religion. He went on to say the first amendment allows freedom "of" religion - not freedom "from" religion - as is now interpreted.

Mr. Don Ebberly, Deputy Director of the President's Faith-based Initiative is briefing John on details of Bill H.R.-7.

Congressman J.C. Watts, co-host of the two day Summit shared America is facing major social problems such as drug use, juvenile delinquency, unwanted pregnancies, school violence, suicide, alcohol abuse, divorce and poverty. Since 1965 the government has spent 5.5 trillion dollars on poverty programs, with poor results. It's time to support programs that are already successful: Faith-based organizations. People are best served by local people - not Washington.

Mr. Don Ebberly, Deputy Director for the Presidents effort on Faith-based Initiatives, shared President Bush wants the discrimination against programs of faith to end. He also wants government to partner with them and to encourage individuals and businesses to have greater tax advantages to donate more to local charities.

John and Jan visited the office of their longtime friend and former Governor, Tommy Thompson, now Secretary of the Federal Dept. of Health and Human Services. The big guy in the picture is another friend, Joe Leean, Director of the Thompson Transition Team.

If passed, Bill H.R.-7 will generate 15 billion dollars of new private gifts next year alone. The bill will:

Allow individuals to deduct gifts even if they do not itemize their tax deductions.

Allow withdrawing IRA and other savings without penalty to donate to charity.

Protect companies from lawsuits if they donate services or products.

The bill has other incentives, but it basically gets government out of the costly collection business by giving tax breaks so the gifts can go directly to the charity.

According to Mr. Ebberly, the Presidents' 1.6 trillion dollar tax cut proposal contains incentives to reward charitable giving by individuals and businesses. The Senate reduction to 1.2 billion would remove many of those incentives, hurting charities.

Jan sat next to Aleveda King Tookes at one of the meals. Aleveda is the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. She shares her uncle's passion to help the needy.

Almost every speaker expressed his or her belief the government and the country has completely turned around the First Amendment. The government is to make no laws "preventing" the free exercise of religion. But the government has become anti-religion. President Bush hopes to return America back to freedom for expression of all religions.

Jan and I have not been back to Washington since my military days as a training officer at Fort Belvoir in a combat Army Engineer Battalion. So the trip was like a return home. Midwest Express airline donated our flight, and they are definitely the "Best Care in the Air".

The summit was very encouraging. It was an honor to attend. But I still have concerns about faith-based charities accepting government funds. There are always some strings attached. And of course, there must be conditions of use. Just so the rules do not remove the "faith" part - which is the very reason these programs work in the first place.

A trip to Washington would not be complete without a trip to one of America's Heroes - Abraham Lincoln.

The money looks great at first, but how can anyone be sure more and more rules will not follow. We have experienced some very frustrating government "control" situations over the years we were at Rawhide.

But to see the major attitude change in Washington toward Faith-based programs is great. We are very encouraged.

Summary of the Presidents Faith-Based Initiative
(For more details see Bill H.R.-7)

A) END GOVERNMENT PREJUDICE:
A basic theme in the Presidents Faith-Based Initiative is for the government to respect all organizations that are helping people in need, regardless if they are faith based or not. TO END THE PREJUDICE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND EMPLOYEES HAVE HAD JUST BECAUSE THE WORD "GOD" OR "FAITH" IS IN THEIR NAME OR CREED. I can attest first-hand to numerous instances of this since Jan and I founded Rawhide Boys Ranch in 1965.

B) CLIENT CHOICE:
Should a person that qualifies for government help for food, shelter, or counseling for problems like drugs, alcohol, suicide, depression, marriage conflict, etc., have a choice in the type of help they get? President Bush thinks so.
Over the past 35 years since Rawhide started there have been dozens of cases where distraught parents of a teenage son out of control wanted there son to be placed at Rawhide...because the religious values we taught were those of the parents. But because of the over-reaction to the "separation of church and state" issue, they were told their son must go to a government program BECAUSE Rawhide was a faith-based program.

The Vietnam Memorial Wall lists 58,220 names of those who gave their lives in that terrible war. A feeling of gratitude is overwhelming when you touch the names.

C) SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE:
This phrase is used so often most people think it is in the constitution. It is not. The first amendment, Adopted on June 15, 1790 states: CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF... Nothing in the constitution or by-laws prevent the government providing help to needy people in a faith-based program the needy person selects. And the government need not require the program providing the service strip itself of prayer or other basic elements that are probably why it is successful in the first place.

D) GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS NOT ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL:
Since 1965 the government has spent almost 5.5 Trillion dollars on poverty. Yet poverty is still one of our countries great problems. Maybe it's time to divert more of that money to non-government programs and to faith-based programs that already have a success record. Not new experimental programs.

A statue of three American soldiers stands near the entrance to the Vietnam Memorial. They represent the millions of men and women that have defended this nation over the past two and a half centuries.

E) FAITH-BASED PROGRAMS BEWARE:
Of course there must be guidelines for the proper use of all government money given to any program. But the government has a tendency to over regulate and micro-manage, taking the effectiveness and values out of programs. I would caution all faith-based agencies to be very careful before accepting government funds to know exactly what "strings" will be attached.