c. 2007 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON _ Two conservative political centers founded by the ailing religious broadcaster D. James Kennedy have been closed, but one has reopened under new ownership.
Kennedy’s Florida-based Coral Ridge Ministries closed the Center for Reclaiming America and the Washington-based Center for Christian Statesmanship last month, spokesman John Aman said. He said the ministry’s board reached the April 26 decision in an attempt to “refocus ourselves as a media ministry.”
Two weeks after it closed, the Center for Christian Statesmanship reopened under the auspices of Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion International, George Roller, the center’s executive director, said Thursday (May 10).
From its headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Kennedy’s Coral Ridge Ministries has aired sermons from his Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church on “The Coral Ridge Hour” television program and the “Truths That Transform” radio program.
Both programs have been broadcasting recycled sermons ever since Kennedy, 76, suffered a cardiac arrest on Dec. 28. He returned home for the first time on Saturday (May 5).
“It’s not a consequence of Dr. Kennedy’s ill health,” Aman said of the board’s decision. “It was just a decision made in order to drive the ministry forward as effectively as possible.”
The two centers had different focuses. The Center for Reclaiming America fostered grass-roots action among conservative Christians, sponsoring an annual conference that served as a “boot camp” for social involvement. Aman declined to disclose how many employees of that center had been terminated. He said no decision has been made about whether there will be a conference next year.
The Center for Christian Statesmanship has worked to evangelize and nurture the faith of Capitol Hill employees, in part by hosting monthly “Politics & Principle” luncheons. Roller said his work will now include linking with Washington-area churches to increase their outreach to members of Congress and their staffs.
The Washington center lost eight staff members with the closing, but Roller hopes to hire or rehire employees in the coming months.
Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., was chosen for the Washington center’s annual Distinguished Christian Statesman award this year, but a planned reception was canceled and replaced with a private event sponsored by Akin’s office.
John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, said Reclaiming America “will be missed by conservative Christians.” But he said the Center for Christian Statesmanship’s efforts to be a “religious voice,” primarily for mid-level congressional staffers, can still have an impact.
“In the broadest sense, that type of activity can have a major impact on public affairs because it lays the groundwork for some of the other kinds of activism that other groups do,” Green said.
Coral Ridge Ministries, which now has about 120 staffers, earned revenues of about $38 million in 2005, Aman said. It currently has an audience of 3 million and hopes to expand that to 30 million by 2012.
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