November Stewardship

When I think of stewardship, I am reminded that everything I have is entrusted to me by the grace of God. Really it is all His, and I am his servant, as in Jesus' teaching about the talents in Matthew 25:15-30. Here the master had entrusted one with five talents, a second with two talents and the third with one talent, before leaving on a long journey. When he returned he asked for an accounting, and discovered that the man entrusted with five talents had wisely invested earning five more. The one entrusted with two talents had likewise doubled his master's investment earning two more, but the man with one talent had dug a hole and hidden the talent in the ground earning nothing! The time and opportunity with his master's talent was wasted.

In America God has entrusted us with some awesome blessings. We are the stewards of this freedom, with responsibility not only to guard it well, but to invest it and multiply it for future generations! This November we have the opportunity to prove ourselves faithful stewards. Failure to vote responsibly is paramount to burying your talent in the ground and wasting the opportunity God has given us.

Far too often Christians have failed in this area of stewardship. Paul writes to the church in Corinth, "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful (1Cor. 4:2)." I believe Christians should be the most well-informed, faithful block of voting citizens in the nation. If this had been the case, then abortion would never have been legalized. Prayer would not have been removed from our schools, and we would never elect ungodly leaders to office in this country.

That being said, I want to share how I believe we can be faithful stewards with our opportunity to vote.


With the election a few days away, many people are in a quandary as to what to do, and who to believe, not to mention the non-partisan, judicial races, amendments and resolutions! Therefore, I have put together some resources that I hope will help answer some of those questions. I am am simply gathering and passing along information, and including links so you can do your own research if you like.

Remember your vote DOES matter and is extremely important! "Less than one vote per precinct decided the Republican gubernatorial candidate. If you are tempted to think your vote doesn’t matter, consider the enormous value of each of the 579,031 ballots cast August 10th, when only 85.6% or 6/7ths of a vote per precinct made Deal the candidate."

First, you can see your individualized sample ballot by downloading it from midway down your “My Voter Page” at the Secretary of State’s site. (You can mark it up and take it with you to the polls). There is a link 'to see qualified candidates...', which lists the statewide candidates that appear on your ballot and their websites.

Here is a link is to a website that has a great comparison of Deal and Barnes on 3 important issues, an explanation of the 5 amendments and referendum, and a comparison of the republican and democratic platforms, Georgia Insight.

Sometimes we forget that politics is a team effort. Each team has philosophies, policy objectives, distinctive agendas, and leadership. The major parties are not “all alike” as some claim. They are radically different on such morally important issues as the sanctity of life, definitions of family and marriage, role of parents, role of government, private property, economic freedoms, etc. For a comparison of the major party platforms see the site, I Vote Values Click on the platforms themselves or see the prepared comparison. We vote Republican because we believe that the party and most of its candidates adhere much more to our views of governing than do Democrats. Therefore we recommend you vote for Republicans in each race. I AM NOT CLAIMING THAT THEY ARE ALL CHRISTIANS,but we believe that generally they will make better policy choices than their opponents.

We are now in the middle of SMEAR SEASON! Be prepared for every conservative candidate to be “exposed” as a crook, a moral disaster, or a nut-case in the last days before the election, when no response is possible. Highly organized groups will act to defeat pro-family, pro-life candidates at every level. See the following evidence at blogs.ajc.com. Major media, including the AJC, will likely pile on, because their owners and editorial board are liberal, especially on social issues.

I study the candidates and the issues, but I certainly am not infallible. I encourage you to use these ideas as a resource, and use the links and other information to form your own voting decisions. If you are pressed for time, and choose to use my recommendations, you will find them at them below.

Remember that the Elections are only the beginning. Regardless of who wins, we need to keep praying, keep being informed, keep spreading godly influence to others, and keep holding elected officials accountable.

My choices on the Statewide Georgia races are as follows:(These races will be on every Georgia ballot):

Governor - Nathan Deal, Lt. Governor - Casey Cagle, Secretary of State - Brian Kemp, Attorney General - Sam Olens, Commissioner of Agriculture - Gary Black, Commissioner of Insurance - Ralph Hudgens, School Superintendent - John  Barge, Commissioner of Labor - Mark Butler, Public Service Commissioner - Tim Echols.

BALLOTS DIFFER on your U.S. Representative, State Senator, and State Representative. I recommend using the Georgia Right to Life PAC endorsements www.grtl.org.

In my area, the U.S. Representative from the 9th District, Tom Graves is running unopposed, but he does have the endorsement of GRTL. Likewise the candidate for State Senator from the 54th District, Charlie Bethel, runs unopposed with the GRTL endorsement. I will be casting my vote for the incumbent Tom Dickson for State Representative from the 6th District.

It is difficult to get information about the judicial races, because they are non-partisan, and because candidates do not typically share their philosophies or stands on issues. This link gives some background on each of the candidates http://www.georgiainsight.org/ Use links to their websites to check them out yourself.

JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT OF GA:
Tammy Lynn Adkins doesn't appear to be campaigning. It has been said that her strategy is that because she is 1st on the ballot and a woman, she will probably get the most votes and the race will go into a run-off. It is difficult to find out anything about her; even the secretary of state webpage does not even have an address or website for her.
David Nahmias http://www.justicenahmias.com/index.php, clerked with Supreme Court Justice Scalia (this is a good thing in evaluating judicial philosophy). I join many other trusted conservative pro-life people in supporting him.

Matt Wilson http://wilsonforsupremecourt.com/, He was interviewed and is pro-life. Trusted conservative pro-life people are supporting him.

JUDGE, COURT OF APPEALS: With 6 candidates, this is an extremely difficult race to discern, and there will undoubtedly be a run-off. This link gives some background on each of the candidates http://www.georgiainsight.org/archives/September%202010.pdf
James Babalola www.jamesbabalola.com
Antoinette "Toni" Davis www.votetoni.com
Stan Gunter www.votestangunter.com
Adrienne Hunter-Strothers www.adriennehunterstrothers2010.com
Chris McFadden http://www.mcfaddenforappealscourt.com/
David Schaeffer http://schaefferforcourtofappeals.com/index.aspx

STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS AND A REFERENDUM: On these I simply offer the following as my best effort working through the wording and calling others who understand the legal language much better than I do.

#1 “Competitive Contracts” NO, this would hold employees hostage and many non-compete contracts would actually reduce competition
#2 “Trauma Care tax” NO, funding should be carved out of the State Budget if it is a priority, and it is.
#3 “Multi-year Transportation Contracts” NO, allows the DOT to agree to a project it may not be able pay for in the long-term and gives the appointed DOT rather than the elected legislature budgetary control.
#4 “Multi-year Energy Efficiency and Conservation Contracts” NO, this has been tried federally but abandoned due to increased costs.
#5 “Industrial Zone Opt-Out” YES, to correct a previous exception for 2 Georgia Counties
Referendum “A”: “Inventory Tax Repeal” YES, this benefits business, job growth, and all of us.

Links to others people’s advice on the amendments and the referendum:
Sue Ella Deadwyler, an amazing woman who has volunteered her time for over 25 years at the capitol analyzing bills and informing the public http://georgiainsight.org/?page_id=92: N,N,N,N,Y; Y www.georgiainsight.org/
Bob Griggs, an entrepreneur and member of Engage Gwinnett: Y,N,Y,N,Y; Y fullest analysis we have seen yet (but I think he is wrong about amendment 1, see comments following his) http://www.talkgwinnett.net/main/section/88888911-bobg/1924-2010-proposed-amendments-and-ballot-questions

I want to thank Gen Wilson for her email inspiring this blog article, many of my friends and work associates who have helped me work through this lengthy process this year. May God bless you as you vote responsibly. Blessings.