Does Anyone Have a Testimony?

Perhaps the only label that seems more oxymoronic than New England Conservative is New England Pentecostal.  Growing up in a small city along the coast, it didn’t take my long to realize that I believed different than those around me.

In 1994, my elementary school class went to the library to participate in a civics day of sorts.  The subject was the upcoming gubernatorial election to replace retiring Governor Lowell Weiker.  The class was presented with presented all of the candidates running and a watered-down version of what they believed.  At the end, the whole class got to decide who to vote for.  My candidate of choice was Republican nominee John G. Rowland (years later he would resign from office because of a corruption scandal).  Of the 28 students in my class, just myself and one other gravitated to his message of lower taxes and greater accountability in education.  The rest cast their ballot in favor of the Democratic nominee Bill Curry or Eunice Groark of A Connecticut Party.

As if being a conservative in Connecticut wasn’t being part of a rare enough breed, I also grew up in a ministry household, my father the Pastor of a small Assemblies of God church.  New England, of course, was once the gateway for Protestantism with Puritan and Separatist figures like Jonathan Edwards, Roger Williams, John Owen and others.  In the 1990s, however, the majority of New Englanders were secular in practice, though many of them claimed to be Catholics or Congregationalists, primarily because of family and historic ties.  All told there were more Catholics than Protestants, more non-Evangelical Protestants than Evangelicals, and more non-Pentecostal Evangelicals than Pentecostal.  I should also note that the majority of the Pentecostals in my hometown spoke Spanish, a language that, sadly, I never learned.

I have often been asked questions from conservatives and Christians outside of New England that usually go something like this, “How is it possible that you became a committed conservative or Christian while living there?”  What they’re really asking me is, “What is your testimony?”  In many Pentecostal churches around the country opportunities are given for parishioners to address the gathered assembly for the edification of all.  Some might speak about how God delivered them from an addiction or healed their marriage or their bodies from a disease.  Some might share what trials they are facing and what God is teaching they are holding onto.  Others might share a meaningful scripture or recount the day they decided to follow Christ.  Although unrehearsed and often full of tears, these testimonies are nearly always inspirational learning opportunities for all who hear them.

You don’t have to be a Christian to have a testimony about something.  We all have a story of where we came from and how we got there.  The same is true in our political beliefs.  We all have a testimony of how our political beliefs were formed, how they developed and how they have practically impacted us.  As for me, my parents were conservative, weren’t afraid to espouse conservative ideas and principles.  When I became a teenager, I began to listen to Rush Limbaugh and at 16 I had my first campaign experience: standing on the sidewalk by myself with a Rob Simmons for Congress sign standing next to a half-dozen union workers who were shuttled in to campaign for the other guy (my guy won).  There were many other events that led me to the job I’m in today with American Majority, but the point is, we all have a story to share.

For years the left has been the master of the story.  Whether it’s the single mom who cannot afford health insurance or the factory worker who struggles to make a “living wage,” we have heard them all.  Many of us have grown calloused to their cliché usage.  Yet, we know that conservatism is far more than a left-brained exercise.  Our ideologies are more than just propositions.  They are fused together with our right-brained experiences.  The result is a complex story that is unique to every one of us.

If we are going to change our nation, we are going to have to share our story, our testimony.  We are going to have to tell as many people as we can how we came to believe what we believe and how those beliefs have positively impacted our lives.  Fortunately, there are many mediums today to do that, whether it’s telling someone in person, blogging about your experiences, or uploading a video to YouTube.

So, what’s your story?  Does anyone have a testimony?