Family Research Council President Tony Perkins described Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and his wife Erin as a “D.C. power couple” in a conversation at FRC’s 2023 Pray Vote Stand Summit. “The Lord has positioned you both in very significant roles,” Perkins said. And while he emphasized that they hold those roles with humility, they have also used their positions to bring faith to the forefront.
For the Hawleys, running for Senate was not on their bucket list. But prayer helped them acknowledge it was something they had to do. “I think we are facing the most serious threat to our country in any of our lifetimes,” Josh said. “The radical cultural Marxism … is driving the Left, [and] it is a thirst for power. Above all, it is a time for all conservatives, but especially for believers, … to stand up and defend the principles of this country.”
“We’re at a new level,” Perkins said. “There is a spiritual side to what is happening right now.” Josh went on to say, if there is one thing he agrees with Biden on, it’s that the soul of America is at stake. “Let’s tell the truth, here. Their real target … is our Christian faith and our Christian heritage,” he said.
Considering the issues at hand, Perkins said, “If we could solve one issue and one issue alone in this nation that could turn around so much, it would be dealing with the issue of masculinity, manhood, and fatherhood.” Josh agreed and went on to describe fatherlessness as an “epidemic.” He discussed how liberals often make it seem like fathers have little to no value or that two parent families are outdated. “[But] nothing could be further from the truth,” Josh said. “Get married, have children, invest your life in something more than you, and you’ll matter. And you’ll change your life, and you’ll change this country. We need to call men to that.”
As encouragement to mothers, Erin shared, “In the midst of raising children in what can seem like a scary culture, we know it will be all right because God is on his throne.” Josh added, “The Lord has called us to this time. He’s placed us in this time. He’s given us a voice in this time.” He went on to say how men have the high calling of guiding their children in truth. “I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to say to our kids in years to come … that we did everything we could. That we took a stand for the Lord. … We fought the good fight, … ran the good race to the best of our ability, and we left the rest to him.”
In closing, Josh emphasized how our nation’s prayer should be for “a baptism of courage.” He said the “whole agenda of the enemy” is to make us afraid, and that the Left wants to intimidate us so that we are silent. “For the nation, let’s pray for a baptism of courage,” he said, “for believers in this country to stand up and to trust the Lord, and to say that we’ll speak for him no matter what it costs us.”
“If we’re denounced and disliked and cast out by the elites, … so be it,” he concluded. “I mean, what a privilege to get to stand for the Lord in this time.”
Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.
