WE HELP CHRISTIAN LEGISLATORS AND STAFFERS CONNECT THEIR FAITH WITH THE EVERYDAY CHALLENGES OF CAPITOL HILL.
MISSION: WE SUPPORT CHRISTIAN LEGISLATORS AND THEIR STAFF BY MINISTERING TO THEIR SOULS, HOSTING MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENTS, AND PROVIDING CHRISTIAN POLICY RESOURCES.
At the Center for Christian Statesmanship, we envision an America where Christian officeholders and their staff lead with Christian strength and govern wisely so that our nation flourishes.
But what does that look like amid often mundane and sometimes thankless everyday tasks such as policy analysis, constituent services, legislative support, meeting coordination, office management, or outreach and advocacy?
The answers to these questions are discovered through the Center for Christian Statesmanship’s peer networking, meaningful engagements, and policy resources.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP
DR. ROB PACIENZA
PRESIDENT & CEO
Dr. Robert J. Pacienza is CEO of the Center for Christian Statesmanship, Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, and author of Hope for the World: Christian Cultural Engagement in a Secular Age (CRMM, 2022). As an opinion writer, podcaster, media guest, and public speaker, he draws upon the Christian worldview to address the social, cultural, and political realities of our day.
Rob’s driving passion is to help Christians approach their vocations in a way that honors God and furthers His kingdom. With regard to legislators and staffers, he views their work as a sacred calling, an opportunity to honor God amid the sometimes mundane, often frustrating, and always challenging realities of Capitol Hill.
william russell
executive director
Will Russell is the Executive Director of the Center for Christian Statesmanship. He has over a decade of experience in government affairs, public relations, and operations. He began his career as a legislative staffer, serving Senator Thad Cochran and Congressman Alan Nunnelee. More recently, he served as Deputy Director of Presidential Advance and Trip Director at the White House under President Donald Trump.
As Executive Director, Will’s passion is to help legislative staffers navigate the unique challenges of Capitol Hill. Through the Center, he is able to provide staffers the support network, meaningful engagements, and policy resources that help staffers feel meaningful and fulfilled in their demanding and often thankless jobs.
WHAT CONGRESSMEN ARE SAYING
“The Center for Christian Statesmanship is needed now more than ever. I thank God Almighty that you are investing in your mission to transform our nation by impacting the leaders of America. God bless the work of this ministry on Capitol Hill.”
SENATOR TIM SCOTT
R - SOUTH CAROLINA
“I found the Center for Christian Statesmanship as a first year freshman legislator in 2011. Quite frankly I was looking for places where was a witness on this Hill and for people that were engaged in what was happening and found it in this ministry. The Center for Christian Statesmanship is there with Congressional staffers, walking them through what it means to be able to live on this Hill as a person of faith.”
SENATOR JAMES LANKFORD
R - OKLAHOMA
“The church is the bearer of truth. We are the hope of the world. How dare we be quiet ever? The Center for Christian Statesmanship is preparing men and women to speak truth to power.”
SENATOR Josh Hawley
R - MISSOURI
CORE VALUES
SACRED CALLING
We believe God ordained elected officials to govern society wisely and in accordance with his design for human flourishing. Thus, we support and equip legislators and their staff as they uphold the moral law and achieve public justice. Christian legislators can be God’s “missionaries” to modern-day Rome.
“For [a ruler] is God’s servant for the good.” -Romans 13:4
THE COMMON GOOD
We believe the Christian faith is an asset to the common good and that Christians are called to influence society according to God’s design and purpose. Involvement in family, church, business, and government is in obedience to Christ’s lordship over all creation and a necessary implication of God’s love for all people. Thus, we promote an approach to social concerns informed by a biblical worldview.
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
– Matthew 22:36-39
HUMAN DIGNITY
We believe God created human beings in his image and likeness. From conception to natural death, each individual is valued by God and possesses inherent dignity. We are called to value, defend, and protect all human life.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
– Genesis 1:26-27
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
We believe God ordained the institution of marriage as a sacred covenant between one man and one woman. It serves the private and public good and is the basic building block of society. Through marriage and family, we receive children as a blessing from God and are called to prepare them for a life of service to God and society. Thus, we celebrate God’s design and resist social and political movements that undermine it.
“‘Haven’t you read,’ He replied, ‘that at the beginning, the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.’”
– Matthew 19:4-6
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
We believe God gives human beings the freedom of conscience. Therefore, religious liberty strikes at the heart of what it means to be human and is the “first freedom” of any healthy society. When it is threatened, every other freedom is threatened as well. Thus, we stand for the right of every person to align their life with their deepest convictions and to do so openly, peacefully, and without fear.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.”
– 2 Corinthians 5:10-11
DISTINGUISHED CHRISTIAN STATESMAN AWARD
Believing that the future of our nation depends in large part on the character and integrity of our leaders, Dr. Kennedy and the board of directors of the Center for Christian Statesmanship established an annual award to promote faith, virtue, and excellence in public service.
The Distinguished Christian Statesman Award is an honor that represents the ideals of service to God and country. A Christian Statesman is a man or woman whose life is governed by a bedrock set of principles over which they will not compromise for personal or political gain and by character traits such as Christian courage, humility, and perseverance.
A Christian Statesman is a person whose commitment to Christ and love of country compels him or her to stand for truth and righteousness in government. A Christian Statesman recognizes that public service is a high calling – a ministry ordained by God (Romans 13:4) – and that they will one day render an account to God for that service. In short, a Christian Statesman is a person who fears God more than men.
The Distinguished Christian Statesman Award, therefore, recognizes men and women who endeavor to live out their Christian faith in public life. Each year the Board of Directors prayerfully selects a recipient whose public service and private life upholds these ideals. Since the inception of the award in 1996, an annual reception or dinner has been held to recognize the recipient. Past award recipients include Vice President Mike Pence, Governor Mike Huckabee, Representative J. C. Watts, Senator James Lankford, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Justice Roy Moore, and Senator Tim Scott.
Our country was, indeed, conceived and birthed largely by Christian statesmen. Today I am afraid that it is choking and dying at the hands of mere politicians, and I think it is vital that we rekindle the flame of Christian Statesmanship in this country.
– D. James Kennedy, Founder