For a Good Cause -- Tim McCalmont

It has long been said that church and state should remain separate,

but a group of local ministers choose to ignore that.

A nondenominational group of about 30 Costa Mesa ministry leaders meet

once a week to pray for local city officials, said Tim McCalmont, a

pastor at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant on Fairview Road.

“We believe that the Bible tells us that city officials are given a

certain authority by God,” McCalmont said. “Even if they don’t believe,

they are placed by God to bring a certain order to society.”

Because local politicians have such a large amount ofresponsibility,

McCalmont and his colleagues take it upon themselves to help lighten

their burden.

McCalmont said the group prays for the families of city officials, as

well as the officials themselves.

“They are people like us, and they struggle with the same things we

do,” McCalmont said. “We pray for God’s wisdom for them as they make

decisions -- that he will enable and empower them to make decisions that

are good for the community.”

Local pastors ask council members what issues they would like them to

pray for, McCalmont said. The minsters ask what tough decisions officials

are facing and then ask if they would like some divine assistance,

McCalmont said.

Sometimes officials are grateful, many times they are surprised, and

sometimes they decline altogether, he said.

“They have a tough role as city officials. We believe if they seek the

Lord, God will give them a special wisdom,” McCalmont said. “Sometimes

they are open to it, sometimes they are not. We believe our prayer works

overall.”McCalmont said the group is not trying to convert the city

officials, although their call is to preach the Gospel and bring people

to Jesus. And the group does not wish to lobby city officials, nor does

it expect anything in return.

“We simply want to be a positive influence on the community,”

McCalmont said.

He believes the power of prayer is working.

‘Something very special is going on in Costa Mesa,” McCalmont said.

* Story by Lolita Harper; photo by [tk]