By Lloyd Mackey

THIS WEEK, while Conservative MPs have been gathering in Ottawa for summer caucus at the Marriott, some 200 pastors and spouses have been convening on the other side of Parliament Hill, at the historic Chateau Laurier.

This latter group will hold the attention of OttawaWatch for the next few moments, but not to the complete neglect of the body politic.

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The Chateau Laurier event is the Billy Graham School of Evangelism. For me, it is like a blast from the past. That is because the Billy Graham 1998 Ottawa mission precipitated the move that Edna and I made from Vancouver to the capital, at that time. That move was to start Christian News Ottawa, now known as ChristianWeek Ontario.

The School is designed to help a current generation of Christian leaders to reach out in communication of the gospel. That is the short story. Canadian Christians might well see the longer version in their own churches and communities, if the teaching at the school sticks.

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Four of the School's teachers are Canadian mega-church pastors: Charles Price of The Peoples Church, Toronto; Rick Reed of Metropolitan Bible Church, Ottawa; Claude Houde of Nouvelle Vie (New Life) Church in Montreal; and Mark Hughes of Church of the Rock in Winnipeg.

And it is Hughes I would like to amplify, for the moment, in the interests of the aforementioned body politic.

Rod Bruinooge, MP for Winnipeg South, is a serious Rock church member. He keeps himself open about his Christian faith -- as well as his pro-life views and Metis aboriginal roots. These days, he finds expression for both those factors, as chair of the Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus (a multi-party group) and the spearheading of the newly-formed Conservative Aboriginal Caucus.

And Hughes has been, more indirectly, a mentor, as well, to Steven Fletcher, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform.

Fletcher, who is a quadriplegic as a result of a car-moose collision 13 years ago, is not a Rock church type. He draws faith sustenance from the fellowship and pastoral care at Charleswood United Church in Winnipeg.

But Hughes, as it happens, ran -- and lost -- for the Reform Party not too long after Fletcher's accident.

Fletcher says a fair amount of his own interest in politics was inspired by Hughes' run for office.

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or a slight shift of topic, let's look at a couple of new book titles.

One Goal: A Praise & Prayer Journal (WordAlive Press) is authored by Gerry Organ.

Some will recall Organ as a former Ottawa Rough Rider place kicker, back in the '70s. Later, he carried Christian Business Ministries Canada and Business Life magazine through several years of development.

Now, through the sponsorship of One Way Ministries, by which he develops a number of national outreach interests, One Goal carries out his desire to trace some of his own pilgrimage. In the process, he has created a tool that will assist people of faith to journal their own journeys, as well.

Then there is Through a Lens Darkly: How the News Media Perceive and Portray Evangelicals (Clements Academic), by David Haskell, associate professor of journalism and contemporary studies at the Brantford campus of Wilfrid Laurier University.

In short, Haskell suggests that many journalists see evangelicals as being arrogant and intolerant. And, yes, he allows that some evangelicals are, indeed, arrogant and intolerant.

But his careful, quantitative research has a more substantive message.

I am finding the book useful, currently, in trying to see the faith/media relationship as others, perhaps more critical than I would be, might see it.

It is not light summer reading. But it is worth the slog, at least for this journalist.

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And, while still on the journalism track, I would just like to remind readers that there are many journalists who do understand the life of faith and cover those engaged in spiritual pilgrimages with empathy and understanding.

To those OttawaWatch readers who both observe and pray for our political process, I would suggest that praying for these surprisingly vigorous, diplomatic and competent journalists is a good thing.

I can't get into details, because the whole story is not quite ready to be told. But I would suggest that the recent coverage of the prime minister's attendance at former governor-general Romeo LeBlanc's funeral turned out to be a painful but, in the final analysis, good moment for constructive and faith-shaped ethical journalism.

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Lloyd Mackey is a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and author of Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW Press, 2006), More Faithful Than We Think: Stories and Insights on Canadian Leaders Doing Politics Christianly (BayRidge Books, 2005) and Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning (ECW Press, 1997). Lloyd can be reached at lmackey@canadianchristianity.com.

July 30/2009