American Pastors’ Network Announces Formation of North Carolina Pastors’ Network

First Order of Business: Press Conference to Speak Out On Wolf Blitzer-Led LGBT Forum in N.C.

PHILADELPHIA – The American Pastor’s Network (APN, www.americanpastorsnetwork.net), headed up by the Hon. Sam Rohrer, former Pennsylvania State House Representative for eighteen years and also president of the Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network, recently announced the launch of a new state chapter affiliate in North Carolina.  Dave Kistler was named as the president of the North Carolina Pastor’s Network (NCPN, www.northcarolinapastors.net) and Kistler is also the president of HOPE Ministries International.

Recently, Rohrer and Kistler held a press conference representing both the American Pastors’ Network and the North Carolina Pastors’ Network to counter a forum on the topic of LGBT marriage equality led by CNN news anchor, Wolf Blitzer. Both the APN and NCPN are committed to presenting a biblical worldview on all current issues of the day with clarity and boldness, especially when the topics being addressed are charged with political divisiveness as is the case in North Carolina where same-sex marriage supporters have targeted the state and are attacking the state’s Defense of Marriage Act.

Sam Rohrer, president of the American Pastor’s Network, states, “The very foundations upon which the heart and soul of America rests have been eroded.  If we do not return to the Biblical values and principles on which she was founded, we will also lose the civic freedoms we enjoy as citizens. The time to act is now, and we are encouraging all biblically-minded pastors in our nation to stand together on the Authority of Scripture and preach the truth about moral and cultural issues in order to educate their church members and set a precedent for other pastors’ networks that are being formed across America as part of the APN.  Dave Kistler and the North Carolina Pastors’ Network are taking bold steps in the public square to defend and help protect marriage as between one man and one woman and will step forward to defend against other efforts  that threaten the family and the religious liberty of North Carolinians and all Americans.”

According to both leaders, one of America’s biggest challenges today lies in the fact that so few American evangelical pastors are willing to speak with boldness, conviction, and clarity on the issues of today, yet their concern and conviction is not new.  George Washington, often referred to as the “Father of our Country,” said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports…. And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.”

Kistler adds, “The church in American has lost its vision of what it means to be truly culturally relevant.  Instead of impacting culture, we have become impacted by culture, and it shows in the weakening of our convictions and the loss of our clarity on the moral and economic issues confronting us today. One reason Christians have lost their sense of moral imperatives and civic responsibilities is that we no longer have a clear vision of what it means to love our neighbor.  We have internalized our rights as Americans to the point that we no longer understand that we have a duty and a responsibility to fight not primarily for our own rights, but for the rights of our neighbors; of the elderly, the disabled, the unborn, the widowed and orphaned, and the oppressed – not to mention the future of our children and grandchildren.”

Rohrer concludes, “America was founded on many solidly biblical ideals and principles, but most Christians today are unable to articulate for themselves or for others those biblical roots and the worldview which drives them.  The American Pastor’s Network and our state affiliates seek to identify and equip pastors who see the need to engage in this world in a greater context, first by reaching inside the evangelical churches in America, not around them.”