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Three ways social media impacted my White House meeting

Yep, that’s me there tweeting away. (Photo: EthicsDaily.com)

As many of your know, I’m finishing up on reflecting upon my meeting with the Executive Office of the President and White House staff (read part 1 and part 2). It was an honor to be among 60 other Baptists who met with several advisers to the President.  One of the unusual facets of this meeting was a media blackout.  None of the tradition media outlets were allowed in this meeting.

The media blackout arose from the administration’s frustrations that past clergy leader meetings were nothing more than a photo opportunity. This meeting was supposed to be different, and so it was. We attendees were allow to tweet during the meeting and used the hashtag #BaptistsatWH. This created a direct link to our friends, congregation members, followers, and community individuals back home. Our four-hour long meeting was unencumbered by reporters interrupting or distracting from the meeting’s goal.

My friend and fellow pastor Dr. William Shiell and I discussed how the administration had a message they wanted to communicate. The byproduct of a media blackout, but social media friendly meeting is threefold:

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White House

Four things learned from my White House meeting (part 2)

Yesterday, I gave an overview of my visit with the Executive Office of the President and White House staff. I was a part of a delegation of “goodwill Baptists”, in which there were about 60 of us from around the country. For part 1 and background on the meeting, please click here.

Looking back on the meeting, there are several things that I want to share with you.  First, as I have blogged about before, faith and ethics inform this White House administration.  Several of the administration officials spoke of their own experience with their churches and how their Christianity guides their work. It is clear that the administration is fighting such social ills as human trafficking and economic problems such as the mortgage crisis. And, did you know that at 14 federal agencies there are faith-based offices?

At the meeting, two officials were presented with a Common English Bible translation, which was given as “a moral document”.  The translation renders the words “stranger” or “alien” as “immigrant”.  Paul Monteiro, associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and  Julie Rodriguez, associate director of the Office of Public Engagement received a Bible:

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White House

My White House meeting with Baptists (part 1)

I’m fresh off my visit with the Executive Office of the President and White House staff. I want to share with you all about our meeting through multi-blog posts.  The meeting including advisers from the Executive Office of the President and other administration officials. I was a part of a delegation of “goodwill Baptists”, in which there were about 60 of us from around the country. Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, and Ricky Creech, executive director/minister of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention put the meeting together.

The meeting took place in the White House Executive Office Building.  Some of the people/offices we talked with:

  • Jannah Scott, Deputy Director of the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership
  • B.J. Douglas, Engram Lloyd and Paula Lincoln of the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
  • Felicia Escobar, a Senior Policy Adviser for the Domestic Policy Council,
  • Chris Vaeth, Adviser for the Office of Community Affairs for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • Julie Rodriquez, Associate Director for the Office of Public Engagement
  • Paul Monteiro, Associate Director for Office of Public Engagement
  • Engram Lloyd,  Housing and Urban Development

What do our meeting look like? Several of the above individuals explained what their office does, what issues their addressing, and took questions/comments. Although I would have enjoyed more comments/questions from us Baptists, this meeting covered an array of issues.  We discussed clean water standards, sex trafficking, payday loans, mortgage dept relief, faith-based programs, disaster relief. To see the meeting and comments, check out our Twitter hashtag #baptistsatWH.

There were a number of shocking and encouraging information points:

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