E-mail
Print
RSS
G-bookmarks
Live
TechnoratiBefore running for Alaska governor, Palin also frequented Wasilla's Church on the Rock, an independent Pentecostal church, senior pastor David Pepper said in a statement.
About six years ago, the Palins began attending their current church home, Wasilla Bible Church, an independent evangelical congregation of truck drivers, executives and teachers, pastor Larry Kroon said.
It's a "simple community church," Kroon said, that is not Pentecostal. Still, Palin has remained close to the Pentecostal community.
Her pastor for most of her time at Wasilla Assembly of God, Paul Riley, said he gave the invocation at Palin's inauguration. As governor, she renamed the church's street "Riley Avenue" for him.
She sometimes worships at Juneau Christian Center, another Assemblies of God church, said Brad Kesler of the Alaska District of the Assemblies of God.
Palin used mostly traditional evangelical language when she spoke at a June ceremony for future mission workers at the Wasilla Assembly of God. A video of her talk was posted on the church Web site, then turned up elsewhere on the Internet.
Noting that her oldest son, Track, an Army private, is being sent to Iraq this month, Palin asked the audience to pray for military men and women. She also asked for prayer "that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them out on a task that is from God."
"That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for — that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan," she said.
She spoke about her responsibilities as governor, including job creation, and said she was trying to win support for a multibillion-dollar pipeline that would bring natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the lower 48 states.
"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built," she said. "So pray for that."
Still, she said the state needed more than just economic development.
"Really, all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God," she said. "Your job is going to be to be out there reaching the people — hurting people — throughout Alaska and we can work together to make sure God's will be done here."
Her current church, Wasilla Bible Church, stresses the inerrancy of Scripture.
Last Sunday's church bulletin advertised an upcoming Focus on the Family "Love Won Out Conference" in Anchorage. The conferences promise to "help men and women dissatisfied with living homosexually understand that same-sex attractions can be overcome."
Palin opposes abortion and gay marriage. But in December 2006, she told The Associated Press that her stances on certain lightning-rod issues would not necessarily translate into public policy.
"I've honestly answered the questions on what my personal views are on things like abortion and a lot of controversial issues," she said. "I won't hesitate to answer those questions about what my personal views are, but I am not one to be out there preaching and forcing my views on anyone else."
Zoll reported from New York.
reformation »
Agree: 
Disagree: 
