Vision America was founded by Pastor Rick Scarborough to reach across the nation and help mobilize thousands of his fellow pastors of all denominations. He recognized that if he, as pastor, did not promote active citizenship within his congregation then participation dropped dramatically. Conversely, if he was proactive in speaking to the moral issues and encouraging civic involvement in his church many more people took their citizenship seriously and became active.

Studies of voting behavior among citizens who regularly attend church indicate that between two-thirds and three-fourths of them still do not vote regularly or at all. According to the Barna Group there are 324,000 Protestant churches in America, not including Roman Catholic parishes and Orthodox Jewish synagogues, with an average Sunday worship service attendance of 100 adults. If only 66 percent are not voting, that means there are over 21 million adults who are absent from the political playing field. In addition, thousands of local, state and federal offices lack the influence of God-fearing, Bible-believing citizens who do not step up to run for those positions. We are not losing the war by being "outgunned," we are losing by forfeit.

Vision America is all about empowering the "shepherds" to lead their "flocks" back into being salt in our nation. If pastoral encouragement increases participation, then the obvious answer is to reach out and work with more pastors to encourage and assist them to promote their congregation's citizenship responsibilities in addition to their spiritual growth. Pastors are usually overworked, underpaid and under heavy demand, which is why an organization that focuses specifically on their needs is crucial.

Vision America has gathered the credibility of leaders such as Dr. D. James Kennedy, Rev. Don Wildmon, Paul Weyrich, Dr. Adrian Rogers, Dr. Ronnie Floyd, Rev. Peter Marshall and a growing list of nationally recognized pastors to launch this work. This actually involves pastors in oversight and accountability at all levels of the organization and legitimately IS grassroots focused. No other organization exists exclusively to involve, represent, and serve pastors and their congregations in the realm of reforming culture and government from a traditional Judeo-Christian perspective. It is their organization, and it brings decades of public policy reform, education and training support right to the local church.

For the sake of the United States of America and the future of our families it MUST be done.