Secretary of Discipleship?

President-elect Barack Obama has been busy lining up his "team." Perhaps the most newsworthy appointments have been Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton --- two people who ran against him in the Democratic primaries and said publicly that he was not as qualified to be president as they were. My how things change in such a short period of time. Rush Limbaugh was on TV today, talking to Barbara Walters about how genius Barack is to "keep his friends close and his enemies closer." I don't know if that's true. I don't know if Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton would really be enemies of Mr. Obama. They will certainly make interesting government.

But amidst all the flutter about the appointments Mr. Obama has been making, I found myself wondering how such positions evolve in the first place. Who decided there would be a Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense or other positions? When were those decisions made? How were they made? Perhaps what I'm really thinking about is how such a decision could be made today. What if, for example, Mr. Obama decided to appoint a "Secretary of Discipleship?" The purpose of this role would be to disciple our president and his top leaders. They would be the pastor or chaplain who would see to the spiritual needs of Mr. Obama.

I've blogged before about the concerns I've had with Mr. Obama's discipleship. He spent twenty years sitting in a sick church, being discipled by a misguided fool. It concerns me that he himself have a strong, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I'd like to see our president be grounded in prayer, getting discipled with Biblical truth. It would benefit our nation, I believe, if our president were making decisions based on God's eternal priorities.

Imagine if Mr. Obama were to call me and ask me about being his new "Secretary of Discipleship." Where on earth would I start? I think the first priority would be to get the Obama family into a good church fellowship near their new home. I'd set up daily meetings with the president ... to look at Scripture in light of whatever might be on his calendar that day. We'd end that session with prayer. In fact, I'd help the president "pray without ceasing." Perhaps most importantly, I'd be with the president to ensure that satan's attacks could be fought effectively. Whether he needed encouragement or accountability, I'd try to help the president reconcile his beliefs with his behaviors and his decisions.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have any fantasy that I could be so important that President-elect Obama would pay me any attention. But if he were to ask me, I'd say he's still missing one important appointment. Who's going to see to the spiritual needs in the White House? The change that Mr. Obama promised us should definitely include a spiritual realm. We Christians just can't sit outside the White House fence and send prayer chain e-mails around to each other to pray for our president. The spiritual needs and demands are just too great. It's time to put the spiritual needs of the president where they need to be addressed --- in his cabinet.