Christian's Candidate's Reality-TV Campaign Offers Witnessing Platform
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
October 1, 2004
(AgapePress) - An evangelical Christian "contender" is encouraging like-minded believers to make a statement during the finale of a cable television series.
This Sunday evening Park Gillespie, a 38-year-old North Carolinian, will be featured in the final round of the Showtime reality series American Candidate. The show puts everyday U.S. citizens through the paces of a mock presidential campaign. One of three finalists out of the initial ten contestants, Gillespie is still in the running for the title, which carries a cash prize of $200,000.
In real life, Gillespie is a highly decorated middle school science and social studies teacher in the North Carolina public school system. But as a TV "presidential hopeful," the conservative Christian has been campaigning on a platform of "Principled Leadership Now" and is encouraging fellow believers to log onto his website Sunday evening to look for the toll-free phone number they can call to cast their vote for him.
The Christian candidate faces two liberal opponents that he expects will have a lot of support from influential left-wing organizations. "You have the entire gay-lesbian network," he says. "You have all these Rock the Vote youth groups that are out there with their text-messaging capabilities, groups that are dedicated to getting felons voting, and literally every extreme left group that you can think of -- a coalition of that -- coming at us."
The American Candidate show began six weeks ago with a wide field of ordinary people who were selected to go through the rigors of the unreal race for the White House. Over time, however, as the competition has narrowed to the final three, in many ways it has taken on characteristics similar to the actual presidential election, with sharp dividing lines forming between the left and the right. In the final days of his campaign, Gillespie is trying to turn out his "base" in order to prevail against two candidates he describes as supporters of "ultra-liberal" causes.
The evangelical contender is encouraging fellow believers to visit his website and vote for him Sunday night in order to send a message to the rest of the nation. "We're asking people of like mind and faith to support a brother and his running mate, who is also a good man and a believer," he says, "and to stand for the family. Stand for pro-family and pro-growth policies."
Gillespie says he and his running mate have had the opportunity to speak out on issues they really believe in, including support for the war on terror, the preservation of traditional marriage, and the sanctity of life. "We've had to debate the abortion issue in a big way," he says, "and also same-sex marriage -- issues that are really hot in the culture. We're bringing incredible witness to that, to a crowd that doesn't normally hear it."
The American Candidate website hosts a "Campaign Headquarters" page for each candidate. On Gillespie's page, he states why he would want to be president: "to lead in bringing common sense and clarity" to some of the most important issues America has ever faced as a nation.
