Texas Town's Clergy Undaunted After Failed Stand Against Alcohol Sales
by Ed Thomas
November 15, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A town that formerly stood up for its Christian community members' convictions concerning alcohol by not allowing beer and wine sales in convenience and grocery stores will now do so. Despite 40 days of prayer and fasting by area ministers and churches opposing the move, a ballot initiative approving the alcohol sales passed in Burleson, Texas, last week.Reversing a vote in 2004 on the same question, more than 3,100 voters approved the sale of alcohol in convenience stores in Burleson. Local supporters and city officials hope the change will bring in much-needed revenue and incentivize grocery and convenience store chains, spurring them to move into the area.
The ballot measure was hailed as a boon to tax revenue and a potential catalyst for area business and economic development. However, clergy in the Burleson Christian Ministerial Alliance strongly disagreed with the initiative and spoke out against it, citing statistics that showed accessibility as one of the biggest factors in area alcohol-related accidents and deaths.
Lighthouse Church Pastor Gloria Gillaspie, a member of the Alliance, says her group wanted to show observers in the community that they felt the move to reauthorize the sale of alcohol was wrong, for moral reasons. In an effort to encourage "no" votes in the referendum, the ministers called for a 40-day period of fasting and prayer, which ended November 7.
"We as ministers and pastors got together and said we must take a stand," Gillaspie notes. She says the group wondered, "What are the young people going to think if the church doesn't say anything? Will they think that we're approving of them drinking?" Whether their effort to oppose the referendum succeeded or failed, the pastor observes, she and her fellow Alliance members felt that if even one teenager in Burleson were impressed not to drink, the ministers would have gained a victory while providing a faithful and positive Christian witness.
And although a majority of voters approved the reversal of the ban and alcohol will now be sold in the town's convenience and grocery stores, Gillaspie notes that she and the other clergy are comforted in that their consciences are clear. Citing a biblical reference from the book of Ezekiel, she says the Alliance ministers feel they have fulfilled their duty to be "watchmen on the wall" of their town.
"We feel like, if there's any bad things that happen because of the beer and wine," Lighthouse Church's pastor explains, "if crime increases, if there's more accidents, if there's deaths because of drunken drivers, then we can rest assured that we did what we were supposed to do. We did our part, and we did send out the warning."
At the very least, Gillaspie says, the Alliance feels good about having called the community's attention to the dangers involved in selling beer and wine in convenience and grocery stores. And in the meantime, she adds, although the warning has not succeeded in stopping the alcohol sales, there are still many opportunities for Christians in Burleson to witness to people concerning the Bible's statements about drinking.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
