By Tony Martin
Editor
JACKSON, Miss. — The Christian Action Commission, an agency established in 1963 by the Mississippi Baptist Convention to address moral, social, and ethical issues, hosted its annual legislative prayer breakfast Feb. 5 at the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board building located across the street from the State Capitol.
This year’s breakfast featured Philip Gunn, former speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives. He was the first Republican to serve as speaker of the Mississippi House since 1876. He left office in 2024.
Kenny Digby, Christian Action Commission director-treasurer, said, “We host the breakfast to remind the legislators that we’re over here and that we’re available for consultation at the point they want to talk to us. It’s a good reminder that we need to be partners together and that we’re not going to agree with us a hundred percent.
“We just want them to remember we’re over here,” Digby continued. “We’re the largest religious entity in the state.”
Addressing the group, Shawn Parker, executive director-treasurer of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, said, “We don’t see ourselves as a political entity. We do have Dr. Digby and the Christian Action Commission, which is a liaison between our churches and the political world. He is available to be a voice, a prophetic voice for the things that we believe and we hold dear based upon our understanding of scripture. So we appreciate that.
“But as a general rule, I try to stay unentangled by the political quagmire of Mississippi and any other entity,” Parker said. “I don’t want to diminish any of you and what you do today, but I want you to hear this clearly. We think we have a higher calling, and that higher calling is not to establish political agendas, but to help broken people be put back together through a relationship with God in Jesus Christ. That’s how and that’s what we focus on each and every day in this building.”
Following worship music provided by Drew Warford, associate pastor of worship at First Church in Jackson, Gunn addressed the group.
“As Christians, we should want a society that works for the betterment of our neighbor,” Warford said. “Our desire then to make society good, to make the culture good, is driven by a love for your neighbor or should be. The things we do at the Capitol should be driven by a desire to love your neighbor. It is this love of neighbor that drives our participation in the culture and in the political process.
“Let me encourage you to stay in the fight for the things that are really important,” Gunn said. “Let me encourage you to not grow weary of doing good. Stay in the fight. Now is not the time for disengagement. The future of your children and grandchildren are at stake. We need men and women in the Mississippi Legislature who are willing to take a valiant and courageous stand against the things that seek to undo our culture. We do it because we love our neighbor and we want our neighbor to thrive.”
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