[1]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–FamilyNet television and three radio networks will carry the “Battle for Marriage” rally live July 11. A second television network, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), will carry the broadcast live if some last-minute technical issues can be ironed out.
It previously was thought the TBN live broadcast was confirmed. Rally officials have been told that TBN will carry the broadcast on a tape-delay basis if it is not carried live.
American Family Radio, Salem Radio Network and the Bott Radio Network previously announced they would broadcast the rally, which will begin at 7 p.m. ET at Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis and will take place one day before the U.S. Senate is scheduled to debate the Federal Marriage Amendment. For a fee, the broadcast also will be available online and on satellite.
The rally, intended to educate and mobilize evangelicals on the issue of same-sex “marriage,” will feature Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, Prison Fellowship’s Charles Colson and Washington state pastor Ken Hutcherson, who organized a large pro-marriage rally in May in Seattle. Bellevue Pastor Adrian Rogers and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins also will appear.
Pro-family organizations are encouraging pastors to preach on marriage on the morning of July 11 and for churches to host the “Battle for Marriage” broadcast that evening.
The rally is the first of three to be held during the next four months. The others will be Aug. 29 from Louisville, Ky., and Oct. 24 at a site yet to be announced. The August simulcast, titled “Reconnecting God and Government,” will include Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Wellington Boone, founder of the Fellowship of International Churches. Confirmed to speak during the October simulcast, titled “Every Vote Counts,” are Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land and radio talk-show host Janet Parshall.
[2]The rallies are the result of a partnership between the ERLC and FRC, in association with Focus on the Family and the National Association of Evangelicals. A similar simulcast was held May 23.
Information on the broadcast is available online at www.ivotevalues.com and www.wevotevalues.com. The websites also have questions and answers about same-sex “marriage,” promotion flyers and resources that can be used for pastors in sermon preparation.
–30–
For more information about the national debate over same-sex “marriage,” visit www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage.