Keeping both jobs separate

Keeping both jobs separate?

By Louis Medina, The Bakerfield Californian, October 21, 2007

Chad Vegas, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Bakersfield, insists he has no trouble separating his life as a minister from his life as a trustee on the board of the Kern High School District. "When I'm a trustee I'm not operating as a pastor -- I'm operating as a trustee," he said. "I really don't want my church caught up in what I do as an individual, politically."

Since setting off a firestorm earlier this month by proposing the motto "In God We Trust" be placed in all district classrooms, many have questioned whether Vegas can keep his religious and political lives apart. Even some of his peers in the faith community wonder whether the distinction is possible -- or necessary.

"I believe every person who is elected to a position will take the viewpoint of their profession or interest into the discussion," said Monsignor Michael R. Braun, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church and rector of Garces Memorial High School. "I'm not surprised that as a minister he would take an approach that would bring his religious dimension or viewpoint into that discussion."

But Braun stressed that the other board members' opinions need to be respected equally. "They can't abrogate their viewpoints simply because he is a minster," he said.

Vegas' own words as a spiritual leader suggest his faith and trusteeship do, to some degree, overlap.

Vegas has a blog called "The Foolish Preacher," which can be accessed through his church's Web site, www.sgcb.org, by scrolling over "Resources" and clicking on "Chad's Blog."

On it, he posts comments about spirituality and politics as well as links to news articles.

"I recently proposed we post the nation's motto in every KHSD classroom. What do you think?" he wrote in an Oct. 10 posting, which included a link to an Oct. 1 Californian front-page report about the proposal. Only a few comments had been posted by visitors.

A revealing sermon
On Oct. 7, the Sunday after his proposal to the board, Vegas preached to his congregation, which meets at Ronald Reagan Elementary School in the upscale Seven Oaks community in southwest Bakersfield.

Without mentioning politics, his sermon shed plenty of light on what makes Vegas, the man, tick.

The focus was on redemption, and the gist of it was: The followers of Christ -- and Vegas counts himself among them -- were redeemed from sin by a ransom that Jesus paid with his own blood; therefore, they now belong to him. They are Christ's "slaves" and must act according to his will.

"If your dream is not what Christ wants, then living it out is, in fact, a sin because your life does not belong to you," he told his flock.

"My life does not belong to me, it belongs to Jesus Christ. And what he wants is what matters, not what we want.

"And you know what he ultimately wants?" Vegas asked, referring to God. "He wants his son's name proclaimed to the nations.

"And we're his, and we ought to get about his business."

His father's business
A Bakersfield native who said he has been a pastor for seven years, Vegas received his theological training at the Talbot School of Theology, which describes itself as the "theologically conservative, evangelical seminary" of Biola University in La Mirada.

Besides being a full-time pastor at his church, which he established about a year ago after leaving RiverLakes Community Church, the 34-year-old father of two is also an adjunct professor of New Testament at Eternity Bible College in Simi Valley.

"I think that Chad's religious views are his world view. And do any of us keep our world view out of any decision that we make? No," said Brian Murphy, executive pastor at RiverLakes, where Vegas was a youth pastor for six years.

"I think that Chad is proposing things that are important to him, just like other people on the board are proposing things that are important to them and that they think will make the schools better," he said.

Others fail to see any improvement from Vegas' proposal.

"We would do better to teach our children about God by making a concerted effort to end hunger and homelessness in our community than by posting slogans and symbols in our children's classrooms," Rabbi Cheryl Rosenstein, who heads Temple Beth El, wrote in an e-mail.

"In the meantime, it is the task of the Board of Trustees to see to it that 'no child is left behind' academically," she said. "I hope they can focus on the mission to which they are entrusted as elected officials, instead of on any individual 'missions' to convert the masses."

But Vegas said he did not involve God -- through prayer -- in the decision-making process regarding the motto proposal.

He said that when Bakersfield City Councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan came to him suggesting to put up posters from the conservative Christian group American Family Association, which bear the national motto over a background of stars and stripes, he thought it was a good idea.

"I suppose I pray about everything, but I didn't pray and ask God, 'Should I do this or not?'" Vegas said. "I knew it was the right thing to do, and so I did it."

Heaven, hell and politics
Murphy said Vegas kept politics away from church matters while he was a high school pastor at RiverLakes. It was during that time that Vegas was elected and began serving on the KHSD board.

As reported in The Californian when Vegas was first campaigning to get on the board in 2004, half the donors to his campaign came from his church.

"That's what's going to happen when you have a massive church and those people know you," Vegas said at the time.

Of the motto and his faith, he says: "Would it be consistent with my Christian faith to post 'In God We Trust'? Sure, but the belief that we ought to post 'In God We Trust,' or the nation's motto, does not necessitate that one be a Christian to support that idea.

"What I'm preaching in regard to the Gospel doesn't really have any bearing on this issue in the high school district."

Vegas' last political imbroglio before came toward the end of last year, when he proposed the district rename winter and spring breaks Christmas and Easter despite an outcry from religious leaders, including some of his fellow Christians.

One year before that, he tried unsuccessfully to get intelligent design taught in KHSD biology classes along with evolution.

Affiliations
Vegas said his church is affiliated with the Acts 29 Network, a church-planting organization that, according to its Web site, www.acts29network.org, proclaims:

The purpose of man is to worship God, who is Lord over everything; and there is nothing in life that is to be separated from God.
Men are to be the leaders in the home and church and God is unapologetic -- especially to "evangelical feminists" -- about revealing himself as a "Father."
The salvation of "the elect" was predestined by God and many people will spend eternity in hell.

While beliefs such as these may be shared by members of his church, Vegas said his political views may not be.

"There are people in my church that may not agree with what I'm doing as a board member," he said. "I don't know where the people in my church are on this (the "In God We Trust" poster) issue.

"Agreeing with me on my political stances is not a prerequisite to being a member of my church. Believing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the Old and New testaments of the Bible is a prerequisite to being a member of our church."

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