After election, pastors hope to continue tradition of prayer with new congressman

A group of Wichita pastors made a habit of praying with and encouraging CIA Director Mike Pompeo when he was a congressman for south-central Kansas.

Now, some of those same pastors hope to carry on the tradition with the person elected to fill Pompeo’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The election is Tuesday.

“Life in public service is not as glamorous as people think it is,” said the Rev. Ken Squires Jr., pastor at Bethel Life Center. “The Bible says that pastors are to seek the welfare of the city, so it allowed us to partner with Mike (Pompeo) in terms of what he saw were the important issues in order to enhance quality of life in the city.”

About 12 pastors met with Pompeo and his wife, Susan, when they were back from Washington, Squires said, usually six to nine times a year.

“He would talk about jobs, he would talk about national security, he would talk about what’s happening with our police and that kind of things,” Squires said. “It would allow the pastors to get an inside look, firsthand, of what his perspective was and partner with him, partner first in prayer.”

Squires said the group would like to do the same with the new congressman regardless of his political affiliation, although they understand if the new congressman selects his own set of pastors or has a different approach to a prayer group.

Republican nominee Ron Estes and his Democratic rival James Thompson were asked at a Thursday meeting of the Greater Wichita Ministerial League whether they would be interested in meeting and praying with such a group. Both said they would be open to doing so, if elected.

Libertarian candidate Chris Rockhold, who was not at the league meeting, also said he would be willing to have a regular meeting with pastors for prayer.

This story was originally published April 8, 2017 at 6:34 PM with the headline "After election, pastors hope to continue tradition of prayer with new congressman."