From the NACPA (National Association of Church Personnel Administrators) May 2003 Newsletter with NACPA permission

Not so long ago, an evangelical minister was asked to offer the invocation at the opening session of the Kansas State Senate. Everyone was expecting to hear generalities, but nobody was prepared to hear what they heard. With folded hands, the minister began,

"Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask for Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your words say, woe to those who call evil good, but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and have severed our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your word and called it pluralism. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have killed the unborn and called it a choice. We have sought abortionists and call it justifiable. We have neglected the discipline of our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and have called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our ancestors and have called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. guide us and bless these men and women who have been chosen to lead and guide us. We openly ask these things in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen."

As you well might imagine, the response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest.

Within six short weeks, the Central Christian Church where the minister was pastor logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 registering negative comments on the pastor's prayer. Shortly afterward, the national commentator, Paul Harvey, aired the prayer on his program, "The Rest of the Story". As he would later report, he received a larger response to this program than any other that he had aired.