Community organizers

One of the dispiriting problems of presidential campaigns is what happens to language. Words and terms of honor sometimes get turned upside down, where they hang in infamy when they should wave as banners of glory.

This year, I'm thinking of a two-word phrase that ought to point to pride but has been denigrated.

"Community organizer."

Who's experienced?

You heard it first in recitations of Barack Obama's resume. After working on Wall Street, he moved to Chicago, where he was a community organizer.

You heard it second from Sarah Palin, delivering her address as the vice presidential nominee during the Republican National Convention. Here's what she said: " … a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."

Everyone who's been paying attention knew exactly what she was getting at. Since John McCain announced her as his runningmate, she'd been bombarded with questions about whether she was ready to live "one geriatric heartbeat away from the presidency." Two years ago, she was mayor of a small town; since then, she's been governor of one of the least-populous states.

The Obama-Biden ticket no doubt viewed Palin's nomination as a gift of presidential proportions. Since he announced for his candidacy, Obama's detractors—Democrats and Republicans alike—derided the first-term senator for his lack of political and governmental experience. So, a novice mayor-tuned-governor from a small town in a largely rural state should blunt the barbs.

In the limelight of prime-time TV coverage, Palin sought to retrieve the advantage.  Experience gained from serving as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, trumps the benefit of serving as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, she reasoned. A mayor has "actual responsibilities."

Political football

Hear me now: This blog isn't about politics. Every American must weigh the experience, policies, wisdom and character of the candidates and vote accordingly.  That's your business.

But don't allow the rhetoric of this campaign to denigrate the honor of those who serve as community organizers in inner cities, small towns and rural hamlets across this land of ours. Their noble profession should be treated with honor, not as a political football, tossed about in derision for electoral gain.

Obama's background is law, but most professionals whose title is "community organizer" are social workers. Thousands of them happen to be Baptists and other people of faith who serve the people Jesus called "the least of these" because God has called them to that task.

True Christian servants

My experience with these servants dates back almost 30 years,  when I went to work as a reporter for the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board. My job was to tell stories about how missionaries across America were changing lives and leading people to faith in Christ. So, every month, I studied the statistics.

Soon, I realized the "Christian social ministries" missionaries—social workers, or, in popular parlance, "community organizers"—often led the way in leading people to the Lord. They tangibly demonstrated God's love and Jesus' sacrifice. By meeting needs the people knew they had, they earned the right to meet their spiritual needs and change lives, both immediately and eternally.

Later, I studied at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The first semester, I noticed many of the students whom I admired most were enrolled in the Carver School of Social Work. Their passion for people and commitment to Christ stood out.  And because I'd traveled across the nation's mission fields, I easily projected the ministries of these new friends into places of need and hurt, imagining how they would bring Christ to folks whom others in the church often overlooked.

More recently, one of the great joys of my life has been to serve on the board of advocates for Baylor University's School of Social work. Throughout the year, I get to meet and watch some of the most dedicated teachers and selfless students I've ever known. These are people who have set their sights on serving people who can offer them nothing in return. They'll spend their lives "organizing communities," but that just means working for justice, demanding decency and sharing the love of Christ among the poor, the elderly, the very young, the ill and others who cannot serve themselves.

They're my heroes.

So, vote as your conscience dictates. But please don't allow the rhetoric of this season to turn your mind against community organizers—social workers, Christian missionaries to God's often-forgotten children.