“The pro-life, pro-marriage conservative began contemplating a congressional run while he served as associate pastor of music and worship at Lawndale Baptist Church in Greensboro. Though concerned about the erosion of freedom facing his three children, he also was burdened about the way some communicated his party’s message.”

Mark Walker’s transition from pastoral ministry to congressional candidacy was based on his concern about tone as much as substance.

Walker, who had served in multiple pastoral roles in Southern Baptist churches, gained a decisive upset July 15 in a runoff for the Republican nomination for the House of Representatives in North Carolina’s Sixth District.

The pro-life, pro-marriage conservative began contemplating a congressional run while he served as associate pastor of music and worship at Lawndale Baptist Church in Greensboro. Though concerned about the erosion of freedom facing his three children, he also was burdened about the way some communicated his party’s message.

“[A]s a Republican, I felt like we had reached the place where a lot of our message was shared with great vitriol and anger and rage, and it wasn’t resonating with people,” Walker told Baptist Press.

While he affirms the Republican platform, Walker said he “felt like there was a way to go and share that message that was much more palatable but also to share it with genuine compassion for our fellow man that hopefully is driven from a walk with Christ.”

Other Southern Baptist pastors also have sought seats in Congress this year:

— Jody Hice, who was pastor of The Summit Church in Loganville, Ga., until April, won the GOP nomination in Georgia’s 10th District primary July 22.

— Mark Harris, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., finished third in North Carolina’s Republican primary for the Senate in May.

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma is seeking a Senate seat after serving in the House for four years. Lankford was the director of the Falls Creek Youth Camp for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma for 13 years before his election to the House.

Walker entered the primary race after serving Southern Baptist churches for about 15 years in such roles as executive pastor as well as lead pastor of a church plant.

Walker won 60 percent of the vote against the favorite at the start of the primary season, Phil Berger Jr., a county district attorney who had vastly greater financial resources and the support of the GOP establishment, including Rep. Howard Coble, who is retiring after 30 years in Congress.

Walker’s victory counts among some upsets or near-upsets of members of Congress or establishment-backed candidates in Republican primaries this year. The most notable was the failure of Rep. Eric Cantor, majority leader of the House of Representatives, to survive the primary in his bid for reelection in Virginia.

The primary results this year, a conservative leader told BP, indicate GOP voters have grown frustrated “with what had become a bipartisan consensus in Washington to grow government, restrict freedom and insult our values.”

“It is clear that Republican primary voters this cycle are looking for bold, reform-minded conservative candidates,” said Wes Goodman, an evangelical Christian and managing director of the Conservative Action Project, in an email interview.

“Even when ‘establishment’ candidates have prevailed in some primaries, by and large it has been because they have run away from the record and agenda of the political establishment in Washington, painted their conservative opponents as liberals and embraced some form of a conservative agenda,” Goodman said. “In other words, even a political establishment largely bereft of ideas is discovering that embracing a principled and courageous conservative agenda is a winning strategy.”

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