Mark Johnson's Hopes for the New Baptist Covenant

Ethics Daily has posted an essay by Mark Johnson, pastor at Central Baptist Church in Lexington, KY, about his hopes for the New Baptist Covenant. He's praying for a movement that will respect difference, transcend politics, and discover a new spirituality. Here's a quote:

As I mentioned in an earlier column, this meeting cannot avoid politics, but I hope it will articulate a perspective that cannot easily be captivated or identified with either the Republicans or Democrats. May the collective voice of this meeting call both parties to a greater expression of an ethical standard that reflects the deeper and more persistent themes of the very Biblical traditional we honor: concern for the needy, the stranger and the marginalized are exactly these sorts of priorities.