(Nashville, TN) –President Obama has appointed best-selling author and pastor Adam Hamilton as Member, President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. His selection as an appointee was announced in an official White House statement on Friday, January 29, 2016.

The other intended appointees joining Hamilton as members on the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships include Acting Executive Minister of Justice and Witness Ministries for The United Church of Christ and Pastor at Christ the King United Church of Christ in Florissant, Missouri Reverend Traci D. Blackmon, and Christian blogger and the author Rachel Held Evans.

 

The official announcement from the Office of the Press Secretary noted that President Obama said, “I am pleased to announce that these experienced and committed individuals have decided to serve our country.  I look forward to working with them.”

“I’m honored to join with other leaders and experts in the work of evaluating and making recommendations for changes in policies, programs, and practices relating to faith-based and neighborhood organizations to better serve people in need,” shared Hamilton.  “I believe I was chosen in part due to Church of the Resurrection’s commitment to serving the community and its long-standing work partnering with low income schools in the Kansas City area.”

Resurrection’s commitment is a reflection of Jesus’ command to love one’s neighbor.  “Choosing to live under God’s law of love…leads to life and peace for the community… As Jesus’ teaching made clear, your neighbor is everyone you meet, and even those you haven’t met. It means doing good to them, seeking to bless and encourage them,” notes Hamilton in his forthcoming book and companion Bible study Half Truths: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves and Other Things The Bible Doesn’t Say (April 2016, Abingdon Press).