The Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, will be in Portland this weekend. He’ll be preaching at Portland’s First United Methodist Church (1838 SW Jefferson) this Sunday at 10:30 am. On Friday, Rev. Edgar will be speaking before the Portland City Club. From their web site:

His career as politician-turned-pastor has been as diverse as his latest charge, namely leading the efforts of one of the country’s largest religious associations in areas ranging from women’s issues to the environment, from international concerns of the Muslim world to the influence of the media on the intersection of faith and politics. Join us on Mar. 3 when the Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar offers up an antidote for a nation caught up in “Fear, Fundamentalism and Fox-TV.”

Edgar is general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, an association of 35 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, historically African-American and peace communions. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, Edgar came to the Council from California's Claremont School of Theology, where he was president from 1990-2000. Prior to that, Edgar served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was the first Democrat in more than 120 years to be elected from the heavily Republican Seventh District of Pennsylvania. His election and service demonstrated the bipartisan, ecumenical quality that has marked his whole life and ministry. Serving in Congress from 1974 to 1987, he led efforts to improve public transportation, authored the community Right to Know provisions of Super Fund legislation and co-authored the new GI bill for the all-volunteer service. Among other appointments, he served as chair of the Congressional Clearinghouse on the Future and as a member of the Select Committee on Assassinations that investigated the deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and President John F. Kennedy. In 1987, true to his belief in term limits, he voluntarily stepped down from office.

An active volunteer, Edgar serves on the boards of several organizations, including Independent Sector, National Coalition for Health Care, Common Cause and National Religious Partnership for the Environment. He also serves on the board of directors of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that is a principal resource for Congress on environmental and energy issues.

Click here for all the details.

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