The Gospel Goes to Harrisburg

By Bob Keeler

Part of Jeff Whitebread’s job as Capitol Commission’s state minister for Pennsylvania is building relationships. Sometimes he has scheduled appointments with legislatures, and sometimes he just drops by to see how they are doing.

There is also the Bible study that takes place in a legislator’s office, which they are trying to grow to include more.

At the heart of what he does is praying for leaders and making connections with the state legislators and staff in Harrisburg. “A lot of it is just being around the capitol, being available,” he said. “It’s almost creative loitering in a sense.”

Capitol Commission has state ministers in about 20 states. The organization says, its mission “is to reach the Capitol community for Christ, one person at a time, to disciple them, and to prepare them for a lifetime of ministry, wherever God chooses to place them.”

The state legislature is not currently in session, but when it returns in the fall, the legislators and Whitebread will generally be spending Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays in Harrisburg.

Whitebread, who joined Capitol Commission after having been an IT professional, lives in Bryn Mawr with his wife, Ishbell. They have three adult children.

“[The ministry] certainly is much different than what I thought when I first arrived,” he said. “When I began, I was pretty new, pretty green in terms of ministry.” Whitebread will be speaking to us today about the lessons he has learned while serving as state minister and how his ministry has changed.

Information is available at capitolcom.org/Pennsylvania. For listings of officials to pray for, see pray1tim2.org/states/pa, which takes its name from 1 Timothy 2.