Tim Goeglein is no stranger to public service. He served for nearly eight years as a special assistant to President George W. Bush and deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. Goeglein also worked for 10 years in the U.S. Senate with Sen. Dan Coates, R-Ind., and two years at the Campaign for Working Families with Gary Bauer.
Now, Goeglein is using his expertise and experience in his new role as vice president of external relations for Focus on the Family Action.
Jim Daly, Focus Action president and CEO, said Goeglein's hiring signals how serious Focus Action is about defending families through public policy.
"Tim brings with him a wealth of experience and relationships that will prove invaluable to our efforts to defend the sanctity of human life, protect the institution of marriage and ensure the religious-freedom rights of Christians," Daly said. "He will be our eyes and ears in Washington, helping ensure people of faith continue to be heard on the important issues facing our nation."
Goeglein spoke with CitizenLink about his passion for serving the Lord and defending families.
1. Why did you decide to join Focus?
There is no organization I love and admire more than Focus on the Family. In fact, I worked closely with Jim Daly, Dr. Dobson and Tom Minnery during my tenure in the Bush administration so I came to learn a lot about how the ministry works, what its priorities are and what it seeks to accomplish by God's grace and mercy. I began to pray, believing and trusting that if it was God's will, that He would open a door for me and my family to join Focus, and He did.
Working at Focus on the Family is a joy, and my decision to join the Focus team was genuinely an easy one. Jim Daly is exactly the right man to lead Focus in this new century, and serving with him and all my Focus colleagues is an honor.
2. What do you hope to accomplish?
To tell the Focus story, to build relationships, to build alliances, to organize discussions on the important issues of our time, to explore the immutable first principles that power our faith – these are the goals.
It is central that we go tell a new generation the Focus mission, vision and purpose, and to do so winsomely, civilly, diplomatically and unapologetically. Focus' reputation in Washington is sterling, but people are keen to learn more about what we do, how we do it and why. That is a central part of my mission in the years ahead.
3. What is your outlook for our nation under the Obama administration?
It saddened me when the president changed the Mexico City standard (which had protected U.S. tax dollars from funding overseas abortion providers), when he pledged to remove the conscience-clause protections and when he put the government on a trajectory to create life in order to destroy it for research purposes regarding embryonic stem-cell research. These are bellwether decisions, and I pray the president and his new team will examine these policies and ask whether they protect the innocent and offer up a wall of protection for the weak and helpless.
If policies that flow from the new administration are good for the American family and the life and protection of every person, they will be good for America. Likewise, if the policies that flow from the White House are bad for families and for the life and protection of every person, they will poorly serve our great country.
4. Why is it important for gatekeepers in government, business and culture to learn about Focus on the Family?
Focus on the Family is the most important institution in the United States in defense of the family, parenting and strong, traditional marriage. Government is important, to be sure, but government cannot love an individual or change a life or a heart. Only the love of God can do that.
It is important for the gatekeepers in government, business and culture to learn about Focus, not only because of the policies Focus advocates and defends but also because of the vital work in culture Focus does every day, often way off the radar scope.
I recently shared with a group of VIPs information about Focus' outstanding initiatives – Orphan Care, Option Ultrasound, radio dramas, pastor outreach, the global reach to countries, adoption and foster-care assistance, the community outreach we are engaged in, and Boundless and Plugged In Online for the rising generation.
At the end of this session, many in the group said they were astounded at all the great things Focus was doing, and that they had no idea. This is a microcosm of how important telling the Focus story is.
5. Why do you think it's important for Christians to be involved in politics?
There has been a longstanding debate about whether men and women of faith should become involved in politics or in policymaking roles. For years, many Christians thought it unseemly to be involved in the political process because of the demands of compromise that are inherent in the democratic process. But I believe it is vitally important men and women of faith become involved in politics and policymaking, and to know that you can be involved without having to compromise your most deeply held moral beliefs.
I would argue that because of the express involvement of men and women of faith, our great nation was able to abolish slavery, to extend the voting franchise to women, to see the incredible successes of the civil-rights movement and to witness the incremental successes of the pro-life movement.
More important than politics, however, is culture. Two great conservatives, Edmund Burke and William Wilberforce, both believed that, important though government is, morals and manners were more important. Fostering moral excellence in the schools, museums and universities is central. We need a new generation of poets, playwrights, sculptors, composers and musicians to keep our culture refreshed. In the words of Ezra Pound, we need to "make it new."
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