Marko has kicked off a chain reaction all across the youth ministry blog world. He has come out to endorse a candidate for the presidential candidate. While he’s careful to note that he’s not endorsing Obama for Youth Specialties… a lot of people in youth ministry look up to him. Clearly, he’s the most read youth ministry blog on the planet. And since a lot of youth ministry bloggers emulate what he does, I suspect a lot of youth ministry blogs will soon be supporting their candidate of choice. More power to them.I respect Mark. I think he’s great. I’ve had the chance to hang out with him a little and I know we are kindred spirits. I completely respect his opinion and I think it’s fine for him to come out in support of Obama. I’ve got no problem with that.

But I just want to state clearly, I’m not going to be doing the same. It’s not that I think it’s none of anyone’s business. And it’s not that I haven’t made up my mind. I just don’t want to get into that discussion.

It’s kind of a carryover from YMX too. Over on the forums, the administrator and moderator group has all agreed not to talk politics on the site. We have an agreement with Gospel.com that prohibits YMX from endorsing a candidate and I want to carry that here on my personal site as well.

It’s kind of a carryover from church too. All employees of charitable organizations need to be careful how they talk politics. The IRS rules are not super easy to understand, but it is clear that it’s not appropriate for us to endorse candidates “officially” at work. In other words, I couldn’t take the platform at church and tell everyone I am voting for a certain candidate and invite others to join me. Each election year there is debate whether it is OK or not to put political signs in your front yard. I chose not to do that either. Even if I could I don’t think I’d want to.

All that to say, even though I could say who I am voting for and even though I’d love to debate it out with my friends here, I am choosing to not do that.

Want to know who is giving what in this election? Check out Fundrace.com.