iRetire4Him Show 161: Why I'm Running for Mayor... And Why Maybe You Should Too

Jim Brangenberg: This is a joint release iWork4Him, iRetire4Him show, where faith meets work and retirement and believers unleash their calling on their community and their workplace. Before I get started today, let me encourage you to talk with our sponsors.

Safernet.com. If you ever wonder who's watching you on your computer, who's trying to invade your computer, you need to check out SafeNet. They've been a sponsor of ours for a number of years now because their VPN, it keeps you safe even when you're using public wifi. But at the same time, they can give you web filters, an internet portal. You could track where your employees are going and where they shouldn't go.

At the same time they give you antivirus and all the things you need to operate a safe internet environment in your office or in your home. Check 'em out online, safernet.com. And also check out the US Christian Chamber. If you're operating in the marketplace, there's a Christian Chamber near you. Check out the US Christian chamber at uschristianchamber.com.

And finally, if you're using a cell phone, where does your cell phone company send their profits? Patriot Mobile's the one that we use. Faith, family, and Freedom. When they're making money and they're giving it away, they're giving it away to people that I like, that support the things that I support. Check 'em out online, patriotmobile.com/iWork4Him.

Like I said, this is a joint iWork4Him, iRetire4Him show, because the topic for today's show applies to everybody listening, whether you're still working or whether you've quote unquote retired, which we've talked about a million times, is not a real thing. It's the American dream of retirement, but it's not a biblical thing. So if you're listening to this show, you've heard me rant and rave about that before.

So let me jump in. For some of you, this podcast has been part of your listening challenge for the last 13 years. We've talked with Jesus followers in so many different places, jobs all across the world and across the country, and sometimes even in their elected offices. We've joked about the fact that growing up I always wanted to run for Senate when my kids were grown and gone.

Then I realized that people in politics, Jesus followers, got changed in the process. They also had to compromise to get things done. Number one, I only wanna change those things in me that aren't like Jesus. And number two, I don't wanna be known for compromise. Jesus got his mission done and never compromised. There was pressure all the time for him to compromise, but he never did. I wanna be like Jesus, therefore get my mission from God and stay on that mission. No compromise. So what's the reason for this rant?

I'm running for mayor of my small town here in Missouri, and it's time to put all of the above to the test. I grew up in an era where Christians were told to stay outta government and stay outta politics. They were dirty places, so all of us did just that and look what we got. A nation that spits in the face of God, denies his very existence through our laws and actions and judicial proclamations, and leaders that not only completely, that are completely compromised, but they celebrate that they're completely compromised, and they're willing to change the minute the wind changes in order to please some lobbyist or to make an extra million dollars here or there.

It is time for followers of Jesus to get into the fray and run for local, county, state, and national office. And don't complain to me about how bad things are if you're not willing to be part of the change. Let's remind everyone that if we're gonna complain, we need to be part of the solution. So let's remind you about something I say on the show all the time. I say on the show all the time: as a Jesus follower, everything about you should be changing and everyone around you should be benefiting from your faith, whether they believe in Jesus or not.

Let's break that down again. As a follower of Jesus, everything about you should be changing. It's the process our heavenly Father uses to shape us, to look and act more like his son Jesus. And secondly, everyone around us should be benefiting from our faith, whether they believe in Jesus or not. So the question you have to ask yourself, is my community benefiting from my faith in Jesus? And if it's not their issue, it's my issue.

I'm running for mayor because my community needs me. They need my leadership skills, my connection skills, my management skills, my sales skills. My community needs to flourish once more like it used to. It needs to be well run, fiduciarily responsible with taxpayer's cash.

I wanna encourage the Jesus follower in his town to be good neighbors, me loving on them to love on others, to be an example. So what led to this decision for me to run for mayor? Let me digress for a minute to tell you a little bit of that story.

We thought we were gonna live the rest of our lives out in Florida. We lived there for 20 years, and then our daughter marries a boy from this town. We end up buying a house in this town next to our daughter, halfway in between our aging parents, between Fort Myers and between Tucson, Arizona. And we decided to buy this house and fix it up. And in the summer of 22, we came here for a sabbatical to give ourselves a break after being on the air for 10 years.

And we were gonna take a summer off sabbatical, build a deck, and just relax. And God says, as my father, I think you're supposed to stay there and settle. If we were gonna settle here in Marionville, Missouri, we needed a place to do iWork4Him, iRetire4Him, and all the other podcasts that we do. So we needed an office, which ended up, we ended up buying what's called the Old Library in downtown Marionville, Missouri. We didn't buy it because everybody was endeared to that building 'cause it was the old library. We bought it because it was a building that was in decent enough shape that could be rehabilitated into good shape and put to use for iWork4Him.

At the same time, we decided to make it available to four other businesses that could have offices in our building. It put us downtown. And in that first year of rehabilitating this building where I'm recording right now - no, doesn't look like my background. I wish I had a really great background that looked like that, but I don't- people came to meet us.

People were so excited to see a building come back to life. People stopped in to talk to us and we got connected with the business community and eventually when the building was done, we started gathering the local business community together. We started getting involved in meetings. I got involved in the Lions Club, the local fire department as a chaplain.

We heard from the public all the time about things that Marionville needed, and they saw that we really cared because we fixed up a building they all loved, the old library, which we now call Central Place. The bottom line, God gave us influence in a small town we didn't deserve. We didn't earn it, but he endowed us with unmerited favor.

With so many people so quickly, it was undeniable that this influence should be used to help our city. Not to put a title on by my name, but to help this great city we live within. So what was I to do? Push back from the shadows or get into the limelight and fight the enemy of this city in broad daylight?

The enemy is not the person I'm running against but the enemy of our souls who loves to see people perish and struggle living in pain without purpose and sometimes even in poverty. I'm running for mayor because Martha and I prayed about it for a whole year and on registration day, God said, yes, you can run.

Now, i'm not running unopposed, but this election isn't about me. It's about the people of this town and as a Jesus follower running for office, I am not to slander or talk down about my opponent. She's a creation of Almighty God, created in his image. I don't have to agree with her, but I must love her, pray for her, and show her proper respect.

I'm running for mayor because people on the streets ask me to lead and to love and to listen and to launch this city back on a trajectory of success. I'm running for mayor because this world needs biblical leadership by Jesus followers who have learned to love God and love their neighbors and their enemies and pray for those who persecute them.

I'm running for mayor because I can't ask you to do something for your city, your school, your county, your state, or your country if I'm not willing to do the same. Am I experienced at running a city? No, but I am an expert at cleaning up messes and I've run a lot of things, a lot of businesses. And cities are like businesses. They generate the revenue from businesses who sell things and from paying property taxes.

I can learn how to be an excellent mayor and I don't have to do it alone, 'cause many in this community have never been asked to help or serve, and I plan on asking 'em. Am I excited to have people criticize me? No. But I'm not likely to get impaled on a cross, so anything less then that is much less than Jesus did for me and my community already. And am I gonna be a perfect leader? I'm sure I'm gonna make mistakes, but I'll admit them and I'll move on and I'll surround myself with people who would keep me on the straight and narrow and also people who pray for me daily.

I'm running for mayor, and now I'm asking you to look at how you can impact your community too. Ministry is messy and this mayoral position will be messy, but Jesus is the king of cleaning up messes. He's cleaning me up every day. He's cleaning you up every day, and he can do it in our communities too.

You have things going on in your community that are driving you nuts. Maybe it's your HOA if you live in Florida. My HOA drove me nuts all the time until Martha became president. What are you gonna do about these things that are driving you nuts? Maybe it's in your community, your county, your city, your state. Are you gonna complain? Are you gonna gossip? Are you gonna post things on Facebook? Or are you gonna respond to the clarion cry of your community for godly based servant leadership?

Whether you're working or whether you're retired, your community needs you to rise up and lead in love. Some of you who are listening today are called to serve on your local school board, your city council, your county commissioners, maybe your state senate, house, or assembly. Some of you are called to be a mayor, a governor, a sheriff. Some of you may be called to run through judicial office. Some of you don't realize that you don't have to be a lawyer to be a judge if it's an elected position.

Some of you are called to our nation's capital to run for the house or the Senate. Some of you may even have a presidential call in your lives. But most of you are going, now that's for them, not for me. But we've been doing that as believers in this country for the last 70 years. And guess what? It doesn't work. Our country needs us. Our country needs the solutions that come from the heart of God, where it puts people first - loving God and loving people. That trickles down to solve the problems of community.

We've thrown billions and trillions at poverty in this country. Guess what? The church has a solution. It's a biblical solution. It just comes down to are you willing and will you be obedient when God calls you to serve the people that you work alongside, live alongside, dwell in a community with? Are you willing to say, okay, Lord, I'm tired of complaining. I'm willing to be part of the solution.

We need to remember that your workplace and my workplace, it's my mission field. What does that workplace look like for you? For me, in 2026 to 2028, I hope to serve as an unpaid mayor of a town of 2,500 people in southwest Missouri. That's right, I said unpaid, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to seeing a town rally around itself, putting arms around each other, holding hands, and joining in, making their town great again.

Are you willing to ask God if it's time for you to run for Office too? I hope the answer is yes. I'm Jim Brangenberg. I'm running for mayor and it's because of this work on iWork4Him that I'm running for mayor. I know that I can make a difference 'cause I've learned that no matter where I am, everybody around me should be benefiting from my faith, whether they believe in Jesus or not.

You've been listening to iWork4Him with your host, Jim Brangenberg. I'm a Christ follower. My workplace, it's my mission field, and my workplace might be the mayoral spot in our town, but ultimately, no matter what I'm doing, iWork4Him.