Rick Hendrix, a successful music promoter and songwriter, recently announced his intention to run for U.S. Congress in the 2010 midterm elections on the Democratic ticket. Hendrix recently served at the Democratic National Convention as a US Presidential Delegate representing North Carolina, and also as an advisor on the Faith Outreach Committee for Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
According to a press release, Hendrix:

“built a promotion empire that has generated a quarter of a billion record sales since the 1990’s. The Rick Hendrix Company, with offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Nashville, handles a third of all positive and Christian music heard on contemporary American radio. Most recently, Hendrix’s company was honored with their 251st Platinum Album Award for their work on Mariah Carey’s ‘Charmbracelet’ album, which has sold over one million copies.”

He’s worked with everyone from The Crabb Family and the Gaither Vocal Band to American Idols and Sonicflood, in genres from Southern Gospel to country to pop rock.
Hendrix says in the press release that he sees faith and politics as complementary and will be running on a platform of “peace before politics, wisdom before war, and God before government.” In support of his position Hendrix says that “Politics are sometimes about an individual’s quest for power, but my Christian faith and political ambition is about loving others, and helping everyone towards the common goal of peace. I seek political placement because it will give me the opportunity to create change, not demand it.”
Disclaimer – I’m just throwing this out for discussion, not making any judgement on Rick Hendrix. If he can take his Christian faith to Congress, I say, Rock on. It’s just an interesting topic, mixing music and politics, and this seemed like a good story to launch a discussion: If faith and politics are complementary, can Christian music and politics also be complementary? As Christian music fans, do you care where the folks who bring you your music stand politically? And if so, does it change your buying habits to either support an artist with the same political views or not support an artist with opposing political views?