[ChristopherHall]

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President Clinton's Pentecostal Connection

Anthony Mangun hasn't offered any campaign contributions, but he calls Bill Clinton a friend.

Bill Clinton's friends may come and go depending on the latest White House scandal. But regardless of the Whitewater investigation or the current uproar in Washington over campaign fund raising, the president knows he can always count on Anthony Mangun, a Oneness Pentecostal pastor who has offered the president unconditional friendship for 21 years.

The two men met in Arkansas when then-governor Clinton began paying annual visits to a Pentecostal camp meeting near Little Rock. Clinton went there to win votes, but he responded genuinely to the spirited music and preaching that always characterize United Pentecostal Church (UPC) gatherings.

According to Mangun, Clinton has had a soft spot for Pentecostals ever since.

"He loves our music. He loves connecting with Spirit-filled people," says Mangun, 47, now pastor of one of the largest UPC churches in the country, The Pentecostals of Alexandria in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Clinton's fondness for UPC music surfaced during his 1992 presidential campaign, when a reporter asked the saxophone-playing candidate about musical influences in his life. Clinton told Rolling Stone magazine: "I have a lot of friends in Pentecostal services, and a lot of their church music is some of the most awesome music I've ever heard. You just gasp when you hear it."

Clinton likes Mangun's music so much, in fact, that he asked his church's choir to perform at Inauguration Day events in 1993 and 1997. This year they sang "Lift Up Holy Hands" and "He's Faithful," led by Mangun's wife, Mickey, a popular UPC soloist.

Since Clinton's election, the Mangun family has visited the White House; Mangun has jogged and played golf with Bill; and his wife has had chances to chat with Hillary about the challenges of raising a teen-ager. Unlike some of Clinton's wealthy Asian visitors, the Manguns didn't pay a dime to the Democratic Party in exchange for their White House sleep-over. But Mangun has resolved to offer spiritual support even though he disagrees with some of Clinton's policies.

"The book of Romans says we are to support our leaders in prayer," the pastor told Charisma. "I feel I must stand with Bill Clinton and show love to him personally. If you are going to bash him, then stick with the issues--don't attack the individual."

Mangun has challenged Clinton on at least one occasion--when he urged him to reconsider his 1996 decision to allow partial-birth abortions. But the Louisiana preacher--with his boyish charm and Louisiana drawl--offers the president spiritual encouragement regularly. He won't divulge details about such conversations, but he says Clinton is a more spiritual man than most Christians imagine.

One evening in 1993, for example, the Manguns and the Clintons prayed and worshiped together around a White House piano. "Bill listens to our music tapes, and he asked Mickey to play some of our deep, worshipful songs," Mangun said. "I've seen him get very emotional."

Mangun thinks Clinton's interest in spiritual things began in the Arkansas camp-meeting days, when Clinton was known to spend long hours conversing with Robert Baehr, a UPC preacher. When Clinton was voted out as governor in 1980, UPC ministers, including Mickey's father, James Lumpkin, "reached out to him when other people in Little Rock would deliberately cross the street to avoid him," Mangun says.

Apparently Clinton doesn't forget a kindness. When he defeated George Bush in 1992, he invited the Manguns to Little Rock for a victory celebration.

And Clinton has made more than one stop at Mangun's church to catch a performance of The Messiah, an elaborate Easter pageant performed each year to sell-out crowds. Clinton and several White House staffers, including former Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, flew to Alexandria on Air Force One for a private performance in 1996.

Mangun says Clinton wept during the musical drama, which depicts the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and includes a cast of 500 people and live animals. After the performance, UPC minister T.F. Tenney laid hands on the president and prayed for him.

Some ministers in central Louisiana have criticized Mangun for his chumminess with a president who favors abortion rights. But Mangun believes Clinton could use a friend who won't turn and run when the political favors run out.

"I didn't tell my congregation to vote for Bill Clinton. I didn't campaign for him. He knows I'm a conservative pastor," Mangun says. "But he also knows I'm a good friend."

A good friend who has the Holy Ghost. That might be the best friend any president could have. --J. Lee Grady