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"Christ, because he changed my heart," George W. Bush, governor of Texas and presidential candidate, declared before an Iowa debate audience late last year. That response answered a reporter's question about which philosopher had most influenced the candidates' lives. But far from being the glib reply of an aspiring politician, Bush's telegraphic disclosure about his relationship with Jesus packed a powerful punch among conservative Christians:

Did they finally have a presidential candidate who shared their faith experience and their conservative values, and—importantly—who could win in November?

"Wow" was Southern Baptist Richard Land's one-word reaction on hearing Bush's comments in Iowa. Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is among a broad spectrum of Christian conservatives who support Bush's candidacy, although many are not free to endorse a candidate formally.

Despite Bush's certitude about Christ, he has yet to fully describe in public his own spiritual development. During that Iowa debate, Bush was asked a follow-up question about his Christian commitment. But Bush declined to elaborate his views of how Christ changes an individual's heart:

"Well, if they [voters] don't know, it's going to be hard to explain."

"I'm getting a little nervous about writers snooping around my heart," he said on another occasion.

The content of candidate Bush's faith is not easily discerned. But close associates of Bush, interviewed by Christianity Today, paint a complex spiritual portrait. That picture reveals a man who not only wrestled with the legacy of his famous father (former president George Bush) but also overcame personal and professional failures. Emerging in midlife as a self-confident leader, Bush seems to be someone more likely to act out his faith than to reflect on it.

Bush seems to share with many conservative Christians a commitment to stick with mainline Protestant denominations despite the progressive leanings of many mainline leaders. Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin, which the Bushes attend, has a reputation among Methodist Texans as moderate to liberal in its theology and social concern.

Jim Mayfield, senior pastor at the church, preaches a nonjudgmental brand of Christianity. "There are those who want to focus on the primacy of Scripture, but our Methodist heritage focuses on the primacy of God's grace. … and the primacy of God's love [which] we don't deserve," Mayfield told CT.

Bush himself has downplayed the role of the church, saying it is "only one part of a religious experience." Staff members say he has no one home church and on occasion listens to African-American pastors Tony Evans and T. D. Jakes, both of whom are based in Texas.

A theme emerges from Bush's spiritual biography: he has embraced the theology of salvation through Christ, leading to repentance, reconciliation, and finally to preparation for God's plan and purpose for his life.

Bush's relocating to his childhood hometown during the 1970s is a milestone in his spiritual narrative. Midland, Texas, was then a booming oil town. The town was riding high from 1973 to 1981, an era when one of 45 Midlanders became a millionaire. Bush wasn't one of them. His company couldn't "bag the elephant," oil-speak for finding an oil strike. Jokes circulated that his company, Arbusto, should be called "Arbusted."

With public service a long tradition in the Bush clan, he ran for Congress in 1978. But he lost to a Democrat from Lubbock. And his halting political debut added to public perceptions of Bush as a failed oilman and wannabe politician.

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October 2 2000, Vol. 44, No. 11