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Editor's note: This is the second installment of our weekly roundup of what evangelical political groups on all sides of the political spectrum are talking about. And yes, we're already making changes. First, we're going to start running this on Friday so that we can make more clear what we mean by "this week." Second, we're changing the name to "Political Advocacy Tracker." ("God Politics," we decided too late, came across more as theft of Jim Wallis's book and blog, "God's Politics," rather than a nod to it.) But we're not overly thrilled with that rather straightforward title, so if you have a better idea, let us know in the comments below. If we end up using it we'll send you a free year of Christianity Today.

Along those lines, many comments on the first installment seemed confused about what this new feature is for. This isn't an exhaustive review of Christian opinion on pressing issues of the day (such as, for example, health care reform). Instead, it's a roundup of what Christian political advocacy organizations have been talking about over the last seven days. Yes, there are some great Christian political bloggers out there that don't have an organization behind them. And yes, rounding up organizations necessarily means we'll be quoting more from the right than from the left.

Still, within those parameters we know that there are improvements we can make. Do you find this helpful and informative? What would you like to read more of? Less of? Are there groups we should be paying closer attention to? Let us know in the comments section below.

This week's top news contains the words evangelical and summit — but not necessarily the words "Values Voter." Evangelicals participated in the Faith Leaders Summit, an interfaith event preceding the G-20 meetings. According to Bread for the World, which sponsored the summit, the stated purpose was to "remind [leaders] that any recovery must include the 1 billion people who now live in extreme poverty and hunger."

Galen Carey, the National Association of Evangelicals' director of government affairs, was among the summit participants. "The global economic crisis has pushed more than a hundred million people back into desperate poverty, erasing many of the economic gains of recent years," he said. "As our leaders continue guiding a process of economic recovery, we want to make sure that the needs of the poor and vulnerable are at the top of the agenda."

Haley Hathaway, writing on Sojourners' God's Politics blog, questioned the G-20 commitment to helping those in poverty: "What makes world leaders think the developing world isn't also too big to fail?"

The other summit in evangelical political news was the annual Values Voter Summit. Chiefly sponsored by Family Research Council Action, the event's cosponsors are a who's who of conservative Christian politics: Focus on the Family Action, American Values, American Family Association, and the Heritage Foundation. The event elicited a wide range of media attention. A webcast of the event is available on the VVS website.

According to the FRC, "Every general session was packed as over 1,800 people attended the premier event, while more than 175,000 unique visitors watched online." Speakers included Carrie Prejean (former Miss California USA), Bill O'Reilly (host of The O'Reilly Factor) and Bill Bennett (former Sec. of Education and host of Morning in America). Political leaders speaking at the event included former governors Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) and Mitt Romney (R-Mass.), Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), and other Republican members of Congress.

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September (Web-only) 2009, Vol. 53