During his Sunday sermon on the book of John, senior pastor Phil Winfield of Grace Church in Des Moines reminds his flock that even biblical figures like St. Peter occasionally strayed and turned away from Jesus.
“Are you aware that the only people God chooses for anything are sinners, and that only sinners can be saved? he asks worshipers who braved subzero temperatures after the weather forced the closure of multiple services and religious activities.
Outside the megachurch auditorium, which normally holds many hundreds of people but had a smaller crowd Sunday with the mercury at -18, nurse Mary Cook said she plans to rally for Donald Trump on Monday because he has “a lot” of good things done. “I’m tired of people complaining about him,” she says.
“The problem they have with Trump is his personality. That’s like saying you won’t go to the doctor because they have bad bedside manner,” she continues. She says she worked with one of the best surgeons who “has the personality of a rattlesnake.” That doesn’t bother me at all.’
She is much less pleased with Nikki Haley, who has risen in the polls in Iowa. “I think she’s the biggest fake that ever breathed,” she said. Cook favors Trump over Ron DeSantis, who recently attended Grace Church and has made faith issues a prominent part of his campaign while highlighting his young family and his battle with Disney. “I definitely like his idea of getting rid of the gay parade,” she says.
“The problem they have with Trump is his personality,” said retired nurse Mary Cook after Sunday worship at Grace Church in Des Moines. “That’s like saying you don’t go to the doctor because they have bad bedside manner.
Cook is one of several worshipers who sang Trump’s praises on Sunday as the former president returned to campaigning in nearby Indianola and told an environmental expert protester who harassed him to ‘go home to your mother.’
Trump is riding high in the polls and enjoys strong support from Iowans who identify as evangelical, who made up about two-thirds of Republican caucusgoers four years ago.
Another congregant, cardiovascular sonographer Jennifer Hyde, 39, has not yet decided who to support, but she likes Trump. ‘He’s not a puppet. Most politicians are puppets,” she said. ‘He does what he says he’s going to do. He is not a typical politician.’
She does think Ron DeSantis has “very good values and family morals.” You “have to practice what you preach,” she says. But due to work she may not meet on Monday.
Grace has a devoted following involved in multiple activities in the community. The Sunday service began with a baptism, a nine-piece band and a few light-hearted prayers to cable provider Mediacom. (A livestream for snowbound worshipers didn’t work).
Trump, who was at 48 percent in the latest Des Moines Register poll, has made multiple appeals to evangelical voters in Iowa, while also delivering a lengthy explanation of his belief in the importance of winning elections and his support for exceptions to abortion laws. during Fox News’ town hall last week.
DeSantis gave an interview on Saturday with the National Catholic Register where he spoke about the ‘power of prayer’ and so-called gender-affirming care. “A 14-year-old couldn’t sit at a bar and take a shot of whiskey, but they could still have their genitals removed somehow,” he said.
Dana Wyatt, a facilities officer at the church, says DeSantis is probably the only candidate who has proven himself “in terms of advancing into the job,” and has some ethical concerns about Trump.
“He has a lot of potential that I hoped for in Trump, without all the baggage,” he said of DeSantis. He worries about Trump’s temperament, saying the former president talked about draining the swamp “but he has surrounded himself with people you would classify as swamp people.”
‘He does what he says he’s going to do. He is not a typical politician,” said Jennifer Hyde, who operates ultrasound machines
Dana Wyatt, a outreach worker at the church, didn’t like to “offend” things Trump said about Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signing a bill banning abortion after six weeks. Reynolds has endorsed Ron DeSantis
Worshipers attended Sunday services at Grace megachurch in Des Moines a day before the caucuses
Former President Donald Trump ridiculed a brawler on Sunday, telling her to “go home to your mother.”
Trump clashed with demonstrators during his rally on Sunday. He is far ahead of his Republican opponents in pre-caucus polls
Ron DeSantis recently visited Grace Church. He is counting on organization and support from religious conservatives, even though many evangelical voters say they support Trump
And he appreciates how Trump’s Supreme Court nominees struck down Roe. against Wade. But he doesn’t like that Trump “came into Iowa (and) really insulted the governor about passing the heartbeat law.”
(Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a six-week abortion ban and supports DeSantis). “He talks about loyalty, but he is not loyal to the people who supported him,” he says. And he says Trump has shown “little or no loyalty” to the people who stormed the Capitol on his behalf on January 6. “He could have pardoned them before he left, but he didn’t,” he said.
(Trump accused her of “disloyalty” and said it would mean the end of her career).
Jeannett Griner, a self-employed entrepreneur living in Des Moines, likes Trump because he is “not owned by the globalists” and points to “who pays the bills” for his competitors.
“They tried to dismantle him and his family, but he is still standing,” she said.
Steve Miller, a retired elementary school teacher who brought a few Bibles to Sunday’s services, leans toward Nikki Haley, saying she “needs to reach out to some people because of the negative ads she’s seeing.” He was at church when DeSantis briefly attended. “He was smaller than I thought he would be,” he said, wondering if the buzz about the Florida governor’s shoes was influencing his thinking.
The Altoona resident has supported Trump in the past, but not this time. ‘He’s a bit too aggressive for me. Sometimes he talks before his brain kicks in,” he said.
