By Mark Brunswick

Minneapolis Star Tribune

GLENCOE — More than a year ago, Pastor Jonathan Pixler and about a half dozen parishioners at the Berean Baptist Church began meeting weekly to pray for their country, their state and their city. The meetings were nonpartisan and focused on Scripture passages relevant to the events of the day.

But the direction of the country — and what they saw as their faith under siege — was never far from the surface.

“When we look at our country we see a lot of immorality taking place, the values of families, we just see so many changes there,” Pixler said.

Fueled by evangelical voters who were able to look past what others saw as disqualifying transgressions, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump carried McLeod County by more than 38 percentage points, among the highest margins of victory in the state. Not one county precinct went for Hillary Clinton.

Trump’s lifestyle and actions — he’s a New Yorker who has cursed from the stump, been married three times, cheated on his wives, and been caught on tape talking crudely about grabbing women — are very much at odds with small-town values and faith. Yet in the 12 weeks since Trump took office, it’s hard to find evidence here that McLeod County’s confidence in its choice has waned.

Pixler believes Trump’s victory was divined, much like the Biblical story of Cyrus the Great. Despite being a pagan king who did not “know” God, the Bible tells of Cyrus acting as an unconscious tool to encourage the Jewish people to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple.

“Like Cyrus, we needed someone like him who was just going to come in like a bulldozer and bull through things,” he said. “People felt like, finally, someone was listening to them and he was going to address issues that were important to us.”

So far, Pixler says, the Trump administration has exceeded his expectations on such things as jobs, trade, deregulation, the military and climate change. He also hopes that Trump keeps a campaign promise that religious voters took to heart: the repeal of the Johnson Amendment, a provision in the U.S. tax code that prohibits nonprofit organizations such as churches from endorsing or opposing political candidates.

Late last week, a day after Trump ordered airstrikes against Syria, his pick to fill a vacant seat on the divided Supreme Court — conservative judge Neil Gorsuch — won Senate confirmation.

‘Pray for Our Nation’

Dozens of signs adorn front yards and windows in businesses and churches around McLeod County. In stark black letters, they say “Pray for Our Nation.” They’re less a distress signal than a call to action.

If there is an intersection of religion and politics in Minnesota, it’s here in the fertile landscape of rolling farmland and steadfast conservatism an hour’s drive west of the Twin Cities.

Today, it is estimated that more than 48 percent of McLeod County’s residents identify as evangelical, the highest rate in Minnesota. The county has also been reliably Republican, voting for the GOP presidential candidate 90 percent of the time since William McKinley was elected in 1897.

“They’re hardworking, conservative people,” said seven-term state Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, whose district includes portions of McLeod County. “They have general distrust of large government and government programs. They believe in God and they’re as self-reliant as they can be in today’s age.”

That sense of faith and self-reliance is evident at the CrossPoint Church in Hutchinson, just 14 miles up Hwy. 22 from Berean Baptist. For several weeks after the November election, Pastor Rick Stapleton delivered a series of sermons called “The Bethlehem Revolution.” He used Scripture to look at “isms” in today’s society such as ageism, sexism and how to address the issues as Christians.