I was traveling across the desert of Nevada, listening to the radio. In one of those all too common flukes of frequency, the only voices I could pick up were of religious zealots.

This particular fellow was reminding me and the other poor souls stuck on the highways of Nevada that what this country needed were some Bible-believing leaders instead of the pagans we now have.

There is a sense, of course, in which I want to agree with the man.

It would be nice to have some really active Christians in positions of leadership. To have concerned and caring leaders who follow the path of Christ is an exciting prospect but I’m not so certain that is what this pyrotechnic radio preacher was proposing.

He wanted only a very specific type of Bible-believer. The kind who believed the Bible just as he did.

"You’ve got to believe!" he ranted.

And in the middle of the desert, I asked him why.

Why do we have to believe this or believe that to be an effective leader?

Why can’t we simply do?

The more I study the Christ revealed in the Bible, the more certain I am that he cares far less about what I believe and far more about what I do.

Over and over again, I find Jesus reaching out to the poor, the outcast, the lonely, not with lectures on doctrine but in acts of kindness and grace.

How marvelous it would be to have an active Christian in the White House. What a witness to the world this could be. But the man or woman I want to be president will win my approval not for what they tell me they believe about God but for what they do for God.

The issue for me is not whether he or she is a card-carrying Christian but whether they follow in the path of Christ.

And, strange as it sounds, there is often a profound difference between the two.