Time magazine has named “The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America,” leaving out Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson but naming author Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind series, GOP Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Michael Gerson, a White House speech writer. Catholic priest Richard Neuhaus, a convert from Lutheranism and founder of the New York–based religious journal First Things, was included.
Although illness and age have slowed him, evangelist Billy Graham is considered by Protestant senior pastors to be the most influential Christian figure and most trusted spokesperson for the faith, reports the Barna Group pollsters.
Pastor-author Rick Warren (The Purpose-Driven Life) was runner-up (26 percent) to Graham (34 percent) when a random national sample of 614 pastors was asked to name up to three people who have the greatest influence on churches and church leaders. President George W. Bush was third at 14 percent.