Lara Rusch ~ 35
been my teacher and my guide. Here’s my core team that does all the little work.
They’re the worker-bees that put things together so I can do things. Here’s my
Zion membership so whenever we need things they come and they support us.
Here’s MOSES, who we work with on a daily basis. There’s Gamaliel. So I’ve
got this whole network every time I go somewhere. That’s what that commercial
reminds me of and so that’s how I look at things. You see me but it’s not me.
Jones’s explanation contrasts liberal notions of autonomy as necessary for reasoned
political behavior. In this example, he describes an understanding of his interdependence
as enabling political action. Without his “network,” Jones would not be on the stage.
Attending to this fact is not mere modesty on his part but a reflection on what was
necessary in order for him to be engaged politically. Recovering from years of drug and
alcohol addiction and a “criminal career,” as well as triple-bypass surgery and
emphysema, Jones described his involvement in the church and MOSES as a “bio-
support system” that gives him “a sense of purpose and a significance in life.” Before
joining Mt. Zion church and MOSES, Jones had a completely different perspective on
public officials and his relationship to public life: “whereas before, I met Sherriff Evans,
if he reached for my hand and I reached for his hand it wouldn’t have been for shaking
it.”
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This past section explains how a religious community, with the organizing group
acting as a bridging mechanism between religious groups and politics, can bring formally
disenfranchised people to public influence. It also describes how political engagement is
a decision with implications for community relationships that (from the individual’s
standpoint) must be maintained and navigated. A decision to participate or not, and how,
reflects the individual’s sense of responsibility and commitment to his or her community,
as well as the arrangement of power relations within that community.
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Jones is now the chair of Mt. Zion’s core team, which boasts around forty members, the largest team
among MOSES congregations.
Convention