Eric Camp

First of all, I am relieved! Majorly relieved! A good man won the seat and I can focus on leading Collective Church solely! Remember, I got in this race only because it was thought that there wasn’t going to be anyone else running.

So what lessons have I learned from this experience the past 8 months? Let me give you a bullet point list. This is from my personal experience only and doesn’t necessarily speak on behalf of political campaigns everywhere.

1. Politics is an all-consuming world. Even for an alleged “part-time” position.
2. People that are originally “with you” will bail on you.
3. People will believe EVERYTHING they read and hear! This is true even being a pastor.
4. People will lie to you just to play the “political game”.
5. It takes a toll on your family as a whole.
6. It takes a toll on your personal well-being emotionally, physically and even spiritually.
7. It divides more than unites because there will always be “winners” and “losers”.
8. It costs a lot of money if you really want to succeed at it. (this I didn’t have. I had some contributions from people that are close to me, but I didn’t accept any PAC money or financial contributions that had “strings attached”.) (favors)
9. I am a pastor. Not a politician. I believe pastors should lead The Church and pray for politicians and be a support for politicians who are really wanting to make a difference and who follow Jesus. You can’t do both effectively.
10. You don’t really have any “political” friends. I’m beginning to wonder if we really have many real “friends” at all.
11. Somebody will ALWAYS want you to say or do something.
12. You open yourself up for all kinds of scrutiny and misconceptions and opinions. (as a pastor, I believe this to be detrimental to the church if not real careful).
13. Your integrity will be challenged more than you can prepare for!
14. There is a spiritual stronghold in and on government.
15. People will create fake social media accounts to attack you with.
16. Anything you ever have said or done, even from 20 years ago, will be held against you!
17. HOWEVER, you can run a clean race! I am grateful to have run against 2 good men and we can honestly look at this campaign as a model on how it doesn’t have to get “dirty”. You can actually be opponents and not enemies. (lesson everyone can learn)

Again, I jumped in this race only because it was my understanding that there wasn’t going to be anyone else running. That changed and it needed to because it wasn’t meant for me to win that seat.

This was a learning experience in many ways for me. You learn who your friends really are. You learn how “optical” EVERYTHING really is (I knew this already for the most part being a Sr. Pastor, it’s just different in politics). I learned a lot of good and a lot of bad things. Bottom line being, I am thankful to be the Sr. Pastor of the greatest church on The Mississippi Gulf Coast and even more so thankful for my family and my life that The Lord has blessed me with.

See you at church!