[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20236-20238]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          REMEMBERING DOUG COE

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, that is not what I am here to talk about 
today. I would like to speak about someone who--I will put it this way: 
Way back in the 1950s, back when Eisenhower was President, three giants 
came to Washington, DC. Two of the three giants people know about and 
they have heard of and they are well known. One was Billy Graham. Oh, 
we remember Billy Graham still, right now, and the things he has done. 
He has done more for Jesus and for God. Every time I get a chance to 
see something on TV that is from one of his past rallies, I do so.
  Another one who came, of the three giants who came, was Bill Bright. 
Some may not remember who Bill Bright was. He was the founder of the 
Campus Crusade for Christ. He was the guy who actually started--people 
are not aware of this in the general public, but we actually have 
events two times a week; one is a Prayer Breakfast and one is a Bible 
study. Bill Bright was the one who started that. So everyone has heard 
of Bill Bright and the Campus Crusade for Christ.
  The third giant who came in no one has heard of, and his name was 
Doug Coe. This is Doug Coe. Doug Coe came with the other two giants, 
and he really changed America. He died last February 21. I purposely, 
for an obvious reason my colleagues will find out in a minute, waited 
until now to talk very much about him.
  You see, people think of Doug Coe as having been someone who was a 
great diplomat, he had political influence and all that. There is an 
article written not long ago, and I will read this to you because he 
did things like that. He did it second only to his real mission in 
life.
  The article goes like this:

       The extent of Coe's influence in American politics is 
     [real]. . . . important figures have acknowledged his role on 
     the national and international stage. For instance, speaking 
     at the 1990 National Prayer Breakfast, President George H.W. 
     Bush praised Coe for his quiet diplomacy.

  I don't ever remember in the years I have known him that he ever 
raised his voice. He was always a quiet diplomat.

       [Doug Coe] was a behind-the-scenes player at the Camp David 
     Accords in 1978, working with President Jimmy Carter to issue 
     a worldwide call to prayer with Israeli Prime Minister 
     Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. In 2000, 
     Coe met with the top economic officials of Pakistan as a 
     ``special envoy.'' Coe met with President George H.W. Bush as 
     he hosted a luncheon with Iraq's ambassador to the United 
     States in the mid-1980s. In 2001, Coe helped arrange a 
     private meeting between two warring leaders.


[[Page 20237]]


  By the way, I was there so I remember this firsthand. That was the 
President of Congo, Joe Kabila, and the President of Rwanda, Paul 
Kagame. I was there during the National Prayer Breakfast, and he had 
these two Presidents of warring countries in there to talk to them in 
the spirit of Jesus. That is when everything broke down, they became 
friends, and they signed a peace accord. That was Doug Coe.

       Coe was a member of the large United States Congressional 
     and ministerial delegation which accompanied then First Lady 
     Hillary Clinton to the 1997 funeral of the founder of the 
     Sisters of Charity, Mother Teresa. He is mentioned by John 
     Ortberg in his book, ``If You Want to Walk on Water, You've 
     Got to Get Out of the Boat.''

  He talked about how the book was partly about Doug Coe. He was the 
guy who had a great influence in bringing medicine and releasing 
political prisoners in Kenya. We all remember that episode.
  So here we have a guy who was bringing warring powers together. He 
was solving serious problems with the country. Yet that wasn't even his 
mission.
  I know I will lose credibility when I say this because people will 
think it is impossible. A few people here know it is not impossible 
because they heard it once before; that is, Doug Coe has actually taken 
his mission, which is the Jesus mission--by the way, Time magazine 
listed him among the 25 most influential evangelicals in America, but, 
anyway, I will lose credibility when I say that, in effect, Doug Coe 
has been to every country in the world. The reason I know this--I 
thought we had him one time because Zanzibar is actually--people think 
it is a separate country next to Tanzania. He never was in Zanzibar, 
and I was. Then we found out he was right, and I was wrong; that was 
not a separate country.
  Anyway, he has had this Jesus mission since actually the late 1940s.
  I want to just mention that I hope and pray my kids and grandkids, 
when it comes time for me to cash out, will be as respectful and as 
loving as his kids and grandkids were at his funeral. We called it a 
celebration, not a funeral. One of his grandkids, Sam Wagner, talked 
about a trip he and his grandpa took to Nepal. Sam recalled how Doug 
not only met with dignitaries, but he also met with the young kids 
carrying machine guns who had shut the city down.
  Justin is a grandson. He recited the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 
and said that Doug reminds him of the little boy in that story. Just as 
the boy brought his loaves and fish to Jesus, Doug brought all he had 
to Jesus.
  Doug used to ask his grandson the question: If you give Jesus all of 
your love, what will happen? You will not run out of love for other 
people. Rather, Jesus will make your love enough for the whole world.
  That is a grandson. Gosh, I would like to have my grandsons feel that 
way.
  Melissa, a granddaughter, at the very last of the celebration I am 
referring to, stood up and said: I want you to leave this service 
talking about Jesus because Doug would certainly have been disappointed 
if you left talking about him.
  So, anyway, we have people like that. We had famous people at that 
meeting, by the way. One was Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner. The first 
time she met Doug, he talked like he already knew her well and like she 
already knew Jesus well, even though she had only recently accepted 
Jesus into her life, but Barbara Skinner is a very liberal Democrat, a 
wonderful person, and she jokingly said that Doug didn't understand 
gender issues because most of his fellowship members were men, and he 
would say to her: We brothers have to stick together.
  Doug made Barbara pray for Ronald Reagan at the National Prayer 
Breakfast when Ronald Reagan was President. Even after she told him she 
didn't know enough Scripture to pray for Republicans, Doug challenged 
her to confront her skepticism of people of different beliefs, and she 
did.
  You know, he had a way of getting things done that other people 
didn't. One of the well-known people who was there at the celebration 
was Sam Nunn. We remember Sam Nunn. He was a very well-known U.S. 
Senator. He is one who really concentrated on rebuilding our national 
defense when it needed to be rebuilt. He would talk about Doug Coe. He 
said Doug formed small fellowships and prayer groups in the House, in 
the Senate, at the Pentagon, at the executive branch, the judicial 
branch, and he also formed groups globally all over the world. He 
started many diverse fellowship groups throughout Japan and injected 
them all with Jesus. Jesus was it with Doug.
  Sam told a story about playing golf with Doug. Doug was a good 
golfer. He was talented. He made bets with the people he played golf 
with, and if they lost, they would have to--it wasn't a money deal--
they would have to memorize a Bible verse or go on mission trips. Doug 
always wins.
  I always will remember what Sam said. Very quietly, in a quiet voice, 
he said: Doug Coe was a sermon we saw. If we looked closely, we also 
saw a glimpse of Jesus.
  Another guy who is very well known to all of us here--known 
worldwide--is this guy named Ward Brehm. Ward Brehm enjoys talking 
about Doug Coe. He is the one who repeated something that George H.W. 
Bush said a long time ago. He said: Doug Coe has more friends who are 
heads of State than I do. This is the President of the United States 
talking.
  President Bush also said--one of his favorite quotes: ``Doug Coe was 
the most famous person that nobody has ever heard of.''
  Well, anyway, Ward Brehm was telling a story, and he said: In an 
early conversation about Africa, Doug once asked me: If you were God, 
how would you help all of those poor people in Africa?
  My mind went totally blank, and I stammered: I don't know.
  Doug said: We are not in a hurry. Just think about it for a while.
  Ward Brehm said: So I did. I thought about it for a while, and my 
mind was still a blank. So, finally, in frustration, I said: I am not 
God so I don't know what I would do, but you seem to know so you tell 
me, if you were God, how would you help the poor people in Africa?
  Doug Coe said very quietly: I would change the hearts of their 
leaders.
  This is what Doug did. He didn't just change the hearts of leaders, 
he changed the hearts of leaders around the world--every country in the 
world. One man did that. I don't know how that is even possible.
  Another person who was--had a different kind of expression is Lee 
Atwater. Not many people remember Lee Atwater. He was well known in 
Republican circles. He actually was the chairman of the Republican 
Party a number of years ago. He was a talented, charismatic guy. He 
played guitar. He sang. Everybody loved him. He was arguably one of the 
best political mechanics around at that time.
  Something bad happened to him. He got leukemia. He knew he was going 
to die, but he wasn't sure--he said: I am going to die. I have to be 
rational about this thing. I don't know who God or Jesus is.
  So, on Friday, March 16, after a White House breakfast, Lee struck up 
a conversation with the President's secretary. I remember her, Patty 
Presock. She suggested that he call Doug Coe. She was suggesting that 
Lee Atwater call Doug Coe. At that time, he was working with Members of 
Congress on the National Prayer Breakfast.
  Eleven days later, Lee arrived at the Cedars in Virginia overlooking 
the Potomac, which served as the headquarters for Doug Coe's Fellowship 
Foundation. Now, using a cane, Lee Atwater, nearing his death, walked 
into the main house and sized up his 60-year-old host. He said: I have 
been in this city for many years now, and I never heard of you. Who are 
you, anyhow? He said that to Doug.
  Doug said: Well, we have many mutual friends all over the city. I 
have heard about you for a long time.
  Lee Atwater said: What have you heard?
  Doug replied: I have heard that you are a real S-O-B.
  He didn't say S-O-B, he said the real words, and their dialogue began 
at that time.

[[Page 20238]]

  So from then until August, Lee was deteriorating, and one August day, 
Lee asked Coe to come to his hospital bed in an emergency. He was 
dying, and he wanted to find out, What is this deal about Jesus? What 
is this deal about God? He said that when he arrived, Lee looked at him 
with his best piercing glare, and he said: This Jesus business, is he 
God or isn't he God? Tell me. Some say he is God, some say he is man.
  Doug replied: This is something you have to decide for yourself, but 
let me just tell you a little story.
  Lee gave Coe his full command and focus.
  Doug Coe said: You are big on the Golden Rule. Now, let's just say 
that you are the most powerful figure in the universe.
  This is Doug Coe talking to Lee Atwater.
  You are the most powerful person in the universe, and you could say, 
let there be a star or a planet and, boom, it exists; or you wanted to 
create elephants and, boom, there are elephants or cows or human 
beings. Anything you wanted, you had all the power, right? You 
understand that? So you are sitting up on a cloud somewhere, looking 
down on Earth, and you see these cows grazing in a field, and you 
decide that you want to be a real companion to those cows. Now, what 
would you do?
  All of a sudden, that picture of God becoming man had a clarity of an 
index card summary. He said: I got it. I got it, he shouted. Don't tell 
me any more. Don't tell me any more. It is very clear. And he died.
  Doug had a way of saying things that nobody else did.
  The last one I will mention--this is significant to me because I 
happened to be with Doug at the time the statement was made.
  President Museveni is the President of Uganda. Like many of the 
Presidents in Africa, he is one who came through the bush and fought 
his way up, and he has been, I think, an excellent President.
  Doug has told him Jesus said: ``I am the way, the truth, and the 
life. No one comes to the Father but by me.''
  This always bothered President Museveni.
  The President said to Doug Coe: Look, we can go out into the bush. We 
have villages. They have never heard of God. They have never heard of 
Jesus. Are you saying that there is no way they are going to get to 
Heaven?
  Doug told President Museveni a story--that he had actually 
experienced this revelation. When he was in the Gobi Desert several 
years ago to visit Mongolian sheepherders, he told them that he had a 
friend who was a shepherd. In fact, he told them that his friend is the 
greatest shepherd who ever lived. His friend knows all of the flock, 
even the names of each sheep. If one of the sheep gets lost, the 
shepherd leaves the flock to search for the one lost sheep. The 
Mongolian sheepherders were amazed as Doug told him about this 
shepherd.
  The next day the Mongolian sheepherders told Doug that during the 
night they had decided to follow this shepherd, but they wanted to know 
his name. Doug said that his name was Jesus. They told Doug that they 
had always known about him, but they never knew his name, and President 
Museveni understood what he was talking about.
  Doug Coe had a way of explaining things that other people didn't. I 
was particularly blessed because for 20 years I met with Doug every 
Tuesday for an hour at 5 o'clock. I was a recipient of all the grace he 
had in the political philosophy of Jesus. I call it that; Doug didn't 
call it that. It is all scripturally based. Acts 9:15 says: What did 
Jesus say to Paul on the road to Damascus?
  He said: Take my name. Take my name to the Kings.
  Doug spent all those years in every country in the world, taking his 
name to the Kings. Acts 2:42--that is the genesis of the small meetings 
we have. Not many people are aware of them. We are here in the U.S. 
Senate every Wednesday morning, and we meet in the Spirit of Jesus. We 
have been doing it ever since Doug started this many years ago. It is 
all scripturally based. It is Acts 2:42. We get together, eat together, 
pray together, fellowship together, and talk about the precepts of 
Jesus together.
  All of that was happening, and I would say that he died--but not 
until he quietly spoke of Jesus to every country around the world. I 
can say that Doug is going to have a very Merry Christmas.

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