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Gingrich coming back
Candidate will speak Sunday at First Redeemer
Gingrich WEB
Gingrich

 

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich will return to Forsyth County on Sunday.

During the visit, his second in an eight-day span, Gingrich will speak during the morning service at First Redeemer Church.

That’s the same venue fellow candidate Rick Santorum visited Feb. 19.

First Redeemer Pastor Richard Lee said he’s been friends with Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, for “quite a while and I had invited him to speak, as I did Rick Santorum.”

“He will share his personal testimony and how he sees the treatment of Christianity and the church by the current federal government,” Lee said. “It ought to be very interesting.”

Both Gingrich and Santorum are Catholics, but Lee said their message is welcome.

“We believe Catholics are a part of the family of God,” he said. “If they accept Christ, that’s the bottom line.”

Republican candidates Ron Paul and Mitt Romney will not be speaking at the church prior to the March 6 presidential preference primary in Georgia, Lee said.

Paul wasn’t invited. And while Lee knows Romney, a Mormon, and has eaten at the candidate’s home, he said “right now I feel that his focus is not on evangelical Christians.”

Saturday, Gingrich drew a crowd of several hundred to South Forsyth High School, where the Forsyth County Republican Party held its mass precinct meeting.

More than 400 people filled the school’s auditorium, with at least another hundred turned away.

Lee said he expects a similar turnout at the church for Gingrich that Santorum enjoyed last Sunday.

On that visit, about 2,350 people filled the main church, with another 1,200 in the overflow room.

“I think we’ll fill the buildings,” Lee said. “I think it’s very timely in that we have the upcoming primary elections.”

Sunday’s service will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the church, 2100 Peachtree Parkway in south Forsyth.