NPR "Fresh Air": C-Street Part 2 Video

Recorded from NPR's Fresh Air from WHYY, July 1, 2009

The Fellowship is an international organization founded in 1935, which since at least 1969 has been led by Douglas Coe. Its members include scores of U.S. Senators, members of Congress, White House and other executive branch officials, high-ranking military officers, corporate executives, the heads of religious and humanitarian aid organizations, and non-U.S. leaders and ambassadors. It has been described by prominent evangelical Christians as one of the most, or the most politically well-connected fundamentalist organization in the US.
Other names by which the Fellowship has been known include:

* The Family
* International Foundation
* Fellowship Foundation
* C Street Center
* Fellowship House
* Washington Fellowship
* Fellowship Ministry

Incorporated in Illinois in December 1942 as the National Committee for Christian Leadership (NCCL), the organization changed its name to International Christian Leadership, Inc. (ICL) in 1943, and in 1972, to Fellowship Foundation, Inc. It also has conducted activities as the National Fellowship Council and National Leadership Council.
The core purpose of this group as stated by its leader Douglas Coe is to provide a private forum for public officials to hold Bible Studies, prayer meetings, worship services, or to share their troubles. In Newsweek, Lisa Miller writes that the common love for the teachings of Jesus binds this group together and all approaches are acceptable; Jesus the historical figure, the rabbi, the prophet, the shining example, the Son of God.
The group is most widely known for organizing prayer groups throughout the United States and around the world, including the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, later renamed the National Prayer Breakfast. Every sitting United States president since 1953 has attended the event.
The Fellowship generally practices strict secrecy about its members or activities and as such, eschews publicity and asks its members not to speak about the group; some members have denied that the Fellowship exists
Prominent evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, and the Family themselves, have described it as one of the most, or the most, politically well-connected fundamentalist organization in the US.
D. Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist who studies the evangelical movement, says there is no other organization like the Fellowship, especially among religious groups, in terms of its access or clout among the countrys leadership. He also reports that lawmakers mentioned the Fellowship more than any other organization when asked to name a ministry with the most influence on their faith.
In 1977, Fellowship member and Watergate conspirator Charles Colson described the Family as a veritable underground of Christs men all through [the US] government.
The Reverend Robert Schenck, founder of the Washington, D.C. ministry Faith and Action in the Nations Capital, describes the Family's influence as "off the charts" in comparison with other fundamentalist groups, specifically compared to Focus on the Family, Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, Traditional Values Coalition, and Prison Fellowship. (These last two are associated with the Family: Traditional Values Coalition uses their C Street House and Prison Fellowship was founded by Charles Colson.) Schenck also says that "the mystique of the Fellowship" has helped it "gain entree into almost impossible places in the capital."
A series of taped seminars from 1970 for young male members of the Fellowship describes their access to power: If you want doors opened... there are men in government, there are senators who literally find it their pleasure to give any kind of advice, assistance, or counsel.
Lindsay also interviewed 360 evangelical elites, among whom One in three mentioned [Doug] Coe or the Fellowship as an important influence."
The Family also has relationships with numerous non-US government leaders. Lindsay reports that the Family "has relationships with pretty much every world leader— good and bad— and there are not many organizations in the world that can claim that."
The Fellowships reach into governments around the world is almost impossible to overstate or even grasp, says David Kuo, a member of the Family and former special assistant in George W. Bushs Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.