Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock and James Lankford sat down for a joint interview on Meet the Press to discuss how faith guides their work in the U.S. Senate

Senators Reverend Warnock and Lankford, members of the Democratic and Republican parties respectively, are the only ordained ministers in the Senate

The conversation, moderated by Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, centered on the importance of using faith as a guide while navigating the challenges of Washington

Senator Reverend Warnock Meet the Press: “Bipartisan work is as basic as the American convent, ‘out of many, one’”

Senator Lankford Meet the Press: “I don’t think of this as bipartisan work, I think of this as American work”

Senator Reverend Warnock joins Meet the Press, watch HERE

Washington D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joined the host of NBC’s Meet the Press Kristen Welker, for an in-depth conversation covering bipartisanship, faith, and more. Senators Warnock and Lankford are the only ordained ministers currently serving in the Senate.

Both Senators lean heavily on their faith background to help inform their work in Washington. Senator Warnock has served as the Senior Pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia since 2005. Senator Lankford served as the Director of Student Ministry for the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma and the Director of the Falls Creek Youth Camp, the largest youth camp in the nation.

Read a transcript of highlights from the interview below and watch the full interview HERE.

Senator Warnock on Bipartisanship in America

• “Bipartisan work is as basic as the American convent, E Pluribus Unum [Latin] ‘out of many, one’

• “I think the whole country has what I call a low-grade fever, some mornings you wake up and you just don’t feel really well, you can’t even put your finger on it.”

• “Demagogues who exploit this moment through exasperating the cultural fault lines of division in our country, and I think people feel the full weight of that. And what I would encourage people to do, especially in this season, is to look toward one another, rather than think about how we can hurt one another, how we can pray with one another rather than pray on one another.”

• “Our ideals of unity, of inclusion, of equality, the American story is about pushing us closer to those ideals.”

• “I’ve had success doing bipartisan work, working with people like Ted Cruz, I’ve worked with republican senators in Alabama to defend and support farmers.”

Senator Warnock on Faith and Religion

• “I’m not a senator who used to be a pastor, I’m a pastor in the Senate.”

• “Every Sunday after I finish the sermon, I say ‘the doors of the church are open’ it is our invitation to discipleship. It is an openness, ‘who so ever will, let them come’ and I have brought that same spirit to my work in D.C., whoever I can work with to get good things done for the people of Georgia, I will do that.”

• “My work as a pastor, walking with people, even as you work for the people. Very often in D.C. you can’t get things done at the rate you want to get things done, but I think people need leaders walking beside them in some sense.”

• “I try to bring that spirit, centering people, the openness to get things done.”

• “It is the values that come from my faith that inform my work in D.C. it is important that the table is broad enough to embrace people of moral courage”

Senator Warnock on Politics

• “I think the problem comes when politicians center themselves rather than the people, if you center the people, you have a shot at getting the policy right.”

• “The issue is our humanity and trying to build and strengthen the American family, that’s the spirit in which I come to this work.”

• “I do agree that in many ways, Washington is a reflection of the country, but there are some structural issues, like gerrymandering, partisan and racial gerrymandering that fracture the country, the ways in which people’s voices have been squeezed out of their democracy.”

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