Welcome to Call to Decision 

 American Minute with Bill Federer

 October 1

 "In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things.

 There is a time to preach and a time to fight."

 Thus ended the sermon of 30-year-old pastor John Peter Muhlenberg as
 he removed his clerical robes to reveal a uniform in the Continental
 Army.

 After church, 300 men of his congregation rode off with him to join
 General Washington's 8th Virginia regiment.

 Born OCTOBER 1, 1746, John Peter Muhlenberg died the same day in
 1807.

 After hearing Patrick Henry speak the famous words, "give me liberty
 or give me death," John Peter Muhlenberg approached General
 Washington and enlisted.

 Promoted to Major-General, he endured the freezing winter of Valley
 Forge and fought at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stonypoint and
 Yorktown.

 John Peter Muhlenberg was elected Congressman and Senator.

 John's father, Henry Muhlenberg, was a founder of the Lutheran Church
 in America.

 John's brother, Frederick, also an ordained minister, was elected the
 first Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

 Both John and Frederick served in the first session of Congress which
 passed the First Amendment.

 In 1889, Pennsylvania placed a statue of John Peter Muhlenberg in the
 U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.