The Bakersfield Voice

He doubles as a pastor and a KHSD Board of Trustees member.  He is one person in the eyes of local conservatives and quite another in the eyes of local liberals.  As a moderate conservative, intent on leaving my personal biases to a minimum, I packed my bags, and headed for Vegas.  

I first met Vegas in front of the new Starbucks on the corner of Hageman and Calloway in Northwest Bakersfield.  The encounter was brief.  My second encounter with Vegas was indoors, at the same location.  He was translating Greek scripture, and it was Greek to me.  

Vegas is Greek to many who don’t understand what makes conservative Christians tick.  They don’t understand his statements, they don’t understand his actions, and they don’t understand who he is.  I’m hoping this article helps with the translation.   

Some local conservatives see promise in Vegas.  To them, he possesses the leadership skills, the convictions, and the fortitude to greatly expand the current parameters of his influence.  He stands for the things evangelicals and Catholics share in common, and he boldly sticks by his convictions, even when it is unpopular to do so.  Most importantly for conservatives, he stands up against what conservatives regard as a corrosive and highly toxic liberal ideology that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of our very society.  

He says he loves gays but will not support gay marriage.  He challenges other community leaders to do the same, even if it means they will be accused of blurring the boundaries between church and state---even if he will be called a bigot---even if they will be accused of being against human rights, equal rights for all citizens.

He believes in keeping God, and the faith of our fathers, in the classroom and was successful in getting a poster featuring the motto “In God we Trust,” in every high school classroom in Kern County.  He brought back the traditional names of school holidays, officially doing away with the politically correct winter and spring break labels.  

After an unexpected face-to-face encounter with Mr. Vegas a few days after his editorial was published in The Bakersfield Californian, I asked if I could interview him, and he agreed.

In politics, perception is everything, but he didn’t seem to be concerned about how people perceive him.  As he put it, “My concern is to stand up for what I believe is best for the community.”

While some in this community have blamed him for being divisive, Vegas says, “The truth is inherently divisive.”

He claims to know what the truth is, and he is unapologetic about standing upon only one source of truth as definitive: The Bible, which he regards as the primary source of all spiritual truth.  He doesn’t poll people before presenting the truth, as he sees it.  As he puts it, “It is not true because people like the idea, or untrue because people dislike it.” 

In terms of how he perceives himself, he sees himself as less controversial than the way Kern County liberals perceive him. 

“Some in the media,” he said, “would like to think that I am out looking for controversy.  What is often missed is that my view that God is the foundation of our rights is not new in our culture.”

Vegas has been accused of being ethno-centric as it concerns his actualized plan to abolish the politically correct terms Winter and Spring break in local High Schools, and to bring back the more traditional titles of Christmas and Easter, but he’s been unapologetic about that chapter of his burgeoning legacy. 

Vegas is surprised the decision raised so many eyebrows and so much ire.  While others considered this and his famous/infamous insistence on posting the national motto in classrooms radical, for Vegas, it was business as usual.  

“My attempts to call Christmas and Easter by their official names, or to post the national motto established by the Congress are not radical,” he said. 

The same can be said for the recent controversy his statements and actions triggered as it concerned how the community, and city leaders, in particular should respond to legislation supporting the right for gays to marry. 

“I am surprised that people are shocked that a pastor would oppose redefining marriage in our culture.  I am an average pastor, husband, father, and school trustee,” said Vegas. 

Vegas does not see himself as particularly interesting or radical.  As he put it:  “I am just a guy who is more concerned with keeping my campaign promises and staying true to my beliefs, than I am with being well-liked or even re-elected.” 

Beauty and controversy, it appears, are in the eye of the beholder.  For some, he is a beholder to behold, and for others, he is simply beholden to those they perceive to be the radical right. 

Perception is an exceedingly intriguing phenomenon to behold.