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After a weekend of pancake breakfasts and house parties, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee put politics aside. On Sunday morning, the former Baptist preacher took to the pulpit.

"I'm not here to do something political," he told congregants at the Amherst Christian Church.

"The pulpit is not such a time for a person to advocate (for) himself," Huckabee added. "It's to advocate for Jesus."

When Huckabee finds himself in New Hampshire on a Sunday, he also often finds himself with an invitation to deliver the sermon at a church. Yesterday, his message was one of hope.

Using some of the same personal stories he tells on the campaign trail - how he ran a marathon after losing 110 pounds, how his wife overcame a harrowing cancer diagnosis, how he pardoned Keith Richards for a decades-old traffic violation - the former Arkansas governor advised the 75 or so churchgoers that life's hardships aren't always bad. Sometimes, he said, the worst situations help us prepare for the best.

Take, for example, the time that an 11-year-old Huckabee broke his finger playing catcher in a Little League baseball game. Growing up in small-town Arkansas, Huckabee said he thought that his life was over, that there would be no other way for him to fill his afternoons.

But then his coach suggested that he go up into the press box and announce the batters over the public address system. One day, Huckabee said, the manager of the local radio station was in the press box with him. Not wanting to spend his day announcing Little League, the manager offered Huckabee some air time.

Huckabee said he was thrilled. The manager, he said, must have been somewhat impressed. After the game, Huckabee said the manager told him to come to the station for a job when he turned 14.

Huckabee worked in radio until graduate school, using his wages to pay for college. At 11, Huckabee said he never would have guessed that breaking his finger would be so lucrative.

Church-goers laughed at the jokes Huckabee sprinkled through his sermon - which means, they laughed a lot. But at the end of every story - even the one about Keith Richards, in which he called the rock star a theologian for the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" - Huckabee brought his sermon back to Jesus.

"No matter what the trials and the tribulations and the troubles that you're living through right now," he said, "if you know Christ, there's something that you know awaits you at the finish line."

Many of the congregants said they liked Huckabee's jovial ease at the pulpit and appreciated his Christian values. Most of them said that a strong belief in God is something they look for in a candidate.

"When you believe in Christ, that shapes your life," said Angie Dacey of Manchester.

Christine Seeley, who hosted a meet-and-greet for Huckabee in her Amherst backyard after the church service, said she wouldn't vote for a candidate just because he's Christian. But, she said, it would make her feel safer.

"To have someone in the White House who didn't put God first would worry me," Seeley said. "Maybe he would jump to conclusions without consulting God."

As for Huckabee, he doesn't try to hide the 12 years he spent as a Baptist preacher. The anti-abortion, pro-gun candidate has said his faith defines him and he can't separate it from his politics.

More important than a person's faith is how open they are about what they believe, Huckabee said.

"If a person is of great faith, just tell us," he said. "If they're not, just tell us."

Yesterday's church service had a different feel to it than anything else on Huckabee's campaign schedule. Unlike most of his events, there were no stump speeches or questions from the press. Even his entourage of staffers sat a few rows behind him in church, letting Huckabee worship at a distance. (next page »)