While most of the announced Republican presidential candidates stumped in Iowa on Saturday ahead of next week’s straw poll, Perry designed and took to his own national stage: The Response, a Christian day of prayer and fasting that the Texas governor started organizing over a year ago, before starting to seriously consider a national run. But instead of running from the controversy sparked by the gathering, with a politically problematic list of speakers and complaints about the blurred line between church and state, Perry stepped to the podium to pray — while hitting the themes that would drive his presidential campaign.

“Father, our heart breaks for America,” Perry said as he led the crowd in prayer, delivering his smooth, emotional 12-minute speech with the cadence of a pastor in the pulpit. “We see discord at home, we see fear in the marketplace, we see anger in the halls of government. And as a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us.”

Perry prayed for people who have lost their jobs or homes in the recession. He prayed for the president. And he choked up as he prayed for the 31 American service members who were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

Still, he preached an anti-politics message that, paradoxically, is a central force driving conservative voters: “He is a wise, wise God, and he’s wise enough to not be affiliated with any political party,” Perry said.

His aides insist The Response wasn’t about politics. But the simple act of speaking here — an inconceivable choice for many of his potential Republican opponents — shows that Perry has decided not just to accept the political risk that such a religious event represents. He has embraced it, and is even counting on it — making a bet that he is ahead of another broad current sweeping his state and potentially the nation.

Perry has, so far, been ahead of the political curve his whole career. As governor, he was partisan just as the state was turning away from the more conciliatory politics of George W. Bush’s governorship. He has almost always been not just a budget cutter but a government cutter — and finds himself on the cusp of a presidential campaign just as that issue has come to dominate the national debate.

He’s making the same type of bet by putting his approach to Christianity on display in Houston. While Bush drew an entire Frontline series on his faith and its role in his presidency — and plenty of outrage from liberal groups for his religious beliefs — he more often used “dog whistle” signals to let supporters know where he stood. There was a mention of “wonder-working power” in a State of the Union address, and a reference to a wounded traveler on the road to Jericho during his inaugural address.

But Perry is different. “Rick Perry is a more overt kind of person, in his politics and his religion,” said Response speaker Richard Land, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a longtime Bush associate.

He’s also more at home with the the new brand of evangelical Christianity than Bush ever was — in public, anyway. Raised Methodist in tiny Paint Creek, Texas, Perry used to attend the same Methodist church in Austin that Bush did when he was governor. But now he goes to a megachurch that, he told the Austin American Statesman, “dunks. Methodists sprinkle.” George W. Bush’s favorite hymn was “A Charge to Keep I Have” — lyrics 1762, music 1832. Right before Perry took the stage on Saturday, the crowd rocked out to “Hear Us From Heaven” — almost everyone was mouthing the words.

That single was first recorded in 2006.

The setting here said everything: More than 33,000 people packed into Reliant Stadium, a 71,000-seat arena that also hosts rock bands. Three huge TV screens showed the onstage action to the people who crowded into the stadium’s second level — after they had gathered to wait while organizers opened those stands so everyone could fit. About 6,700 people got chairs on the stadium floor — but spent most of the time standing, hands in the air, moving to the music and prayer coming from the stage. More than 1,000 crammed into an open space that organizers called “the mosh area” right down in front.

The crowd drew from a multitude of races and ages. People came from with their churches and with their families, at least from as far away as Michigan and Florida.

“We’ve only got one politician who’s willing to stand up for Christ, and that’s Rick Perry,” said Rich Bates, 60, who came from Nome, Texas, early enough to snag a front row seat for the event. Bates, a Republican, didn’t vote in the last election, but said he would have supported John McCain.

Bates found himself sitting next to Gerry Meek, of Holly Lake Ranch, who isn’t registered with a party — “I’m an independent, and a Christian first,” he said — but who wants Perry to run for president. “I wish God would send us a leader that we could trust,” he said. “I hope someone that’s not afraid to stick his Christian faith out.”

The Response also drew many conservative political activists, and several people wore shirts that read, “I love my country, it’s the government I am afraid of.”

John White, 64, leads the tea party in Rockwall, near Dallas, and attended the Response with his wife, who is active in the local chapter of Concerned Women for America. White says he views Perry as someone who can change the terms of the discussion — by rejecting politics. “‘Political’ suggests we’re looking for a Republican or Democratic solution,” he said, standing in the back of the stadium. “We need to bring in the Kingdom of God. It takes a lot of guts to do it, and Rick Perry is doing it.”

Land, the former Southern Baptist Convention president, insists that’s a trend that most are overlooking. “The country is getting more religious, not less religious, and the nature of that religion is conservative,” he said. “The talking heads and the pundits are way behind the curve — they need to spend more time out there in the real country, and they would understand. This is not exotic behavior for most Americans. And they consider it odd that anyone would consider it exotic.”

But if Perry does jump into the race and eventually square off against President Barack Obama, he’ll have to confront a different calculus as he tries to win over the independent and moderate voters he will need to win a general election.

The Response drew protests both from liberal groups — including human rights and gay rights groups — but also from other churches that labeled it as exclusionary. While all religions were welcome, Perry described it as a “Christian-centric” event.

Even his fellow Republican governors were wary: While Perry invited all of them to attend, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback was the only one to make a personal appearance. Florida Gov. Rick Scott taped a video message.

These reservations could haunt him in the long run, but not with the base of voters who he’ll be counting on if he gets into the White House race.

“Perry achieved his goal today,” said Rev. Barry Lynn, who the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “He drove almost every major religious right leader and group into his corral.”