Diana Irey Vaughan initially wasn't sure she wanted to run for state treasurer. She canceled two different meetings to discuss the idea.

But when she easily collected the necessary 1,000 signatures, she took it as a sign from God to join the race.

Irey Vaughan spoke to the Lancaster County chapter of ACTION PA on Saturday morning about her efforts to unseat Democratic incumbent Robert M. McCord.

With the election three weeks away, Irey Vaughan, a Republican and five-term Washington County commissioner, stressed the importance of following God's lead and returning Christian values to government.

"[God] calls the ordinary, as I was and I am, to do his extraordinary work," she said. "We have to be a Christian army. We have to fight to return to a Christian nation."

ACTION (Americans for Christian Traditions in Our Nation) is a growing group with five chapters statewide. Candidates for local and national office also spoke to about 75 attendees of Saturday's breakfast meeting at Enck's Catering, Manheim.

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler), author of the controversial voter ID law, was originally scheduled to speak.

Metcalfe postponed his appearance, said Robert Kettering, the local chapter president. He is rescheduled to speak at ACTION's Jan. 12 breakfast meeting, Kettering added.

Saturday's slate of speakers urged the group to get involved in the election, calling it a turning point on fiscal policy, jobs, abortion and other issues.

"Do what you can," Kettering said. "The key to any Republican win in Pennsylvania is Lancaster County, and this area."

Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, said all but one of Lancaster County's General Assembly delegation is now pro-life, thanks in large part to grass-roots efforts like ACTION.

"If we want to save this country and the freedoms given to us, it's incumbent on us not only to get involved but to get others involved," he said. "People of a vastly different world view want to take this country in another direction."

Republican House candidates Mindy Fee (37th District) and Steven Mentzer (97th District) called for more personal responsibility and less government.

"If we could get back to our family values — of families, neighbors and churches helping each other — I think government would immediately get smaller," Fee said.

Kettering introduced U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who is up for re-election, as "the best congressman in all the world."

Pitts spoke on a range of topics, from mounting debt to likely vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We are on the edge of a cliff," he said. "We're going downhill fast in this country and this culture."

The two presidential candidates offer a clear choice, Pitts said. He added that Mitt Romney knows more about creating private-sector jobs than any presidential candidate Pitts has seen in his lifetime.

President Obama's health care plan, on the other hand, will bankrupt the country and result in "de facto rationing" of health services, Pitts said.

"Pennsylvania is in play," he said. "The polls are shifting. But we need all hands on deck. ... It's going to be tighter than a tick."

Irey Vaughan spoke passionately about her background as a fiscal watchdog, as well as her personal faith.

When she first became a county commissioner 17 years ago, Irey Vaughan was so overwhelmed, she often cried on her way to work.

She said she eventually turned to God in prayer.

"I really was missing something," she said. "I couldn't do it alone."

As commissioner, Irey Vaughan said she has successfully managed a pension plan and balanced seven consecutive budgets without a tax increase.

But she is also proud of instituting a prayer before commissioners' meetings and holding a rally for traditional marriage on the courthouse steps.

"I understand when I was placed in this position of authority, I am a steward accountable first to God," she said.

Even though McCord has more money, Irey Vaughan said her race is currently a dead heat. (Libertarian Patricia M. Fryman also is running.)

Ground work by ACTION and other volunteers — making calls, posting signs, wearing buttons — is crucial, she said.

"If God is leading you to do something, be obedient," she said. "You are the leaders in your community."

Irey Vaughan left the podium to a standing ovation.

mschweigert@lnpnews.com