via l.yimg.com

“He who knows the number of drops in the ocean, he counts the sands in the desert, he knows you by name. . . . He doesn’t require perfect people to execute his perfect plan,” Perry said before an estimated 13,000 students and faculty members who filled the basketball arena here for their thrice-weekly convocation.

Then, invoking Moses and David of Scripture, he added: “God uses broken people to reach a broken world. The mistakes of yesterday say nothing about the possibilities of tomorrow.”

Recent past presidents spoke comfortably about their faith, including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Bush shared a narrative of his religious conversion — that he went on a walk with the Rev. Billy Graham, joined a Bible study group and overcame his alcoholism.

“Rick Perry’s a more overt, less subtle guy than George W. Bush, and he is going to be more overt in his policy statements and his statements about his faith,” said Richard Land, a longtime leader of the Southern Baptist Convention who has spoken with Perry about his faith. “He talks about his faith in terms that evangelicals will find completely identifiable.”