Pastor Anthony George didn’t set out to be a defender of Herschel Walker.

But as the prominent Baptist minister welcomed Walker into his church this week for a scheduled prayer event with faith leaders, George found himself making the Christian case for supporting a candidate whose Senate campaign has been marred by personal scandal.

What matters most, he said, is what Walker is promising to do once he’s elected.

“I think that any Christian who engages in the political process — and especially someone who’s a pastor — you’re always going to be confronted with someone that is either less than ideal, or something that flat-out contradicts what you believe in,” George said in an interview.

Since revelations surfaced that the former football star and self-described “pro-life” Republican had allegedly paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion in 2009, evangelical Christian leaders in Georgia have banded together to support Walker, as has the Republican Party in general.

Walker’s 13-month campaign has been punctuated by blemishes on his record on traditional family values — including allegations of domestic abuse and fathering children out of wedlock. Those revelations continued late Wednesday with a report from The Daily Beast alleging that the woman whose abortion he paid for is also the mother of one of his children.

So far, Christian evangelical leaders have not flagged in their support, saying that he aligns with them on key policy matters. It’s a practice that has become common for Christian conservatives since the rise of Donald Trump — a political era that has inured religious voters to news of lewd behavior by Republicans.

At George’s 13,000-member First Baptist Church of Atlanta, Walker spent the day after the latest scandal broke with George and a crowd of Christians who affirmed they were behind him 100 percent.

“The dilemma is, do you wait for a candidate who is perfect?” George said on Wednesday. “Do you wait for a candidate who perfectly aligns with everything you not only want them to do when they’re elected, but all of your cultural and moral beliefs? Or do you take what’s given to you and make the choice between the options?”

Walker’s Democratic opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock, is himself a minister, pastor of the famed Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. But for George — who like other top Christian leaders, said he had initially had qualms about Trump in 2016 but came around after he earned the Republican nomination — the question of whether to support Walker or Warnock is simple.

The Atlanta-area pastor said he isn’t sure whether the most recent allegation is actually “a hit job,” but he does believe that Warnock’s support for abortion rights in the Senate matters more than Walker’s alleged personal conduct. POLITICO has not independently verified the reports.