Rick Santorum, fresh off his primary wins in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado, headed to the Lone Star State Wednesday to do a victory lap. Santorum dubbed Texas “the conservative epicenter of this country,” according to the Houston Chronicle’s Joe Holley, who spent the day in the Metroplex with Santorum. (You say that to all the states, don’t you Rick?)

Santorum kicked off the day at the  Bella Donna Chapel in McKinney, speaking to a group of around 100 clergymen. Tears welled up in his eyes as he discussed his deep-seated opposition to abortion, according to Theodore Kim and Gromer Jeffers, Jr. of the Dallas Morning News (subscription only). He also slammed same-sex marriage, spoke of the “intolerance of the left,” and positioned himself as an alternative to President Barack Obama.

You’re seeing voters respond. We need someone who is going to overwhelm them with the right message for America, with someone who presents the sharpest contrast with the president.

Santorum also took a moment to appeal to less religious voters by saying he was not running for “pastor in chief,” ABC News’s Shushannah Walshe pointed out. Santorum said:

It’s not because I want to be the pastor of the United States. I have no intention and no desire to be the pastor of this country. There are pastors all over here who, you know, you guys can do a little better than you’re doing right now, I’ll be honest with you.

After Santorum spoke, the pastors laid hands on him and prayed, the Fort-Worth Star Telegram‘s Anna Tinsley reported.

The former senator from Pennsylvania then carved out a five-hour chunk of time for fundraising before heading to a “faux-rustic barn called Fairview Farms” in Plano, Holley reported.

Want to relive Santorum’s day in photos? The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has an extensive slideshow of Santorum’s time on the trail in Texas.

(And it didn’t go unnoticed that Santorum came to Texas on the heels of Dan Savage, the advice columnist who coined the alternate meaning of Santorum’s name back in 2003 and spoke at the University of North Texas Tuesday.)