Interview With Alex McFarland

RIF 3 | Christian Politics

RIF 3 | Christian Politics

 

Christians cannot afford to be passive spectators in the political arena. With our voices and our votes, we must stand up for biblical truth and defend our nation before it’s too late. In this episode, renowned Christian apologist and author, Alex McFarland, discusses the importance of getting Christians involved in politics. He delves into the history and current state of American politics. He explores the role that Christians can play in shaping the future of our nation. He delves into socialism’s ascent, the importance of biblically responsible political participation by young people, and pastors’ responsibility to urge their flocks to engage politically. Tune in and gain a fresh perspective on the intersection of faith and politics.

Listen to the podcast here


 

Interview With Alex McFarland

In this episode, I’m honored to be joined by Alex McFarland. Alex is a Christian apologist, author, evangelist, religion and culture analyst, and advocate for biblical truth. He has preached in over 2,200 churches throughout North America and numerous more internationally. He is the Leader of Alex McFarland Ministries and a noted youth culture and religion expert. He’s also the Creator of Viral Truth Clubs and has co-authored more than twenty books including The Assault on America: How to Defend Our Nation Before It’s Too Late! and co-author of 100 Bible Questions and Answers: Inspiring Truths, Historical Facts, Practical Insights.

RIF 3 | Christian Politics
The Assault on America: How to Defend Our Nation Before It’s Too Late

He directs biblical worldview and teaches in the School of Practical Government for Charis Bible College located in Woodland Park, Colorado. McFarlan co-hosts Exploring the Word on the American Family Radio Network, airing daily on nearly 200 radio stations across the United States. He’s also the host of The Alex McFarland Show, which airs weekly on NRV TV. Alex, thank you so much for being on the show.

Thank you, Terri. It’s a great honor. I appreciate all that you do for God and your country and it’s an honor to speak with you.

I’m going to jump right in. Approximately 64% of Americans identify as Christians and yet, according to a study conducted by the Christian Broadcasting Network in 2022, as many as 40 million failed to vote in presidential election cycles and 15 million Christians are not even registered to vote. Alex, what are your thoughts on this recent study?

My thoughts in light of statistics like that are one of grief because Christians not only have a call and a stewardship obligation to be self-enlightened in the culture. We have or at least we have had the numbers that had churches been engaged and Christians be informed and vote. As many say, “Vote Godly,” we’ve abdicated our role and our responsibility. We’re seeing what America looks like when the church has retreated from the public square.

That’s why I’m so excited about what God is doing through your life. You’re calling people to do what the Lord expects us to do, which is to be salt and light in our culture. For far too many American evangelicals, Christians, Protestants, Catholics, what have you. We’re not doing what we could and should do, which is to keep our nation on the path of righteousness.

Why do you think Christians are needed now more than ever in politics?

Christians are needed now more than ever in politics because of not only the specifics of a biblical worldview but because Christians have the basic moral code that our nation was built on and made our nation great, truth, a work ethic, not the attitude that the government owes me anything but life is a sacred gift and I am to get up every morning, go to work, and contribute something.

RIF 3 | Christian Politics
Christian Politics: Christians are needed now more than ever in politics. Christians not only hold a biblical worldview, but they also possess the fundamental moral code on which our nation was built and that made it great.

 

Generally, Christians are not lazy, except for senior pastors. They often are. By the way, I can talk smack on senior pastors a little bit. I’ve pastored two churches. I’ve spoken in 2,200 churches and I’ve debated literally hundreds of pastors that don’t speak about political issues but generally, Christians have a good work ethic and we are to be leaders. We have the raw materials of godly leadership but sadly, we stay sequestered within four walls of the church so very often that our voice and our influence that could make a wonderful difference is not heard.

According to a 2019 YouGov poll, 70% of Millennials said that they would vote for a socialist. Let’s talk about the rise of socialism in America. Why do you believe socialism is dangerous for America? Why should Christians in particular be concerned?

Terri, what a great conversation and the mere asking of the questions that you have, show your insights and I commend you. What we’re seeing, honestly, to adequately understand it, we have to understand some social trends and spiritual trends, frankly. Social and spiritual trends have been coalescing for a number of decades. We’ve seen since 1970, the breakdown of the family, no-fault divorce. California and New York were the first two states to implement this.

There are 4 to 5 generations into an America where the majority of kids have not grown up under the same roof with their mom and dad. To compensate for this, there were what we call participation trophies. I am a child of the 1970s. I remember this coming along by the late 1970s. I’m old enough to remember when the very first little league games, there was no winner and there was no loser.

You played 7 or 8 innings and everybody shook hands. The whole idea is that everybody gets a trophy merely for showing up. If nobody loses, that means nobody wins. I remember in the 1980s, there were cap and gown graduations from kindergarten. Kids are at the point now that, “You are special. You deserve accolades. Kudos for waking up in the morning.”

I was in Arkansas and a pastor of a pretty good, large church asked me to meet with his son who at seventeen believes he’s an atheist and smarter than everybody. He was raised in the church and doesn’t want to go to college and work. This teenager very angrily dripping with vitriol and sarcasm, looked at me. He said, “I will never trade my time for money.”

I said, “I believe that. I truly believe that you will not trade your time for money. I also truly believe that any employer who’s got a thimble full of discernment wouldn’t offer you a job for money.” Here’s the thing. We’ve got these millions of Millennials, Gen Z, and younger, but not all. There are some that are wonderful and have a vision for life and they want to accomplish something.

We’ve witnessed 120-hour undergrad programs be shaved down to 85 to 96 hours. 100-hour to 96-hour Master’s Degrees are now 30 hours and everything has been dumbed down and truncated. It’s responsibility-lite and we’re seeing part of our loss of God has translated into a loss of work ethic in the sense that I’m supposed to become something for my creator. It’s very sad. One of my favorite historians and sociologists, twice Pulitzer Nominated Rodney Stark down at Baylor said America was built on “the iron Protestant work ethic.” We’re losing that because we’ve lost the family and a lot of other things as well.

We’re living in the world of the participation trophy and I’m due an income. Whether it’s the insanity of reparations, $5 million reparations in San Francisco, and BLM activists say, “That’s not enough.” The government owes me $5 million because I exist. It’s insanity. If there’s anything more puzzling than why would America be at this point now, it’s puzzling why are there not tens of millions of voices shouting, “Enough, it stops here?” It’s crazy.

Alex, what can be done to inspire youth to become engaged with politics in a biblically responsible way?

The starting point is to help youth understand the reality of the Christian faith but also the wonderful, glorious reality, which we still have an opportunity to save and that’s the reality of the United States of America. Terri, it is a tragedy that so many youths and even adults have never grown up in an America that was at her best, an America that was praised and affirmed. We talk to youth in our viral truth clubs and in our conferences that we do, number one, about the Lord and having a relationship with the true and living God.

We talk about the fact that you do live in a country where you can be poor and in a few short years, you can be a business owner and be wealthy if you’re willing to work hard, live right, say your prayers, and not quit. Kids resonate with it. Even though kids have spent their entire lives steeped in this echo chamber of liberalism, they’re not stupid. They seem to intuitively know there’s a part of the story they’ve not been told. We tell them that part of the story. It’s about God and country and the opportunity that lies before them.

I know that you host The Viral Truth Campus Clubs, which is such an amazing thing. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and the conference that you do that brings youth and leaders together from all over the country once a year?

We start clubs and we provide kids with talking points. You would appreciate this, Terri. It’s like leadership development and I’m so excited for all that you’re doing. As you have time, I want to get you plugged into our conference tour and clubs but the Viral Truth Clubs are for middle school and high schoolers. I’ll put it this way. We’re trying to woke-proof America’s kids. We teach them about biblical worldview but we teach them about America and about what it means to be a citizen, the stuff that we used to learn in school and church but don’t anymore.

We empower young people to lead clubs. We say these Rs. They’re Real, Relevant, Respectful, and Relational. We say, “Your lives are influenced incrementally. You make friends, model truth, speak the truth, and show that we have reasons why we believe what we believe,” and little by little, a youth at a time, lives are being changed. One brick at a time, the foundations of our country are being restored.

That’s amazing. We’ve got the 2024 presidential elections coming up. When you look at the numbers of what we spent, which was over $16 billion on the election cycle in 2022, it was the most expensive cycle on record, and 2024 is expected to be even higher. We’ve created a new growth industry in this country and the cost of running for office keeps getting higher.

I’m curious, as Christians, we need to be more engaged, running for office, and participating in those processes, and even if we’re not called to run ourselves, we need to help those who are called. What are your thoughts about political spending and Christians getting more involved in not only running for office but also supporting those who are called to run?

Terri, what’s so interesting is you’ve got the people that seem most passionately invested in elections are the people that don’t believe in God, moral truth, the sacredness of life, and traditional family. You look at people like George Soros or Bill Gates or any of the liberal overlords that love to use their billions of dollars to influence this country, to build some utopia that they envision because everybody has a God.

Even the people that don’t believe in the true and living God, have a God, these utopian police state that they envisioned building. C.S. Lewis many decades ago said, “The worst despot is the person who’s enforcing their worldview for your own good.” It’s like the woke world wants us to be woke because we’ll get enlightened if we’re suddenly believing that toddlers need to sit under the tutelage of drag queens.

 

Even the people that don’t believe in the true and living God, they have a God.

 

We’ll someday see the socialist liberal light if we will be okay with gender mutilation for children and all these things. Here’s my point. For a lot of decades, some of the greatest corporations and the most prosperous people have been people of faith because they prayed, worked hard, engaged in deferred gratification, stayed out of debt, were willing to save their money, live within their means, and had the capital to build businesses and corporations that became quite prosperous.

I’ve met a lot of believers that have what I call the anointing for businesses and businesses anointing from God and the anointing of giving. Christians, hands down, are the most philanthropic group but it looks like the pie is shrinking and the reigns of great wealth, at least in many circles, seem to be going away from the hands of Christian conservatives and into the hands of liberals.

We get to the election cycles that you mentioned and we know that politicians can buy votes. We know that politicians that have the vision for this woke utopia get on ballots. Think about this, Terri. Chicago, months ago, was fortunate enough to extricate itself from a woke train wreck of a mayor, Lori Lightfoot. I was in the front lobby of O’Hare Airport months ago. It’s like a homeless encampment and there’s no point of order. Flyers have to get around the panhandlers in the lobby, people sleeping on the floor, and the stench of BO and human waste, and Lori Lightfoot would do nothing about it.

People like myself have a choice. We know we’re not going to fly through Chicago. What do they do? They get rid of Lori Lightfoot and they get a mayor who is at least as woke and they say probably more socialist than Lori Lightfoot. It is cultural suicide and then there’s the other matter in the 2024 presidential election, irrespective of who the candidates might be. Here’s the question that every freedom-loving American ought to ask, “How do we know we’re going to have honestly tabulated elections?”

We are in a place where the Christian patriot’s absence has created this opportunity for people of ill will to step into the position of leadership and encourage civic engagement. Whenever I say something like this, pastors email me, as I’m sure they probably will in the aftermath of this program. They’ll say, “Alex, we’re called to populate heaven, not earth. We’re to build the city of God, not the city of man. Government is some human tower of Babel and I don’t sully myself with the dirty business of politics.”

 

Today, the Christian patriot’s absence has created this opportunity for people of ill will to step into the position of leadership and encourage civic engagement.

 

Fair enough but how are we going to serve God when Christianity is illegal? How are we going to serve God when we’re not in a pulpit to influence people but we’re locked in some jail cell? I’ll say this. This is why Christians need to be involved. You can do evangelism anywhere. Chained to the wall of a cell, you can talk to your cellmate about Jesus but you can only do missions in a context of liberty, stability, and prosperity. Do you see what I’m saying?

Part of the reason that for two centuries America has been the great engine driving the great commission is that we had prosperity, liberty, and stability. Those things are being lost. Pacifist, unengaged pastor, you can witness to your cellmate in a Gulag concentration camp but you’re not going to do missions and you’re certainly not going to have your membership at the golf club, as so many now do. It’s time to get in the fight and save our nation, Terri.

You led into my next question for you, which is, as a pastor yourself, Alex, what would you say to pastors who have shied away from politics, who have basically almost discouraged Christians from being involved in the mountain of government in the past? Why do they need to change their thinking and how can they do that?

Many pastors have gone through schools, even religious schools, and denominational schools that are woke. They’ve never been taught the sacred calling of civic engagement. If you look at our nation’s history, the American Revolution happened because of the pastors in Colonial America. I’m sure you’ve probably heard of what they call the Black-Robed Regiment. They were pastors who motivated their congregants to be involved and the shot heard around the world at Lexington were men coming out of a sanctuary.

The Brits fired on congregants coming out of the church because the churches were the place where pastors were conscripting men to get into the Continental Army. The country was birthed to a large degree at the hands of activist clergy. A lot of pastors now have never heard this. They’ve never heard that civic engagement is a sacred calling and you, the pastor, lead by example. You’re engaged, you’re informed, and you vote.

Apprise your people of the issues. Let’s use our megaphones to try and save America while we still have an opportunity. Let’s forget that I only do the right thing if it’s safe. Jesus leaves his church here to be vocal and visible. Terri, I don’t want to ruffle any feathers. The time to play it safe and to quietly lurk back in the shadows as a believer and, “I’ll just live and die and go to heaven one day,” is not what Christians are called to do.

It’s an occupational hazard of being in the service of truth but we’re supposed to speak bold, life-changing truth. Some people are going to like it and some people aren’t. They’ll say, “If you raise your flag up, some are going to salute it. Others are going to throw rocks at it.” I want to meet my Lord, as 1 John 2:28 says, “Meet the Lord unashamed.” There are going to be a lot of pastors sheepishly embarrassed because they could have made a difference but they wouldn’t.

This is no time for the fuzzy Jesus bunny Christianity. We’re to be bold, be vocal, make a difference, and stir up the forces of darkness in anger. Satan doesn’t have to bother so many pastors because those pastors are not bothering the forces of darkness. I want to be an enemy of darkness and therefore, a champion of truth. There are a lot of people that are finally getting that vision as well.

The mountain of government is one that Christians have shied away from and yet the thing is, if we’re not the ones running for office, if we’re not the ones serving in government, somebody else will be. It may be someone that we don’t align with, that doesn’t share our values, that is not the person that we want in those types of positions. We have to get involved. This is the time. It’s more critical than ever in many ways with where we find ourselves in the country. Alex, as we wrap up here, what is one final thing that you’d like to say to our readers or thought that you’d like to leave with them?

There is hope but the window of opportunity is not unlimited. There is hope but we’ve got to get involved. The other thing and I hope you and I can maybe in another show converse about this. The thing that nobody is talking about, that everybody should talk about is natural law. When Jefferson wrote, “We owe these truths to be self-evident,” that’s natural law.

 

There is hope, but the window of opportunity is not unlimited. There is hope, but we need to get involved.

 

What I would say to the woke left is the greatest worldview or presupposition that would give freedom and true justice for the largest amount of people is natural law. There is a right and a wrong. Everybody knows it. You can be free to work and achieve anything you want to achieve but your entitlements and rights end where my natural law rights begin. It’s what C.S. Lewis talked about in his book, The Abolition of Man, that we all know right from wrong.

Anyway, I call it the most important topic nobody is talking about. Natural law implies natural rights, not artificial rights. We’ve got to help those running for office and understand that what our nation was built on is not rights, big spending, and the redistribution of wealth but the idea that there is a self-evident truth and there are these natural rights. Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not artificial rights.

RIF 3 | Christian Politics
Christian Politics: Natural law implies natural rights, not artificial rights. Our nation was not built on rights, big spending, and the redistribution of wealth but the idea that there is a self-evident truth and there are these natural rights. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not artificial rights.

 

Let me make it practical. We need people that will run for office who understand that the epistemic foundation of our country is natural law and the rights of free speech, rights of conscience, the rights of parents, property ownership, and the right to keep what you earn. We’ve turned into this incredibly dark, statist machine because we’ve deviated from the thing that held us in check for 245 years and that was natural law. Maybe we can talk about that in-depth on another program.

Alex, where can our readers find you if they want to learn more about what you’re doing?

God bless you. A couple of places. For one thing, our radio show is on AFR.net, American Family Radio. We’re live, Exploring the Word, 4:00 to 5:00 Eastern, Monday through Friday. It’s heard all around the world. We have a live five-night-a-week God and government show called Truth and Liberty. TruthAndLiberty.net is that great show. We have amazing guests. I need to get you on at some point, then Truth for a New Generation with Alex McFarland is heard on the American Family Radio Network, Salem Radio, and NRB Television. You can go to my own website, which is AlexMcFarland.com.

Thanks so much, Alex, for being on the Running into the Fire, and thanks to our readers for tuning in. I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Thank you. God bless you.

 

Important Links

 

About Alex McFarland

RIF 3 | Christian PoliticsAlex is a Christian apologist, author, evangelist, religion and culture analyst, and advocate for biblical truth. He has preached in over 2,200 churches throughout North America and numerous more internationally.

He is the leader of Alex McFarland Ministries (alexmcfarland.com), and a noted Youth, culture and religion expert. He is also the creator of Viral Truth Clubs, and has authored or co-authored more than 20 books, including “THE ASSAULT ON AMERICA: How to Defend our Nation Before It’s Too Late,” and co-author of “100 Bible Questions and Answers: Inspiring Truths, Historical Facts, Practical Insights”

He directs Biblical Worldview and teaches in the School of Practical Government for KARIS Bible College, located in Woodland Park, CO.McFarland currently co-hosts Exploring the Word on the American Family Radio Network, airing daily on nearly 200 radio stations across the U.S. He is also the host of the Alex McFarland Show, which airs weekly on NRB TV.

 

How Christians Can Actively Participate In Political Campaigns With Tenessa Audette

RIF 2 | Political Campaigns

RIF 2 | Political Campaigns

 

A lot of Christians refuse to support political campaigns. Most of them see politicians as less deserving of financial aid than charitable institutions. But supporting the right candidate may lead to huge changes that benefit everyone, including Christians themselves. Terri Hasdorff sits down with newly elected Redding City Council Member Tenessa Audette to discuss the importance of civics training in Christian communities. She explains why pastors should be more engaged in politics and how to understand the core values of the Constitution without being too political. Tenessa also touches on why Christians can pick the right political candidates to give financial support, emphasizing how such campaigns will never push through without the right donors.

Listen to the podcast here


 

How Christians Can Actively Participate In Political Campaigns With Tenessa Audette

We are joined by my good friend, Tenessa Audette. Tenessa is elected official. She won her race as the new Redding City Council Member. She is a political consultant and a certified RNC Campaign Manager, has worked with the RNC in many ways, and has also been a delegate for the California GOP. Tenessa, it is so wonderful to have you on the show. Thanks for being with us.

Thanks for having me.

You’re a rare individual. You not only have a background in being a political consultant and a campaign manager but you are now elected into office. Your race was successful. There are so many things that I know you’ve learned along the way. I’d love for you to share a little bit about what your insights are after coming off of this race and looking at it through the lens of somebody who’s not just a candidate but a political consultant.

It’s an interesting leap. There’s a lot of valuable insight and most importantly, confidence that you get when you’ve been on that side of things. Practically, a lot of times some of the candidates that I’ve had aren’t great on the campaign side, but they’re fantastic elected officials. I don’t require they be both, but it is a different skillset. A campaign is starting a business from scratch in an area you don’t have any experience. You tend to trust people you don’t know but that is in the industry. That has pitfalls. Sometimes, it works out great but it’s unique. It’s not always that people that have a background in government come to be elected. A lot of times, they stay staffed.

I am also staffed because I work for our state senator. I’m now on both sides of the elected and a staff. It’s a learning curve. I’m only new as an elected official. I don’t know everything, but I feel like I’m a lifelong learner when it comes to the political field and government. I love it. I’ll keep learning and growing. I’ve been running campaigns for many years. I’ve been in the church my whole life. My parents were evangelists so we grew up on a bus, traveling, and preaching the gospel. I have a church background. I did three years of school ministry at Bethel. I did one year of school ministry at H Rock down in Pasadena. I’m fully immersed in our Christian culture, but I’ve always had a passion and a desire for good governance. Our Constitution is amazing.

I have a degree in Political Science. I teach a class about the core values of the Constitution. I’m a little bit of a unicorn in having all these different aspects and I don’t think you need all of those things. It’s helpful in keeping me confident that what I don’t know, I’ll figure out, and that I belong in a space that typically is reserved for families that have a legacy in it. Whatever gets you into politics a lot of times is usually something that’s taken a long time to get there. I’m pretty fresh and new to this. I don’t have anybody in my family that’s run for office. There’s no connection to me other than God said, “Here’s an open door. Take it. Become all of these amazing things.” I can talk about a lot of things. We’ll go in whatever direction you want to go.

You are a Christian in politics and this show is about talking about the intersection of faith and politics. You inspired me and I talked about this a lot in the book. It’s the fact that you teach from The Five Thousand Year Leap and you do that class at your church. This is something that a lot of churches should think about adopting. What you are focusing on with that is civics training. This is something that is politically neutral. It’s not something that is going to violate any IRS codes or issues with any compliance. Could you talk a little bit about why you are doing that, what you’re seeing as far as the positive results from it, why you think other churches should be doing it, and anything else you want to add about what you’re doing with that?

RIF 2 | Political Campaigns
The Five Thousand Year Leap

I personally feel that understanding the Constitution and the core values of the Constitution is what will remedy the issues of the day. The issues we have with identity politics and all that stuff can be remedied with a constitutional viewpoint. I do think that The Five Thousand Year Leap is great because it doesn’t necessarily say, “Here’s what the First Amendment says and the Second Amendment.” It talks about the core values of the Constitution. What were the arguments being made? Where did this come from? What was the historical relevance and what had these people that are writing this document come from and what were they trying to avoid? There’s no issue that we’re facing now that hasn’t the ideas and concepts of it, whether it be freedom of speech or your right to consciousness.

All of those things were hashed out at the beginning, in the founding. That book’s a great way to approach the Constitution. That’s not scholarly. I’m not a historian. I’m not a professor. I don’t pretend to be, but I can understand the core values. I need to understand the core values of my faith. I need to understand my core values in parenting and in marriage. Why would we not want to understand the core values of the government that rules us? To me, the goal of the class was to make us informed so that we were making informed decisions. I have this rub when people say a Christian worldview or a worldview. I feel like when it comes to government, we need to have a constitutional view.

Of course I have a Christian worldview because my filter is the goodness of God. No argument on that. When it comes to the Constitution and government, that’s the ruling document. It’s important that we can get back to that. I don’t think we will have these issues with identity politics and religion. Christians got together and made a document not as Christians, but as leaders. They all had an element of faith in there. They knew how important that was intrinsically. They created a government that said you could be any religion you want. You were free to figure that out. That’s important. If we got back to that and understood that, it would be helpful.

People are coming into our environment in Redding and they are excited. They want to get into the world and do great things as most young people do. They need to be equipped and armed with good information that produces good results. It is never Jesus’ intent to come into the world, dominate it, and control it, much to the frustration of all of those around him. When it comes to politics, it’s the same thing. “Get him back and do this.” I don’t think that’s the spirit that we want, but I don’t know that we always recognize the political spirit. A lot of times, the political spirit attacks religion through politics. Anytime that you have somebody in politics that is demonizing others, you’re like, “You’re missing the boat.”

It’s hard. I’m not saying it’s easy, but I feel like that’s the tension that we’re in as believers and as people that want to lead either in business, in government, or in whatever field that we’re in. We have to work with this tension of this supernatural understanding that anything is possible. We work from victory, not for it. There’s a confidence there and then also that tension that we do have to have institutional knowledge and know what we’re talking about and pursue education. We have to pursue understanding at all times, wisdom, and all of those things.

It’s a balance, but the class is there to say, “We’re calling you to a higher level of thinking.” When it comes to government, it isn’t about us versus them. It is not about Democrats versus Republicans. You’re an American. There’s a founding document. It has an outline for you. If you can understand it and understand its values, you can argue from a place of this constitutional intelligence and not from some moral high ground.

 

If you can understand the Constitution and its values, you can argue from a place of constitutional intelligence instead of some moral high ground.

 

There’s so much fear in the church around being involved in politics and yet, civics training is teaching about good government. It’s explaining what we were founded on. It’s explaining what is the basis for all of the things that are driving a lot of the political affairs that people see happening. When you are able to understand that better, it helps with everything. It’s something that is a good area for churches to be engaging around. What do you feel we need to do to get more pastors engaged with politics?

I feel sometimes what happens by accident in churches is that we think our church should be doing everything and has to do everything well. I’m sure the pressure on the pastor is if they don’t necessarily understand or they’re not the experts on politics and government, then it’s difficult to take on something. Immediately, because of your position, you’re the authority on it. Now you’re the expert on it. I wouldn’t want to wade into areas that I wasn’t comfortable with. We’re doing a better job, in general, of educating churches about what’s legal and what they can do. If they push, what’s that option and what does that look like? It’s difficult to tell a pastor to jump into a rushing river. He doesn’t know how to get himself out or where it’s going.

A lot of times, just because you’re a pastor doesn’t mean that you vote or you understand those types of things. I don’t know that. I’m not sure that they always feel qualified. Those that have a choice of how they want to engage. Do they want to be activists? Do they want to be civic-minded? A lot of the churches are pastor-led. It’s just one person that’s leading that with support, but there’s one decision-maker. That’s tough. I don’t think that’s a light lift plus you have all these varying opinions. Is that the battle you want to fight every day?

I would approach the church and say, “Let’s make a plan. What do you always do? What do you never do? What do you sometimes do based on relationships? What do we always do? We always have voter registration. Making people like, “This is a value we have. We want you to vote.” That’s simple and then making it easy for them. Register them to vote. Have a voter guide. It doesn’t have to be a specific voter guide. It could be the voter guide that your county mails to you.

I can’t tell you how many times people are like, “I don’t know who’s on the ballot.” I’m like, “It mails to you. It’s a voter guide.” Several times, I have gone and read that in class as funny as I could do it. It’s a helpful resource. As the church engages, let’s make it practical before we make it something unique. We never bring somebody up, we never let them do this, or we never do that for people we don’t know or that are not members of the church. We do that sometimes if we know them well. You have to negotiate because if you have no plan, then you’re going to end up doing nothing. It’s good.

In the church, it seems many times you have people that would do more if they knew what to do. Part of what I love about this is it starts conversations. You shared with me that the class that you’ve been teaching has led to a lot more community involvement and political engagement because people realize, “This isn’t so scary and hard. This isn’t something that is so overwhelming that I can’t do it and I can make a difference.”

Maybe if you can talk a little bit about that piece and then also the reflections as a candidate, you were so grateful people did for you that maybe most people wouldn’t realize is so helpful. What are some practical tips that you can share with readers that from the perspective of a candidate would help them understand better how to support one?

As far as the class is concerned, we have a lot of international students. Half my class are not Americans every year. I have people from other countries that either already work in government or haven’t had a value for it because they haven’t found God in it. The perspective that we pull from the class helps them have a new appreciation for the influence and the power that they already possess but gives them the ability to understand how to use it.

The biggest testimonies have been from other people in other countries running for office or working on campaigns. I’ve had many people work on campaigns and most of them realize, “I didn’t think it was like that or I didn’t understand what it really is.” It’s a lot of services. We see the highest levels and we think it looks glamorous. If you’ve ever noticed, people age pretty quickly once they get into political office because it is a lot of need all the time.

Similar to any type of leadership, whether you’re a pastor or CEO or running a small or large business, the more people you’re responsible for, the more demand increases. Being able to tune into what is important, what matters, and not reacting to people is going to be important. In the class, I give space to a lot of leaders in the community that influence government, not just government leaders. Probably some of your readers are in fields already like business, medicine, or education.

RIF 2 | Political Campaigns
Political Campaigns: Whether you’re a pastor or a CEO, the demand increases the more people you are responsible for.

 

They’re in other places, but they have this draw to government and they’re trying to figure out, “Am I supposed to run? Am I supposed to help? What am I supposed to be doing here? Have I gotten it wrong? Is this something I need to do later in life?” In our community, there are many people, and I bring them into the class, that are not at all in government but influence government every day. Also, influence the shape of legislation, laws, and decisions that we make based on their expertise in their field.

For a lot of people that struggle with, “I don’t understand this poll I have towards governments,” God may be using your business sense to influence it, this legislation, or this candidate. We could talk ad nauseam about how difficult it is to get donors for campaigns. I had over 150 donors and maybe 10 were from my church. One was from the staff out of 500.

It’s not a condemnation. It’s not just a muscle that’s ever been used. It’s not like I can go talk in front of the church because I don’t normally do that. It’s obvious if you pull me up that you’re trying to influence me. We had three other people from our church that were running. It was like the position was taken. We’re not going to have anybody come up here, which I was fine with. It’s okay. Everybody is trying to navigate exactly what they want to do. For Christians, because we feel it’s dirty, the Lord has got to give us a strategy to partner with believers in this endeavor that feels safe to them and that they’re planting seeds and investing in what this is.

Let’s give them some good leaders that they can look up to or they can have access to. I have three things that I’ve gone after that I feel God has put on my life. Probably in a verse, it’s that, “The horse is prepared for battle but the victory belongs to the Lord.” It’s preparing people and getting them equipped. When you go into the office, if you don’t understand economic systems or you don’t understand the role of government and what they do, then you’ll probably make bad decisions based on who’s communicating those issues to you, which is a lot of other people, not yourself.

You don’t have enough time and then get into battle. Running campaigns, helping people with their campaigns, making good decisions, and having good vendors around them and good people that can help and knowing what to expect and what to get. The victory belongs to the Lord. Your job is not done once you get in.

That whole season of victory is not a moment where you win the campaign. It’s how you lead once you won. It doesn’t end there. The Lord has plans for that. It feels like we’re dependent up until we get there. We get there and we’re so overwhelmed with the needs, the requirements, and the issues that we disconnect from the things that got us there. It’s my passion once in office to help people stay connected to the source.

 

The job is not done once you win a political campaign. What matters is how you lead once you win.

 

Tenessa, I loved what you said about the need for donors. Having been a candidate myself, I understand how this is such a critical area that most believers don’t understand why this is so important. It takes money. When I wrote my book, I almost titled it Less Than 1% because that was the percentage of Americans who gave to political campaigns in the 2016 election cycle. If you’re an honest person who’s a candidate and you’re trying to run against people who are being backed by special interests and they have millions of dollars at their disposal, how are you going to even be competitive unless you have access to funding?

Yet, so many times, when you go to Christians and ask for donations, they will say, and I’ve heard this personally over and over, “I’m sorry. We don’t give to political causes. We only give to charitable things that are nonprofits.” When you have nowhere to go for that, it makes you ineffective as a candidate. Can you speak a little bit about the need for more Christians to give money to the right kinds of candidates?

You have to do your homework and know that you’re giving to the candidates that are going to do the right thing when they get in. Once you have vetted them out and you know they’re the right candidate, you have to get behind them. One of the most important ways to get behind them is through financial support. Also, I remember when you were running, you had talked to me a little bit about how little it costs to even run some radio ads. A lot of times, people think, “I need to write a huge check and I can’t afford that.” If you can talk a little bit about that.

It’s not a muscle we have in the church. If you look at our culture, we come to church on Sunday. We have worship. It’s emotional, mental, spiritual, and all these aspects. You have a sense that you belong there and that’s still in all of that. Somewhere you go every Sunday, people still struggle to tie it. People can only give what they have and they have to have a value for that. It’s in and of itself. On top of that, now you’re asking them to give to someone that they probably don’t know.

They’re going to “lead” but they don’t necessarily know them. If you can’t get up on a Sunday, like any traveling pastor, charity, or mission, they come up and tell the story. They give their bio. They tell them what they’re doing. They’re able to give a heart message of, “Here’s my intent, and here’s how you can hold me accountable. Here’s the work that we’re doing.” We don’t do that with a candidate.

It’s like a cold call, “I go to your church. Do you want to donate to me?” Even with friends, it’s them. It’s more. On that front, for our culture, it’s a big ask outside of the normal mechanisms by which we do that. When it comes to friends that are Christians in your own church, it’s sometimes hard because they think what they have isn’t enough. Is it enough front? I was telling people, “All I’m asking for is $100 so that your name counts.” That was pretty successful. I had some events that were $100 of fun banco. It’s the things that I normally do in my life groups when I started out.

What do you mean by, “Your name counts?” Does that mean it shows up on the report?

Yes, it shows up on the report. I want them to be counted.

In that way, people know that you have supported that candidate. That gives you an additional way to have support other than just financial.

I don’t think $100 is not a lot of money. I think it’s a lot of money. I’m more so appealing to, “I don’t just want your support. I want your endorsement. You aren’t in this world and you may think your endorsement isn’t as weighty, but it is, and it counts. This is a way that you can have a weighted endorsement for me. Have your name on my financial statement that says, ‘This is a supporter and they support me.’” That was my approach. I’d rather have thousands of hundred-dollar donors than the max donors. That would be easier but it is an invaluable amount of people you ask to support you because those are your voters.

As difficult as it is, and I know that it’s difficult if you said to me even after this campaign, you could have a thousand $100 voters that you went out to get and you earned by asking in events and all these things or you can have it all paid for by five people, which way would you do it? I 100% would do the thousand. Those people that you meet along the way, you’re going to need all those supporters. Those are all the people in your community. They will communicate with you. They will give you feedback. You desperately need to not be on an island when you get here.

As a Christian, you have bridged the gap between the political world and the faith community in a way that very few have. That’s something to point out to give believers hope because so often, people think, “What’s the point of you even running? If I’m honest or if I am a Christian, can I even win? What are my chances going to be of being successful in politics?” Tenessa, you are an example to point to of a success story that’s encouraging. Can you share a little bit with anybody that’s thinking about running for office, what should you be doing to prepare right now before you step into that arena?

Go talk to the people that are in that office. That’s intimidating because you may be running against them or whatever, but they don’t have to know that. You can get into some of that atmosphere. Let’s say it’s the city council. Go meet with the city council person. Go ask them some questions about what they’re doing. There are a lot of fundamental misunderstandings about what each of the offices does.

I had somebody come to me who wanted to run for state office but didn’t know you worked in the capitol. He didn’t understand that the job is there Monday through Thursday, and it was an honest mistake. For the life situation that he was in with the age of his children and all that stuff, that’s probably not going to work for their family. Had he known that, he probably wouldn’t have seriously considered that until a different stage or maybe would’ve considered a lower office, to begin with.

Do your homework first.

Go talk to their staff. Their staff knows a ton. We think we have to talk to the person, but the truth is that they don’t have a lot of time. If they don’t have access to them, everybody has district offices. There are offices for every elected official close by. Find out more. Don’t announce you’re running. Go talk to them about the office and get a little bit of a glimpse into what it is.

There are plenty of books. They are good friends with kingdom and politics and with your book, getting a real sobering idea of what it is will help. Running a campaign and running for office requires a ton of discipline. You have to set out a plan and then stick to it. No business survives by changing its business plan every time a different circumstance comes up. Go make your plan and then tell people. Let them give you some feedback about that.

You can even go to any elected official and say, “Who ran your campaign? Who were the people that were on it? Who helped you?” Go talk to them. If you can work on a campaign, that is invaluable because you’ll understand how much work it is and if you’re in that place where you can sacrifice that much. You can’t tell people that when you’re running, “This is a sacrifice.” They’re like, “This is a job and you’ve got to work for it.”

Starting small is important and learning as you go is like anything else. You get into it and once you’re out there, you start to realize, “I can do this.” You learn things and open other doors for you. It’s an important learning experience that you can’t discount. You have to start small sometimes and then grow into it. Where people get into trouble sometimes is if they leap in too fast.

Let’s be clear. The victory may not be that you win office. I don’t have a winning record on my campaigns. You don’t win every campaign. The victory is that you went through it. I would say sometimes more to learn from not winning your campaign than from winning. It is so valuable to understand and it puts you in such a position to understand, “Lord, what is the victory here? What is the role you want me to play?”

It’s a small number of people that are elected comparatively. I don’t want to be in that place unless I’m ready for it. When you run for something, people are like, “We have some other ideas for you. What about this office and that office?” You’re like, “Let me get into this one and see if I can get in. If I’m even good at it, then we can talk about that next step.” You don’t know if that’s what it is.

I don’t know how to explain to people other than maybe if you’ve started a business, you went bankrupt, you learned through that process, and then you start again. That’s usually where the magic happens. For a lot of people, even the most successful people, that’s the 3rd or 4th business that they’ve tried. It’s the same on a campaign. You may not get the office until the 3rd or 4th campaign, but when you get there, what you learned in that journey will be so much more valuable for when you get into that position.

Tenessa, in closing, wrapping up here, what would be the last thoughts that you’d love to convey to Christians that maybe don’t understand why they need to be active in politics? Why is it such a critical time in our country to be engaged in that?

If I had to sum up the crux of my faith in general, it would be that the Lord has revealed, shown, and given to me my power that I’m a powerful person. I work from victory, not for it. My faith empowers me. Wherever field you are in, that’s how you lead. How you should function is from a powerful place. On Earth, the government is the most powerful entity that there is, which means the responsibility is huge.

If we have identity-secure leaders in those positions, knowing that they already have power, whether they’re the majority or the minority in office, they are powerful people. They’re there to do something, to equip and to empower others. Embrace that and do that instead of doing it from fear. No matter if you are in your church and you want to be part of the government, you want to help your friend who’s running for office, whatever it is, there is no part of that lax.

There are no less people and positions. Every single thing combined coming together makes the whole. Everybody is needed. Everybody is powerful. It’s how you are going to use that power. How are you going to use the influence that you have? Whether that’s $20, making phone calls, or saying, “I want nothing to do with this. I have no grace for it, but I’m praying for you. If I hear anything or if I remember you, I’ll let you know that I remember you and I’m praying for you.” That is huge because, as we know, the things that are unseen are much bigger than the things seen.

Everybody has a part to play. The power shift is coming and it’s a mind shift. We have to believe that we’re powerful no matter what position we have, so we can stop reducing others and do the work that God has for us. That’s what I want them to know. You’re powerful. We are not defeated. We’re not on the ropes. If we have the majority in Congress, it does not mean, “It’s all solved and figured out.” We need powerful people. Whether you’re in government or thinking about getting in government, get that identity squared away. Know that you’re a powerful person. Do not operate out of fear. You’re dangerous operating out of fear. We want you to be dangerous in a good way, coming from a place of power.

When you realize that 67% of Americans identify as Christian, that’s the majority. Yet 41% roughly are not even registered to vote. We’ve got to change that and that’s hopefully what this show is going to be geared towards helping with. Thank you so much for reading. We’ll be having some other amazing speakers coming up soon. Tune in for our next episode. Thanks so much.

 

Important Links

RUNNING INTO THE FIRE – Why More Christians Need To Be Involved In Politics With Dr. Frank Wright

RIF 1 | Running Into The Fire

RIF 1 | Running Into The Fire

 

Many in the Christian community strongly feel that Christians shouldn’t be involved in politics. But isn’t that a failure to understand the first principle that God is sovereign over all of His creation? Don’t go anywhere as we discuss more of this! Welcome to Running Into the Fire, where Terri Hasdorff leads us to stand bravely at the crossroads of faith and politics. On this initial episode, Terri is joined by Dr. Frank Wright, Chairman of the National Religious Broadcasters. The discussion focuses on the launch of Terri’s new book, also called Running Into the Fire. Terri and Frank discuss why the book is relevant to today’s political climate, what Christians should know about politics, and what they can do to make a massive impact during the upcoming election. Tune in and understand why you need to make a prayerful decision to get involved now!

 

Listen to the podcast here


 

RUNNING INTO THE FIRE – Why More Christians Need To Be Involved In Politics With Dr. Frank Wright

You’re reading Running Into The Fire where we stand bravely at the crossroads of faith and politics. Join Terri Hasdorff as she discusses the role of Christians in politics. Tune in to listen to politicians, political experts, and faith leaders who reveal how to defeat crippling socialism and tyrannical rule in this country. Discover what it takes to build a better tomorrow with faith, love, and compassion as the foundation. Now your host, Terry.

Welcome to my all-new show, Running Into The Fire. You’re tuning into our first episode. Joining me on the show is my friend and colleague, Dr. Frank Wright. He is the Chairman of the board for the National Religious Broadcasters Association, and he was kind enough to write the forward for my new book titled Running Into The Fire. The book is being published by Charisma House. Frank, it was so fitting to have you here with us. Thank you so much for being with us.

RIF 1 | Running Into The Fire
Running Into the Fire: Why More Christians Need to be Involved in Politics

Terri, it’s great to be with you. It’s always exciting to be part of a new birth, and you’ve been in labor with this book for a long time. I think you are ready to deliver this thing and get it out, and it’s an exciting project. It’s an important book. It’s one that people not only will want to read. It’s interesting. It’s an easy and great read.

It’s an important book for people to read and think about the times that we are in, so let’s talk about it a little bit. This book is, in some ways, a summation of your thinking in your twenty-year career in politics. As a result of your own campaign and a lot of things that happened in and around and through that, you were inspired to write this book, but what was it that set your heart aflame and caused you to put all this to pen and paper?

I have been in politics since I was fresh out of high school and I ran for Congress in 2020. I didn’t win, but learned a lot, and then took over the Super PAC that had been set up to benefit my race. I thought that having been in politics most of my life, I knew about everything there was to know about that thing, but I have to say I got schooled myself on several aspects of things regarding some of the ins and outs of political fundraising. I felt like God put it in my heart to write this book because there are a lot of people who maybe don’t understand politics and don’t understand how a lot of these systems work. I felt like this was the time to help decode and demystify a lot of those things, especially people of faith.

There’s a cohort of people. Some of them are in the NRB. Some of them are my friends, people that I respect but who strongly feel that Christians shouldn’t be involved in politics. I feel like that’s a failure to understand first principles. God is sovereign over all of his creation. Everything on earth is part of his creation and he gave authority for Adam and Eve to have dominion over it and to bring all things into captivity for Christ, so to speak, but speak to that question, because there are a lot of Christians. If they wouldn’t say it that way, they think that politics is no arena for a person of faith. Have you ever heard that said before?

I have. When I was doing background research for this book, I asked a friend of mine who had run for Congress in District 1 in Alabama when I ran in District 2. I said, “Why do you believe Christians shy away from being involved in politics?” He said, “They are afraid of it. They think of it as being dirty and corrupt. What they need to be doing is thinking of it more like people who are in law enforcement or who are firefighters, because they are trained to overcome their natural fears, and instead of running away from the burning building, they run right into it.” I thought, “That’s exactly it.”

That’s the problem. We have become so fearful of something that influences so many parts of our individual daily lives that we have lost sight of the fact that we have been called to rule and reign and to seek the welfare of the city that we are in. The mountain of government is one that touches all the other mountains of influence, and that is the most critical one in a lot of ways with what happens in our daily lives. It’s an important time for Christians not to be afraid to get involved in that.

Not to mention that Romans 13 spells out God’s view of government, and it teaches us that governments are ordained by God. Throughout Scripture, we see people called to serve in government. We need to be prime ministers like Joseph or to be special cupbearers to the King that Nehemiah was. It wasn’t someone who brought the King’s cup to taste it and make sure it had no poison in it.

He’s in charge of the King’s entire household. There is example after example of people who made a dramatic difference. Not to mention Esther and her role, we speak of her without mentioning her name sometimes when we say, “For such a time as this, we need to do this or to do that.” It’s a book that speaks to our age as well.

This is not a book saying, “You’ve all got this wrong in your fear about politics and you should get involved.” This book is being released at a time when if people don’t get involved, there’s more at risk now than anything in our lifetime, maybe in the last 100 years of our nation’s livelihood. Speak about why you think this book is so important for the times in which we lived.

We have never been closer to the brink of socialism. It is frightening. When I was in high school, I was asked to go on an exchange program to the Soviet Union. I got to see firsthand what communism and socialism looked like. The oppression, the hopelessness of the people, the utter despair because they knew that there was nothing they could do to make a difference, to get involved a lot of times personally.

The fear that you saw in people there was so disturbing to me that when I flew back to John F. Kennedy Airport after three long weeks in a communist country, I got down on my hands and knees and kissed the ground. I was so grateful to be an American. That’s been the catalyst for what has encouraged me to be involved in politics since I was in college. I see how we take so for granted the freedoms that we have and the ability that we have to make a difference. We have one of the greatest countries, if not the greatest country in the world, because of that fact, and we have to fight to keep it.

 

We take for granted the freedoms that we have and the ability that we have to make a difference. And we have one of the greatest countries, if not the greatest country in the world, because of that fact. We have to fight to keep it.

 

The Declaration of Independence has three core principles that it spells out, and it was considered by the founders or birth certificates. When Lincoln at Gettysburg said, “Four score and seven years ago,” he wasn’t talking about 1789 and the signing of the adoption of the Constitution. He was talking about 1776 and the Declaration of Independence. It spells out that all men are created equal, that rights come from God, not from government, and that the only just governments are those that rule with the consent of the governed. Where do we stand in that regard?

We are in jeopardy of losing a lot of those things because socialism at its core is about replacing government and freedom with tyranny, and we can’t let that happen here. We have got to push right now to keep God first and to make sure that we protect and preserve the things that the Constitution lays out for us and to make sure that the rights that we have that do come from God are never taken from us.

You mentioned earlier that people perhaps are afraid of politics or afraid of getting in the rough and tumble. It’s not for sissies. We shouldn’t mislead anybody. A Hollywood actress from another era said that getting old is not for sissies. Politics is not for sissies either. In faith, we don’t do things with our own strength. We do them with the strength of the Lord. Any call that God makes on our lives, He empowers us to be able to fulfill that call. He doesn’t call us to do things we can’t do. You mentioned earlier that fear is one of the factors. What are some other misconceptions that people have about the nature of politics?

They feel like it’s hopeless and that they can’t make a difference, and I’m here to tell you that’s not true. They also feel a lot of times like they will be the only ones, and the great news is there are wonderful and amazing people like you who want to make a difference and who are trying to do it for the right reasons. They need more support.

Politics at its core is a numbers game, and many times, we don’t even play. If we are not involved, that void is going to be filled by somebody, and many times, it’s not the somebody that we want. If we want to see the right people elected, we not only have to vote for them and pray for them, but we have got to get behind them. You’ve got to vote with your time, your wallet, and your influence. They have got to have support, and that’s what’s been lacking.

Many times, Christians don’t even vote, let alone get involved to get in the weeds of backing a candidate. That’s one of the reasons why I wrote this book. It is to tell people, “Here’s how you can do that best. Here are the ways that you can truly be the most effective in making a difference, and this is why it’s so important.”

You’ve mentioned to me and to others that you’ve tried to write this book to bring a different perspective to bear on the whole question of political engagement. What do you mean by that?

We have got to shift the mindset that culture is so driven by so many things, and so that’s what influences politics. I’m here to say, “I believe it’s the reverse.” Politics is what influences culture, and that’s why we have to make sure that we are engaged in that arena in every way possible. We have the government that we put the time and energy into building. It’s like anything else in life. If you ignore it, it’s probably not going to turn out well.

You might be understating things in the environment that we are in, but I certainly do agree with that. What is the picture the mainstream media tries to portray about politics in general and about people who come from a faith perspective and a conservative perspective? Their ideas get equal treatment and immediate.

They do. A lot of times the good news is not being reported. There are things that are exciting and God is on the move. There are a lot of things that can give you a lot of hope if you know about them, but many times those things aren’t being reported on. We tend to get discouraged by watching the mainstream media and then people either tune it out and think, “I can’t watch this anymore,” or they give up hope.

It’s important to not let that happen. You’ve got to dig in for yourself. One of the things that I find very encouraging by doing research for this book is this. The United States has a little over 3,000 counties and we can find things so overwhelming, but when you start looking at it on a county-by-county level, that’s not so bad. I can’t maybe make a difference to change the whole world. I may not be able to change the whole country, but I sure can make a difference in my county.

If you start getting involved on a county level, there are so many decisions that are made that touch everybody’s lives in that county on a daily basis. That happens with the school board, the county commission, and all these different actors and players that many people don’t even know who they are or what they do. That’s where you can start to begin with.

The Founders and the Protestant Reformers even believe that government that’s closest to the people is the safest form of government because elected officials have to run into people at the supermarket and at the movie theater. Instead, these days, our elected officials are almost invisible in their home districts except before favorable crowds and so on.

It’s an excellent point that reminds me a little bit about Jesus’ command on the Mount of Olives before He ascended. He said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.” We all have our own Jerusalem, the immediate vicinity of where we live, we have our Judea and Samaria, the region around that, the state in which we live, but we have our uttermost parts of the earth. We are called to have an influence in all of those things, but our most powerful influence starts with local government.

People feeling like they can make a difference and seeing that firsthand is what does help you have hope and help you realize it’s not this big overwhelming, scary thing. A lot of times, you have to remember that people in politics are just people, too. The more you get to know them and you get to understand what the rules and the players are all about, you can figure out how you personally want to fit into that and make a difference.

 

Politicians are just people too. The more you get to know them and understand what the rules and the players are all about, you can figure out how you can personally fit into that and make a difference.

 

This is a tough question to ask because it requires you to reduce things, but is there one thing that sticks out as the most important thing that you’ve learned in many years in politics?

I see firsthand that we many times don’t put the right formula together. When I ran for Congress, what I realized was that a lot of people may feel called, but if they are not trained properly, they are not going to be as successful as they could be. Even if you are called and trained, you have to be properly supported. It’s all three legs of the stool that have to come together, and that’s something that we have been lacking.

Many times, someone may feel called to go climb Mount Everest or do something like that, but you don’t run right out the next day and do it. You have to be trained. It’s the same thing with politics. You can do more harm than good if you don’t know what you are doing because many times things are very complicated.

Issues that come up and many of the things that happen in the political arena are quite complex. With proper training and then with the right support from the Body of Christ as a whole, we can make a huge difference. It can seem overwhelming if you try to do it as one individual person, but we are the body and the body as a whole can be incredibly effective, we are not leveraging it enough.

You wrote this book because you want more Christians to consider running for elected office to recognize that that’s a legitimate calling before God. All of God’s calls require preparation. I like your focus on that. Too many people feel like, “God has called me to do this or do that.” They go out and don’t spend the time preparing.

They forget that David was anointed by Samuel to be the next King over Israel. Right after that anointing, he went back out to tend his sheep. David was still undergoing the preparation of God, which prepared him to be the greatest King of Israel. You want people to run for office and they can’t make up their minds to do that with this fall election of 2022. You think this next election is important, don’t you?

One of the most, if not the most critical election we have ever had in our lifetimes. As I said earlier, we are on the brink of socialism and we have got to lean in. We have got to push back against this agenda that could take our freedoms away, including our religious freedoms. For a lot of pastors who don’t want to get involved in that arena, you may not have the freedom to preach from your pulpit the way that you want to if we don’t get involved now and protect the freedoms that we have in this country.

The clock is too short for anybody to consider running now, but it’s not too short for them to get involved in some local election or even a national election. What three things can people do in the next 60 days to help with the outcome of this upcoming election that are so important?

First and foremost, pray. Second, you’ve got to get out and vote. A lot of people have even said to me, “I don’t know if I should vote because I’m worried that there might be election integrity issues. What’s the point?” I’m here to say that that is not the mindset that you should have. You’ve got to exercise your right to vote and get involved with supporting the candidates that you’ve done your homework on.

If you know that somebody is a good solid candidate, find out what they need help with, whether it’s financial help. If you can’t write the check yourself, you can help other people, and find other people that would be willing to give. Collectively, we can crowdsource a lot of things, and a lot of times campaigns come down to needing money.

Helping with your wallet is, first and foremost, with a lot of folks, but even more than that, it’s your influence. Even going in on social media or calling into radio shows where you know that candidate is speaking and making sure that you encourage others to support them and telling people why you are personally supporting them. Those things can make a huge difference to a candidate, especially when they are in a tight race.

You’ve written this book to encourage people to run, but now’s the time to read the book. Now’s the time to get a better grip on what’s at stake and become involved in the next election. If we go back to these three cornerstone principles from the declaration, the way the governed expressed their consent is in the ballot box. If you don’t, you are giving way to socialism. It looks more like fascism these days, but it certainly has socialistic roots, all the progressives. How can folks get a copy of your book, be encouraged, and hopefully be motivated to do more?

You can go to my website GodOverGovernment.com or you can go to Amazon, Books-A-Million, or Barnes & Noble, any of those, carry it. If you want to go to GodOverGovernment.com, there’s a button there that you can click to buy it right away.

Give us some hope here and put some chips on the table, too. What do you think’s going to happen in this election? Are the Republicans going to take back the house? That won’t mean, by the way, they will be a conservative majority in the house. If there’s a Republican majority, that’s not co-equivalent with the conservative majority, is it?

I’m hearing from some of my pollster friends that I trust in DC that we are not guaranteed to take back the Senate. The house looks solid right now, but for any election, anything can happen. You never know sometimes the last minute, what might come up, and so we can’t take anything for granted. Right now, we have got to make sure that we turn out as much as we possibly can. If you are someone who has the ability to influence others, which I believe everyone can do, you need to be doing it as much as you possibly can. Most importantly, vote but beyond that, encourage others to get involved as well.

Terri, congratulations on the book. It’s an important book. I’m glad you’ve written it and I hope it gets a wide audience. I hope it’s a stepping stone for some people to get off the dime and make a prayerful decision about what 2024 might look like in their life, or in some cases, as you’ve referred to with local government, there might be opportunities even between now and then. Thanks so much for inviting me to be on the show with you.

Thank you so much. You’ve been an amazing inspiration to me in so many ways, and I’m so grateful for you as a friend, colleague, and mentor. Thanks for being with us.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode, where we fight for truth and integrity in politics. Join us as we take a stand by subscribing to the show at GodOverGovernment.com. Don’t forget to leave a positive rating and share it with your friends.

 

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About Dr. Frank Wright

RIF 1 | Running Into The FireWith more than 25 years of experience working on Capitol Hill, Dr. Frank Wright serves as Chairman of the National Religious Broadcasters, the world’s largest association of Christian media communicators. His prior leadership service includes President & Chief Executive Officer of D. James Kennedy Ministries, President & Chief Operating Officer of the Salem Media Group, President & Chief Executive Officer of the National Religious Broadcasters, and founding Executive Director of the D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship.