Transcript

Alex McFarland hosts American Family Radio's Jenna Ellis in the Morning

 : Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.

 : I love talking about the things of God because of truth and the biblical worldview. The U.S. constitution obligates our government to preserve and protect. The rights that our founders recognize come from God our creator, not our government. I believe that scripture in the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raised up, each of you and God has allowed us to be brought here to this specific moment in time.

 : Now here's guest Host Alex. Alex McFarland.

Alex McFarland: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen for his inheritance. Psalm 33:12 with that great verse of God's word. We welcome you to this edition of Jenna Ellis in the Morning. I am Alex McFarland. Very honored to be sitting in for Jenna Ellis. We have a fantastic show and we're going to start right out with our, first special guest, David Barton in just a moment.

David Frum is attending an event on Israel with the Israeli Evangelical Alliance

But I've got to greet everybody. I just have to tell you where I am. For one thing, I'm staring at the Potomac river and that's pretty cool. But I am in the, famed, maybe infamous Watergate Hotel, I should say. I'm here in Washington for a two day event on the Israeli Evangelical Alliance. And last night was an amazing evening. We heard Eric Stackelback and just a number of speakers. We heard Judge, Roy Altman who's got a brand new book out called Israel on Trial. And what we're doing up here in Washington. And I feel very privileged to have been invited and I'll be helping lead a group session this morning. We're talking about why America and why Christians should support Israel. And one of the things that's a topic is something, something that I disagree with which is replacement theology. The church has not replaced Israel. The church is vitally important. So is Israel. But, please pray. You know, the Bible tells us in Psalm 122, verse 6 to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. But I've got to tell you, last night as I was listening to all these speakers and just sitting in a room with 550, Jewish leaders, rabbis, representatives from Israel and Christian leaders, I will tell you, God is working, really. the presence of the Lord was in that room. And I just want to say how I thank God that we currently have a president that does get it and supports Israel. And I've often said the most important thing any president could ever do for the American people is be a friend of the nation of Israel. So, as this week goes by, I'll give you more updates about what we see and experience here in Washington and very, exciting. But right now I want to get straight to it with our guest.

David Barton gets Samuel Adams Award for Truth from Truth and Liberty

my goodness, for more than 30 years, I have just so respected wall builders, the ministry of David Barton. And, he's a prolific author, just a very, very well traveled speaker. He was one of the readers at the Read through the Bible event in Washington two weeks ago. And I had the privilege, I was with him last, week. He got the Samuel Adams Award for Truth from Truth and Liberty. We were in Colorado for a gala banquet and David Barton was honored and rightly so, and very privileged to have him with us right now. So, David Barton, thanks for, joining us on American Family Radio this morning.

David Barton: Hey, Alex, good to be with you, brother. Appreciate all you do.

Alex McFarland: Well, I appreciate all you do and congratulations on the Samuel Adams Award last week and it was good to be with you there in Colorado.

David Barton: Yes, sir. It was good to connect there. And it's an honor to get that award from Truth and Liberty. They're a fantastic group doing great work in Colorado.

Alex McFarland: Indeed.

There are about 56 House seats that are within three and a half points

You know, one of the reasons that I wanted you on, you, mentioned last week you and I were in a board meeting and the conversation gravitated toward the midterm elections and just what some of the opportunities are around the nation in various precincts. And you gave a lot of wisdom about that. And I wanted you to reiterate for that for this audience, if you would.

David Barton: Yeah, it's, I think it's really key for those of us that think the nation is moving in the right direction under President Trump. It's really important that we continue that in the next two years that it not be a two year presidential term. And in order for that to happen, you need Congress still in the hands of Republicans where they can work with the President. And this has not been done in essentially 40 years that you have the party, the presidential party in power maintained, maintain its power during the off year election. So in order for that to happen, Republicans have to win the House and win the Senate. it's probably easier for them to win the Senate than it is to House. And just looking at things in a political sense, there's about 56 House seats, that are within three and a half points one way or the other, meaning that they're close enough that, either Democrat or Republican could win. Probably about 17 of those seats are absolutely key to the election. But we're looking at 56 seats that, that we're putting time, effort and attention into. And those 56 seats are important that we can, if possible, pick up seats in certain locations, but maintain Republican seats and other, and I say pick up seats, meaning picking up seats from Democrats and maintaining Republican seats and others. And that's all about voter turnout. And generally voter turnout drops substantially, in the off year elections. You usually go from about 54% of Richard voters that vote in a presidential election to only about 38% of Richard voters that vote in, an off year elections. So looking at eight Senate seats and looking at 56 House seats, and that's what we think it's going to take attention on, and those seats in order to, to give President Trump a Congress that he can continue to do something within the next two years.

Alex McFarland: Do you, see?

David Barton: There are some favorable things happening that will help voter turnout

Well, let me ask you this first. David Barton, our guest here, what are the seats, that you're most concerned about?

David Barton: That's a hard one to say, Alex, because they move up and down in certain ways. And there's a lot of political variables that go with that. For example, I'm going to be very blunt. I don't think most state, political parties on the Republican side are doing much at all in the sense that what they would have done five years or eight years or 10 years ago, they're just pretty much, AWOL. And so that means, all right, who's going to get the vote out, who's going to turn out the vote? And what we're seeing right now, I think there's some, some very favorable things happening that will help voter turnout because if Republicans are going to win, they have to turn out Republican voters, at a higher rate, at a higher number, that then Democrat forces will turn out their voters. And as you look at some states, there are key ballot initiatives. For example, I think there's several blue states that will actually pass some red ballot initiatives this election. And I think that that will draw red voters to the polls in a way that state parties used to organize and do that. But Colorado, for example, Colorado, there's not much indication the state party there is very strong, very powerful, doing very much is very organized. But there are three ballot initiatives in Colorado, things like men and women's sports and, and transgender mutilation, surgeries, etc. That are going to draw a lot of red voters to the polls because they feel strong about those issues. President Trump here a few weeks back was talking about how that he had initially thought that men and women's sports was an 8020 issue, and he said he's now convinced it's a 9010 issue. So that's the kind of issue that will draw some people out. And if they come out, they're more likely to vote for men, for congressional seats. The same in Nevada, the same in Maine. those are typically blue states. And yet the, since the parties there are not doing much to organize and really turn out their people, I think those ballot initiatives will. So I think the numbers are still out on which are going to be the important seats, because there's still a lot of states that are working on ballot initiatives right now. NewSong York just got a crazy one on the ballot. It's probably not going to turn out red voters, but I, and I think it will turn out blue voters. So those are the kind of things at this point we're still looking at. And we really don't have a good feel yet for, where all the battlegrounds are going to be. But we do know that Christians and pastors in those areas are going to be key when it comes to that, that Christians and pastors are going to have to say, hey, Christians, you got to show up at the polls and vote. This is a really critical election. And they'll in some ways have to play the role of get out the vote GeoTV, the state parties have traditionally played.

How does the war in Iran play into the midterms

Alex McFarland: let me ask you this. And of course, this is, I guess the big question. the war in Iran, how is that going to play into the midterms? Yesterday some articles were saying that, Trump's approval rating is at historic lows. And I've come to sort of take those sort of, analyses with a grain of salt. But, you know, just conventional wisdom is it needs to wrap up sooner rather than later, and it needs to play out well rather than poor. and there's even breaking news about, what's going on now. But let's talk about that a little bit.

David Barton: The effect of the war on the midterms is unclear

Has this because this war was necessary. Mark Levine on Life Liberty in Levine two weeks ago, he said this was not so much a war as a peace mission, and that, a number of reports, talked about their nuclear capabilities and it was a necessary thing. And I think when the dust settles, I mean, the world is going to be a safer place because of this difficult, courageous, but very necessary action taken by the President. But, the effect of the war on the midterms. David, Barton, what say you?

David Barton: Well, Alex, this is a place where I'm going to disagree with you slightly on something.

Alex McFarland: Okay.

David Barton: I don't think that the historic low polling should be taken with a grain of salt. I think it should be taken with a truckload of salt. I do not trust that. And I think that's pretty much propaganda. and that's designed to do a couple of things. It's designed to get Trump voters to stay home. Now we're going what I think and kind of looking at what, what that is, and that's called voter suppression type of stuff. I think there's a, there's a real possibility of voter suppression on the other side, on the Democrat side, because of the fact that there are so many Americans that will support so many of these ballot initiatives that are out there that Democrats aren't going to show up to vote to keep men and women's sports. They're just not going to do it. And, and so the effect will likely be that there'll be some Democrat folks who stay home because they just don't like the direction Democrat Party's headed. Now, the national leadership is really, really clear. They have driven out most, even in the states, of those that have reasonable beliefs in that, in things that are 80, 20 in the nation, Democrats are 20, 80 on most moral issues. And so as a result, you'll probably see Democrats that still remain in the party, and there are many that still have some basic common sense and moral issues, and they're just not going to feel like they need to go out and support and be part of voting against initiatives like that. So, even though they say that it's historic lows, I don't trust that. I don't believe that that's been disproven too many times. I was talking to speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and there are still several things. it's way too early to know how people are going to vote because of the war. one of the big issues is the economic side of higher gas prices. And if those gas prices start coming down, if they're coming down in a couple of months, you're going to see numbers change dramatically, at this point. And I think you're exactly right. This is a peace mission. This is not a war mission. This is something that everybody else in the world wishes to happen 20 years ago, and this is something now that they're, they're enjoying. Except progressives. It's amazing even across Europe, how crazy the progressives are in some of those nations. you know, and now that Trump is starting to Pull military, forces out of the NATO nations and threatening to exit NATO. All of a sudden, they're, they're, they're starting to become more conservative again. America has been just really the welfare, situation for so many of those European nations for so long. We've guaranteed their security. They haven't been spending much on defense. We have been for them. And so I think there's a lot of global realignment that's happening right now around Trump as well. And as a result, things could be really different in four to six weeks. Gas, prices could be completely different. Four to six weeks. Cost of living, people are getting more back in income tax returns this year, etc. All that's going to have an effect on that. And so, and talking to Speaker Johnson, who has a, definite interest in how these elections turn out, because whether he's speaker or not, and I don't say he has a personal interest in that he's such a Christian godly guy that his interest really is more about an agenda, that we think is healthy for America rather than whether he's personally speaker or not. That's not the way Mike is. But I think he rightly points out that there are so many variables that polling will completely flip on in the next two or three months, depending on what happens with them. So I think it's very undecided. And I think it's really more of that kind of earned media propaganda, for the press to be out there saying these are historic polling lows for Trump.

Alex McFarland: We've got to take a quick break. David Barton. David, your website, quickly, before this break, wallbuilders.com. stay tuned, folks. More on Jenna Ellis in the morning. We're with our very special guest, David Barton. Don't go away. We're back after this.

Alex McFarland: American Family Radio broadcasts five days a week

 : welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.

Alex McFarland: Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here. Very honored to be sitting in all week for Jenna Ellis. if you recommend Recognize My Voice, it might be because of a show called Exploring the Word, which we do. Bert Harper and I have been privileged to do Exploring the word for 15 plus years. And we'll be on. We're teaching through the Book of Numbers right now. And we're on every day, 3 to 4 Central Time, 4 to 5 Eastern Time, and in the time zone of your choice. So, to get a dose of God's word and we take Bible questions, tune in to the American Family Radio Network as we are live five days a week. But have the great privilege of sitting in for different, hosts as well. And, this morning and this week, Jenna Ellis's program, our very special guest, David Barton.

Wall Builders helps restore moral, religious and constitutional foundations across America

David, first of all, thank you for your time and thank you for what you do with Wall Builders. Before we resume some, political commentary for those that may be unaware, tell us about wall builders and all that you and Tim and your staff do.

David Barton: Wall Builders is modeled after the book of Nehemiah. when Nehemiah looked at his nation, said, hey, the walls been torn down and we need to rebuild this. So, allegorically, figuratively, we look at America and say, hey, we've had a lot of walls torn down. We need to rebuild this. So we encourage, people to engage in rebuilding their, their moral, constitutional, and religious walls around America. And so that's biblical engagement, biblical thinking, biblical involvement, biblical worldview. Just like you do. We think that's key to rebuilding the nation. And so we do that through a lot of ways. Some is through educational, historical knowledge. Therefore, we have two of the largest, museums in the United States. We have about 160,000 items, from American history, showing America's God's hand in American history. we do a lot of work, also educationally in schools. We do a lot of work with political leaders. We have a network about a thousand state legislators, and we work with bills across the nation, that help restore moral, religious and constitutional foundations. So very diverse what we do. We also have a large pastors network, encouraging pastors to engage in the civic arena. So a lot of things that we do, Alex, thanks for asking.

Alex McFarland: Yes. And, in Texas, are your archives open to the public for public viewing?

David Barton: Yes, they are. We have archives open, tourists going through, just regularly, very loaded. It's. It's considered the largest private collection, in America outside things like Smithsonian, etc. So you come there, you'll see the largest collection of Pilgrim, items of any museum in America. so we have everything from Columbus stuff all the way through Bible, the landing on the moon with Apollo 14. I know there's a lot of people skeptical about whether we ever went to the moon, but we did. And we've got the Bible from Apollo 14. so just everything in between. Hollywood stuff. We're the only museum in America right now that has actively displayed a, document from every one of the 56 signers of the declaration as part of our 250 celebration. So you can see who those guys are, know what they did. it's amazing that group, 29 of them graduated from what we call seminaries or Bible Schools. 29 of the 56 signers, just a lot of people don't know a lot of stuff about a lot of American history that we love bringing out and showing them.

Alex McFarland: What would you say is maybe the one or two crown jewels of your collection?

David Barton: I would say that we have so many cool items from the Founding Fathers. And by the way, at our museum we actually do allow people to handle many things. but we have for example, George Washington's eyeglasses and several George Washington items that are directly from him and other founding Fathers. So big name Founding Fathers. but we also have, for example, when kids come in, we let them handle, muskets from the American Revolution. They're so much bigger and heavier than any guns we use today. It's really hard to imagine the guys who were from 54 to 58 as soldiers had those massive muskets and used those. So we're unique in that we have a number of personal items from Founding Fathers. We have a number of other items that we do let people handle and touch and get a feel for and just kind of imagine would have been like to live in the days, whatever they were, pilgrim days or Wild west days or anything else. We have items from all of those that we do let people engage with.

What was the first um, item you ever acquired that was really of historical significance

Alex McFarland: What was the first item you ever acquired that was really of historical significance?

David Barton: I, I, this is a little bit of a personal testimony. because I was a guy who grew up, hated history. I was a math and science guy, college on a math and science scholarship. I stayed as far away from history as I could because I had a six. Now Alec, I'm sitting here with a lot of white hair, so I'm, I'm a much older generation than many listeners are. And going all the way back in my sixth grade days. This is way back when we're in the 60s. In sixth grade, my sixth grade history teacher told me that George Washington had 26 illegitimate children, giving new meaning to the phrase Washington slept here. And so I was raised that man. If that's the Founding Fathers, I don't like the Founding Fathers. And I had that view of history until I found, ah, an original document from George Washington, his 1796 farewell address. I held it in my hands, I read it. And he talked about how that America could not survive if it was immoral, that religion and morality were the key foundations of America. Everything I taught about him was, was taught about him was wrong. And suddenly When I got that document, it just triggered me. Well, what else was I not taught correctly? Because I didn't know that my teachers would lie to me or tell me things that were wrong. And that's where we started collecting history and finding out how wrong textbooks have been since the 60s and how different our history is from what we've actually been taught.

David Frum: The Democrat Party has become increasingly radical in recent elections

Alex McFarland: you know, in the first segment you mentioned about how the, 80, 20, side of elections. And it does seem like in the last, well, I'm going to say 40 years, how the Democrat Party has just gone increasingly, increasingly radical. David, I got to tell you, I'm very blessed that, I was raised by 2m. Both my mother and dad were Christian. They're in heaven now. They were believers. But my mother, in the 50s, before she got married, she was president of the North Carolina Young Republicans. And, my grandfather, Elisha James Strawn, was a delegate that made Eisenhower the nominee. I think that was like in 56. So, to say that I was raised in a red household is an understatement. and sometimes I got to tell you some stories about that. And they, My parents worked on the Goldwater campaign. I think that was 64. So they were really deeply entrenched Republicans. And so I kind of grew up hearing it endlessly. Endlessly. and you know, seriously, my mother grew up in Chatham County, Seiler City, not far from, Raleigh. And she would tell me the stories about how she and her dad were poll watchers. And in a county with, I don't know, let's say several hundred registered Democrats, there would be like over 1,000 Democrat votes. There would routinely be more Democrat votes than there even were voters. Ah, seriously, not exaggerating there, but, at any rate, the way the Democrat Party, many of us have observed, very concerned how radical they've gotten, they're banking on young people that they hope will have a worldview equally radical. You know, I've talked with hundreds of people around the nation of old, long, what I would call maybe FDR Democrats that feel completely left behind. Speak, if you would, David, to the worldview of young people. And I've got what I think and I hope is good news about this. But is it a fair assumption that the upper echelon Democrat leaders are counting on America's youth and upcoming younger generations to be secular, socialist, relativist, hedonist? They're counting on the worldview of, of upcoming voters to be very, ungodly and anti American? Aren't they?

David Barton: Yeah, they count on that. And over the last four to five elections, they've counted on the youth vote. I mean, you go back to Clinton, that was the big thing. They were going to turn at the youth vote. And they've underperformed in that in many ways. But in the last two elections, it has changed dramatically. but there's also a counter move going with that now. Interesting that right now, and this goes to biblical worldview. But right now, the largest demographic in churches across America is no longer white hairs. It is now the Gen Z, kids. And so there are more kids going to church now than there are older people going to church. And that hasn't happened in the 20th century. So there is a shifting demographic where the young people are becoming more, churchy. Now, that doesn't mean they're more biblical, not by a long shot. but what we do find is right now, young males are much more biblical than young females are. And young males, and that's a problem for Democrats because they rely on that youth vote. And at this point in time, we're seeing that young males have much more of a biblical worldview. And they're not gender confused. And they know there's only two genders, not 81, like professors. The website Helpful Professors lists 81 genders in America, which you got to be crazy, to believe that if you doubt that, just come to my ranch, I'll put you behind my cattle herd, and you can tell me how many genders you see. And there's only going to be two. And that's because every mammal species only has two. So the, the education system is really pro Democratic, and the craziness is out there. So I think the Democrats are going to have some difficulty, but on the other side with the youth vote. But on the other side, only 10% of churches talk about voting. And so while we're having this youth kind of movement, among young men that is very conservative, that is very much more biblical than among young ladies, churches aren't doing anything to make sure those people get out and vote. Which even going back to what we started with those 56, those 56 congressional districts we're looking at, we're going to be spending time in each of those 56 districts rallying pastors to say, guys, this is a civic responsibility. Proverbs 14:34 says, Righteousness exalts a nation. How do you get righteousness in a nation? Proverbs 29:2. When the righteous rule, how do the righteous rule In America, they have to be elected. And if you don't tell people that there's an election and that people need to show up and vote for righteous people, you can't have joy in the nation. I mean, it's just biblical. That's simple stuff. That's not political stuff. That's biblical stuff. And so we're hoping that pastors will start stepping up. But in the last several elections, this is something we do polling on. We measure from election to election. the voice of the church has been extremely silent. And if the voice of the church will wake up with what's going now with young people, it could be a real surprise for Democrats losing, a demographic they consider to be a very low demographic for their vote.

Alex McFarland: Yeah. Yeah. And I can tell you that folks, be encouraged. Young people care about truth. Young people are open to being taught God's word and good apologetics, good biblical worldview and good American history.

David Barton calls on pastors to speak about moral, social, and political issues

I want to call on my fellow pastors and leaders out there to speak about moral, social, and political issues from the pulpit. You know, many studies talk, about the fact that the parishioners, and especially young people, they want their clergy to be on record and speak about what thus saith the Lord, David, for the pastors or maybe Sunday school teachers or youth leaders that they're willing to begin to address citizenship and voting and things like that. They've never really done it before. Do you have any talking points or suggestions on how to become competent about preaching and teaching on political issues?

David Barton: Yeah, I would say the first thing you do is get competent and confident in preaching on biblical issues. And I say that not facetiously, but I say that because we do a lot of polling. George Barna. We do a lot of work with George, and we did polling. There's, 384,000 pastors in America. And in that group, we went at them to see first where they are biblically. And George asked questions like, does the Bible contain, inerrant truth? did Jesus live a sinless life? Can you earn your way to heaven? Really simple Bible questions that shouldn't. And what we found was that 72% of pastors disagreed with basic theological Bible questions. So that left us 28% of pastors, which is 107,000. We call them theologically conservative. They agree that the Bible is right in all of its teachings. It's accurate that you can't get to heaven without Jesus. So then we asked them, okay, do you think the Bible addresses all issues of life and gave them 14 issues. Does the Bible address immigration? Does it address sexuality, does it address parenting, etc. Etc. And between, depending on the issue, between 91 and 97% of pastors said, yes, the Bible does address those issues. We said, great, have you spoken about those issues? And 90% of conservative pastors say, no, no, no, those are political issues. We don't cover those in the pulpit. But wait, wait, you just said they're biblical issues and you won't cover them because they're in the news. And so what we found is only 2.8% of pastors actually cover items that are in the news because they think if it's in the news, it's therefore political. And we don't talk about it in church. one of the big things we see historically is if you look at the eight major revivals that America has had starting in the 1870s, we changed the Great Commission where Jesus said, go and make disciples. Teach them everything I've taught you and to go and make converts and get them saved. And there's a difference between discipleship and conversion. And this really becomes apparent when you get into things like elections. But I'll just take one. Jesus in Matthew 18, 1:15 talked about three things very blatantly to that crowd. He says, there is, here's the definition of marriage. There's only two genders. And then he said, no fault divorce is absolutely wrong. And when he said no fault divorce is wrong, the disciples and others said, wait a minute. Moses said we could have no. And Jesus went into why? No fault divorce is wrong. Okay? That's a teaching of Jesus. I have not heard a sermon on no fault divorce in my entire life. Jesus said, everything I teach you, you should be teaching others. Pastors should be hitting no fault divorce because Jesus hit no fault divorce. But they somehow we've got this thing. Well, that's, that's political stuff. That's civic stuff. I don't do. No, that's Bible stuff. And that's the biggest problem we have in America right Now is only 2.8% of pastors are, willing to tell people about elections and issues in the elections, things they're going to vote, ballot initiatives, etc. And that's what has to change. And that's why we're really focused on pastors saying, hey, these are biblical issues. These aren't political Democrat, Republican issues. These are biblical issues. You have a responsibility to address that and get your voters out and engage on these things. And that's, that's what can save America. Is if the church becomes salt and light in that arena, not just in the four walls of the church.

Alex McFarland: Amen. Amen. The voice you're hearing is David Barton. David, we got to pull away for a break here. Hey, thanks for being with us today. But even more importantly, thank you for what you're doing for the nation.

David Barton: Our pleasure, Alec. Appreciate you and all you do, brother.

Alex McFarland: God bless you, folks. Stay tuned. When we come back, Pastor Bert Harper of Exploring the Word. This is the American Family radio network. Alex McFarland here saying God bless America. Stay tuned, folks.

Alex McFarland: Reverend Bert Harper will speak at AFA Activate Summit

 : Welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.

Alex McFarland: Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here. Well, this is a rare treat. This is a great honor. the man that you're going to hear from in just a moment, we've got a lot of lot to talk about. He is one of the keynote speakers at the AFA Activate Summit coming up in July that, you will not want to miss. We'll talk about that. But I have had the great privilege for more than 15 years, five days a week, with rare exception, to sit across the microphone from Reverend Pastor Bert Harper. We've written three books together, we've done 3,000 radio shows together and counting, and he has just come to be one of my favorite people. Just one of the greatest blessings of my life.

Bert Harper talks about exploring the Word on the Jenna Ellis Show

Bert Harper, welcome to Jenna Ellis in the Morning.

Bert Harper: Well, it is morning. It's usually in the afternoon, but I am up and at it. And hey, you're in the Eastern time zone. So listen, it's later there than it is here in Tupelo. But anyway, it's good to be with you, Alex, on the Jenna Ellis Show.

Alex McFarland: well, exactly. Thanks for making time and just thanks for all these years we have. People have asked me so much how you and I prepare, and, we really don't prepare because we've spent our whole life preparing. And, you know, we agree about 99.99% of everything. But, Bert, thanks for being with us. And, isn't exploring the Word a blessing?

Bert Harper: Oh, listen, it's been the joy of my life. I was at a church as senior pastor 28 years, preaching through the Bible, purposely preaching from every book. And so when I came on board at AFR with exploring the Word, it was just a joy to be able to do that and share, and you and I dig in. And then we come to the show and, every once in a while we'll say, we need to hit this, we need to go over this. But Most of the time I call it planned spontaneity, Alex. And we do have a plan, but we can turn because call because of an issue or hopefully because the Holy Spirit's leading us. That's our desire.

Alex McFarland: Amen. Well, you know, it's very gratifying to me and Bert. I give God all the glory. But as I travel, like literally every weekend of the year, people come up to me all across America and they'll now, you know, people that are, say, in their late 20s, early 30s, and they'll say, Mr. M. McFarland, I grew up in the backseat of my parents car listening to you and Bert. You know, I was 14 years old and mom and dad always had Exploring the Word on the radio. And now I'm married and have kids and, you know, God's allowed us to be doing this long enough. I mean, there literally, there is, there are a lot of young adults that have been hearing exploring the Word since they were, you know, children.

Bert Harper: It is amazing. And I've observed that. And it's a joy to be able to, I mean, you know, take the word of God and through radio, we're able to go places that we would not be able to go otherwise. prisons, different places, facilities that are addicted, they're treating addiction, and they're using exploring the Word as a time to encourage them. So, it's missional. Alex, it's missional. Tim Wildmon wanted this program exploring the Word in the afternoon, but also this time, you know that Jenna is doing this, she's got a biblical base. The interview she does is so timely. And so it's a great lineup on afr, but it's also a great lineup at Activate as well.

Alex McFarland: Yes.

Bert Harper: How do you like that segue? Was that great segue? Okay? I was working at it, man.

Alex McFarland: You get an A. Now this is July 16th, 18th, so it's coming up, you know, just in a couple of months. Tupelo, Mississippi. The theme is roots to fruit, grounded in truth, growing in grace. The AFA Activate Summit, and Bert is one of the keynote speakers. There's also going to be Jeff Schrieve, who we hear in the mornings. he's the pastor of First Baptist in Texarkana, Texas. Dr. Jessica Peck. That rare opportunity live in person to hear Dr. Peck. She's on Dr. Nurse, Mama. Josh Wood of the them before us, Katy Faust, Laura Petherbridge, the smart stepmom. Bert, what are you going to be teaching? And by the way, there are a lot of other sessions Things for children. It's going to be great. But Bert, what will you be speaking on at activate?

Bert Harper: Well, I am going to be speaking. They've asked me and it has to do with age and it does have to do with some things and that's grandparents and the effectiveness and the importance of grandparents. Psalm 128, verse 6 talks about you shall see your children's children. grandparents are not mentioned in the Bible a lot, but generations are mentioned, Alex, you know, and it's like handing off, you know, the baton in a relay race. So we're going to, Jan's going to help me because Jan and I do the fishbowl retreat together and we do a lot of these things together, but we're going to talk about grandparents.

Alex: Grandparents can fill in some gaps with some needs, Alex

And this is not necessarily my outline but I do want to tell you grand I found out children are great, but grandchildren are grand for a reason. and let me just use grand as an acrostic. And Annette, again, this is not necessarily my outline or teaching but you know, I always have to have an outline I that I think that way the skeleton has to be put together. But grace, man, what an opportunity for grandparents to show grace, respect, teaching respect. And that goes both ways. You respect that you're not the parent, you're the grandparent. Most of the time now there are grandparents that's having to raise their children a lot, but answers a lot of times they come to grandparents and I found this true for answers and we need to be ready to give an answer of the faith that sent us. And then the other one, the end was kind of difficult, but I found it needs. Grandparents can really fill in some gaps with some needs, Alex, because they're man being parent these days, going and coming the business of it. And grandparents usually have a slower you know, life pace. Yes.

The Activate summit is July 16 through 18 in Tupelo, Mississippi

And then finally I think I saved the best for last Destiny. We want to share. We have assurance of our destiny. You want the assurance of your destiny. So grandparents man, so you'll hear about parenting and about AI and all that, but we're also going to spend some time there. So it's good for the grandparents who are there and it'll be good for those that will be grandparents. Alex.

Alex McFarland: Indeed, folks, the Activate summit. The website is activate.afa.net and there a ah, part of the conference is Activate kids. And so for the children there'll be plenty to do to learn about God's plan for their life. And let me just say this is July 16 through 18, Bert and Jan Harper will be there in person, Dr. Jessica Peck and so many more. And I know that, the other AFA personalities that you've come to trust and appreciate, will be there as well. I was there last week, and it was fantastic. So I want to challenge everybody. Look, vacation time is coming up. For one thing. Tupelo is a fantastic place. One of my favorite places in the whole country. Lot to see and do. Tupelo is a beautiful city. There's a beautiful historic downtown, a lot of great restaurants, a lot of fun stuff to do. And I've just got to say this, too. While you're in Tupelo, you got to go see the place where Elvis Presley was born. It's a national historic place. But, Bert, I just would encourage people, July 16 through 18, invest a week that will count for a lifetime. Come to Tupelo. What do you say?

Bert Harper: I say thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, good. But it is. Tupelo is a great place. Adam's having a fit over there with me saying that you knew he was going to get. You knew you was going to get somebody that's going to try to have a little humor. I don't always succeed, but I try. But Tupelo is a great place, great churches. I was talking to a former pastor here that, has not. He's still pastoring, but a smaller church, larger church. He said very few towns you come to or cities the size of Tupelo that has the churches that really are effective in ministry like Tupelo does. And we do. And right in the center of it, I believe, with all my heart is afr. And tours will be given. And one of the highlights is the, you know, on Fridays is learning university Trivia Friday. And these guys, that means jj, Ed and Tim are going to do it live so people out there can observe and see. And, that's going to be an opportunity. I hear people say this all the time about exploring the word. It's my second favorite show, and I have to ask them, now, what's your favorite? And they kind of smile. And I say, well, it's really Trivia Friday, because by the time Friday comes around Alex and all the weeks and the news we've heard that sometimes are difficult, there's some relief, you know, and laughter does good like a medicine. So those guys will be doing that, and that'll be a joy. And the personalities that will be there, the people that are radio personalities, they'll be there to meet you and to greet you and, you get to see some of the guys behind the scenes guys and gals, because, you know, we wouldn't be much without a board op. We, wouldn't do anything with, when we get callers, call screeners, Alex, I think everybody thinks AFR is just the guys that hear on the radio. It's far more than that, isn't it? And you get to come to the studio and you get to see that, and it makes it real. I think it makes your prayer life improve. We don't just pray for Bert and Alex and Jenna. We pray for Adam and we pray for Devin. We pray for Cole. And, say, God, help those guys to be, be on target. And they are.

Alex McFarland: Hey, Bert, you know, there's that old saying. Super Bowls are won by teams and AFR is a team, isn't it? And, you know, we're very blessed. As I travel around, you know, you and I are blessed. People come and they say some very, very kind things. We appreciate that. But I always try to tell everybody, look, you'd never hear Alex if it wasn't for people like Brent Austin and Brent Creeley and Devin Patrick and Jonathan Coker and Adam Sudeth and Cole Greene and, you know, all these people that I don't want to leave anybody out, whenever I do, you know, the Hamilton Corner, Jeff McIntosh, who is, you know, such a help not only the live show, but the show prep beforehand. Bobby Rosa, Bobby Rose.

Bert Harper: Now you gotta say it. I can't say it the way. Hey, Russia.

Alex McFarland: Yeah, yeah, exactly. But, yeah, I forgot about that. If you come to the activate summit, you'll also, if you want to, and I would urge you, come see what Don Wildmon started decades ago. The American Family Association, 107 Park Gate Drive. it's pretty exciting. You know, I don't think I've ever asked you this. Now, were you born in Tupelo, Bert?

Bert Harper: No, but I'm a, northeast Mississippi guy. Booneville, which is a county, seat town north of Tupelo in Prentiss County. that's where I was born. I'm the ninth child of my mom and dad. I have eight older siblings and I had some have gone on to, you know, glory and. But, yes, I was the ninth child. I was born on Easter Sunday morning, Alex, believe it or not. but I've never had my birthday on Easter. Really, I never have. Now, birthday Dave has told me when I'm going to have it again. but yes, and if you don't know who birthday Dave is, it's Dave Dabney. He probably is listening. But, he knows the calendar. Just let me share that with you. But yeah, I, was born here in northeast Mississippi. I've served here. I thought I was ready to go to Argentina at one time, to Texas, to NewSong Orleans. And God has kept me here in northeast Mississippi.

You and Bert have written three books about Bible questions through radio

And it's, it's. But now through radio, we get to go to all those places, Alex, that I, I wanted to go.

Alex McFarland: Yeah, we really do. We really do. And hey, you know, I've got to put this plug in. You and I have been very privileged to write three books. We spent years. People ask us if we would do a book. We were only going to do one book. Then we did 100 Bible questions. And you've done this. And folks, this is really a little back, story. Bert has kept a copious list of all the books that we've taught through. And when we did it, I have kept a pretty copious list of all the questions, hundreds of questions. And I picked the top 100 questions. And that was our first book. And then I went through and I called out the ones that I believe dealt with family. And then the third book that just came out a couple of months ago was about prophecy. And so anyway, you and I have each kept our respective lists. I gotta ask, what was the very first book that you and I ever taught through?

Bert Harper: Okay, I'm going to look in my Bible here. Here's where I keep it. Yeah.

Alex McFarland: Was it Colossians?

Bert Harper: I'm checking and seeing. It could have been because it was 2014, 2011. We started doing some more, but it would be close to Colossians, but we started in the NewSong Testament. When I started, I asked, I said, let's do something that's pretty familiar before we get into Leviticus. Yes, let's do something a little more profound than Revelation to begin with. And we started with some of Paul's letters. And it's been a joy, Alex. What an opportunity it's been. And I thank God for us, but I thank God for the lineup of AFR from morning till the evening.

The Activate Summit can change your family for Christ forever

Alex McFarland: Indeed. Well, folks, the Activate Summit, this is very special, significant. We need a revival. And part of that is a church that's well equipped, ready to pray, defend the faith, live out the gospel. The Activate Summit can change your family for Christ forever. One of the speakers, our guest right now, Bert Harper. Hey Bert, thanks for being with us. And we'll see you this afternoon.

Bert Harper: We'll see you. We'll be in numbers, folks.

Alex McFarland: Remember Psalm 33:12. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. We have been that nation. With God's help, we can be that nation again. And you can play a role. Please pray. Please stay bold, speak up and influence people for the Gospel. Thanks for listening. Blessings on you. Keep your radio tuned to AFR and your heart attuned to Jesus.

 : broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.