Texas Leadership Summit Podcast
Empowering leaders with the courage, tools, and hope to ignite a revival of Christian leadership. In each episode of the Texas Leadership Summit Podcast, leaders bring you empowering insights and easy-to-understand takeaways you can use to lead yourself and others. You’ll learn practical ways to grow as a leader, get involved in your community, lead your family, and grow your faith.
Texas Leadership Summit Podcast
Unveiling the Impact of Faith on Leadership and Society: A Conversation with Dran Reese
In this podcast, Dran Reese, the visionary behind Salt and Light Council, discusses the power of faith in leadership. Our in-depth conversation focuses on her personal faith story and the mark it has left on her life's mission. Reese's narrative is a testament to the pivotal role mentorship and unwavering conviction play in the pillars of church, government, education, and business toward a future grounded in moral integrity.
We dissect the unique training methods our ministry imparts for engaging the church in political discourse. Reese and I question America's Christian heritage, spotlighting the urgency to reacquaint ourselves with its foundational truths.
Our episode concludes with an inspirational call to action for listeners to step forth in faith and lead with courage. Reese and I examine Christian leaders' challenges within their ministries and communities. We present a strategic plan for Christian activism, advocating for a 'soft war' fought with beliefs rather than arms, and emphasizing the collective power of churches to bring about lasting, positive change. Join us and be inspired to transform your convictions into actionable, faith-driven change.
Tim Webb, founder of the Texas Leadership Summit. With that, we want to equip people leaders to stand for their faith, engage their faith in the pillars of church, government, education and business. I want to welcome everyone. Thank you for joining with me today. Today on our podcast we have Dren Reese. She is a fabulous woman. Her faith is driving I believe everything that she does. I've heard her speak at conferences. I know the group she's involved with. She is the founder and president of Salt and Light Council and she is also an entrepreneurial businesswoman. She is a graduate at USC, went to USC on a four-year scholarship in business, marketing and Duran.
Speaker 1:I am very excited about how you have chosen to be courageous. You've allowed your faith to drive what you do. At TLS. We believe that right thinking leads to right response If we want to see a change, because we're very passionate about leadership, obviously, but we know what failed leadership does. Failed leadership costs lives Someone. We know what failed leadership does. Failed leadership costs lives. Someone is going to pay for leadership. It'll either be that great leader who does the work, the hard work, applying themselves to be a godly leader, or the follower will pay for that poor leadership, and I believe you and I are seeing that all around us. I think that's part of why you do what you do, based on just hearing you speak at conferences and knowing the groups that you work with. And so we want to equip leaders, we want to empower them.
Speaker 1:Tls is that we believe if we can get 10% of the local leadership engaged within their community, taking their faith into the community, we believe that 80% will follow. We see it in athletics all the time. We see those leaders on the team and the other participants on the team. They're looking for that leader that they can follow. You always have the benchwarmers. You always have that 10%, that loud minority who complain and gripe and moan, but we're not concerned about that. We want people to step forward in their faith. So, adran, I'm very thankful, I'm honored that you would give us your time today because it appears that you're a very busy lady, not only personally, but I would love for you just to share with us, our viewers, just kind of, how your personal faith, your walk with the Lord, how that came about and how that has driven you through these years of serving the Lord.
Speaker 2:Wow, I haven't been asked that in a very long time. But, gosh, being driven by my faith, I did all. I did 10 years of the BSF Bible study, for example, and I started in a local church, actually by a miracle. The way I started to follow the Lord is that when my kids were in preschool, there was one child that drowned in a swimming pool accident. So as a result of that, I became kind of vigilant about having pool parties at my house. I'd have a parent stationed at all four corners, eyes focused, I mean very vigilant.
Speaker 2:And then we moved here to San Diego and I was in kindergarten and they were playing that, this game where you lift up and down a balloon, this big parachute fabric, and the lady right next to me says blurts out, I lost my daughter in a swimming pool accident. Well, my head spun, like what? Because I just come down from something like that. So the Lord again was speaking, and you know who does that. But in any event, I wound up listening to her and so she invited me to do a Bible study and the first thing we did was Navigators, where I learned about the tyranny of the urgent and all the things you need to.
Speaker 2:And I began the basic step, you know, starting with Bible study, being mentored by someone. So I really appreciate that there are mentors out there or people that are willing to disciple others, but she had no idea what she was doing with me because, fast forward, I am truly that person you're talking about. I am courageous to a fault and I care so much about our country and the direction of our future and what's going to happen to our posterity, our next generation, and so, as a result of that, I did every Bible study and, by the way, I was a Democrat at the time.
Speaker 2:And one day it was like boom, I had an epiphany. Wait, a second. God is pro-life. The Democrats are pro-abortion murder. Wait, god is pro-marriage between a man and a woman, and the Democrats are homosexual and LGBT. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1:What are we doing here?
Speaker 2:Come to Jesus, yeah, and I went down and switched my party immediately, and then I still didn't quite know about the voting, because I didn't really want to vote, and I just figured that life would sort of settle itself out.
Speaker 2:Good always wins over evil, until now, but you know, and I think there are a lot of people out there that are just like me. They think that things will settle themselves out and things will be okay. And you know, and I would say that that would be a result of people like you and me, who are praying for our country continually and doing something. It's not up to the masses that, because most of them are sitting on their blessed assurance, waiting for other people to do this task, it's a great way you can use that phrase.
Speaker 1:So, but with that. So how does this?
Speaker 2:how does that so motivation?
Speaker 1:yeah, I'd like I like for our listeners because they really want to just this progression. You, you're driven by your faith. Your courage comes out of that faith. But the motivation, the why behind what you do I think our everyday leaders at the local community why you actually step forward, what drove you, your motivation to do what you do?
Speaker 2:Well, I think leaders do what's hard Leaders do what other people don't want to do, what you do.
Speaker 2:Well, I think leaders do what's hard Leaders do, what other people don't want to do, because if it were easy, everybody would do it, and that's why most people don't, because they're a little bit on the lazy side.
Speaker 2:But I read a few books, and one of them started to educate me on the direction of our country. It's called the Marketing of Evil by David Papillion, and it outlined 12 different issues in our country that are undermining, one of which was the homosexual situation, where they literally sat around a roundtable and it used to be known as GRIDs Gay Related Immune Disorder and so they sat around a marketing table and discussed among themselves how they could market this to America. So they chose the word gay and then they added the word rights to it, so as if being gay had a right. You had a right to be gay and it was a civil right. So when I read that, I thought you mean, I'm being marketed evil. And then we talked about the judges and environmentalism and all this climate change stuff. Oh, and that woke up my eyes. I took my book, I walked up to the pastor in our church and I said how come we're not talking about this stuff?
Speaker 1:Right, yeah.
Speaker 2:And he goes wow, that's okay, You're going to be okay.
Speaker 1:He's going to be okay.
Speaker 2:Right, you'll be okay, I don't know. It sent me on my way. However, here's what happened. I did it again with another book called America Alone, where it talks about pure demographics by Mark Stein, where literally, white America is going to be outnumbered by Muslims coming in who have five children, versus Americans just 2.1. We're basically annihilating ourselves on birth rates and also the Hispanics. So anyway, I read that book and went up to the pastor. Why are we talking about this? A bill comes along, sb 777. We're in California, they were going to make prom, king and queen. Now, prom king and king and queen and queen. Okay, well, he came to me, knowing that I had some interest in politics, and said hey, we want to do a petition. Will you man a table? I said you bet? Well, everybody, when the pastor speaks, the people act. So when the pastor talked about this bill, from the pulpit, they all came flooding to the table. I couldn't keep up. I had, you know, going everywhere. Anyway, we had three. We got 3000 signatures that day and that's when I knew.
Speaker 2:This is where I can be of the best help. Now, do I care about all these issues? Not necessarily. But see, I've come to the conclusion. It's and I tell this to everybody I don't want to hear you say these words it's not my passion to be involved in politics. I'm not called to this, oh please. It's not about that. It's duty, it's your duty. We have a duty before God to honor and obey his precepts, his ordinance and his commandments, and if we don't, he will rip this kingdom out of our hand and give it to somebody else, and that's exactly what's happening to our country. So I'm not here because I find this exciting and enthusiastic and it's my passion and duty. I find it my passion and my calling. I find it my duty.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a great way to clarify that. Your duty and many people don't use that word, many people don't understand what that means your duty. But with the salt and light, tell us what this salt and light council is, what your formulation of it and what do because I know, I know the importance of Salt and Light and so we have embraced that and, walking through that ourselves locally here, explain to our viewers what you hope to accomplish through the Salt and Light Council, please.
Speaker 2:Well, to provide a way for Christians who go to church, who are worth their salt, and churches who are worth their salt, to get activated and involved, but do it as a collective group, together, in a small group inside the church, under pastoral authority.
Speaker 2:It's an approved ministry, it's legally vetted by Matt Staver of Liberty Council and we have an incredible team of pastors that are on our board, and we have an incredible team of pastors that are on our board. But the goal of this is to activate the Christians inside the church who understand that there is a problem in our country, and the pastor would send that leader to our training. We will give them an absolutely thorough training that will establish this as a ministry under pastoral authority, be an authorized ministry of the church, but also it's like a springboard for action. We can't do it all, but we can certainly give your team the tools for, you know, springing action and and doing so every month, but also to do so where the individuals that are in the salt and light ministry will not get the church into trouble with their zealotness, which is a big issue for pastors.
Speaker 2:Their pastors are fearful enough, okay, they kind of don't trust the people in their church. It really is.
Speaker 1:It's troubling, it's troubling, it really is.
Speaker 2:As citizens of the congregants, we're always looking at the pastor now to tell us what to do. Actually, the pastor should be telling us what to do and we'd be facing outwards yes, get outside. It's kind of flipped around now where the pastors are living in such fear of their 501c3 status. So, all of that said, we do everything on our power to give the pastor a thousand percent assurance that what he gets from us is thoroughly trained, thoroughly equipped, legally, biblically and scripturally so that these people know how to run a ministry under their authority and to report back to him.
Speaker 2:How have some of the pastors embraced this? Oh, it's fascinating. Well, you know, it is wonderful. It's actually very exciting and, interestingly, I got involved during the Proposition 8 battle with Pastor Jim Garlow out here in California. So what I do is not new. I'm going to be honest. There have been the moral majority prior to me with Tim LaHaye, then you had Christian Coalition, you had Traditional Values Coalition. Focus on the Family did something, so you have a lot of different people who have attempted to build ministries inside of churches. What makes ours unique and different is the training that we established. I'm so sorry Because when I started my ministry, I got handed a book by Focus on the Family and said good luck, number one.
Speaker 2:I don't want to do this. I have no idea what's in here. I'm not interested in the least in politics. I don't want to do this. What is this? Nobody was there to help, and so, because I got treated so poorly in my initial steps, I decided that this is what America needs is to understand and to have that passion for being what we're all called. We are called to be citizens of America. We've been given privileges of voting in this country. What other country allows you to vote and then to own property. When you have those two things together, you have a citizenry, you have a solid understanding, and then, of course, with our Christian faith and our foundations here you know, when our pilgrims came over and crash landed in Plymouth Rock not even their first choice, right, you know. They get out of the boat and what do they do? They build the Mayflower Compact and said this will be a Christian nation. We dedicate this land and ourselves for the kingdom of Christ. I mean, what country does that? Right, we do that. We're an amazing country.
Speaker 2:We have a lot to be proud of. We cannot lose that Right and we that we're an amazing country.
Speaker 1:We have a lot to be proud of. We cannot lose that Right, and we've lost a lot of our history, the very things that you're stating. Most citizens have no idea about the founding, how it all came to be.
Speaker 2:Well, they've gone to public indoctrination camps.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, public schools are a dangerous institution. So, as part of Salt and Light, what we have learned is that there is no changing our country until we change the education of our children. You know that.
Speaker 1:I do.
Speaker 2:Marxists understand that. Lenin, you know, stalin, all of them. Oh, just give me one generation of children and all this transformation. Well, they figured it out. They came here to our country. They were Marxists who started our, our centralized education system, the national education association. The whole government system is a major funder of the democrat party and the party itself. I, you know again, I used to be a democrat, remember right has gone to the dark side. They are communists and somebody has infiltrated that party so deeply, and partly the Republican Party as well.
Speaker 1:I was going to say they're part of that to blame.
Speaker 2:What.
Speaker 1:The Republican Party's sharing some of that blame for allowing certain things to move forward.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So as Christians, we have a system set up in America and it's a voting system, an electoral college, and if we're not inside of that, then how do Christians get represented at the polls? So we have to choose a party. We have to pick a party, and I have a training program on biblicalvotercom on the differences between the party from a biblical standpoint, written by a pastor, on the differences between the party from a biblical standpoint, written by a pastor. He literally went through and found 60 contrasts of scriptural references and the differences of the party and clearly, clearly, there is only one party that represents our Christian values and if you're here, if you're going to be a Christian, you have to get right before the Lord. Period.
Speaker 2:There should be no Christian, none whatsoever, and that's why they're so intent on getting rid of the Christian church and you and me and pastors, and bullying us, and why you have these people like George Soros spending billions of dollars to paint you and me as homophobes, bigots and haters. There's a whole, you know, marketing campaign against us, you know, and the internet is not helping at all to make us the bad guys when we're the good guys. We are the white hat good guys.
Speaker 1:We're trying to fight for truth, amen. But that's nothing new. The Lord warned us, he told us anyone desiring to live a godly life will be persecuted. So we know what we're signing up for. But I think that's one of the reasons why our Christian leadership today they're not stepping forward courageously. It's not the absence of fear, it's the willingness to do what is right in the face of evil. And so if we could teach the whole biblical counsel on how to do this life as part of the church, people would understand okay, this is what we're signing up for. It was no surprise.
Speaker 2:You know, I didn't know what I was signing up for when I became a Christian. To be honest, when I received Christ I felt a relief that I could get forgiveness for all my past sins. I thought that was really cool. I had a humble heart. Not everybody has a humble heart. I meet people day in and day out who are arrogant to a fault and their ego is preventing them from knowing Christ because they think they're so great and so wonderful the way they are and I don't need God, yada, yada. Well, good luck with that. But I am glad that the Lord made me a soft heart for knowing that I don't know it all, and allowed me to come into his kingdom and then to teach me about forgiveness and to clean up all the junk I had to start with.
Speaker 2:I had a lot of junk. You know I was a secular crazy person and grew up in Hollywood with. You know, like a lot of people, nobody anymore grows up in great families. I had alcoholism and insanity and arguing and I had to learn how to be a woman. I had to learn how to be a mother. I had to learn how to be a wife. I didn't just. These two things didn't come to me. I took classes on doing this. I just wanted to be a better person and along the way, what happened is that I realized this world is messed up and we all have to learn how to be a good example to each other. And Christians are the best. We do the best job, we do the most thorough job, we're the nicest people, we always have a smile on our face and people go what's with you?
Speaker 1:What's wrong with you? I literally had someone tell me one time you know I'm tired of seeing you smile and grin all the time. It just irks me. You just can't help yourself. You just can't help yourself. You know that's the heart of God, the character of God at work in his people compassionate, merciful. Let me ask you, in regarding, you have multiple organizations that you work with. Under the Salt and Light Council, you have other organizations you're equipping people within the church to step forward with their faith, to be courageous.
Speaker 1:How, what's the process been like, moving out of California with your organization? And and I mean you didn't wake up one day, did you, and just go oh, I think I'll do things in multiple States. I mean, what's that? What's that kind of been like for you? Because you still again, I just want to remind us we, your, your organization, enables people at the local level right, the local leader, everyday leader. So we want to equip them, we want to encourage them. So I know you didn't wake up one day and just say we're going to have this big organization, we're going to impact thousands of people. How did the Lord use this to grow it and use the people that you're affiliated with? If you would share that with us.
Speaker 2:Well, it's one pastor, one church, one person at a time in one local community. We have to centralize locally. So the way I saw it is here in San Diego, where I'm from. If we could just get in San Diego dot with several churches, then we can make an impact in our local community. And so now we're up to in San Diego maybe eight ministries and some very nice ministries. But you know, that was like finding a needle in a haystack, right.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's very hard to find pastors worth their salt honestly, to find pastors worth their salt honestly, and you know I have shaken the dust off my feet on some of these pastors in certain denominations, like you know. Frankly, the Episcopals are not on board with us at all and the Methodist churches are not on board with us. The Catholic churches would be some of them, you know, but they have their own. They march to the beat of their own drummer. But the Baptists got to love him, the Pentecostals got to love him.
Speaker 1:They're fired up. Yes, they are.
Speaker 2:Calvary churches got to love him. There are some out there that just you know they get it. You know they get it enough, and so you know, when you get in denominations a few pastors that get it, they start talking to other pastors. But this is what it's all about. Is that when I first got started honestly I'm moving into Christian ministry it is the hardest market to market to. I mean, like I said, you said I'm in business. I know how to market to competitors. You know you have a competition. You get to know your competition better than yourself and then you try to do a better job make it cheaper, make it better and get it distributed. In Christian ministry you have to be more open handed and you have to get to know all these other ministries. And I have to say being a Christian ministry is way harder than being a business because you also meet with people who are Christians who say who are you and what do you want? This is my territory.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Sadly, I didn't know that I'm innocent. I'm kumbaya. Let's all together.
Speaker 1:We're all on the same team, I thought.
Speaker 2:We're all on the same team. I thought the same team. Nope, they have their. We do this and this is our fundraising package. You may do this in your little world. Anyway, it was heartbreaking for me and I did do feel like the only reason that this boat has floated is because of the tears that I've cried over it and the prayers that I've given.
Speaker 2:Bottom line is that I did everything you're supposed to do as a marketing person. I went to every trade show that was out there. I called every head of state, this Baptist organization or that. I called every pastor I could call. I worked with dry bones for a lot of years, pastor Tim, I worked with dry bones for a lot of years, but something has shifted in the last couple of years. Covid and this whole regime we have of transgenderism and the homosexual you know the Oberfeld and Hodges, you know making the Supreme Court. Now same-sex marriage is starting to wake pastors up to the fact that what's happened to America? We are an immoral country now. We are kind of like Babylon. We are kind of like Babylon. What has happened to us? So, for those pastors who are not hirelings in a church.
Speaker 1:I know that term, I know that term.
Speaker 2:Who are men of God and have really been heard the call from God and said you know what, I don't care about my life. You know, you've got to be a man to give up your life first for this country, and you have to do it mentally. I actually did that. I went somewhere and I listened to a tape on giving up your life for Christ. I literally at that moment said I will die for you, I will die for you. Where are the men who will die that are behind the pulpit for this country?
Speaker 1:See, now you're pushing my buttons. So when you go to the early church fathers, okay, after the apostles are martyred, what a lot of pastors aren't aware of and sadly they don't know their church history, because to be a disciple in the early church was not know the scripture, remember, they didn't have thousands of Bibles to hand out. Being a disciple in the early church was following that. 1 Peter, 2, the example of Christ, following Christ. Being a disciple meant you were willing, you were honored, to die for the cause of Christ. It was a way of life. It was esteemed. It was a way of life. It was esteemed. It was a privilege, it was an honor to lay their life down for Jesus, who gave His life that we could have eternal life. And so if we could and this is one reason why I'm passionate about bringing the pastors together in a time like this, with what we're dealing with, what we're working in tandem, what we're in, you know, working in tandem here, together on the same team If we can get the pastors to understand exactly what they're preaching and teaching, it's not come to Jesus and my life is going to be great. No, it's come to Jesus and you're going to be asked to get in the fight. You're going to be asked to lay your life down, and so it starts in the marriage you know laying your life down for your wife, for your children, your family. And I've said many times to our church family here I cannot ask you to do something in the larger context of church family if you don't know how to do it in your immediate family. And so I'm right on the same page with you, sister.
Speaker 1:We have got to allow men to learn what it means to be a man. We need masculine, godly, masculine men on this team who know how to fight. The problem is, most men do not know how to be a man and the pastors are scared to death to define biblical manhood, masculinity. And guys, it is great that you're a man. Step forward in your manhood and honor your wife, honor your family and love them the way Christ loved the church.
Speaker 1:Now, if I could get, I invite our people all the time you are welcome to come and learn what it means to be a man. We will not make excuses for our masculinity or being a masculine church, and I so wish that we could get our pastors on board with that and stop allowing the society, the culture to define manhood. So all you have to do is look at the latest advertisement for the military. So all you have to do is look at the latest advertisement for the military. You'll get the social scene on what it means to be hip, with all that. I'm trying to be sensitive, if you will, with not pushing people away from the table, but I admire what you're saying. I admire what you're saying, I admire what you're doing and I wish we had more pastors that would say sister, thank you for for carrying the the torch, thank you for wearing the mantle. It's time for us to join with you.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 1:So you're sounding like a Deborah and if you read scripture, you know the, the leader Well, and if you read scripture, you know the leader the man would not go without her into battle. And so, unfortunately, when men step aside with their leadership, I never have to hesitate in the church. I know if I've got an issue in the church and I need help, I know the women will step forward in a heartbeat. I never have to second guess that it's the men. Men, where are we? Let's go, we can do this, we can do this. And when a husband and wife as a team being one as a husband and wife, when you have that helpmate next to you, you can conquer the world. I mean, it's just an incredible thing to see a husband and wife team join together and serve the Lord. It's powerful. And so I think we've got a lot of work to do, but I'm excited to be doing that work.
Speaker 1:So if you would just to get full circle, coming back to this, what you're involved in See, you pushed my buttons, so I'm sorry. Back to this, what you're involved in. I see you pushed my buttons, so I'm sorry, but what do you see on the horizon as some of our challenges, our obstacles within the church, with what Salt and Light's trying to do. I know obviously you've got to have that pastor on board. Do you see certain obstacles that are coming to the forefront that you're going to need to address, and how might we help you in that?
Speaker 2:There have always been obstacles to trying to get the church to be activated and involved, but I am beginning to see that more pastors are willing to engage. We are having an awakening right now. Unfortunately, it's a rude awakening. It's a woke awakening. What's happening is that there are some pastors that are not liking what they see and, by the way, to your comment, I want to share this. It's not the pastor's fault, in my opinion, or my fault. Frankly, we've all been brain damaged in some manner.
Speaker 2:Either the public schools have, you know, effeminized the men and sexualized the women like just be free with your bodies. You know it's not sacred. Abstinence is not taught. You know sex is taught, and the sex education classes in the public schools are actually intended for you to have three to five abortions before the age of 17. That's Planned Parenthood's own words.
Speaker 2:So what we have is a kind of a miseducation in our country. And then you send if you want to become a pastor, like I say, the Soros group and these wokest Marxists that are now in our universities and in our seminaries are teaching men to be soft on the inside. And you notice, with this whole transgender issue and LGBT and the men on television are all portrayed as wimps. And then, of course, you also have in the black community. Many black men are portrayed as homosexuals. So there's the racist thing. Oh, you're not going to say anything because they're black and they're gay at the same time. These are victimizations, the intersectionality. All of this is garbage.
Speaker 2:Frankly, what we're doing is destroying humanity and each other, and this is where Christ is so beautiful, because he is our saving grace. He's everything, and my hope is that this messed up society, that the pastors that are left that are worth their salt, will look past all of these what I call light and they're not light and transient causes, because in the Declaration of Independence, the reason that we broke away from England or Britain is because of the light and transient causes became so overwhelming that we had these were called usurpations. So we have light and transient, transgender transformation, trans, this. That and the other thing is happening to us right now.
Speaker 2:So when does it end? When does it end? It ends when God's people stand up and say enough is enough and we are actually not in need of a lot of wimpy pastors. Please don't get involved if you're scared to get involved. Don't get involved, because you're just stepping our way and really shame on you for what you're doing to your congregation. Shame on you. But we're only looking for real men, because I only want to be around real men who've got some, got a spine. I was going to say something else, but they haven't Careful.
Speaker 2:I want men with a spine, a spine of steel, that you know they may not get it always right, you know, look, we're all human, human but that they just go and care for our country and their families and their local community. And those pastors, if they're out there and they're listening, step up, just come to get salt, find a leader in your church, just find one person. If you don't have one person, invite pastor Tim to come in and give a salt and light sermon to your congregation and identify that person.
Speaker 2:You identify that person, then you send that person to us for training. Or you could have me come speak to your women's group Rally, all those women. Point being is that we just need to know that it's okay to be involved in, that we can be working together as a team. Part of the other problem with church is that they feel independent and like they're on their own. The reality is that, finally, in this rude awakening because when churches are awakened it's because the evil is kind of equal in measure, right, that's how it works People wake up because evil is really starting to burn.
Speaker 2:Right Touching their everyday lives. Lives, it's everyday lives. Yeah, now we're starting to see that we can barely talk on the streets to people because we're being politically marxist to death. That's all that is, you know. But it's okay. You know what you? We're here, we're truth tellers. We have to continue to do that with sensitivity, because not all the time can you do a sledgehammer over someone's head about come to. Jesus.
Speaker 2:You got to be winsome and you have to know when it's OK. And some people you just have to just put a stone in their shoe and hope that they get their soul right before the Lord and then just let them go. And it's very painful to watch some people go, even in our own families.
Speaker 1:But I think we need to remind ourselves too judgment begins with the church. I mean, the apostles were really strong in that. I'm not trying to hold the world accountable for right versus wrong, good versus evil. Unfortunately, we're addressing this within the church. Never before have we seen the church embrace so much heresy as it is today. I would be even so bold to say that we're in a post-Christian church age where the church has left orthodox biblical, apostolic teaching and has embraced heresy in many forms. And we were warned about that. The apostles warned about that.
Speaker 1:I just one other thing I think I would love to just I think for our listeners to say this, and I think you can see this, I think you live this regardless of the outcome, even if we don't transform whole communities, we still continue on. Even if it costs us our lives, it's worth it to stand against evil for the sake of our Lord, for the witness of Christ and for the sake of lives for people, our children, our grandchildren. So if we could begin to present this full counsel of God's Word to the church and say church, we have to wake up. We have to read this first. We have to know this so that we know what to do.
Speaker 1:And in all of the reading and all of the story of God, from Genesis to Revelation, there has always been enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, looking for that coming Messiah. Now that he has come, you and I, brother and sister in the faith, we know the outcome we're looking to the resurrection. So who do we have to fear If they slay us? We're looking to the resurrection. If they slay us, we're looking to the resurrection. But if we can bring transformation through the Word of God and to the glory of Christ, we give people an opportunity to extend, to celebrate, enjoy their freedom to live for Christ and bless the communities and bring solutions, godly, biblical solutions, to the issues at hand that we all face in the world we live in. So it's a great opportunity, I believe, and so we're looking for that remnant, I believe.
Speaker 2:Oh, we are, and you know you've got me thinking about we've been here before.
Speaker 2:We had the Civil War in our country. Look at how divided we were then and how many lives were lost. We didn't think we were going to survive as a country, but yet we did. But yet we did. And the French Revolution, but yet we did. And we are in a war right now. It's just a different war. This is a soft war. This is a war not of guns, and this is where we need our men to really understand. You don't need to fight the normal way. You don't have to be the black robe regiment pastor where you get up into the pulpit with a gun, but if you keep your mouth silent and you keep this up, you will have to have that gun and it will be real war in the streets.
Speaker 2:Look what they're doing to churches. In fact, we got a I think it was an orange alert recently for the churches to be careful that there might be some terrorism in the church. Why are they doing this? Why are they? Who are the they? Here's the thing we really need to look very clearly. They want you. Here's the bottom line. If our Christians are gone, they can have their full way. We are the entire focus of their world, because Christianity is the thin line that holds evil back from having its full measure.
Speaker 2:And so, as far as pastors are concerned, I do see a lot of. You know I say we've got 50 states in America. All we need are six pastors. And now we have the Gideon army Only six. So even in your state, texas, but we have in your state, actually I think we have maybe 10 or 12 salt and light ministries. Love to introduce you to them by far, and let's get more and then start working together. It takes a lot of effort to build a ground game, but we're building a ground game of war here. But it's not the war of guns, it's a war of words. Whose words? We have the script, chores, okay. We have the script. Okay, we have all the words.
Speaker 2:We know how this play ends, that's right, we do right we do and we just have to be willing to um, you know, just just fight the good fight. But the fact that, like you're, you have a group that is now developed and you're getting on the air, you're putting your voice out there, that's what we need to do is we need to get our voices heard. We need to have alternative media outlets, because we can't trust you know the media now. They're lying all the time through their teeth. We can't trust the education system. We've got to get our kids out of public schools, but they're not public government indoctrination concentration camps. We've got to get our kids out and give them a biblical worldview education camps. We've got to get our kids out and give them a biblical worldview education. I must say, can I give them our website for our Absolutely please.
Speaker 2:We have a simpler name. We're Salt and Light Council. We have seven ministries, but if you'll go to bravesaltcom, be brave. Not be brave, but bravesaltcom that was the name given to me when I was very young and I got hit over the head with a hoe and my mother sprinkled paprika on cottage cheese and I go what's that? She said Brave Salt. Do you know that the Lord saved that name for me?
Speaker 1:And years ago.
Speaker 2:I got that.
Speaker 2:He saved it just for me, brave Salt, because that's what we want. We want people who are brave. So when you go to that website, bravesaltcom, you'll see seven ministries Salt and Light Council is at the top. That's the main ministry for a church. Send a pastor, get a leader. But after that we have Pastor Town Hall.
Speaker 2:So we have resources for pastors so that they can have the tools to get their church found on the internet, have facts and stats for their sermons, because we do research in the background for pastors to have. We have facts and stats on voting, on abortion, on biblical sexuality, on we're moving in pornography, we're doing crime, just so the pastors have a place to go with facts and stats already written out with the sources. So we're here to serve the men of God, to be the best they can be. And then we also have biblicalvotercom as part of that, where we encourage everybody to get registered to vote and you can go right online and you can get registered to vote. You can vote, but also you can learn how to vote values and what does that look like?
Speaker 2:How do you take christian, as we said before, democrats, because there's an awful lot of them. They're the ones that are outside of someone. They're not. They're walking in the way of the wicked. They're sitting in the seat of the mocker. Those are the people that need to, because they're like chaff. They're useless because they're not paying attention to the Bible, the scripture and how it aligns with your vote. These are going to matter and if you don't vote, silence is consent to evil, period.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:So we have biblical voter. And then the last one I'll tell you about Pastor Tim is public school exit, love that ministry. What we're doing is we're helping churches and through the Liberty Pastors, with Paul Blair that I follow, these are the three things that we ask the pastors to do. Start a salt and light ministry. Point the leader, send them to our training. Number two is to use our voter tools to our training. Number two is to use our voter tools.
Speaker 2:And number three is to open the doors of your church Monday through Friday and partner with homeschool parents and offer alternatives in education or start a school and I'm an expert in this because I work with 30 educational reformers. We've started schools in churches. We can literally this fast have a church being the salt and light in their community. And one last thing if you picture this, if you picture a school, a current public school, wherever it might be, a current government school, wherever it is located in the town, and then you dot around at all the churches that are around that one school, look at what we could do. We have churches on every street corner, it seems.
Speaker 1:It seems like it.
Speaker 2:Right. We have the power if we use it, and I know that we will. I believe in the church still, which is why I'm doing this. All they need are the tools, Of course. When I first got started, it was a who are you, what do you want? But now it's like where is that company?
Speaker 1:That's right. We need help. We need help. Well, I've attended Paul Blair's Liberty Church's conference. I heard you speak at two of them. We came back as a result of that and the fruit of that conference was us doing TLS Texas Leadership Summit. We are engaged in the Salt and Light Council as a church. Our director's gone through the process. We've had a group from Salt and Light speak at our church for a church pillar event and we're moving forward. We're establishing within our community the opportunity for God's people to step forward and be a part of the transformation of our community, and we know that it's all about leadership. So, any last comments you would say to our listeners today that maybe they're on the edge. You know, it seems like our situations bring us to the edge, and are we going to dive in or not? Are we going to make that leap of faith, if you will, to those who are on the edge and they're thinking about being a part of what we're talking about? How would you encourage them today, just with our parting words?
Speaker 2:I would say do it afraid.
Speaker 1:Do it afraid.
Speaker 2:Just do it afraid.
Speaker 1:Just do it.
Speaker 2:Do it without go out with or not knowing where one is going. That was one of my yearly verses Go out with or not knowing where you're going because we don't know. Here's the point Make your life count for something, and your life can only count if your immediate family it counts. But then what about the future for your children and your grandchildren? Make your life count and then, furthermore, you'll have a whole lot of fun with us. And if you just give us a call and you know, join with us, we'll work on it, we'll help you. You don't have to know. You don't have to know, diddly squat, trust me.
Speaker 2:I hated politics. I didn't want to be involved. I knew nothing about it. I still feel somewhat lost in all sorts of areas, but I plug along and I think that's the main thing is that we give it what we've got to the best of our ability. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, drianne, I am so thankful for your time today. I'm just going to continue to point people through our website to your website as I speak with pastors. I'm involved with a group of pastors, and the Lord's opened up opportunities for me to continue to reach out to pastors, bring them together and look at how we can encourage a pastor and his wife and staying in the battle, staying after it. We're going to continue to point people the right direction, and so we'll be in touch, and I'm looking forward to seeing what doors the Lord opens up for us to serve together and just. We're going to continue to point people the right direction, and so we'll be in touch, and I'm looking forward to seeing what doors the Lord opens up for us to serve together and just the different groups and bringing God's people together. It's a powerful time to be engaged, so I'd encourage our listeners as well fasten your seatbelt, because if you make this step, if you move this direction, it's definitely not boring.
Speaker 2:No, for sure, it's definitely not boring. No for sure it's not, You'll have fun actually. And look at us, you'll have fun with us. We'll get to know each other and have a relationship, and that's wonderful, that's right and thank you for doing salt and light in your church and putting into action your faith, Because without it, remember people, faith without action is dead as a doornail and you don't want to be dead as a doornail.
Speaker 1:No, we don't. Well, thank you for your time. I appreciate it so much and we will be in touch to our listeners. I want to encourage everyone please, as Duran said, just to step forward and be encouraged. Step out in faith, follow your Lord, follow His example. If we can get 10%, we know we can make a difference and be a part of that. I want to encourage people to be a part of that 10%, as leaders Remember leadership costs and we're willing to pay the price. So thank you, duran, for today and God bless, and we'll talk soon.