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>> Walker Wildmon: Religious freedom is about people of faith being able to live out their faith,

>> Rick Green: live out their convictions no matter where they are.

>>  : We quit.

>> Rick Green: Sacred honor is the courage to speak

>> Rick Green: truth, to live out your free speech.

>> Don Wildmon: We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope.

>>  : This is at the Core on American Family Radio.

America's Constitution coach Rick Green is on the road promoting Patriot Academy

>> Rick Green: Welcome to at the Core with Martin and Rick Greene. I'm Rick Greene, America's Constitution coach. Thanks for joining me today. I'm on the road, so my audio sounds a little bit weird but but I'm in, in Washington D.C. got some great meetings. it's just an amazing, amazing week where we're really starting to get m. Just some really good open doors. You know, President Trump has led from the top. And I'm telling you these these places, I can, I can't even tell you the specific meetings and the places that we're getting to go and the things that are happening. But I'm just telling you there's some phenomenal open doors for us to be able to take Patriot Academy grads and plug them right in and literally, agencies and programs, quite literally around the world. So just if you would be in prayer for our meetings, and for favor with these folks, that we're getting connected with. Here's what we're going to do though. Since I am here on the road, I'm going to bring in a couple of these interviews that I've had to do, had a chance to do in the last few days. So I've got, got three great interviews lined up for you today. I'm going to start with Gino Bolso. He's a state representative in Tennessee with some fantastic, fantastic legislation going there. So let's jump into that interview with Gino.

Rick Green: Tennessee legislature is considering same sex marriage legislation

>> Rick Green: You know, we wanted to get you on to talk about the same sex marriage bill, the potential of, of this issue finally, you know, being reversed and coming back the other way. So talk to us about, what led to this and where you see this legislation potentially going. It could lead to, a judicial battle that, could actually overturn or at least challenge, Obergfeld. So, yeah, so let's just back up and tell us about the bill, what it does and why you decided to take this particular fight on.

>> Gino Bulso: Sure. What you're referring to is known as HB 1473, here in Tennessee. And we filed it, Rick, because, you know, while Obergefell is in force and while the states are bound to comply with its interpretation of the 14th amendment, we want to make sure that it is enforced as narrowly as possible. And so what this bill does is it sets out very plainly that, neither the 14th Amendment nor Obergefell's interpretation of it, that, the Constitution somehow provides individuals of the same sex to marry is binding on private citizens. The, 14th amendment, of course, is a limitation on public actors on the state, not on private actors. So the bill very simply says that Obergefell is not binding on private citizens or businesses here, in Tennessee.

>> Rick Green: And what's the practical, outcome of that? So what is that? What type of people would do you think that would most impact in terms of businesses or individuals? And then, you know, how would that play out?

>> Gino Bulso: It would, play out this way. And I'll need to bring in another bill that I've got pending, which, is known as HB 1472, which we call the Banning Bostock Act. you may recall Obergefell, was decided in 2015. But in 2020, the US Supreme Court decided another case, Bostock vs Clayton County, Georgia, where it expanded the reach of Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964 to sexual orientation and gender identity. Historically, of course, Title VII creates an, anti discrimination federal law regarding five protected classes. Race, color, religion, sex and national origin. And in Bostock, The court, by a 6:3 majority, interpreted sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity. And so this other bill that I've got, HB 1472, states explicitly that our state anti discrimination laws are not to be interpreted in accordance with Bostock that, you know, we've got a bill called, or a statute called the Tennessee Human Rights act, which similarly creates the same type of protected classes that Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964 created. So, we've got these two bills working in tandem so that if, for example, a private business that were not bound by Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964, wanted to rely on its own conscience or religious exemption not to cater a wedding or reception for a marriage of individuals of the same sex. it's not bound by Obergefell, therefore, it doesn't have to do that. And if it's also, not, bound by Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964, then our other companion bill would allow it to go ahead and operate in accordance with its own religious convictions and its own conscience.

>> Rick Green: But. But is it. I mean, Representative, doesn't it say right there in the Constitution that the Supreme Court gets to add language to any legislative act anytime they want and then make state. I'm kidding.

>> Gino Bulso: I'm with you.

>> Rick Green: It's almost like. Well, it's almost like they think that, though, right? I mean, it's literally what they did in that case. Like, it blew my mind. I was like, they are basically taking an act that was very clear. There's plenty of legislative debate on what's included, what's not, and just deciding on their own, you know, unelected, you know, unaccountable lawyers in Washington, D.C. and no offense to you and me as lawyers, but,

>> Bobby Roza: But.

>> Rick Green: But these guys, that just seems so out of bounds to me. So I. I applaud you for even being willing to push back and say this is not going to, be applied in. In Tennessee.

>> Gino Bulso: Well, thank you, Rick. Because we need to push back estates. that's one thing that we have to do. Anytime that there's federal overreach, we can never allow that to go uncorrected. You know, we saw you basically seed

>> Rick Green: the ground if you don't.

>> Gino Bulso: Right, exactly. And obviously, you know, Roe versus Wade was, decided back on January 22nd of 1973, and it took more than 50 years finally to get it overturned in, Dobbs in, June of 2022. And we don't want these other federal overreach decisions from the Supreme Court to last nearly that long. And I think, Obergefell in particular is probably even more of an overreach than was Roe, because the, supreme court took the 14th amendment, which obviously was enacted in 1868, by states and voters who only had in their statutes a, marriage between one man and one woman. And somehow they took a constitutional amendment that was adopted by states in 1868, all of which precluded any type of marriage other than between one man and one woman, and magically said in the year 2015 that when the amendment was passed, that somehow it, protected this right of individuals of the Same sex to marry, which is just obviously absurd. And it took, almost, 100, 50 years or so for the Supreme Court even to reach that ridiculous conclusion. Because until Obergefell, obviously most states, continued to, have marriage as just between one man and one woman. In Tennessee, that's also by our state Constitution, We've got Article 11, Section 10 of our state constitution that likewise, limits marriage to a legal contract between one man and one woman. And so we want to push back on it. And the same thing is true of the Bostock decision. You know, in his dissent in Bostock, Justice Alito began by saying there's one word for the Court's opinion today, legislation, which is exactly what it was.

>> Rick Green: There you go.

>> Gino Bulso: Because for 45 years after the Civil Rights act of 1964 was enacted, you had, particularly Democrats in the US Congress, trying to expand the protected classes to include sexual orientation and gender identity. In both the Biden and Obama administrations, for example, there was this thing called the Equality act that, some of the Democratic, caucus members tried to pass, which would extend the protection of, Title VII to sexual orientation, gender identity, and what's also called, non conforming gender behavior. and it was those bills, obviously, I think, very clearly showed that it really took legislation to expand Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. But then all in one fell swoop in 2020 comes along the Supreme Court and they engage in legislation, they expand it, even though the people's representatives in Congress would never agree to that.

Rick: You're addressing both policy and tactical issues regarding marriage

>> Rick Green: Yeah. And I think, you know, before I let you go, I got to ask you this too, is how important is it because you're doing this, and I don't think we see enough of this to take these issues and address them on a policy perspective, but also just on a tactical perspective, like you're addressing the process itself, the question of who decides at the end of the day, and redrawing those jurisdictional lines and essentially saying the Court should not be making policy decisions, and in the same way the federal government should not be making some of these policy decisions for the states. So for you as a legislator, you have to deal with both of those things, and we don't talk enough about that. So I just want to give you a chance to address that, because I know you get hammered on just the policy side of it. You know, you're for or against this or whatever, but you're also addressing just the, okay, even if you disagree with me on the policy thing, if you win the day at the end of the day that, that. That Americans want, you know, marriage to become something different, and you want the Civil Rights act to apply to that, then go get a constitutional amendment that. That does that, or get the Congress to pass a law that does that. If you want to change the 14th amendment, then go get a constitutional amendment, change it. Or, you know, how often are people willing to engage in that discussion with you? Not just the policy discussion, but just a question of who decides and who has jurisdiction.

>> Gino Bulso: Well, not often enough.

>> Rick Green: Sorry, that was a muddy. I muddied that question up really bad. Sorry about that.

>> Gino Bulso: But anyway, I understand your question exactly because oftentimes, the debate runs immediately to the substance of the issue that is being debated. But for the most part.

>> Rick Green: Yeah.

>> Gino Bulso: What we're dealing with here are attacks on the Constitution and the separation of powers and the idea of a limited federal government. Those principles, frankly, are just as, if not more important than the substance of the issues that we're debating. And as you point out, with regard to Obergefell, the real problem with Obergefell wasn't that, all by itself that, you know, recognizing marriages of individuals of the same sex is not something that is historically, an accurate way to portray what our country is all about. But just having the U.S. supreme Court decide that was, Was the problem, because they're not there as a legislature, much less a super legislature. This is something that should be decided on a state by state basis, just the way, abortion was, as it was for many years, until 1973. And so, you know, the Supreme Court stepped in at once in a Roe versus Wade, where they just enter a debate that should be, played out, in state legislatures across the state. And they exceeded their constitutional mandate by issuing a ruling. And then in 2015, they do the same thing on another issue, regarding marriage. And so I think ultimately we'll see. Rick, what happened with Obergefell, what happened with Roe vs. Wade? It'll get reversed, but it's just a question of how long it's going to take and how. How difficult it's going to be to unwind. Because, you know, when you try to try to think about the fact that there are marriages that states are being forced to recognize that should never be there. Yeah.

>> Gino Bulso: And are not in nature, even marriages, you know, how we deal with that going forward, even once Obergefell is reversed will be a very difficult, thorny issue.

>> Rick Green: Yeah. And. And many of the warnings that guys like you and us, made are now coming true. So a lot of People are kind of waking up to this because they're going, okay, we thought this was just even, even. And I would argue against this as well. But they, they were. This is just a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Well, now it's becoming furries and, and, and all, you know, all of the crazy stuff that's out there. And you're literally hearing people, you know, wanting to, to have the state recognize a marriage to an animal or to a, an object or to it. It is. We've lost our minds. And we all said that would happen. Once you open this door, you're saying marriage can be anything that anybody wants it to be. And so as the craziness increases, the more rational among us are starting to. That thought they could be okay with some expansion of marriage are starting to say, you know what? You guys were right. I think you guys were right.

>> Gino Bulso: Well, anytime that you have states, or in this case the U.S. supreme Court, enacting as positive law something which contradicts natural law, you run into immediately the kind of problems you're talking about. And obviously in nature there's a sexual complementarity between male and female that you don't have, with members of the same sex. And the reason that marriage is such a, bedrock institution is because it's the foundation of the family. And the family requires by nature, mother, father, and then child. And what we've done. And when I say we, I mean the U.S. supreme Court. What it's done to the fabric of the country by not just overreaching, its constitutionally mandated jurisdiction, but doing so in a way that just plainly violates natural law is just terrible. And how, how long it's going to take us to undo the damage is anyone's getting.

>> Rick Green: Yes, no doubt about it. But thankful.

>> Rick Green: Thankful that, that we have Gino in the, in the Tennessee house and, so many others fighting for the good things and, and some good people on the court, hopefully, this window of opportunity to, to change some of these things and turn some of these things around that we, that we do not miss it. We're going to take a quick break.

>> Rick Green: We'll be back.

>> Rick Green: I've got a couple more fantastic interviews for you today, so don't go away. You're listening to at the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green

>> Bobby Roza: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine conf. Connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life but they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial £250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr@the corps

>>  : podcast are [email protected] now back to at the Core on American Family Radio, back

>> Rick Green: here on at the Core with Mark Watman and Rick Ring.

Next up is Katie Faust from them before us

Next up, Katy Foust from them before us. Great to have you back, Katy.

>> Josh Enck: Thank you, Rick. Nice thing about being with you is I finally have a host that matches my energy. So, I really appreciate you coming on at an 11 out of 10 here.

>> Rick Green: Well, that comes from Beater on David Barton. All these years and him talking 100 miles an hour. And I'm like, I have to drink lots of coffee to keep up with him.

>> Josh Enck: Very good. Well, here's hoping that your guests only have to listen at 1.3 speed to this because we're going to go fast. We're going to dial them down from the 1.8 that they're used to.

>> Bobby Roza: I love, it.

>> Josh Enck: I love, it.

>> Rick Green: Well, you were on with us, I guess, a few months back. It's been a little while.

Greater Than Campaign is dedicated to defending children's right to marriage

So before we even get in today's, topic, catch us up on, them before us, who you guys are, what you're doing, and how people can get involved with you.

>> Josh Enck: we are the only organization dedicated to defending children's right to their mother and father, which means we are going to give you the child centric perspective on the definition of marriage. Divorce, reproductive technologies, modern families, cohabitation, throuples, birth certificates, the definition of parentage and adoption. In all of those conversations, we are going to say you need to put kids first. This is primarily about their rights and their needs, not primarily about adult desire, adult identity and adult validation. and the main thing that we are working on, well, we've got several projects, but the newest one is the Greater Than campaign, which is specifically targeting gay marriage. We want to overturn Obergefell and we, along with probably close to 100 different partners, 50 of which you can see on our website greaterthancampaign.com are saying that exact thing. All different corners of conservatism and Christianity, Catholics and Protestants, influencers like Micah Knowles and Allie Stuckey to thinkers like Robert George to Christian, leaders like John stonestreet and Sean McDowell, and organizations like AFA and the Pro Life Family, legislative Network that's connected to wall Builders. It is all of conservatism speaking with one voice, saying, when it comes to marriage, don't touch the kids. This institution is for them not a vehicle of your adult fulfillment.

>> Rick Green: Amen. Amen. So good man. And there's, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think even in the last couple of years, the understanding, of this, which results in the support or, opposition to changing the definition of marriage, has changed that for the first time in a long, long time, it's gone down instead of up. Is that true?

>> Josh Enck: That's exactly right. You know, we were not at parity when it came to approval for same sex marriage in 2015, but then it skyrocketed and went up to, you know, close to 75% in 2022. But then it started to come down, especially among Republicans. We saw a 16 point drop among people that identify as on the right. And now we're looking at approval for same sex marriage of Republicans around 49%. So it has tanked among, those on the right. Part of that, I think a large part of it is because we understand that the T in LGBT went too far and everybody went upstream and said, wait a second, if gender doesn't matter in marriage, then obviously it doesn't matter on the sports field or in the locker room or in the clinic. but we realized biology does matter and gender does matter. And if it matters, in the swimming pool or on the track, then it definitely matters in the institution that makes and raises babies. So we are capitalizing on that very palatable vibe shift. And we're telling people that you're uncomfortable for a reason. That is because we instituted the definition of the family that overrides the biological reality and children are paying the price.

>> Rick Green: Amen. Yeah, it's almost like the pain and the just, the reality, check of the craziness that it went to has awakened a lot of people. And so not only kind of the absurdity of having these guys competing in sports and girl sports and all of these different things caused kind of jarred people into thinking. It does seem now you're closer to this and deal with this every day. It does seem there are more pastors today than five years ago willing to speak truth on these issues, where most just ran from this and wouldn't touch it. so afraid of offending anyone, even if they're just speaking biblical truth. Are you sensing a change on that front and is that helping with those numbers as Christians begin to get an actual biblical position on this issue instead of oh, this feels good or feels bad?

>> Josh Enck: Yeah, 100%. So I see that in a couple different areas. The first one is when I first started to tweet and when I first got my nonprofit in 2018, I would post a picture of two men in a hospital with a shivering newborn on their hairy chest. And I would say, this is an injustice. Children need their mothers. They should not be commodified, they should not be bought and sold. And very often the response from the the rabble was, all I see is two loving parents. That is not the case anymore. Now I post a picture of two men with a shivering newborn on their hairy chest, very clearly lifted off of the woman they commercially rented to gestate this custom ordered product. And I say this is an injustice. Children need their mothers. And ah, everyone will quote, retweet and say things like, my politics is whatever makes this illegal. So I think that's two things. We have seen the direct connection between the validation of marriage that has dropped either man or woman from its definition to parenthood that has dropped either mother or father from that arrangement. And people have said, hey, look, if this is just about you guys feeling like you're not second class citizens, fine. But if this means you're denying children their mother and father, that's a problem with me. But here's the other thing. We launched this coalition about a month ago and we had at the time about 37 public partners. We had major figures in our trailer video, you know, Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council and John Stonestreet and Albert Mohler and Allie Stuckey and Lila Rose and Josh Hammer and Micah Knowles. And you know, everybody was in this three minute clip that went viral. Like we had 5 million impressions in the first week. In addition to that, we had all kinds of other state level allies and national allies. You can go to GreaterThancampaign.com, look at the About Us page, look at all the different people that are on board with this. There was such backlash. I mean obviously, ah, all the right people were happy and all of the wrong people were scared out of their boots, which they should be because this is a genuine threat. And there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. If you go to the YouTube video of, you know, that three minute clip of all of us talking about why marriage is why gay marriage is an injustice to children, you're going to see hundreds of negative comments. What I loved is nobody lynched nobody, nobody in the coalition, nobody in the video. We have had since then, about 20 other organizations say, we want to join with you. So to me, that looks like Christianity growing a spine. To me, that looks like people saying, you can say what you want, you can threaten, you can rattle, you can call us names, and we're not going to move because you are inflicting very real harm to children and it is the church's job to say no to you. So I am very encouraged.

>> Rick Green: Oh, it is exactly what you just described. It's the church not only finding its voice, but having a spine to stand by that once they speak out. And you've got kind of a three step strategy plan. We've already touched on two of those three. Pretty quickly changing public opinion. We watched a little bit of that happen, but we've got to do more and more of that. the church being transformed into a fighting force for this and, being willing to stand strong. And then your other one is the judicial and policy strategy where we really do focus on the kid and not how the parent is feeling and, what's going to make them feel good. I mean, so many movies, so many television shows where the dad leaves or the mom leaves because they just feel like it or they just feel better or they gotta be happy or whatever, that nonsense has seeped into the culture. And what you're saying is, you know, continuing to counter that, both in terms of public opinion, but judicial. So that was a long setup to the question. On the judicial side, people forget that you had, for instance, Justice Kennedy completely flip his vote on this, within, you know, two years. And I guess it depended on if he woke up and had Cheerios that morning or fruit loops which way his decision was gonna go. But I don't think people realize it was a close call and we can win this. This isn't a foregone conclusion that this is, quote, unquote, the law of the land. This was a Supreme Court opinion that was based on changing opinions of, Supreme Court justices.

Katie Faust: Gay marriage flattened all distinctions in the natural family

So with that setup, how would you describe to people the judicial and policy strategy?

>> Josh Enck: Very high, level overview. What it is that gay marriage did is it flattened all distinctions in the natural family. What Justice Kennedy said is there can be no difference between heterosexual and homosexual couples as it relates to the constellation of benefits of marriage. But the constellation of benefits connects to parenthood. So now the law was forced to accomplish what biology prohibits, which is making two men the parents of a child or two women the parents of a child. So what we've seen over the last 10 years is an erasure of all of the distinctive of the natural family. Like elevating a procreative aspect of, marriage, like recognizing that men and women, mothers and fathers, are important to a child. Like a biological connection to both parents. And if not, then adoption to safeguard the rights of the child if they can't be raised by their mom or dad. So what gay marriage did is it says biology doesn't matter. We're going to create new pathways for unrelated adults to acquire children without adoption screening. Gender doesn't matter. Now it doesn't matter whether or not it's two men or two women or three men or one woman. That doesn't matter. we are going to say procreation obviously doesn't matter. Infertility has been redefined so that single or same sex couples can avail themselves to state subsidized or insurance subsidized IVF so they can manufacture motherless and fatherless children. Now, the only criteria left as it relates to what makes a family is did the adult get exactly what they want. It doesn't matter the number of parents, the gender of parents, whether or not the parent is a criminal or a pedophile or a foreign national. You can mass produce children. I mean, now all of the different aspects of the natural family that were really important to children, their development, their identity and their safety have been erased. So we're going to ask a different question. The question before the court, the question that Justice Kennedy was so concerned about, is, do gay people have dignity? And the answer is, of course they do. They're our brothers, our sisters, our friends, our, children. We love them. They have dignity. They're also made in the image of God. That is not the right question when you're talking about marriage. The question we will put before the court through our judicial strategy is not do gay people have dignity? The question is, does a child need and benefit from their own mother and father, or is a state assigned, stranger, just as good? So we are actually going to be asking a completely different question. We are playing a completely different game than we were playing in 2015, and we're going to get a different outcome.

>> Rick Green: Amen. Amen. Oh, so good. Katy Faust you're so good at this. I love having you on the program. The Bartons love having you. we got to do this more often. I'd love to get you with our, with our Constitution coaches as well. we've got to win this fight. And, you know, you, you, I think I was telling somebody this just the other day, the most vehement opposition. I think I could say this for wall builders as well. I know I can say it for Patriot Academy and for me as a legislator. Years ago, the most vehement opposition almost always came down to this issue. And it would be, it would be masked in other things, but at the end of the day you would find out, oh, that's this person's real motivation. And, hatred, for us because we would stand for biblical marriage and protecting the kids, is that, you know, the fact that all of these people that you had in the video, ah, and are in this movement haven't flinched and haven't been not scared. I don't think they were even scared in the past. I think it was just, they preferred to take on other fights because this one was so vitriolic. man, their opposition has not changed, their tactics have not changed, but our side just stronger, more emboldened. How do you describe it?

>> Josh Enck: I agree. And I'll tell you exactly why. I, know that there's a lot of people that did not move on the topic of marriage, even though supposedly the culture did. And now we were on the wrong side of history. I mean, I know a lot of people that said, I don't care. Would five Supreme Court justices say this is the truth? But what I do see is a new boldness to speak publicly about it. And I'll tell you why. It's because we are reframing the victim. The reason why we have the massive cultural and legal overhaul that we are seeing today is because gay adults successfully framed themselves as victims. If we do not get to redefine the most child friendly institution the world has ever known, we are victims. And unfortunately, the culture and the courts went along with that. But the reality is, and you know, here, I'll say one other thing. The right got it wrong when it came to opposing gay marriage. Because we said, oh, no, because if you get gay marriage, Christian adults are going to be the victims. We will have to bake cakes or sign marriage licenses or arrange flowers that we don't want to arrange. They are not the right victims. Okay? Adults are not the victims of marriage policy gone wrong. Children are the victims. And I don't know a lot of people that will lose friends over saying, this person should be able to opt out of photographing a gay wedding. But I know a lot of people that will say, I'll lose friends over saying, you should not purchase and sell children for heterosexual or homosexual men who might be pedophiles who can acquire them because we're now under an Obergefell regime that says that if you intend to parent the child, then you get the baby. There is a framework of understanding that children are the victims that not only embolden people to speak up because it is socially costly, but it also makes so much sense of what God has made explicitly clear in his word. It gives the why behind what God says. So properly understanding that children are victimized through bad marriage policy is going to be the way that we change this, not just in the courts, but in the court of public opinion as well. Ah.

>> Rick Green: so good. So good. And you're so right. And this isn't theory, this isn't. We don't have to wonder if this will happen. It's like every week there's another headline of someone that's, that's been, you know, arrested or convicted for pedophilia, who was set up as a parent and set up as a, you know, a couple to two guys to take these kids anyway. It's just disgusting and awful and wrong. And we're finally, you know, people are waking up to that. so thank you, thank you, thank you.

Katy Faust writes about natural marriage and child protection

All right, let's do the website again. Greater than Campaign.com. greater than Campaign.com. people can sign up there, get involved, learn, how to articulate this issue with their friends and their, their family. Get pastors to speak on this more. The three steps, one more time. A judicial and policy strategy that centers children's needs. Changing public opinion so Americans understand the link between natural marriage and child protection. And then a church transformed into a child centered fighting force. Katy Fouse. God bless you. Let's get you back really soon.

>> Josh Enck: Always great to be with you.

>> Rick Green: So good.

>> Rick Green: Such good information. And Katy's just so good at articulating them before us. You should get involved with them, folks. I'm telling you, they're doing great work and, just a wonderful ministry to support. I've got one more interview for you in our final segment when we come back from the break and you don't want to miss this if you haven't heard about it. There is a movie coming out about George Whitfield. It's called A Great Awakening and it is amazing. I had the chance to view a screener and I was just, I was thrilled. I mean, it is, it is very, very good. And it, and it's, and it's good history too. It's not, you know, it's like this wonderful mix of, the spiritual side of things and the political. Great scenes from the Constitutional Convention. I mean, it's, it's awesome. So I really recommend it to you.

>> Rick Green: It's not out yet.

>> Rick Green: It's coming out April 3rd, and we have the producer, director, writer, all that good stuff, with us when we come back from the break. So you definitely want to stay with me through the break. We'll be right back. You're listening to at the Core with Walker Poppin and Rick Reed.

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>>  : at the core podcast are [email protected] now back to at the Core on American Family Radio.

Rick interviews Josh Enck about "A Great Awakening"

>> Rick Green: We're back here on at the Core.

>> Rick Green: Super excited about the sticks interview Josh Enck, the writer, producer, director of A Great Awakening.

>> Rick Green: Absolutely incredible movie you've got to see.

>> Rick Green: we're always talking about taking the arch back, always talking about being able to get high quality, and not the cheesy stuff. And so we are thrilled about this movie. As David's already said, he greatly enjoyed it as well. And, Josh Enick is with us, from Sight and Sound, who do amazing productions on stage. But now to the big screen. Josh, God bless you, man, for all that y' all are doing. And thanks for taking a few minutes with us today.

>> Josh Enck: Oh, man, Rick, God bless you, too. You guys are heroes of mine. I'm serious. Like, I've been, appreciating all that you guys have been doing, doing, with the, the founding of this nation and Your passion for the right kind of liberty, nrb was such a blessing. I was able to see, the Bartons there, and they were speaking at the event, the 250 event. And I, leaned over to my colleague and I said, man, I want to talk to those guys. And so here we are. So thank you for having me. Awesome.

>> Rick Green: Oh, man. Well. Well, we're, a mutual admiration society today then, because, you know, you're. You're doing exactly what we have, you know, called on people. And of course, y' all have done it from. From the stage for a long time, but this story is so near and dear to our hearts and. And the way you captured even the scenes at the Constitutional Convention, you know, I. I've called David Barton the George Whitfield of our. Of our generation for a long time because he's just tirelessly, you know, 400 events a year, and. And, for. For decades, literally sowed the seeds to help bring back so much of what's happening for the 250th. So for. For us, and. And, you know, David will never call himself that or say that, but, for. For us it is. the timing's perfect, bro. I. I think God put y' all where you are. And the experience that you've had, you know, with the things you've done over. Over the last couple of decades now, has been, I think. I think, to lead up to this in many, many ways. I mean, I know everything you've already done with the, you know, David and. And all the different productions has been phenomenal, but the country needs this movie, man. The country needs this movie.

Sight and Sound has been bringing Bible to life on stage for 50 years

tell us what. Why you. The. The shift to the big screen. What. What motivated this? Give us kind of the backstory before we talk about the movie itself.

>> Josh Enck: Yeah, no, I'd love to. Thank you. you know, Sight and Sound has been around for 50 years, bringing the Bible to life on stage. we have a 300 foot wraparound stage. We have two theaters, one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, one in Branson, Missouri. we bring the Bible to life in a really big, epic way. And we always say it's where spectacle meets story. That's where sight and sound happens. We're passionate storytellers, moving people's hearts towards truth through the power of storytelling. I always say, you know, if the Lord, chose for three and a half years to be a storyteller, to change the world, it still works today. And so. Amen.

>> Josh Enck: we are an 800 strong ministry that wants, to Just move people's hearts toward him. in Covid, when all of our theaters shut down, we had one of our stage productions filmed and it was on the Story of Jesus. And we were really excited to get that out in the movie theaters nationwide for Easter 2020. All the theaters shut down, including ours. And we were going to on record to have a record breaking year with Queen Esther on the Lancaster stage. And so what we did was on Easter we decided to send the, that Jesus film that we did, out to the world through TBN. And in three and a half days over Easter weekend in 2020, more people saw sight and sound production than two years of sold out theaters.

>> Rick Green: Whoa.

>> Josh Enck: And we. It was the worst economic year of our ministry's history, but it was the greatest ministry outreach year. And the Lord took care of us. And we feel like that was a spirit led decision and the Lord has just blessed us with that. And that's when we felt the call to not just have the world come to us, but for us to go to them. and with the films, we were commissioned by the board of directors to do films of figures and events from history that changed the world because Christ first changed them.

>> Rick Green: Well, that's good.

Benjamin Franklin: This is our second feature film

Okay, wait, I'm going to interrupt you for just a second because I got to ask this. That's a big shift from, and I've seen trying to. I know, I watched David, you know, the, the film, production version of your, your your stage show, my daughter has been able to go and see in person and she is just, she's twice over the moon. I've only gotten to see it, but, but, but even watching that, that's such a different animal. And it was amazing even being able to watch it on video. Such a different animal than producing something like, the Great Awakening. And, and, and how did you tackle that? Like. Well, I'm just curious in, in your mind, like, how did you go, okay, how are we going to shift? What different things do we need to learn? What do we, you know, I mean, because to do it as well as you did it. I gotta admit, I was skeptical, bro. I was very skeptical that you could pull it off. And I shouldn't be, but I was. And you did it. So I'm curious, what questions did you ask? to be able to do that?

>> Josh Enck: Yeah, no, great question. You know, I don't, we don't look at it as a shift. We look at it as a maturation of Our ministry, you know, what we're called to do is to bring truthful moments to the audience that they can have a response to it. And whether it's on stage or screen, the core of what we do is the same. and so we're still, as I speak, I just came from rehearsals of our next stage production, which premieres here in a week on Joshua. So we have not let the foot off of the gas for our stage productions, but what we've done is we've accelerated, are calling on film, on screen. This is our second feature film. And, you know, honestly, like directing talent is, you know, the same for both. it's just that you have a 300 foot wrap around stage or a camera right up in your face. and, you know, it takes the same discipline to bring those truthful moments out. But the Lord put the, this film on my heart personally. three years ago, I knew I was born in 1976. I'm a bicentennial baby. So I was a patriot from day one, man. And, I knew the 250th was coming up. And I was passionate about doing something that would bring the Bible's definition of liberty, to the forefront. And so liberty was a beautiful word that I really wanted to wrap our head and our hearts around. And I was convinced it was going to be a film on the revolution on George Washington. And for about a year I was hitting these creative roadblocks with this film. And my wife sent me away to, an Airbnb near Valley Forge, which is not far from our home. And I sought the Lord for, for three days and two nights, just me and my dog. And on day two, I really had a breakthrough. I felt the Lord say to my heart, you had Liberty, right? You have your Georges wrong. And I remembered, wow. I remembered my writing partner, Jeff Bender. His favorite person in history was this George Whitfield. And you know, it didn't really interest me and, necessarily. But then, when I started to discover the power in his voice, the theatrical training that he had, he wanted to be a theater actor, this George Whitfield. And I started to get intrigued and I started to Google this man and I started to realize the absolute incredible impact that he had in the 30 years that led up to the revolution to bring in this self governing people, that brought in this incredible awakening that was the most formative event in American history and that he was best friends with Benjamin Franklin. I fell off my chair. I'm like, okay, you're like, you couldn't write this.

>> Rick Green: You couldn't make this up, right? You're going, yeah, this is good.

>> Gino Bulso: Yeah.

>> Josh Enck: Washington's gonna take a little bit of a backseat here, because I think I found something.

>> Rick Green: And who.

>> Josh Enck: Who can say that he should. You know, he should never take a back seat to. But it was really powerful because I was. I immediately became passionate about how the Lord providentially put the most powerful, evangelist of all time, arguably with the most prolific communicator of all time, Ben Franklin. And so our heart from that day forward was, let's put Whitfield back in the pulpit. Let's put Franklin back at his press. Let's do a film called A Great Awakening, which. Which explores their unlikely friendship that really revolutionized, our culture. what we say with this film, A Great Awakening, which comes out April 3rd, theaters nationwide, is. It was the revolution, the revelation before the revolution.

>> Rick Green: And, your trailer, man, when you released the trailer months ago, and it had that line, when the kid. When I guess the grandson asked, Franklin, yeah, you know, you. You knew him in the revolution or whatever it was. And his line is, george Whitfield was the revolution. Oh, my gosh. I fell out of my chair. I was like, I'm gonna love this movie. As soon as I heard that line, I was like, this is gonna be incredible.

>> Josh Enck: Oh, man. Yeah, we really feel like the. The Lord, you know, authored this for us. We. We bring everything in under his authority, man. This is not about. This is not about us. It's not about sight and sound, creating a. A cool film. It's about a. It's not a movie. It's a movement. We really, truly believe that the Lord's gonna do something and already is stirring the hearts of men and women with this powerful, unknown story.

>> Rick Green: This.

>> Rick Green: It's.

>> Rick Green: It's so good. And like I said, the timing is. Is so perfect because as people celebrate the 250th and, you know, we talk about making America great again and all those great things, we have to know what made America great in the first place. And so you're reaching back even before the revolution itself, but yet telling it through the revolution, which is what I loved. I loved the time travel and the way it's, you know, not time travel, but just the. The flashbacks and how you start with that, you know, the. The scene of the convention. And I love the frustration on For.

Rick: You did some things that could have come across cheesy

I don't want to give away too much in the. Of, the movie, obviously, but, that you See, in. In Franklin's face and Washington's face, you just.

>> Josh Enck: You.

>> Rick Green: You did some things that could have come across, you know, fake or cheesy or whatever. it was. It was risky. And you did. And you did them so well, man. It's. It's. It's so. And I don't. Our listeners know, we don't perfume it up. Like, if it's. If it turns out cheesy, we say so. And, on the. On the show, and you guys, God just gave you the ability somehow to get past that, which is. I hope you're planning to do a lot more movies. honestly, I don't want. And that's part of why we want to promote this and encourage people to go opening day because it's so important to what happens, you know, in the. In the coming weeks after opening day to have a good opening weekend and all that, because we want to see you do more and more of these movies. So I don't want to get ahead of myself here. We want this to be a success, but part of the reason we want it to be a success is because these are the stories that need to be told, and they need to be told. Well. Yeah.

>> Josh Enck: Amen, Rick. Thank you, man. You know, and the thing is, like, these. Just because they're long gone and they've passed away doesn't mean that they're, anthems are dead and that the banners they wave are dead and that the. The sermons that they preached are dead. George Whitfield spoke. He was heard by over 80% of the colonists with their own ears. And our prayer, which is a crazy prayer, is that what if. What if Whitfield's back in the pulpit and 80% of Americans can hear his voice once again and proclaim liberty throughout all the land until all the inhabitants thereof, like, our heart is part of this and to be on the forefront of this. And, just. Just going back to your. Your compliment about not being hokey and cheesy. Our standard is high because the audiences are extremely smart. And I, got saved when I was 19, so I grew up feasting on this big epic films of the 80s, man. I was like, watching Rocky and Platoon and Braveheart and Schindler's List and, you know, all these incredible movies. And so, yeah, ah, we want to bring that same artistry to these, historical films.

>> Rick Green: Well, you pulled it off, for sure, with this one. Thanks for sending us screeners.

Josh: April 3rd is opening day for A Great Awakening

let's talk about how to, what people could do now, because, off air, we were talking about the fact you can actually get tickets now in anticipation of opening day, and it is. Did you say the sixth? April 6th is opening day?

>> Josh Enck: Nope. Spread the word. April 3rd. Third.

>> Rick Green: Third. Okay. Boy, we don't want them to miss the. Okay, so April 3rd. April 3rd is opening day. And, that'll be all over the country. What's the website to be able to go find out which theater is close to them and go ahead and get tickets?

>> Josh Enck: Yep. A greatawakening.com. a greatawakening.com. they can also go to site-sound.com but if you just type in a Great Awakening movie, it'll come up. and, just a kind of an important note, it's called A Great Awakening, not the Great Awakening, because there's a couple more documentaries out there. we are so thrilled to be bringing this to the masses and to the. To this beautiful nation, especially in this 250th year where the word liberty is going to be at the centerpiece of so many conversations. And this film really clearly lays out that true liberty is only found in Jesus Christ. And so we're passionate about, bringing that to the forefront through these two incredible people. Benjamin Franklin, of all people, and George Whitfield.

>> Rick Green: A greatawakening.com. a greatawakening.com is the website. And, and I tell you, I'm going to recommend to all of our listeners. Grab the link on the trailer and, and just text that to friends. I texted that to my family chat when, when it first came out. And I mean, everybody was just like, once they watched it was, oh, I can't wait to see this. Can't wait to see this. So it's, it's really, really well done. So send that trailer. Be a force multiplier. Help get, this, this movie in as many hands as possible, not only so that we get, you know, continued good entertainment in the future, but because of what this movie can do for the heart of the people. I. I'm not, I'm not blowing smoke here, Josh. I'm telling you, there were so many scenes that, I mean, chills and tears and it just, it captured so many moments that, And maybe part of what I was thinking about was not only that moment and what it meant for the person in the scene, but just knowing what audiences, what it's going to do to audiences across the country. So it's just.

Bro, what are your stage productions this year

Bro, I'm super, super excited before I let you go. And I know we're out of time. But before I let you go, catch

>> Josh Enck: us up real quick.

>> Rick Green: So you said, what are the stage productions this year?

>> Josh Enck: Planks for Pennsylvania, our theater, premiere show of Joshua to watch the walls come, come down. And then in Branson, Missouri, we have our second year of David out there. So we're busy. We got a lot going on, man.

>> Rick Green: Yeah.

Joshua Branson was born and raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

So Branson is David and then Joshua in, Lancaster, you said you're not far from Valley Forge. Do you live in Lancaster? Is that home for you?

>> Josh Enck: I was born and raised in Lancaster County. Yep. And, okay. Live about an hour and 15 minutes away from the great city of Philadelphia. And, and, you know, Valley Forge is just kind of in our back, our backyard, so.

>> Rick Green: That's awesome.

>> Josh Enck: You know, we've been saturated and inundated in this culture, and I believe, like, where the country was birthed out of Philly, it's going to be rebirthed. I think that there's a mighty move of God coming, across this nation, and I'm just thankful to be a part of it.

>> Rick Green: It's awesome.

>> Bobby Roza: Awesome.

>> Rick Green: It's awesome. Oh, man. All right. A greatawakening.com. a greatawakening.com get the tickets now. April 3rd is opening day. You don't want to miss this. Josh, appreciate you, man. Thanks for coming on today.

>> Josh Enck: Appreciate you guys, too, and all that you do for us. Thank you.

>> Rick Green: Well, that's it, folks.

>> Rick Green: Some great interviews for you today. And, be praying for us and our trip to Washington, D.C. and, the events we've got around the country. Just a lot of good stuff going on. Make sure you're following [email protected] and get signed up, at the website there to be a coach, start hosting these classes. It's a great, great time to be engaged and be involved. And this year is critical, absolutely critical. Make sure you're doing your part, be a force multiplier, share this program with friends and family, and get that biblical citizenship class going in your church. Thanks so much for listening. You've been listening to AT four with Walker, Bob and Rick.

>> Rick Green: Greetings.

>> Josh Enck: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.