Jeff Chamblee: Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now, here's Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Friday morning and welcome to Real Truth for Today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Hope you're having a wonderful morning. Wanted to give you an update on Shareathon 2020 2026, our fall share a thon. the pledges came in and the gifts came in right at $4 million. So we praise the Lord for that and we thank you for partnering with us here at American Family Association, American Family Radio. And, we're just so grateful and thankful for you. Well, I wanted to read from Psalm 145, a Psalm of David. He says, I will extol you, my God, O King, and, And I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and mighty and highly to be praised. And his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wonderful works, I will meditate. Well, it's a privilege for me to welcome to the program a man who is, committed to reaching the next generation and to pass the baton to the next generation. The baton of faith. And his name is Christian Collins. He is author, of the book second wind, a365 daily, devotional designed to help you pursue God and his greater calling for your life. And he's also the founder of Texas Youth Summit. And Texas Youth Summit has been meeting since 2019, and they meet this weekend. So we're blessed to have Christian Collins. It's a busy, busy, day, a busy weekend for him. But Christian, welcome to the program.
Christian Collins: Pastor Jeff, thank you for having me on. It's truly an honor. And thank you for your voice around Texas and our country. We really appreciate it.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I appreciate you, my friend. And I, love this, emphasis and the focus of your life and ministry to reach the next generation with, the Judeo Christian values that, we were reached with. And now we're passing that baton, hopefully on to the next generation, Christian. Most of us are very, very concerned about, dropping the baton. And it seems like in many instances our kids are being brainwashed in the public school system. And, they grow up thinking that socialism is great, that, teaming up with, Islam is the way to go. abortion is fine up until birth. I mean, it's just all these evil, demonic things, and they seem to be embracing them. So you deal with young people on a regular basis. what's your opinion of the culture right now and how do we turn that around?
Christian Collins: Well, I mean, it really is just like you said. I mean, there's so much progressive ideology that is steeped into the hearts and minds of our young people. and I'm doing everything that I can, with our team to reach the next generation. And we've been doing this for eight years now. And this is our eighth conference coming up tonight. And I'm at actually at a hotel. I don't have a studio or anything. I'm in a hotel room. and, it's at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott. And we're going to have, you know, just thousands of people here, and it's going to be awesome. We're going to kick it off with worship. Last year we had over a hundred people commit their lives to Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen.
Christian Collins: And that was really powerful. And, the worship service is really compelling. And so, we've always been about Judeo Christian values and conservative principles. But, you know, last year we wanted a greater emphasis on just having a personal relationship with Jesus. And that's the starting point. And then the worldview comes after. And, in. In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, we really wanted to recognize him. He had been a longtime speaker at our conference. And then, you know, we are, of course, just wanting to point people to Christ. It's obviously a horrible situation that happened, but we wanted to point people to Christ. And, it was beautiful. And we, had so many great speakers last year, and we're excited to continue that, tonight. And, I'm grateful just for all the partnerships that we have and all the opportunities we have to share the good word. And, I'm grateful to Fox Nation and Daystar and Right side Broadcasting Network for covering this event. I'm grateful to partners like Turnpoint USA and Leadership Institute and so many others that are just hand in hand with us in the fight to reach the next generation. It's, incredible. And I'm just grateful to God for the opportunity.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, you have, Wriley Gaines tonight, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Brandon Gill, Ken Paxton, Nick Sherley, who, became a sensation by just doing, his own investigation of all the corruption there in Minnesota and then in Los Angeles and different cities in California. Tulsi Gabbard is going to be there, tonight. And then, Pastor Rob McCoy, Senator Ted Cruz, Chloe Cole, somebody that I really appreciate her courage. You know, she was detransitioned and then, came to her senses and said, God didn't make me to be a boy. He made me to be a female. but she's suffering the scars and the pain and the toil that that took with all the lying that, people did to her. Let me ask you this, Christian, how did you get started in this kind of work?
Christian Collins: Yeah, great question. You know, I grew up in a Christian home and my parents pastored a church. But around the time of college, I fell away, not just, politically, I mean, but from my faith. And so I called myself agnostic, and you know, my parents were conservative. They just didn't know a lot about politics. And I became interested in Barack Obama. I had, well and good intention and I just liked the idea of there being a black president. I, liked that he came from humble beginnings and only in America you can go from nothing to something like that and rose to the highest heights of power. And so, I just was intrigued by him and I was reading his book and, my dad bought me that book. And later on though, my dad began to have a different opinion. But I'll get to that in a second. But when I went off to college, I had actually a kind liberal teacher. I mean, there are leftists out there, but then there are liberals who I think are good people. But. And I just want to distinguish the difference. And she, you know, showed us Micah Moore videos. And I essentially was liberal on climate change and gun control. And so I joined the University Democrats. I became very progressive in my ideology. And, what school was that?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Christian?
Christian Collins: Well, I Went to Lone Star College in Houston, and then I went to the University of Texas at Austin. Well, there you go. Well, and my dad showed me, he began listening to Rush Limbaugh. Of course, your listeners will know he's the greatest conservative radio of all time. And I have to explain that to our generation, younger, generation that, I'm talking to. But that turned me into conservative. And, I joined the College Republicans. I majored in government. And I, was debating for, the College Republicans against the University Democrats on Obamacare. And so, I was very conservative at that point. And, you know, basically I didn't want kids going through life turning out like I did. And I wanted them to have the firm foundation so that their houses, as the parable talks about in Scripture, are built on the rock, the firm foundation, and not the sand, and they're swept away by false ideology. And I'll just, you know, share one more point. You know, I read Lee Strobel's book A Case for Christ, and that. That book really helped me come to faith. the apologetics, the, the evidence, the corroborating evidence in that book was overwhelming. And, it really helped me come to a point where I could believe that Jesus Christ really is who he said he was. He's the son of God and God, in the flesh. And that book helped me so much because you really couldn't think after reading that book. Well, he's just, you know, a good man or prophet. It was martyred. You know, as CS Lewis said, he's either a liar, a lunatic, or he's Lord. There's no in between. So I, I came to a place where I, I could believe, but it was going to a church where I, I really came to faith. And that turned my life around. Having an experience and experiencing the presence of God. And that was powerful. And I did a.180. but my whole goal is that people will never go through that phase. I think 5% of kids and pastors, kids, and you, you may, you know, experience this or have seen this yourself, but they have a time where they fall away. And, you know, when they go off to college and they're out on their own, and 40% of them, you know, turn back. But, you know, some of them aren't so lucky. And so, But so many parents, I'm sure, are concerned about the direction of their kids. And that's why we're doing that. They can turn out right.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so you were how old when you were at the University of Texas
Christian Collins: Christian, 21 through 22. So I went there for two years.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so you go as a big time liberal, and then you have the spiritual transformation and then the political transformation. How did that, did that work all kind of simultaneously?
Christian Collins: Well, it was political first and then it was spiritual later. And, I was still conservative, agnostic. The spiritual came later. but, you know, God had my political ideal, political ideology had turned around, but God had to work on my heart, you know, spiritually. And when I surrendered my life to Christ, everything changed. And so, you know, there's a couple more experiences, I think, traveling with Reverend Rafael Cruz, Ted Cruz's father, around the country when Ted Ranch president and he's a firebrand. And, you know, I'd kind of thought about going into ministry. And, but traveling with Raphael helped me see that politics could be a ministry. And as. As can anything. I mean, you, you pastor a large church, and I'm sure you encourage so many people to, to be a minister in their workplace. And I found that to be a possibility in, in politics. And so, you know, that's what I'm seeking to do is to be salt and light. And my w are just really, excited about the opportunity to share the gospel, you know, through the lens and realm of politics. It's, It's a great opportunity. We're getting to do that every single day. But, Raphael, I think, really helped me connect and bridge, you know, that politics can be a ministry. And, that, that was a beautiful thing to me because it gave me so much more meaning and purpose in the work that I was doing.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, you know, we have, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Willie Rice, just came out on Fox News, and he was on our program just a week before that, saying the same thing about pastors need to get involved and you need to let, the people know. Here are the issues at stake. We have a lot at stake in Texas. And, we have pastors Christian as, you know, pastors that don't want to do anything that would be controversial or say anything that could be considered political. And I agree with Willie Rice. It's like, well, the politics, they've waded into the area of biblical morality. And it is required of pastors to stand up and say, this is wrong. And if you're going to vote for a candidate that's pro abortion, pro transgender insanity, pro, defund the police, all those things are biblical things. And you need to stand up and speak up and say, don't vote for that.
Christian Collins: Yeah, you're so right. And, you know, I don't want to speak ill of anyone. you know, I've been blessed to meet, you know, pastors like Rick Warren and travel with them around Houston. They have so much good and they offer so much wisdom. But, I just think the whole seeker sensitive movement as a whole has been misguided because it sought to not be controversial.
: Ah.
Christian Collins: Or not take strong stances on, on certain issues. I got to intern at a church in Charlotte, North Carolina, that at the time, I think was Southern Baptist. And they said they wanted to be known for what they're for, not for what they're against. And their music is in every, every church in America. I mean, I think they're doing a lot of good work, but I, I really think it's important that churches take strong stances on these biblical issues, especially on the issue of abortion or gender. You know, the Bible definitely has something to say about all this homosexuality, the LGBTQ stuff. It's so pervasive. If we're not teaching about this in, in our youth groups or, you know, just from the, the platform, then they're going to learn about it from Tick Tock or, you know, social media, their public schools. They're going to get this ideology from somewhere else. And so it's important that we speak to these issues, as a church and we ask our pastors to, to dig deeper. And, you know, I think some of them, maybe they're worried about their tithes or offerings. I don't, I don't know what goes through their heads, but it shouldn't be their nonprofit status because, you know, this is a biblical issue. And, and actually, pastors can endorse individually. They can endorse whoever they want. They can endorse any person they want. Their church can't, but they can. And so, it's just, they can. They need to get involved in politics. And of course, the registration date has already passed, but our churches also need to be registering people to vote. we need to be mobilized and active and engaged citizens.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. We're talking to Christian Collins. He is the, founder of Texas Youth Summit. Meets this Friday and Saturday in the Woodlands, Texas, at the Woodlands Waterway Hotel, Marriott. And expecting thousands of people there, big lineup of great speakers and not too late to get involved. Is that right, Christian?
Christian Collins: That's it. You can go to texasyouthsummit.com events and there's still some time to sign up, so. So we'd love to see you here.
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Jeff Chamblee: This is real truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here I'm talking to Christian Collins. We're talking about reaching the next generation. One generation shall praise your name to another and passing that baton of faith on to the next generation. And not just the baton of faith, although that is critical, but also the baton of a biblical worldview. Christian and I taped a program this week with George Barna, and we were talking about a biblical worldview. And he's done a lot of research, as you know, George Barna, big name in, in surveys and things like that. And he said, 4% of the population in America, adults, have a biblical worldview. Six percent of professing Christians have a biblical worldview. And less than 50% of those in ministry pastors have a biblical worldview. So in this Texas Youth Summit that is this Friday and Saturday in the Woodlands, Texas, at Woodlands Waterway Marriott, you guys talk about a biblical worldview. You talk about faith in Christ, what that means, and then you talk about what's at stake, and you talk about seeing life through the lens of Scripture. Okay, so you're a guy who was not seeing life through the lens of scripture, but you had a transformation. I want to get into that a little bit more with you. You said it happened first through Rush, Limbaugh, and there was a political, opening of your eyes and then a spiritual opening. Opening of your eyes. Tell me first about the political. How did, what did listening to Rush Limbaugh do for you? Because I would Think as a liberal, liberal, agnostic, you wouldn't have initially liked Rush Limbaugh, right?
Christian Collins: Well, you know, I think when Rush was bringing out Jeremiah Wright and talking about Barack Obama's pastor at the time, because Barack Obama, you know, was somebody that I thought was trying to bring people together. That's the way he was talking. And on the contrary, you know, he was very steeped in black liberation theology. And so Jeremiah Wright was saying things like the chicken were chickens were going to come home to roost. And that, America basically deserved 9, 11 for the sins and atrocities they've committed around the world. So that was one thing that was just baffling. And I think the other thing, you know, was just the, the disdain that he had for white people in general. And I think, white, heterosexual, Christian men specifically, I feel like, have become an enigma in academia. I've worked in colleges and universities, for some time, and I've just, I've felt that sort of discrimination by people that just don't like me simply for who I am. And, you know, I'm very amicable. I'm trying to be kind to everybody, but that's just what I'm seeing on the ground. And, I, I've seen that. I've done pick up the mic with Turning Point usa, where essentially we're doing the Prove me wrong type format, just like Charlie Kirk did. And that steeped into the students, because these students, I've gone to utsa, I went there and there were hundreds of students there, 60% negative, and they were heckling me. I think that's because of the professors. But I digress. When it comes to Barack Obama, you know, that learning about just the disdain that Jeremiah Wright seemed to have for white people, that was very eye opening to me. And so you have to look not at what a politician says, but what they do, you know, and if they have a record, you know, looking at their record is a great way, if they've made votes, to understand who they truly are, but also their associations. And Jeremiah Wright was. It was a very negative association for me. Of course, I didn't like the Iraq war at the time, but this brought me to a place where, like. Well, I don't really like Jon McCain and I don't really like Barack Obama. And I was going to vote for Barack Obama, but at the time I just. That was the first year I could vote. I don't think I voted at all. And I waited until 2010, and I voted, Republican in 2010. But in 2008 I actually didn't vote for Barack Obama because hearing what Rush Limbaugh said changed my perspective.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: You know, Christian, when you think about, leaving all the candidates out, you just look at the party platforms and let's face it, in America it's a two party system. you're either going to have a Republican winning the office or a Democrat winning the office. And other than Jon Fetterman, the senator from Pennsylvania, I don't think there's one sane Democrat. the party platform. Now Fetterman doesn't really match up to the party platform. And as many have said, even Bill Mar says this. The Democrats have been taken over by the socialists and the Islamists. They've pulled the thing so far. He even said his vote is in play now. Big, time liberal. But he's not insane. And he knows that all the transgender stuff is insane. And so much defund the police is insane. No, law and order is insane. And so, you know, when you think about that, from a Christian perspective, you ask yourself the question, how could any Christian who really, I mean, is a genuine true Christian, how could they support the things that the party platform supports for the Democrats?
Christian Collins: Yeah, I think there's a lot of Christians out there. My wife, you know, she's very conservative. She grew up in a Christian household, but she has friends that you know, grew up in church with or that are voting for this guy James Tallarico for example, who is, a seminarian and Presbyterian minister, of course, the very liberal branch of the Presbyterian Church. and you know, he's using ah, Christianity to push progressive politics. And so, sounds like he's just very welcoming of the immigrants. And I think there's pastors that I've talked to who I think are, you know, by and large, you know, pretty conservative people. but they have this idea that we should just basically harbor unending millions of illegal immigrants into our country, who often don't assimilate or that we should have chain migration into our country where you have Ilhan Omar marrying her brother to basically get here and now she's in power of a Somalian part of Minnesota. You have Abdul Seed in, in Michigan. You have Mandani in NewSong York. I mean obviously these DSA candidates are getting elected to positions of power and that's very problematic. And so, I think it's incumbent on us to push back and pray for our country and recognize that there is a force of evil out there that's trying to deter us and get us off track from our Christian heritage. Heritage or Christian roots. And, you know, our founding, of course, out of the 13 colonies. Nine of the 13 colonies had a profession of faith in their state constitutions as a requirement, Jesus Christ. So that's really powerful. That talks about, you know, where our heritage is coming from. And I don't know if you've ever seen, the movie, about George Whitefield and that just came out recently. Yeah, it was Great Awakening.
Caroline: Right.
Christian Collins: You know, that led to the American Revolution in our country. And so it was because of our Christian heritage. And it's because they recognized that their rights biblically came from God and not from a king, that they could feel the right to separate from a king who was oppressing them, you know, the British king. And so, you know, we came here, as our ancestors came here in search of religious freedom. And, you know, one of those state constitutions was Catholic. The rest were Protestant, but you had different variations of Puritan and Quaker and all these different, you know, ideas. Anglican. And so, it's incredible that we have the beautiful country we have, but we've got to fight to preserve it. And it's really at risk all the things that are going on.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so Christian. We have lots of people in Texas. So the big race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico. Talarico is a. He promotes himself as this spiritual person. he twists scripture. There are six genders. God is non binary. Jesus is a radical feminist. All these things that he has said that should be just major red flags in the minds of anyone who professes faith in Christ. This guy is not a Christian. he doesn't understand what a Christian is. I listened to his pastor on a hidden camera, Babs Miller, and, she said, well, we don't even know if Jesus ever even existed. And so you have somebody like that. It's like, well, that, that's not a Christian church. They don't follow, the, the God of the Bible. They don't follow the, the scriptures at all. They, make it up as they go along. But you have him who, who looks like, I hate to be crude, but, you know, he's just got this Howdy Doody, Richie Cunningham kind of, you know, I'm just such a sweet guy. You know, Mr. Rogers is my hero, that kind of guy. And then you have Ken Paxton, who has a lot of people don't like him, the smear campaigns against him. He's got a lot of personal moral baggage that we would say not a Perfect guy. So how, what would you say to the voter that is like, hey, I don't know how to vote in this thing because one guy seems to have, a bad moral life, and the other guy seems to have a bad theological life. And so how do you navigate between those two?
Christian Collins: Well, you know, first I'll say that I have attorney, General Ken Paxton speaking at our conference this weekend. And I have his ex wife, you know, Angela, Paxton speaking here as well. I think they're both great, and they're speaking, to encourage our youth. And, Look, you know, I think when it comes to divorce, God doesn't like divorce. but the reality is that King David, who was described as a man after God's own heart, he, committed adultery. He made mistakes. our President of the United States, who's been the most fierce religious freedom fighter of all time, he's the only president who's spoken at the March for Life. he's, of course, put the Supreme Court justices in place that through the Dobbs decision, overturned Roe v. Wade. And so he kept his promises by moving, the US Embassy into Jerusalem. I mean, everything that he's promised to do, he's done. But he's obviously been married three times. He's not perfect. And so God can use imperfect people. And, there was a time. This is not anything new, where, Jerry Falwell, I come from Liberty University, endorsed Ronald Reagan over the pastor, you know, Jimmy Carter. I mean, this is not anything new. This is the same thing that we've been dealing with all along. And when it comes to Ken Paxton, you know, through his work, I mean, he's been the best Attorney general in the country. And, I mean, he's made mistakes, but he's fought on all of the issues that we care about. And it's important to look at their record. And his record is someone who's fought for religious liberty, fought for life. He's fought against the detransition, disability, the transitioning of kids. he's done everything that he can to support Christian values. Though he is not a perfect Christian, as are, you know, none of us are. and whereas James Talarico, he says all the right things, he's tickling people's ears. But, socialism is terrible. It's only brought tyranny, oppression, exile and poverty to every place that it's ever been presented. And that's what he's about. He wants a welcome Matt quote at our Southern border. And so he wants unending illegal immigration to change the demographics of our country so that they can stay in power forever. And, that's, that's his entire goal. And when it comes to transing of kids, of course you alluded to this, but what he said is he loves nothing more than, than trans kids. That means he wants more of them. And when an undercover person recently came and, you know, he's tried to distance himself from some of this, you know, to appear moderate in this campaign, but he's a radical and he, he has a basis, you know, for why he believes what he believes and he may try and get away for it from it. But that pastor, I think, you know, that you alluded to, said that he is going to be who he says he's going to be. Just wait. He's having to do what he's going to do right here. Moderate. But he'll come out later and he'll be strong on all the issues we care about. An undercover person came and, and asked him, said, you know, I have, you know, you know, a son who's dealing with this matter. And he goes, well, you know, we're going to make sure we fight for your son. And that's what he said privately. So, like, he's all in for those issues, and we've got to make sure that we push back against him. And so, you know, don't look at. There's no morally perfect person, but look at their record. James Talarico has been very progressively left, and Ken Paxton's been fighting for the Christian conservative values his entire career. So look at their record.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Let me ask you this, Christian. With the, Texas Youth Summit this weekend, what do you hope to accomplish? What's a win for you on this weekend?
Christian Collins: Yeah, I want, this is God's decision. But if people coming here that are just coming tonight to maybe hear Tulsi Gabbard speak, which is great, you know, I think she's amazing. You know, maybe they're coming for, you know, to hear Brandon Gill. Maybe they're coming to, Wriley Gaines or Nick Sherley, and they're not like that Christian. Well, they're going to get 45 minutes of worship anyway because they may not step into a church service, but they're coming to this conference for political reasons, and they're going to get introduced to the gospel and it's going to be an amazing worship service and, you know, it's going to be awesome. And we're going to kick off our conference that way. And we want the presence of God to be felt there. And I, I'll tell you a funny story. You know, one year we. We had just a, just every speaker was just speaking so powerfully, you know, about the presence of God. And we had Don Jr. There one night, and he didn't hear everyone else speak. And so I think we were in a Baptist church where we did this conference, and he, like, slipped out a few cuss words, and then he heard the person speaking after. And then he called me after, and he said, you know, hey, sorry about that. And I'm like, man, you're amazing. Everybody knows you're with us. And, you're just frustrated about everything that's going on with Joe Biden. I mean, it was, it was just. Everybody laughed at everything. He said it was fine. But I think he, he. He felt such a thick presence of God there. I think Kaylee Mac Mceny was speaking that year, and he's talking about the 13 followers, fallen soldiers, who were killed in, Afghanistan, you know, and back in 2001. And it was just. It was a moment where you felt the presence of God. Last year, we felt the presence of God. And that's what we want is, is for hearts to be changed. Because if you reach them in that way, then all of the stuff we're going to teach them afterward, they're going to be more ripe for that harvest.
Caroline: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Well, you can find out more. Go to texas youth summit.com texas youth summit.com and, you can still taking people, right, Christian? They can sign up today? Yeah, it'll be great. And that's for ages 18 to 26. What are the ages?
Christian Collins: Well, you know, through the demand, it's actually anyone 26 and under can essentially come in free with a $1 processing fee. So we, make this readily accessible. And anyone of any age can come though. you can just buy a ticket and support what we're doing. This is how we make it essentially free to the young people, is because we have people who are coming and being a part. And we have VIP tickets to meet Brandon Gill and Nick Sherley and Wriley Gaines.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Let me break in. So you can, you can go for a dollar. I encourage you to go. Hey, we're up against a break. When we come back, we'll be taking your calls. 888-589-8840. That's 885-89840. If you have a question for Christian Collins, please give us a call and we'll be glad to take that and answer your question. We'll be right back.
Jeff Chamblee: If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhisheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Sri here.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here on American Family Radio. I'm talking to Christian Collins. Christian is an author, speaker, and political consultant, and he is the founder of Texas Youth Summit. Texas Youth Summit, since 2019. And it has its big rally tonight and tomorrow in the Woodlands, Texas, at Woodlands Waterway Marriott. The price for anyone 26 years old and under is $1 just for processing fees. So go to texasyouthsummit.com or.org is it.com texasyouthsummit.com and you can register and be a part of that. Great speakers. Wriley Gaines. Tonight, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Brandon Gill. Boy, I love Brandon Gill. Ken Paxton, Nick Sherley, Tulsi Gabbard. On Saturday, Pastor Rob McCoy, Senator Ted Cruz and Chloe Cole. And, obviously Christian is going to be speaking and great meeting music. It's just going to be a great, great time. And so I encourage you to go and, parents, bring your kids. Get them to come. And now parents can come, too, I'm assuming, right, Christian?
Christian Collins: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. You don't even have to have kids of age. You could come. So anybody can buy a ticket.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: All right, very good. Well, we're going to the phone lines. If you have a question or comment for Christian, we'd, love to hear from you. The number is 888-589-8840, 8885, 898840. And we have David on the line from Virginia. David, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, sir.
Caroline: Good morning.
Caroline: Hey, day, before yesterday, you were doing Sherathan with Bert Harper, and you were speaking about, Grok, the AI Bot. And you, you had a bunch of topics, hot topics that we're all hearing about, on the news every day and that, you know, the, the good ones were leaning toward or pointing toward the, Republicans and the bad ones towards the, Democrats.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Caroline: And. And I was. Man, I tell you what I, My question is, is, would you consider doing a YouTube video on that or, like a short? Because, being able to share that, I think would be huge because, information is key. And a lot of people, a lot of Christians, man, they're, They're. They're voting Democrat because I just don't think they, they fully understand, you know, these topics, and they want to be, you know, Pro life. But, and then my other question is, Romans 10:17, it says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But a lot of times I hear it quoted, so then faith comes by hearing and by hearing the word of God, like there's a little bit of a difference in the words. And I was wondering, is, is there a difference? Like, could there be two different meanings if you change those words around? You know what I mean?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Well, I think Romans 10:17 is clear. You're not going to have faith without hearing the word of God. so that's our mandate. We're his witnesses. And what do we witness to? We witness to, the Lord's death, burial and resurrection. And we share the word of God. And then when a person puts his faith and trust in the record that God has given us in his word, then that person can come to Christ Christian. you want to say anything about that?
Christian Collins: Yeah, I think that's a beautiful start. Starting, place. I mean, I think we have to base everything on Scripture. And, and I love that. One thing I love about Hebrews 11:1, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I think of Jerry Falwell, who I went to Liberty University. He saw something before it was, it was literally a trash yard, a dump. And he saw a billion dollar institution that would become the biggest, ah, Baptist university in the biggest evangelical, university in the country. And so, God can use us sometimes to do some things that only he can do. And so we can only do so much in the natural, but he can do the supernatural. And that's what we have to rely on, is his strength.
Caroline: Right?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And I think too, David, that verse speaks against this. Name it and claim it. You know, what do you want? Just name it and claim it by faith. No, faith has to be rooted in the word of God. Because true faith is always God says it. And then faith is okay, God, I believe what you have said, said, and I'm stepping out on that. So the classic example is Peter walking on the water. He said, lord, if it's really you, bid me come to you on the water. And he said, come. And then Peter was able to leave the boat and walk on the water because of the word that Jesus gave him. Nobody can walk on water on his own. You, can only do that if Jesus enables you to do that. And so, that is, I think a good illustration of Roman Romans 10:17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And when we hear the Word and do the Word, we don't want to be hearers, only we want to be doers. So when you do the Word, that shows God, I really believe you. I was talking to, George Barna about that and he said, you know, I mentioned that quote from Peter Lord. This probably before your time, Christian. But Peter Lord said, what we really believe, we practice. All the rest is just religious talk. And if you really believe it, how does God know you really believe it? Because you do it. Faith without works is dead being by itself. So I appreciate the call, David, and I'll consider doing that. Christian, I had done something with AI where I just asked all the moral issues of this election and I said, give me a D or give me an R, who's going to support this and which one? And it was consistent, all the way down the line. Any moral issue. Republicans are better than Democrats and AI, which has trouble with moral issues. But as far as just looking at party platforms, they said, yeah, Republican, Republican, Republican. And so that is, something that, I'll probably bring up. I'm doing a sermon series on religion and politics. I think I'm going to bring that up in that series. So I appreciate that, David. Well, we have, ah, another David on the line from Florida. David, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, Pastor. And I appreciate your guest. as he was talking about his experience as a young man and growing in the youth and trying to reach the young kids, what came to mind for me was what God did to Israel. 40 years in the wilderness to weed out all those that were entrenched in their beliefs and what they're in their theologies. And they were unwilling to allow new stuff enough to come in, new growth and new expansion on who God is and his abilities to go beyond where we think we've reached our plateau. We could just kick back on our laurels and just enjoy the sunrise and the sunsets until God calls us home. And that's what I think is going on, is the youth is getting it and the older people are losing it because they're stuck in their ways. And that's my thought.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, Christian, anything to add to that?
Christian Collins: Well, Ronald Reagan said freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction and every generation has to fight to preserve it. And you guys have done your part, but it's incumbent on Gen Z and Gen Alpha. I'm a millennial, but Gen Z and Gen Alpha to learn to fight for their freedom and that's the hard truth is that there may never be a generation as great as the baby boomers, or our gen. You know, our, you know, I mean, The World War II generation, I think, is probably the greatest. But I mean, you know, you have. You have, you have the next generation. And we all have to fight to be the very best that we can be. And, you know, we have to fight for freedom. We have to do everything that we can to do everything that we can to. To reach people for truth for God and country. And that's what we're trying to do, is preserve this land that we love. I mean, 70% of the gospel work around the world is funded because of benevolent people, Christian people. Here in the United States of America, we have a prosperous country, and God has blessed us to be a blessing all around the world, and that's what we need to preserve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Well, thank you, David. I appreciate that. We have our friend Linda on the line from Texas. Linda, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Thank you so much, both of you. I am just. I wish you could see us where we are. I am like a wound up court. I mean, I am just so excited about this program. And, I. That Psalm 145 is a Psalm that some of us pray together for the youth. And that is the scripture that we use. this one generation. Declare your works to the next. And, I am just, Christian Collins, I am glad that I wrote your name down. I'm going to be praying for you. That's what just blew me away, that I had the name of somebody that is just, you know, ministering to this youth. And, and so I just, I am blessed beyond measure. And, I am. Can you tell I'm m. Wound up?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. Well, we, this is. Yeah, we appreciate your prayers, Linda, and you're such a faithful listener to the program, and I appreciate you, encouraging me and encouraging our guests. And, Christian is doing a great work in reaching the younger people with the truth of the gospel and then how the gospel shapes, how a person votes and how a person sees the culture. You know, we talked about a biblical worldview. You know, the big question is, and Ken Ham always brings this up, are we going to build on God's word or are we going to build on man's word? Because if you build on man's word, you're building on the sand. As you had mentioned, Christian, you build on God's word, you build on the rock. Only one is going to Stand the test of the storms and the other is going to be wiped out. Let me ask you this, for those that are hesitant when it comes to politics, because they say politics is dirty, you've been involved in politics from a Christian perspective. You've seen the underbelly. You know that, yeah, you're not dealing with. Not everybody in politics is the Apostle Paul. probably there might not be any Apostle Paul's in politics, but you're dealing with some people that can be very egotistical, power hungry, mean, it's all about me type of attitude. How do you keep yourself from getting stained by that?
Christian Collins: Well, you have to put on the full armor of God. I'll tell you a quick story. I went to the University of Texas at San Antonio, and there's hundreds of people there. And a lot of the people there were very hostile and negative toward me. And one such case, a young lady came up and read a poem about Charlie's Kirk assassination with such glee. And then she joked about my own neck and said, you're brave to be out here without your neck covered. And, you know, that sounds very dirty and vicious, right? I mean, after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, here I, am sitting in the prove me wrong chair and I'm, you know, there's a roundabout threat that's being made against me. And so, you know, politics can feel like a dirty business. But what they want for us to do is, because of that situation with Charlie Kirk, you know, a terror attack, essentially. They want us to draw back and be intimidated and not keep going, but we have to keep going. And I think, obviously if you're not involved on the front lines and seeing the belly of the beast like I am, I mean, there are very vicious people who just want to silence us. But we have to continue to have civil discourse in this country, respectfully. And you, know, I always put the mic down. I listen to everything that youth have to say before I, you know, say what I'm going to say. And that's what we need to do, is have civil discourse. We need to have, have mutual respect for one another. And there are, you know, liberals and Democrats who, you know, are that way. But there are some very radical leftists. There's a contingency there that want to silence us. And that can feel very scary for a Christian, to want to get involved in any of that because, you know, it's a dirty business. I'd rather just not bother myself. But if you do not fill that void, that void will be Filled by someone else. And Plato said it best if not get involved in politics. You're going to leave yourself to be governed by your inferiors.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, great. Great point. Well, thank you, Linda. We have Greg on the line from Michigan. Greg, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Hey, good morning, Pastor Jeff. And Christian, enjoying the show very much, thank you. My, My question is, there is a conservative talk show host. I won't mention any names, but his initials are G.B. I'll let you figure that one out for yourself. And he professes to be a, Christian. And many times on his show, he does discuss Jesus Christ, but he is a follower of, lds, Latter, Day of Saints. My question is the Latter Day of Saints, would that be considered a Christian church? I know he speaks of Jesus Christ, but I'm not sure if the Jesus Christ, that we understand him to be. Right, just a question. Comment on that.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, great, question. But the Mormons, if you believe Mormon theology, you put your faith and trust in another Jesus whom we have not preached, as Paul says, Christian. you want to comment on that?
Christian Collins: Well, and just some little insider baseball, I think. Glenn's married to a Mormon and he keeps his associations there. But as I understand it, he's also visiting, an evangelical church on, Saturday nights, and he goes to the Mormon Church on Sunday. And I think he has his foot in both camps. I mean, I think he understands the differences. I mean, he's just been steeped in tradition of his upbringing, his background. But I think he, you know, I think he's with us on most things. And so politically, when I put that hat on, obviously, spiritually, we have strong disagreements, because the book of, you know, Revelation says nothing should be added or taken away from this book. You know, so there are theological differences, but, you know, politically, they're with us. Nick Sherley's actually, you know, grew up Mormon. he's speaking at our conference. And I, you know, and I politically, I mean, I go and I work with people all over our community, and I have Mormons attending our conference. And we understand our differences, but, you know, when it comes to fighting on social issues and fighting to protect, preserve our country, there's a lot of great patriots. And, we need to, you know, we need to work together politically to beat the communists in our country. And, there's. There's a. I mean, I've never seen any Mormons just randomly blow up. I've seen, you know, so.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, Christian, thank you for being my guest today. We're out of time, but texas youth summit.com texasyouthsummit.com you can still go. It's Friday and Saturday night there in the Woodlands. you won't be disappointed. It's going to be a great blessing. Well, thanks for listening. Real truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Go out, shine for Christ. Share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. God bless you.
Jeff Chamblee: Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now, here's Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Friday morning and welcome to Real Truth for Today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Hope you're having a wonderful morning. Wanted to give you an update on Shareathon 2020 2026, our fall share a thon. the pledges came in and the gifts came in right at $4 million. So we praise the Lord for that and we thank you for partnering with us here at American Family Association, American Family Radio. And, we're just so grateful and thankful for you. Well, I wanted to read from Psalm 145, a Psalm of David. He says, I will extol you, my God, O King, and, And I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and mighty and highly to be praised. And his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wonderful works, I will meditate. Well, it's a privilege for me to welcome to the program a man who is, committed to reaching the next generation and to pass the baton to the next generation. The baton of faith. And his name is Christian Collins. He is author, of the book second wind, a365 daily, devotional designed to help you pursue God and his greater calling for your life. And he's also the founder of Texas Youth Summit. And Texas Youth Summit has been meeting since 2019, and they meet this weekend. So we're blessed to have Christian Collins. It's a busy, busy, day, a busy weekend for him. But Christian, welcome to the program.
Christian Collins: Pastor Jeff, thank you for having me on. It's truly an honor. And thank you for your voice around Texas and our country. We really appreciate it.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I appreciate you, my friend. And I, love this, emphasis and the focus of your life and ministry to reach the next generation with, the Judeo Christian values that, we were reached with. And now we're passing that baton, hopefully on to the next generation, Christian. Most of us are very, very concerned about, dropping the baton. And it seems like in many instances our kids are being brainwashed in the public school system. And, they grow up thinking that socialism is great, that, teaming up with, Islam is the way to go. abortion is fine up until birth. I mean, it's just all these evil, demonic things, and they seem to be embracing them. So you deal with young people on a regular basis. what's your opinion of the culture right now and how do we turn that around?
Christian Collins: Well, I mean, it really is just like you said. I mean, there's so much progressive ideology that is steeped into the hearts and minds of our young people. and I'm doing everything that I can, with our team to reach the next generation. And we've been doing this for eight years now. And this is our eighth conference coming up tonight. And I'm at actually at a hotel. I don't have a studio or anything. I'm in a hotel room. and, it's at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott. And we're going to have, you know, just thousands of people here, and it's going to be awesome. We're going to kick it off with worship. Last year we had over a hundred people commit their lives to Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen.
Christian Collins: And that was really powerful. And, the worship service is really compelling. And so, we've always been about Judeo Christian values and conservative principles. But, you know, last year we wanted a greater emphasis on just having a personal relationship with Jesus. And that's the starting point. And then the worldview comes after. And, in. In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, we really wanted to recognize him. He had been a longtime speaker at our conference. And then, you know, we are, of course, just wanting to point people to Christ. It's obviously a horrible situation that happened, but we wanted to point people to Christ. And, it was beautiful. And we, had so many great speakers last year, and we're excited to continue that, tonight. And, I'm grateful just for all the partnerships that we have and all the opportunities we have to share the good word. And, I'm grateful to Fox Nation and Daystar and Right side Broadcasting Network for covering this event. I'm grateful to partners like Turnpoint USA and Leadership Institute and so many others that are just hand in hand with us in the fight to reach the next generation. It's, incredible. And I'm just grateful to God for the opportunity.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, you have, Wriley Gaines tonight, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Brandon Gill, Ken Paxton, Nick Sherley, who, became a sensation by just doing, his own investigation of all the corruption there in Minnesota and then in Los Angeles and different cities in California. Tulsi Gabbard is going to be there, tonight. And then, Pastor Rob McCoy, Senator Ted Cruz, Chloe Cole, somebody that I really appreciate her courage. You know, she was detransitioned and then, came to her senses and said, God didn't make me to be a boy. He made me to be a female. but she's suffering the scars and the pain and the toil that that took with all the lying that, people did to her. Let me ask you this, Christian, how did you get started in this kind of work?
Christian Collins: Yeah, great question. You know, I grew up in a Christian home and my parents pastored a church. But around the time of college, I fell away, not just, politically, I mean, but from my faith. And so I called myself agnostic, and you know, my parents were conservative. They just didn't know a lot about politics. And I became interested in Barack Obama. I had, well and good intention and I just liked the idea of there being a black president. I, liked that he came from humble beginnings and only in America you can go from nothing to something like that and rose to the highest heights of power. And so, I just was intrigued by him and I was reading his book and, my dad bought me that book. And later on though, my dad began to have a different opinion. But I'll get to that in a second. But when I went off to college, I had actually a kind liberal teacher. I mean, there are leftists out there, but then there are liberals who I think are good people. But. And I just want to distinguish the difference. And she, you know, showed us Micah Moore videos. And I essentially was liberal on climate change and gun control. And so I joined the University Democrats. I became very progressive in my ideology. And, what school was that?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Christian?
Christian Collins: Well, I Went to Lone Star College in Houston, and then I went to the University of Texas at Austin. Well, there you go. Well, and my dad showed me, he began listening to Rush Limbaugh. Of course, your listeners will know he's the greatest conservative radio of all time. And I have to explain that to our generation, younger, generation that, I'm talking to. But that turned me into conservative. And, I joined the College Republicans. I majored in government. And I, was debating for, the College Republicans against the University Democrats on Obamacare. And so, I was very conservative at that point. And, you know, basically I didn't want kids going through life turning out like I did. And I wanted them to have the firm foundation so that their houses, as the parable talks about in Scripture, are built on the rock, the firm foundation, and not the sand, and they're swept away by false ideology. And I'll just, you know, share one more point. You know, I read Lee Strobel's book A Case for Christ, and that. That book really helped me come to faith. the apologetics, the, the evidence, the corroborating evidence in that book was overwhelming. And, it really helped me come to a point where I could believe that Jesus Christ really is who he said he was. He's the son of God and God, in the flesh. And that book helped me so much because you really couldn't think after reading that book. Well, he's just, you know, a good man or prophet. It was martyred. You know, as CS Lewis said, he's either a liar, a lunatic, or he's Lord. There's no in between. So I, I came to a place where I, I could believe, but it was going to a church where I, I really came to faith. And that turned my life around. Having an experience and experiencing the presence of God. And that was powerful. And I did a.180. but my whole goal is that people will never go through that phase. I think 5% of kids and pastors, kids, and you, you may, you know, experience this or have seen this yourself, but they have a time where they fall away. And, you know, when they go off to college and they're out on their own, and 40% of them, you know, turn back. But, you know, some of them aren't so lucky. And so, But so many parents, I'm sure, are concerned about the direction of their kids. And that's why we're doing that. They can turn out right.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so you were how old when you were at the University of Texas
Christian Collins: Christian, 21 through 22. So I went there for two years.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so you go as a big time liberal, and then you have the spiritual transformation and then the political transformation. How did that, did that work all kind of simultaneously?
Christian Collins: Well, it was political first and then it was spiritual later. And, I was still conservative, agnostic. The spiritual came later. but, you know, God had my political ideal, political ideology had turned around, but God had to work on my heart, you know, spiritually. And when I surrendered my life to Christ, everything changed. And so, you know, there's a couple more experiences, I think, traveling with Reverend Rafael Cruz, Ted Cruz's father, around the country when Ted Ranch president and he's a firebrand. And, you know, I'd kind of thought about going into ministry. And, but traveling with Raphael helped me see that politics could be a ministry. And as. As can anything. I mean, you, you pastor a large church, and I'm sure you encourage so many people to, to be a minister in their workplace. And I found that to be a possibility in, in politics. And so, you know, that's what I'm seeking to do is to be salt and light. And my w are just really, excited about the opportunity to share the gospel, you know, through the lens and realm of politics. It's, It's a great opportunity. We're getting to do that every single day. But, Raphael, I think, really helped me connect and bridge, you know, that politics can be a ministry. And, that, that was a beautiful thing to me because it gave me so much more meaning and purpose in the work that I was doing.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, you know, we have, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Willie Rice, just came out on Fox News, and he was on our program just a week before that, saying the same thing about pastors need to get involved and you need to let, the people know. Here are the issues at stake. We have a lot at stake in Texas. And, we have pastors Christian as, you know, pastors that don't want to do anything that would be controversial or say anything that could be considered political. And I agree with Willie Rice. It's like, well, the politics, they've waded into the area of biblical morality. And it is required of pastors to stand up and say, this is wrong. And if you're going to vote for a candidate that's pro abortion, pro transgender insanity, pro, defund the police, all those things are biblical things. And you need to stand up and speak up and say, don't vote for that.
Christian Collins: Yeah, you're so right. And, you know, I don't want to speak ill of anyone. you know, I've been blessed to meet, you know, pastors like Rick Warren and travel with them around Houston. They have so much good and they offer so much wisdom. But, I just think the whole seeker sensitive movement as a whole has been misguided because it sought to not be controversial.
: Ah.
Christian Collins: Or not take strong stances on, on certain issues. I got to intern at a church in Charlotte, North Carolina, that at the time, I think was Southern Baptist. And they said they wanted to be known for what they're for, not for what they're against. And their music is in every, every church in America. I mean, I think they're doing a lot of good work, but I, I really think it's important that churches take strong stances on these biblical issues, especially on the issue of abortion or gender. You know, the Bible definitely has something to say about all this homosexuality, the LGBTQ stuff. It's so pervasive. If we're not teaching about this in, in our youth groups or, you know, just from the, the platform, then they're going to learn about it from Tick Tock or, you know, social media, their public schools. They're going to get this ideology from somewhere else. And so it's important that we speak to these issues, as a church and we ask our pastors to, to dig deeper. And, you know, I think some of them, maybe they're worried about their tithes or offerings. I don't, I don't know what goes through their heads, but it shouldn't be their nonprofit status because, you know, this is a biblical issue. And, and actually, pastors can endorse individually. They can endorse whoever they want. They can endorse any person they want. Their church can't, but they can. And so, it's just, they can. They need to get involved in politics. And of course, the registration date has already passed, but our churches also need to be registering people to vote. we need to be mobilized and active and engaged citizens.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. We're talking to Christian Collins. He is the, founder of Texas Youth Summit. Meets this Friday and Saturday in the Woodlands, Texas, at the Woodlands Waterway Hotel, Marriott. And expecting thousands of people there, big lineup of great speakers and not too late to get involved. Is that right, Christian?
Christian Collins: That's it. You can go to texasyouthsummit.com events and there's still some time to sign up, so. So we'd love to see you here.
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Jeff Chamblee: This is real truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff. Here I'm talking to Christian Collins. We're talking about reaching the next generation. One generation shall praise your name to another and passing that baton of faith on to the next generation. And not just the baton of faith, although that is critical, but also the baton of a biblical worldview. Christian and I taped a program this week with George Barna, and we were talking about a biblical worldview. And he's done a lot of research, as you know, George Barna, big name in, in surveys and things like that. And he said, 4% of the population in America, adults, have a biblical worldview. Six percent of professing Christians have a biblical worldview. And less than 50% of those in ministry pastors have a biblical worldview. So in this Texas Youth Summit that is this Friday and Saturday in the Woodlands, Texas, at Woodlands Waterway Marriott, you guys talk about a biblical worldview. You talk about faith in Christ, what that means, and then you talk about what's at stake, and you talk about seeing life through the lens of Scripture. Okay, so you're a guy who was not seeing life through the lens of scripture, but you had a transformation. I want to get into that a little bit more with you. You said it happened first through Rush, Limbaugh, and there was a political, opening of your eyes and then a spiritual opening. Opening of your eyes. Tell me first about the political. How did, what did listening to Rush Limbaugh do for you? Because I would Think as a liberal, liberal, agnostic, you wouldn't have initially liked Rush Limbaugh, right?
Christian Collins: Well, you know, I think when Rush was bringing out Jeremiah Wright and talking about Barack Obama's pastor at the time, because Barack Obama, you know, was somebody that I thought was trying to bring people together. That's the way he was talking. And on the contrary, you know, he was very steeped in black liberation theology. And so Jeremiah Wright was saying things like the chicken were chickens were going to come home to roost. And that, America basically deserved 9, 11 for the sins and atrocities they've committed around the world. So that was one thing that was just baffling. And I think the other thing, you know, was just the, the disdain that he had for white people in general. And I think, white, heterosexual, Christian men specifically, I feel like, have become an enigma in academia. I've worked in colleges and universities, for some time, and I've just, I've felt that sort of discrimination by people that just don't like me simply for who I am. And, you know, I'm very amicable. I'm trying to be kind to everybody, but that's just what I'm seeing on the ground. And, I, I've seen that. I've done pick up the mic with Turning Point usa, where essentially we're doing the Prove me wrong type format, just like Charlie Kirk did. And that steeped into the students, because these students, I've gone to utsa, I went there and there were hundreds of students there, 60% negative, and they were heckling me. I think that's because of the professors. But I digress. When it comes to Barack Obama, you know, that learning about just the disdain that Jeremiah Wright seemed to have for white people, that was very eye opening to me. And so you have to look not at what a politician says, but what they do, you know, and if they have a record, you know, looking at their record is a great way, if they've made votes, to understand who they truly are, but also their associations. And Jeremiah Wright was. It was a very negative association for me. Of course, I didn't like the Iraq war at the time, but this brought me to a place where, like. Well, I don't really like Jon McCain and I don't really like Barack Obama. And I was going to vote for Barack Obama, but at the time I just. That was the first year I could vote. I don't think I voted at all. And I waited until 2010, and I voted, Republican in 2010. But in 2008 I actually didn't vote for Barack Obama because hearing what Rush Limbaugh said changed my perspective.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: You know, Christian, when you think about, leaving all the candidates out, you just look at the party platforms and let's face it, in America it's a two party system. you're either going to have a Republican winning the office or a Democrat winning the office. And other than Jon Fetterman, the senator from Pennsylvania, I don't think there's one sane Democrat. the party platform. Now Fetterman doesn't really match up to the party platform. And as many have said, even Bill Mar says this. The Democrats have been taken over by the socialists and the Islamists. They've pulled the thing so far. He even said his vote is in play now. Big, time liberal. But he's not insane. And he knows that all the transgender stuff is insane. And so much defund the police is insane. No, law and order is insane. And so, you know, when you think about that, from a Christian perspective, you ask yourself the question, how could any Christian who really, I mean, is a genuine true Christian, how could they support the things that the party platform supports for the Democrats?
Christian Collins: Yeah, I think there's a lot of Christians out there. My wife, you know, she's very conservative. She grew up in a Christian household, but she has friends that you know, grew up in church with or that are voting for this guy James Tallarico for example, who is, a seminarian and Presbyterian minister, of course, the very liberal branch of the Presbyterian Church. and you know, he's using ah, Christianity to push progressive politics. And so, sounds like he's just very welcoming of the immigrants. And I think there's pastors that I've talked to who I think are, you know, by and large, you know, pretty conservative people. but they have this idea that we should just basically harbor unending millions of illegal immigrants into our country, who often don't assimilate or that we should have chain migration into our country where you have Ilhan Omar marrying her brother to basically get here and now she's in power of a Somalian part of Minnesota. You have Abdul Seed in, in Michigan. You have Mandani in NewSong York. I mean obviously these DSA candidates are getting elected to positions of power and that's very problematic. And so, I think it's incumbent on us to push back and pray for our country and recognize that there is a force of evil out there that's trying to deter us and get us off track from our Christian heritage. Heritage or Christian roots. And, you know, our founding, of course, out of the 13 colonies. Nine of the 13 colonies had a profession of faith in their state constitutions as a requirement, Jesus Christ. So that's really powerful. That talks about, you know, where our heritage is coming from. And I don't know if you've ever seen, the movie, about George Whitefield and that just came out recently. Yeah, it was Great Awakening.
Caroline: Right.
Christian Collins: You know, that led to the American Revolution in our country. And so it was because of our Christian heritage. And it's because they recognized that their rights biblically came from God and not from a king, that they could feel the right to separate from a king who was oppressing them, you know, the British king. And so, you know, we came here, as our ancestors came here in search of religious freedom. And, you know, one of those state constitutions was Catholic. The rest were Protestant, but you had different variations of Puritan and Quaker and all these different, you know, ideas. Anglican. And so, it's incredible that we have the beautiful country we have, but we've got to fight to preserve it. And it's really at risk all the things that are going on.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so Christian. We have lots of people in Texas. So the big race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico. Talarico is a. He promotes himself as this spiritual person. he twists scripture. There are six genders. God is non binary. Jesus is a radical feminist. All these things that he has said that should be just major red flags in the minds of anyone who professes faith in Christ. This guy is not a Christian. he doesn't understand what a Christian is. I listened to his pastor on a hidden camera, Babs Miller, and, she said, well, we don't even know if Jesus ever even existed. And so you have somebody like that. It's like, well, that, that's not a Christian church. They don't follow, the, the God of the Bible. They don't follow the, the scriptures at all. They, make it up as they go along. But you have him who, who looks like, I hate to be crude, but, you know, he's just got this Howdy Doody, Richie Cunningham kind of, you know, I'm just such a sweet guy. You know, Mr. Rogers is my hero, that kind of guy. And then you have Ken Paxton, who has a lot of people don't like him, the smear campaigns against him. He's got a lot of personal moral baggage that we would say not a Perfect guy. So how, what would you say to the voter that is like, hey, I don't know how to vote in this thing because one guy seems to have, a bad moral life, and the other guy seems to have a bad theological life. And so how do you navigate between those two?
Christian Collins: Well, you know, first I'll say that I have attorney, General Ken Paxton speaking at our conference this weekend. And I have his ex wife, you know, Angela, Paxton speaking here as well. I think they're both great, and they're speaking, to encourage our youth. And, Look, you know, I think when it comes to divorce, God doesn't like divorce. but the reality is that King David, who was described as a man after God's own heart, he, committed adultery. He made mistakes. our President of the United States, who's been the most fierce religious freedom fighter of all time, he's the only president who's spoken at the March for Life. he's, of course, put the Supreme Court justices in place that through the Dobbs decision, overturned Roe v. Wade. And so he kept his promises by moving, the US Embassy into Jerusalem. I mean, everything that he's promised to do, he's done. But he's obviously been married three times. He's not perfect. And so God can use imperfect people. And, there was a time. This is not anything new, where, Jerry Falwell, I come from Liberty University, endorsed Ronald Reagan over the pastor, you know, Jimmy Carter. I mean, this is not anything new. This is the same thing that we've been dealing with all along. And when it comes to Ken Paxton, you know, through his work, I mean, he's been the best Attorney general in the country. And, I mean, he's made mistakes, but he's fought on all of the issues that we care about. And it's important to look at their record. And his record is someone who's fought for religious liberty, fought for life. He's fought against the detransition, disability, the transitioning of kids. he's done everything that he can to support Christian values. Though he is not a perfect Christian, as are, you know, none of us are. and whereas James Talarico, he says all the right things, he's tickling people's ears. But, socialism is terrible. It's only brought tyranny, oppression, exile and poverty to every place that it's ever been presented. And that's what he's about. He wants a welcome Matt quote at our Southern border. And so he wants unending illegal immigration to change the demographics of our country so that they can stay in power forever. And, that's, that's his entire goal. And when it comes to transing of kids, of course you alluded to this, but what he said is he loves nothing more than, than trans kids. That means he wants more of them. And when an undercover person recently came and, you know, he's tried to distance himself from some of this, you know, to appear moderate in this campaign, but he's a radical and he, he has a basis, you know, for why he believes what he believes and he may try and get away for it from it. But that pastor, I think, you know, that you alluded to, said that he is going to be who he says he's going to be. Just wait. He's having to do what he's going to do right here. Moderate. But he'll come out later and he'll be strong on all the issues we care about. An undercover person came and, and asked him, said, you know, I have, you know, you know, a son who's dealing with this matter. And he goes, well, you know, we're going to make sure we fight for your son. And that's what he said privately. So, like, he's all in for those issues, and we've got to make sure that we push back against him. And so, you know, don't look at. There's no morally perfect person, but look at their record. James Talarico has been very progressively left, and Ken Paxton's been fighting for the Christian conservative values his entire career. So look at their record.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Let me ask you this, Christian. With the, Texas Youth Summit this weekend, what do you hope to accomplish? What's a win for you on this weekend?
Christian Collins: Yeah, I want, this is God's decision. But if people coming here that are just coming tonight to maybe hear Tulsi Gabbard speak, which is great, you know, I think she's amazing. You know, maybe they're coming for, you know, to hear Brandon Gill. Maybe they're coming to, Wriley Gaines or Nick Sherley, and they're not like that Christian. Well, they're going to get 45 minutes of worship anyway because they may not step into a church service, but they're coming to this conference for political reasons, and they're going to get introduced to the gospel and it's going to be an amazing worship service and, you know, it's going to be awesome. And we're going to kick off our conference that way. And we want the presence of God to be felt there. And I, I'll tell you a funny story. You know, one year we. We had just a, just every speaker was just speaking so powerfully, you know, about the presence of God. And we had Don Jr. There one night, and he didn't hear everyone else speak. And so I think we were in a Baptist church where we did this conference, and he, like, slipped out a few cuss words, and then he heard the person speaking after. And then he called me after, and he said, you know, hey, sorry about that. And I'm like, man, you're amazing. Everybody knows you're with us. And, you're just frustrated about everything that's going on with Joe Biden. I mean, it was, it was just. Everybody laughed at everything. He said it was fine. But I think he, he. He felt such a thick presence of God there. I think Kaylee Mac Mceny was speaking that year, and he's talking about the 13 followers, fallen soldiers, who were killed in, Afghanistan, you know, and back in 2001. And it was just. It was a moment where you felt the presence of God. Last year, we felt the presence of God. And that's what we want is, is for hearts to be changed. Because if you reach them in that way, then all of the stuff we're going to teach them afterward, they're going to be more ripe for that harvest.
Caroline: Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Well, you can find out more. Go to texas youth summit.com texas youth summit.com and, you can still taking people, right, Christian? They can sign up today? Yeah, it'll be great. And that's for ages 18 to 26. What are the ages?
Christian Collins: Well, you know, through the demand, it's actually anyone 26 and under can essentially come in free with a $1 processing fee. So we, make this readily accessible. And anyone of any age can come though. you can just buy a ticket and support what we're doing. This is how we make it essentially free to the young people, is because we have people who are coming and being a part. And we have VIP tickets to meet Brandon Gill and Nick Sherley and Wriley Gaines.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Let me break in. So you can, you can go for a dollar. I encourage you to go. Hey, we're up against a break. When we come back, we'll be taking your calls. 888-589-8840. That's 885-89840. If you have a question for Christian Collins, please give us a call and we'll be glad to take that and answer your question. We'll be right back.
Jeff Chamblee: If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhisheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Sri here.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here on American Family Radio. I'm talking to Christian Collins. Christian is an author, speaker, and political consultant, and he is the founder of Texas Youth Summit. Texas Youth Summit, since 2019. And it has its big rally tonight and tomorrow in the Woodlands, Texas, at Woodlands Waterway Marriott. The price for anyone 26 years old and under is $1 just for processing fees. So go to texasyouthsummit.com or.org is it.com texasyouthsummit.com and you can register and be a part of that. Great speakers. Wriley Gaines. Tonight, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Brandon Gill. Boy, I love Brandon Gill. Ken Paxton, Nick Sherley, Tulsi Gabbard. On Saturday, Pastor Rob McCoy, Senator Ted Cruz and Chloe Cole. And, obviously Christian is going to be speaking and great meeting music. It's just going to be a great, great time. And so I encourage you to go and, parents, bring your kids. Get them to come. And now parents can come, too, I'm assuming, right, Christian?
Christian Collins: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. You don't even have to have kids of age. You could come. So anybody can buy a ticket.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: All right, very good. Well, we're going to the phone lines. If you have a question or comment for Christian, we'd, love to hear from you. The number is 888-589-8840, 8885, 898840. And we have David on the line from Virginia. David, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, sir.
Caroline: Good morning.
Caroline: Hey, day, before yesterday, you were doing Sherathan with Bert Harper, and you were speaking about, Grok, the AI Bot. And you, you had a bunch of topics, hot topics that we're all hearing about, on the news every day and that, you know, the, the good ones were leaning toward or pointing toward the, Republicans and the bad ones towards the, Democrats.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Caroline: And. And I was. Man, I tell you what I, My question is, is, would you consider doing a YouTube video on that or, like a short? Because, being able to share that, I think would be huge because, information is key. And a lot of people, a lot of Christians, man, they're, They're. They're voting Democrat because I just don't think they, they fully understand, you know, these topics, and they want to be, you know, Pro life. But, and then my other question is, Romans 10:17, it says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But a lot of times I hear it quoted, so then faith comes by hearing and by hearing the word of God, like there's a little bit of a difference in the words. And I was wondering, is, is there a difference? Like, could there be two different meanings if you change those words around? You know what I mean?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Well, I think Romans 10:17 is clear. You're not going to have faith without hearing the word of God. so that's our mandate. We're his witnesses. And what do we witness to? We witness to, the Lord's death, burial and resurrection. And we share the word of God. And then when a person puts his faith and trust in the record that God has given us in his word, then that person can come to Christ Christian. you want to say anything about that?
Christian Collins: Yeah, I think that's a beautiful start. Starting, place. I mean, I think we have to base everything on Scripture. And, and I love that. One thing I love about Hebrews 11:1, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I think of Jerry Falwell, who I went to Liberty University. He saw something before it was, it was literally a trash yard, a dump. And he saw a billion dollar institution that would become the biggest, ah, Baptist university in the biggest evangelical, university in the country. And so, God can use us sometimes to do some things that only he can do. And so we can only do so much in the natural, but he can do the supernatural. And that's what we have to rely on, is his strength.
Caroline: Right?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And I think too, David, that verse speaks against this. Name it and claim it. You know, what do you want? Just name it and claim it by faith. No, faith has to be rooted in the word of God. Because true faith is always God says it. And then faith is okay, God, I believe what you have said, said, and I'm stepping out on that. So the classic example is Peter walking on the water. He said, lord, if it's really you, bid me come to you on the water. And he said, come. And then Peter was able to leave the boat and walk on the water because of the word that Jesus gave him. Nobody can walk on water on his own. You, can only do that if Jesus enables you to do that. And so, that is, I think a good illustration of Roman Romans 10:17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And when we hear the Word and do the Word, we don't want to be hearers, only we want to be doers. So when you do the Word, that shows God, I really believe you. I was talking to, George Barna about that and he said, you know, I mentioned that quote from Peter Lord. This probably before your time, Christian. But Peter Lord said, what we really believe, we practice. All the rest is just religious talk. And if you really believe it, how does God know you really believe it? Because you do it. Faith without works is dead being by itself. So I appreciate the call, David, and I'll consider doing that. Christian, I had done something with AI where I just asked all the moral issues of this election and I said, give me a D or give me an R, who's going to support this and which one? And it was consistent, all the way down the line. Any moral issue. Republicans are better than Democrats and AI, which has trouble with moral issues. But as far as just looking at party platforms, they said, yeah, Republican, Republican, Republican. And so that is, something that, I'll probably bring up. I'm doing a sermon series on religion and politics. I think I'm going to bring that up in that series. So I appreciate that, David. Well, we have, ah, another David on the line from Florida. David, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, Pastor. And I appreciate your guest. as he was talking about his experience as a young man and growing in the youth and trying to reach the young kids, what came to mind for me was what God did to Israel. 40 years in the wilderness to weed out all those that were entrenched in their beliefs and what they're in their theologies. And they were unwilling to allow new stuff enough to come in, new growth and new expansion on who God is and his abilities to go beyond where we think we've reached our plateau. We could just kick back on our laurels and just enjoy the sunrise and the sunsets until God calls us home. And that's what I think is going on, is the youth is getting it and the older people are losing it because they're stuck in their ways. And that's my thought.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, Christian, anything to add to that?
Christian Collins: Well, Ronald Reagan said freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction and every generation has to fight to preserve it. And you guys have done your part, but it's incumbent on Gen Z and Gen Alpha. I'm a millennial, but Gen Z and Gen Alpha to learn to fight for their freedom and that's the hard truth is that there may never be a generation as great as the baby boomers, or our gen. You know, our, you know, I mean, The World War II generation, I think, is probably the greatest. But I mean, you know, you have. You have, you have the next generation. And we all have to fight to be the very best that we can be. And, you know, we have to fight for freedom. We have to do everything that we can to do everything that we can to. To reach people for truth for God and country. And that's what we're trying to do, is preserve this land that we love. I mean, 70% of the gospel work around the world is funded because of benevolent people, Christian people. Here in the United States of America, we have a prosperous country, and God has blessed us to be a blessing all around the world, and that's what we need to preserve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Well, thank you, David. I appreciate that. We have our friend Linda on the line from Texas. Linda, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Thank you so much, both of you. I am just. I wish you could see us where we are. I am like a wound up court. I mean, I am just so excited about this program. And, I. That Psalm 145 is a Psalm that some of us pray together for the youth. And that is the scripture that we use. this one generation. Declare your works to the next. And, I am just, Christian Collins, I am glad that I wrote your name down. I'm going to be praying for you. That's what just blew me away, that I had the name of somebody that is just, you know, ministering to this youth. And, and so I just, I am blessed beyond measure. And, I am. Can you tell I'm m. Wound up?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. Well, we, this is. Yeah, we appreciate your prayers, Linda, and you're such a faithful listener to the program, and I appreciate you, encouraging me and encouraging our guests. And, Christian is doing a great work in reaching the younger people with the truth of the gospel and then how the gospel shapes, how a person votes and how a person sees the culture. You know, we talked about a biblical worldview. You know, the big question is, and Ken Ham always brings this up, are we going to build on God's word or are we going to build on man's word? Because if you build on man's word, you're building on the sand. As you had mentioned, Christian, you build on God's word, you build on the rock. Only one is going to Stand the test of the storms and the other is going to be wiped out. Let me ask you this, for those that are hesitant when it comes to politics, because they say politics is dirty, you've been involved in politics from a Christian perspective. You've seen the underbelly. You know that, yeah, you're not dealing with. Not everybody in politics is the Apostle Paul. probably there might not be any Apostle Paul's in politics, but you're dealing with some people that can be very egotistical, power hungry, mean, it's all about me type of attitude. How do you keep yourself from getting stained by that?
Christian Collins: Well, you have to put on the full armor of God. I'll tell you a quick story. I went to the University of Texas at San Antonio, and there's hundreds of people there. And a lot of the people there were very hostile and negative toward me. And one such case, a young lady came up and read a poem about Charlie's Kirk assassination with such glee. And then she joked about my own neck and said, you're brave to be out here without your neck covered. And, you know, that sounds very dirty and vicious, right? I mean, after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, here I, am sitting in the prove me wrong chair and I'm, you know, there's a roundabout threat that's being made against me. And so, you know, politics can feel like a dirty business. But what they want for us to do is, because of that situation with Charlie Kirk, you know, a terror attack, essentially. They want us to draw back and be intimidated and not keep going, but we have to keep going. And I think, obviously if you're not involved on the front lines and seeing the belly of the beast like I am, I mean, there are very vicious people who just want to silence us. But we have to continue to have civil discourse in this country, respectfully. And you, know, I always put the mic down. I listen to everything that youth have to say before I, you know, say what I'm going to say. And that's what we need to do, is have civil discourse. We need to have, have mutual respect for one another. And there are, you know, liberals and Democrats who, you know, are that way. But there are some very radical leftists. There's a contingency there that want to silence us. And that can feel very scary for a Christian, to want to get involved in any of that because, you know, it's a dirty business. I'd rather just not bother myself. But if you do not fill that void, that void will be Filled by someone else. And Plato said it best if not get involved in politics. You're going to leave yourself to be governed by your inferiors.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, great. Great point. Well, thank you, Linda. We have Greg on the line from Michigan. Greg, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Hey, good morning, Pastor Jeff. And Christian, enjoying the show very much, thank you. My, My question is, there is a conservative talk show host. I won't mention any names, but his initials are G.B. I'll let you figure that one out for yourself. And he professes to be a, Christian. And many times on his show, he does discuss Jesus Christ, but he is a follower of, lds, Latter, Day of Saints. My question is the Latter Day of Saints, would that be considered a Christian church? I know he speaks of Jesus Christ, but I'm not sure if the Jesus Christ, that we understand him to be. Right, just a question. Comment on that.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, great, question. But the Mormons, if you believe Mormon theology, you put your faith and trust in another Jesus whom we have not preached, as Paul says, Christian. you want to comment on that?
Christian Collins: Well, and just some little insider baseball, I think. Glenn's married to a Mormon and he keeps his associations there. But as I understand it, he's also visiting, an evangelical church on, Saturday nights, and he goes to the Mormon Church on Sunday. And I think he has his foot in both camps. I mean, I think he understands the differences. I mean, he's just been steeped in tradition of his upbringing, his background. But I think he, you know, I think he's with us on most things. And so politically, when I put that hat on, obviously, spiritually, we have strong disagreements, because the book of, you know, Revelation says nothing should be added or taken away from this book. You know, so there are theological differences, but, you know, politically, they're with us. Nick Sherley's actually, you know, grew up Mormon. he's speaking at our conference. And I, you know, and I politically, I mean, I go and I work with people all over our community, and I have Mormons attending our conference. And we understand our differences, but, you know, when it comes to fighting on social issues and fighting to protect, preserve our country, there's a lot of great patriots. And, we need to, you know, we need to work together politically to beat the communists in our country. And, there's. There's a. I mean, I've never seen any Mormons just randomly blow up. I've seen, you know, so.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, Christian, thank you for being my guest today. We're out of time, but texas youth summit.com texasyouthsummit.com you can still go. It's Friday and Saturday night there in the Woodlands. you won't be disappointed. It's going to be a great blessing. Well, thanks for listening. Real truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Go out, shine for Christ. Share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. God bless you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve welcomes Christian Collins, founder of Texas Youth Summit and author of Second Wind, for a conversation about reaching the next generation with the Gospel and a biblical worldview. Christian shares his personal journey from agnosticism to faith in Jesus Christ and explains how that transformation shaped his desire to help young people build their lives on the foundation of God’s Word. They discuss the challenges facing today’s youth, the importance of Christian leadership, and the role of churches in teaching biblical truth and preparing young people to engage with culture. The program also explores faith in public life, the importance of civil discourse, and the need for believers to stand firm in their convictions while sharing the hope of Christ.
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