Tim Wildmon: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. We're taking you to noon Central Time here on American Family Radio. Today is Tuesday, October 6, 2026. It is day one of our three days of American Family Radio's Fall Share-a-thon, and so many of you have already called this morning and made gifts and donations. We are very, very appreciative to you.
Tim Wildmon: I'm Tim, with Ed West, Chris Woodward, and Wesley. Our theme is “Stand Firm,” and that comes from 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verses 13 and 14.
Ed West: I love this verse. This is one of the best we've had in a while because it fits perfectly with where we are. “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, do everything in love.”
Tim Wildmon: Amen. That is where our team got the theme for this Share-a-thon.
Ed West: From 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., we are in a $25,000 challenge.
Tim Wildmon: We want people to be motivated to give in this challenge.
Wesley: I'm challenged in multiple ways. I am fashion-challenged, clearly.
Ed West: Clearly.
Tim Wildmon: We've had time to wake up. It's 10 o'clock in the morning and I'm on my fourth cup of coffee.
Wesley: I'm ready to go.
Tim Wildmon: Some of you may be tuning in and wondering, “What in the world are they doing?” I knew these guys clowned around a lot on Today's Issues, but what's going on? We do have a $25,000 challenge going on, and it lasts until 11 o'clock. So if you're motivated to help us reach our goal, we appreciate it.
Listener: My name is Thomas. I'm seven years old. My favorite thing is Trivia Friday on AFR. It has helped us in many ways.
Listener: Hi, my name is Elsie. I'm 11 years old. We're a homeschool family. My favorite things about AFR are In Grace and Trivia Friday. Thank you for all you do.
Tim Wildmon: Wow, that was sweet. That surprised me. We've heard a lot of testimonies from adults that we've impacted over the years, but hearing from nine- and eleven-year-olds was a surprise to me.
Ed West: A homeschool family from Kansas, right?
Tim Wildmon: That's one of the things we are proud of in the right way. We are completely, one hundred percent family-friendly here.
Ed West: I mentioned Trivia Friday. That's good, clean fun and humor.
Tim Wildmon: That has nothing to do with the fact that we now do the Trivia Friday show as part of our Today's Issues repertoire.
Wesley: This is not a competition with the other hours during Share-a-thon.
Tim Wildmon: We're not competing, even though we're asking Today's Issues listeners to beat the socks off the other hours in the $25,000 challenge.
Ed West: No, it's a team effort.
Tim Wildmon: We're not taking pride in the fact that people want to listen to our show more than they listen to the other ones. I don't think that would be something you would want to brag about on a Christian radio network.
Chris Woodward: We do this three days in the spring and three days in the fall, when American Family Radio focuses on fundraising for the next six months.
Tim Wildmon: We do try to make it worth your while. We have premiums for certain categories of gifts.
Ed West: For a one-time gift of $150 or more, you will receive the book It's My Turn, Volume 2, from Dr. Don Wildmon, the founder of this ministry. These are collections of columns from the radio commentaries that Don Wildmon has done.
Tim Wildmon: You will hear “It's My Turn” on our show at the bottom of the hour.
Ed West: For a one-time gift of $150 or more, you receive It's My Turn, Volume 2. If you become a Great Commission partner with a monthly gift of $30 or more, you receive the book and an AFR lunch cooler.
Tim Wildmon: I saw this when our folks were trying to pick something out for our donors. I like bags. This is a nice little bag. You can put drinks in it if you go to a ball game or something like that. You don't have to use it just for lunch. It's not a big ice chest, but it's a handy little thing. It has a strap and American Family Radio on the outside.
Ed West: That is for a monthly gift of $30 or more.
Tim Wildmon: I would like to take a moment to share what listener-supported AFR has done for me personally. I've shared this from time to time, but it's been a long time. Let's go back 16 or 17 years. I met a guy here in town, and we had a couple of conversations about the Bible and salvation. He ended up leading me to the Lord.
Then time went by, and I applied for a job here at AFR. I'm still here today. The man who led me to the Lord is none other than Fred Jackson, who years earlier would not have come here if it had not been for listener-supported AFR. He took a leap of faith to come here from Canada based on the donations that somebody sacrificed to this ministry.
Wesley: I did not know that Fred led you to the Lord.
Tim Wildmon: Yes, he has mentioned it several times.
Wesley: Has he?
Tim Wildmon: I mentioned it yesterday.
Wesley: I understand you get distracted easily.
Tim Wildmon: Thank you for donating over the years and keeping Fred here, because I don't know where I would be today had you not done that.
Ed West: Fred married a Mississippi girl, so we're just inside the camp.
Tim Wildmon: He got in here legally.
Ed West: Fred Jackson, your boss, who is on this show regularly, led you to Christ.
Wesley: Yes, absolutely.
Tim Wildmon: That's a wonderful story. Now here you are in our news department and on Today's Issues.
Tim Wildmon: The theme of our Share-a-thon is “Stand Firm,” from 1 Corinthians 16, verses 13 and 14.
Ed West: “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith. Be courageous, be strong. Do everything in love.”
Tim Wildmon: I like the last sentence there: “Do everything in love.” The Christian should be loving, even if we are standing firm and standing up for what is true. We speak the truth in love. Love should always mark the Christian.
Tim Wildmon: Let me thank some folks who called in the last hour or two and made financial donations: Tracy from Lewisville, Texas; Roxana from Etna, Ohio; Haywood from Sallis, Mississippi; William from Carthage, Mississippi; Jane from Lake Mills, Iowa; Peggy from Cabot, Arkansas; David from Kevil, Kentucky; and Christina from Circleville, Ohio.
Ed West: We also have Mary from Logansport, Indiana; Barbara and Charles from Austin, Minnesota; and givers from Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois.
Tim Wildmon: We truly are an American family.
Ed West: We have a little dashboard on our computer that has all this information on it. I do have a question, Tim. Some of this information on here is some of the most useless information available. We have a column that says “frequent first names.” What are we supposed to do with that?
Tim Wildmon: It tells us frequent first names.
Ed West: We have John, David, Linda, and James.
Tim Wildmon: So we have a competition toward the end of the show. John's versus David's. John's and David's and Linda's are leading the pack.
Ed West: If you're a Christopher, get it together.
Tim Wildmon: Make Christopher great again.
Ed West: Sometimes it's because there are more Johns in the world than anybody else.
Tim Wildmon: We also have frequent cities. Tupelo, Jackson, Brandon, Midland, Conroe, Laurel, Montgomery, Gulfport, Huntsville, and Cabot.
Ed West: Thank you to everybody who has called in from all across America to help us.
Tim Wildmon: Chris has some news for us.
Chris Woodward: We are 28 or 29 days away from the midterm election.
Tim Wildmon: It is going to be a good one for our side.
Chris Woodward: Democrats are wasting little time trying to retake the House and the Senate and possibly pave the way for a Democrat to return to the White House.
Tim Wildmon: I don't receive that at all, Chris.
Chris Woodward: President Trump has been doing a national campaign. He was in Nebraska yesterday, touting the various economic accomplishments he was able to achieve with help from Republicans in the House and Senate. Here is the President of the United States giving a few examples of what he has done.
President Donald Trump: Under Republican leadership, incomes for hardworking Americans have soared to the highest level ever recorded. More Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country. How do you beat that? The poverty rate has just reached its lowest level, meaning the best numbers on poverty rate in American history ever.
Chris Woodward: Democrats are saying, “Okay, but you're not doing enough to bring down the cost of gas.” Groceries are still expensive, but President Trump has warned that if you put these Democrats back in office, it is going to make things even worse.
Tim Wildmon: President Trump is traveling the country trying to rally the troops to vote and help him maintain Republican control of the House and Senate so that he can do more things for the country. That's basically what his argument is. He's touting those numbers.
Ed West: All politicians are going to accentuate the positive. We were talking this morning that we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room when we talk about economic issues, because people are concerned about the price of gasoline right now, diesel, groceries, and the cost of living.
I think all those things he mentioned are true and factually accurate, which is wonderful, but that's not the world people are living in right now. I think he would do well by saying, “Listen, this is a momentary bump that we're having to experience here. I wish it weren't so, but it is our responsibility as the United States of America to protect the world from nuclear war. We're trying to start with America.”
Tim Wildmon: Also to protect America.
Ed West: Yes, to protect our country and our national interests around the world from these lunatics in Iran. We are doing the very best we can. It means prices have gone up in terms of gasoline and so forth, but they're going to come down. You're going to have to stick with us.
Tim Wildmon: Do you think that's the right approach? Is it Trump's style to admit anything like that?
Chris Woodward: I'm not sure it's any politician's style to do that for this simple reason: if you start talking about the problems, the other side is going to clip those things out and use them in ads.
However, I think the American people are generally a pretty hardy people. They can endure some hardship if they understand why. They want to know what's the plan. They want it clearly communicated by the administration. I don't think a proper case has been built as to why we did this in the first place. It has been explained to some extent about the nuclear weapons, but I think the president could get away with saying, “Folks, I know this has been tough. It is temporary, and here's our plan.”
Tim Wildmon: You don't want to give anything away to the leaders of Iran, but you could say, “Here's our plan. Gas prices are about to come down in the next few months.” This has been going on since February 28.
Wesley: I mentioned before that I don't think the war is going to stop anytime soon, unfortunately, and I don't think prices are going to come down.
Tim Wildmon: Who wants to hear what you just said?
Wesley: Nobody.
Tim Wildmon: You mean because the war is going to continue?
Wesley: That's right.
Tim Wildmon: Why can't we just end it?
Wesley: We can. But if you look at history, once you start something like this, if you had a plan to get out, you would have done it in the first three months.
Tim Wildmon: I want to say that's not true, but I think it is true, which is why I want to move on from this topic. I think that's why people are frustrated. They think it's going to go on, too.
Ed West: I think President Trump and his team are trying to put the best spin possible on the state of the economy, but it would do well just to recognize that we are having cost-of-living and inflationary issues and tell folks how we're going to get out of this.
Listener: My name is Laura. I'm calling from Chattanooga, Tennessee. I started listening about six years ago, during the spring when COVID just started. You guys spoke truth and opened my eyes in many ways. I was already a believer, but your station made me much stronger and much bolder in my stance for Christ. I shared your message with all my friends and family and told them they had to listen to this station.
I am still an avid listener. I listen every single day. I work from home, and you guys are in my ear from 6:30 to about 4 o'clock every day. God bless you and your station. You have made a major impact.
Listener: Hi, my name is Dwight. I'm from Borger, Texas. I've been listening to AFR for probably close to 10 years. I listened for the first three or four years, and during the Share-a-thon I kept thinking about giving money, but I didn't. I kept feeling the push for it, so I finally made a donation.
When I made that donation, I got a blooper from Peer to Peer, known as Learning University. I had gotten on Learning University one time, and there I was at the end of the day. I felt that being motivation, because the next year I became a monthly giver. Things have been going well for me, and I love all of the different shows. Y'all have a blessed day.
Tim Wildmon: Welcome back, everybody. It's our Stand Firm Share-a-thon. We thank you for listening to American Family Radio, day one of our fall Share-a-thon. We appreciate everybody who's already made a gift. We've had 1,431 donations already this morning, and we're averaging over a hundred gifts an hour here on American Family Radio.
Tim Wildmon: Let me reintroduce our panel: Ed Batagliano, the one and only; Debbie, visiting us from Austin, Texas; Wesley; and Chris Woodward.
Debbie: Good morning, Tim.
Tim Wildmon: You live in Texas?
Debbie: Austin, Texas.
Tim Wildmon: A Senate race is going on there that is all over your neighborhood.
Debbie: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: Tell us about some of the things you are doing for the election coming up in November.
Debbie: First of all, everybody needs to remember that before you vote, you need to know more than just the names of the people on your ballot. You need to know what those people would do with power, what policies they support, and, for Christian voters, what they believe.
That's why a voter guide exists. We do a deep dive of research on all of that for legislative candidates at the federal level in 40 states, all your state legislative candidates, ballot measures, and state Supreme Court justices this year.
Go to iVoterGuide.com, enter your address, and get your personalized ballot before you vote, before you check any box, and before you fill in that mail ballot.
Tim Wildmon: How many Christians across the country have taken advantage of our voter guide?
Debbie: Millions of voters have used a voter guide across the nation.
Tim Wildmon: So if you give a gift to us, you're impacting voters all over the country.
Debbie: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: A lot of the nation's eyes are on Texas because of the Senate race. You've got Allred, the Democrat, and Paxton. I've been reading that Allred has been ahead in almost every poll for the last couple of months. Do you think it's going to be neck and neck?
Debbie: It is shocking. The fact that President Trump is showing up in Texas and campaigning shows that it's close. I don't put a lot of faith in polls. Rush used to say polls are there to discourage Christians from voting.
Tim Wildmon: But when the same thing shows up again and again, you start to wonder.
Debbie: It comes down to a turnout election. We've got to get our people to turn out to vote. It is possible and conceivable that it is close, which is why we need everybody to turn out.
Tim Wildmon: Who's better on our issues?
Debbie: One hundred percent Ken Paxton.
Tim Wildmon: I knew the answer before I asked it, but I wanted people to hear it from you because you live and breathe this stuff.
Debbie: We rate each candidate. This is an objective rating system based on our questions. We're not just giving our opinion.
iVoterGuide is releasing the Texas voter guide tomorrow. We're in the final stages of quality control. In the primary, at least, Ken Paxton was rated a Verified Conservative, which is our strongest rating. The evidence showed that when he was a state legislator and when he was attorney general, he fought for conservative values.
We also have information related to all the lawsuits he filed against the Biden administration, so his rating is earned. He's been a champion and a leader on policy.
Chris Woodward: What kinds of things does the iVoterGuide take into account? Sometimes people think it's just how candidates voted, but other things come into play.
Debbie: A lot of people see a voter guide that is just questionnaires, so it tells you what the candidate says they want to do. We look at what they've done as the best predictor of what they'll do, because candidates have been known to say one thing and then not follow through or do something different.
We look at their votes if they've ever been a legislator. Allred was a Texas state representative, so we know how he voted on issues relating to transgenderism and boys' and girls' sports. Those votes are telling.
We have scorecards from liberal and conservative groups. It's nonpartisan research. We have campaign finance data, so we know who supported their campaign and who they accepted gifts from, as well as who they have supported as an individual.
We also use independent research and questionnaires, and we read through their social media and websites. All of that factors into the rating, and it is available at iVoterGuide.com.
Tim Wildmon: We are talking to Debbie, vice president of AFA Action. The website is iVoterGuide.com.
Ed West: The theme for this Share-a-thon is “Stand Firm,” from 1 Corinthians 16, verses 13 and 14: “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, do everything in love.”
Tim Wildmon: The number to call rings our office, where people are answering the phone from all over the country. They say, “I love American Family Radio. I want to financially support you so that you can stay on the air and keep AFA Action and iVoterGuide going.”
Listener: AFR has done so much for me. I get up and listen to it, and I just want to say it's a better world with it than without it. Thank you.
Tim Wildmon: A lot of people are hurting out there, and they need to hear a voice on the radio that's reassuring and tells them that God is in control.
Ed West: Part of the problem for all Americans is that we have 24-hour news from all over the world. A lot of it is bad, and you can get overwhelmed with a steady diet of that.
Part of the reason why American Family Radio exists is that we bring a Christian perspective on that news. It may be bad or discouraging, or it may make you think, “What is going to happen?” We bring the gospel and the Word of God into the picture. I think that undergirds people with the hope they need, because God is in control.
God will determine whether America continues and grows stronger or whether we experience the alternatives, which are not so great. But God calls people to get involved. My dad always said, “God doesn't call us to be successful. He calls us to be faithful.”
Tim Wildmon: Success is a byproduct of being faithful. It doesn't always happen the way we expect, and even if we don't see success, whatever we define that as, to be faithful is our number one calling from the Lord as individual Christians and as the body of Christ.
Debbie, tell us about the radio program you have on the weekends.
Debbie: We've been blessed to be a part of American Family Radio. We debuted our program, which is called The Compass, and the theme is “Navigating the Public Square Together.” We do it with faith, conviction, and truth.
We talk about the role of being salt and light, civic responsibility, and equipping you to know what the Bible says about those things and what to do about them. We talk about elections, but we also talk about the roles that churches and pastors should play and what the Bible says about all of that.
It's been a joy and a pleasure to be part of the AFR family.
Tim Wildmon: When does it air?
Debbie: Saturdays at 1:30 Central Time. It's a 30-minute program.
Ed West: Earlier, when I said everybody listening is a voter, I added, “or they should be.” What I meant is that we hear almost every election that only half of the Christians in our country are registered to vote, and of that number, only 25 percent actually go to the polls and vote.
Debbie: I'm not sure how accurate those numbers are. That came from the early 2000s. But the main question is this: Should Christians vote?
When Christians say, “That's a temporal thing. That's politics. That's of this world. I have my mindset on heavenly things. I just want to preach the gospel. I don't want to get involved in that,” I would say one of the founding principles of my voter guide is that the most important thing is to lead people to Christ. The second most important thing is to preserve the freedom to do the most important thing.
We saw during COVID that that freedom was being impinged by people we had elected: city council members, mayors, governors, and members of the U.S. House. Churches were shut down. Our freedoms were impinged by people we elected.
If we say politics are dirty, it's because the godly are not participating. When the godly aren't participating, it's going to be as ungodly as a result.
Tim Wildmon: You've thought through this.
Debbie: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: It may be too late for people to register in some states, but in some states you can still register. Isn't that information also at iVoterGuide?
Debbie: All of that information is there. iVoterGuide.com is a one-stop shop for election resources. Some states have a 30-day deadline. If you go to iVoterGuide.com, scroll down, and click on your state, it will tell you whether you have to register 30 days in advance or whether you can register on Election Day.
We're still within 30 days. We're a month from Election Day, so make sure you get yourself registered if you're not.
Tim Wildmon: Don't say Debbie said you could, but check the information for your state.
Chris Woodward: Her team gets into the weeds for people as well. I went to a panel discussion that Debbie and others had at the Pro-Life Stand Summit, which AFA Action sponsors with FRC and FRC Action. Her team was talking about the judicial races that they cover.
There are judges who run in certain areas. They covered those, but they also cover school board elections. People don't realize that school board elections happen at very random times throughout the year. Her team has people laser-focused on those specific things.
That's why you need to vote down ballot, because today's school board candidate is tomorrow's state representative, congressman, or Senate candidate.
Tim Wildmon: There are people who vote at the top of the ticket, especially in a presidential election, but they may not vote for a Senate candidate or anything else down ballot. The reason most people give for not doing that is, “I don't know anything about those people.” The cure for that is iVoterGuide.
Debbie: We recently did some research with George Barna, and that's exactly what he found. Likely voters are 85 percent likely to vote at the top of the ticket, but only 55 percent say they will fill in the whole ballot. That's a 30-point drop, with people skipping races.
It's not apathy. They're turning out to vote. It's a lack of information. He asked why, and the number one answer was that they don't have information on who to vote for.
The solution is a nonpartisan, trusted voter guide, and that's exactly what iVoterGuide is. The race they are most confused about is the school board race because it is frequently nonpartisan. It doesn't say Republican or Democrat, so there is nothing to guide you. They're leaving it blank, and we're letting the ungodly choose who will be on our school boards. I think that explains what we've seen happen in the schools over the decades.
Tim Wildmon: That is why, in my opinion, nefarious forces in some of the last few elections have poured money into local district attorney races and school boards to try to grab control of the mechanisms of authority and power in this country and change the culture.
Debbie: Most people don't spend a lot of money when they are running for school board, so a good bit of help from an outside group can make all the difference, especially when people don't know what the candidates stand for. Information is power.
We found in the school board races we covered two years ago, almost 300 races, that the average winning margin in a school board race was less than 400 votes.
Tim Wildmon: That's incredible. The power is in the church.
Ed West: We have 165 radio towers. While your gift impacts you individually, it also helps impact people all across America.
Tim Wildmon: We've met tens of thousands of our listeners over the years. Our listeners may be in their cars, at school, or driving trucks. They can feel that we're impacting them, but your support helps reach people all across America.
Listener: I happened to come across an AFR station a few years back, and I've been listening ever since. I listen to 88.3 or 89.1, and I listen to you from 7 to 4. I'm an Irish guy, so I'm not on social media, but I love listening to AFR, especially Today's Issues and Todd Herman. As a Christian radio station, I appreciate that. Thank you, and God bless you.
Wesley: I don't think he said where he was listening, but I think that is probably one of our stations.
Ed West: We've got Irish listeners out there.
Tim Wildmon: I thought he said Amish.
Wesley: He said Irish.
Ed West: That explains why you weren't laughing. You didn't get the fact that he was Irish.
Tim Wildmon: We may have that for a second. There is an Irish community not far from where we are.
Wesley: I appreciate our Irish friends who listen to us on American Family Radio.
Tim Wildmon: I am going to show my ignorance. Do Irish people listen to the radio?
Ed West: I actually saw a 60 Minutes report several years ago where they followed an Amish family that had a deli at a train station in Philadelphia. They could use technology while they were at work, but then they had to put it away and go home.
Tim Wildmon: I think there are a variety of different Amish beliefs on that.
Wesley: This is why we learn here at American Family Radio. I learned something.
Tim Wildmon: We survived that hour. I don't know if we thrived.
Ed West: Thankfully, we had Debbie. She added some content and gravitas to the program.
Tim Wildmon: We'll be back after the news with more of Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Trivia Friday is coming up Friday right here.
Tim Wildmon: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. We're taking you to noon Central Time here on American Family Radio. Today is Tuesday, October 6, 2026. It is day one of our three days of American Family Radio's Fall Share-a-thon, and so many of you have already called this morning and made gifts and donations. We are very, very appreciative to you.
Tim Wildmon: I'm Tim, with Ed West, Chris Woodward, and Wesley. Our theme is “Stand Firm,” and that comes from 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verses 13 and 14.
Ed West: I love this verse. This is one of the best we've had in a while because it fits perfectly with where we are. “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, do everything in love.”
Tim Wildmon: Amen. That is where our team got the theme for this Share-a-thon.
Ed West: From 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., we are in a $25,000 challenge.
Tim Wildmon: We want people to be motivated to give in this challenge.
Wesley: I'm challenged in multiple ways. I am fashion-challenged, clearly.
Ed West: Clearly.
Tim Wildmon: We've had time to wake up. It's 10 o'clock in the morning and I'm on my fourth cup of coffee.
Wesley: I'm ready to go.
Tim Wildmon: Some of you may be tuning in and wondering, “What in the world are they doing?” I knew these guys clowned around a lot on Today's Issues, but what's going on? We do have a $25,000 challenge going on, and it lasts until 11 o'clock. So if you're motivated to help us reach our goal, we appreciate it.
Listener: My name is Thomas. I'm seven years old. My favorite thing is Trivia Friday on AFR. It has helped us in many ways.
Listener: Hi, my name is Elsie. I'm 11 years old. We're a homeschool family. My favorite things about AFR are In Grace and Trivia Friday. Thank you for all you do.
Tim Wildmon: Wow, that was sweet. That surprised me. We've heard a lot of testimonies from adults that we've impacted over the years, but hearing from nine- and eleven-year-olds was a surprise to me.
Ed West: A homeschool family from Kansas, right?
Tim Wildmon: That's one of the things we are proud of in the right way. We are completely, one hundred percent family-friendly here.
Ed West: I mentioned Trivia Friday. That's good, clean fun and humor.
Tim Wildmon: That has nothing to do with the fact that we now do the Trivia Friday show as part of our Today's Issues repertoire.
Wesley: This is not a competition with the other hours during Share-a-thon.
Tim Wildmon: We're not competing, even though we're asking Today's Issues listeners to beat the socks off the other hours in the $25,000 challenge.
Ed West: No, it's a team effort.
Tim Wildmon: We're not taking pride in the fact that people want to listen to our show more than they listen to the other ones. I don't think that would be something you would want to brag about on a Christian radio network.
Chris Woodward: We do this three days in the spring and three days in the fall, when American Family Radio focuses on fundraising for the next six months.
Tim Wildmon: We do try to make it worth your while. We have premiums for certain categories of gifts.
Ed West: For a one-time gift of $150 or more, you will receive the book It's My Turn, Volume 2, from Dr. Don Wildmon, the founder of this ministry. These are collections of columns from the radio commentaries that Don Wildmon has done.
Tim Wildmon: You will hear “It's My Turn” on our show at the bottom of the hour.
Ed West: For a one-time gift of $150 or more, you receive It's My Turn, Volume 2. If you become a Great Commission partner with a monthly gift of $30 or more, you receive the book and an AFR lunch cooler.
Tim Wildmon: I saw this when our folks were trying to pick something out for our donors. I like bags. This is a nice little bag. You can put drinks in it if you go to a ball game or something like that. You don't have to use it just for lunch. It's not a big ice chest, but it's a handy little thing. It has a strap and American Family Radio on the outside.
Ed West: That is for a monthly gift of $30 or more.
Tim Wildmon: I would like to take a moment to share what listener-supported AFR has done for me personally. I've shared this from time to time, but it's been a long time. Let's go back 16 or 17 years. I met a guy here in town, and we had a couple of conversations about the Bible and salvation. He ended up leading me to the Lord.
Then time went by, and I applied for a job here at AFR. I'm still here today. The man who led me to the Lord is none other than Fred Jackson, who years earlier would not have come here if it had not been for listener-supported AFR. He took a leap of faith to come here from Canada based on the donations that somebody sacrificed to this ministry.
Wesley: I did not know that Fred led you to the Lord.
Tim Wildmon: Yes, he has mentioned it several times.
Wesley: Has he?
Tim Wildmon: I mentioned it yesterday.
Wesley: I understand you get distracted easily.
Tim Wildmon: Thank you for donating over the years and keeping Fred here, because I don't know where I would be today had you not done that.
Ed West: Fred married a Mississippi girl, so we're just inside the camp.
Tim Wildmon: He got in here legally.
Ed West: Fred Jackson, your boss, who is on this show regularly, led you to Christ.
Wesley: Yes, absolutely.
Tim Wildmon: That's a wonderful story. Now here you are in our news department and on Today's Issues.
Tim Wildmon: The theme of our Share-a-thon is “Stand Firm,” from 1 Corinthians 16, verses 13 and 14.
Ed West: “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith. Be courageous, be strong. Do everything in love.”
Tim Wildmon: I like the last sentence there: “Do everything in love.” The Christian should be loving, even if we are standing firm and standing up for what is true. We speak the truth in love. Love should always mark the Christian.
Tim Wildmon: Let me thank some folks who called in the last hour or two and made financial donations: Tracy from Lewisville, Texas; Roxana from Etna, Ohio; Haywood from Sallis, Mississippi; William from Carthage, Mississippi; Jane from Lake Mills, Iowa; Peggy from Cabot, Arkansas; David from Kevil, Kentucky; and Christina from Circleville, Ohio.
Ed West: We also have Mary from Logansport, Indiana; Barbara and Charles from Austin, Minnesota; and givers from Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois.
Tim Wildmon: We truly are an American family.
Ed West: We have a little dashboard on our computer that has all this information on it. I do have a question, Tim. Some of this information on here is some of the most useless information available. We have a column that says “frequent first names.” What are we supposed to do with that?
Tim Wildmon: It tells us frequent first names.
Ed West: We have John, David, Linda, and James.
Tim Wildmon: So we have a competition toward the end of the show. John's versus David's. John's and David's and Linda's are leading the pack.
Ed West: If you're a Christopher, get it together.
Tim Wildmon: Make Christopher great again.
Ed West: Sometimes it's because there are more Johns in the world than anybody else.
Tim Wildmon: We also have frequent cities. Tupelo, Jackson, Brandon, Midland, Conroe, Laurel, Montgomery, Gulfport, Huntsville, and Cabot.
Ed West: Thank you to everybody who has called in from all across America to help us.
Tim Wildmon: Chris has some news for us.
Chris Woodward: We are 28 or 29 days away from the midterm election.
Tim Wildmon: It is going to be a good one for our side.
Chris Woodward: Democrats are wasting little time trying to retake the House and the Senate and possibly pave the way for a Democrat to return to the White House.
Tim Wildmon: I don't receive that at all, Chris.
Chris Woodward: President Trump has been doing a national campaign. He was in Nebraska yesterday, touting the various economic accomplishments he was able to achieve with help from Republicans in the House and Senate. Here is the President of the United States giving a few examples of what he has done.
President Donald Trump: Under Republican leadership, incomes for hardworking Americans have soared to the highest level ever recorded. More Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country. How do you beat that? The poverty rate has just reached its lowest level, meaning the best numbers on poverty rate in American history ever.
Chris Woodward: Democrats are saying, “Okay, but you're not doing enough to bring down the cost of gas.” Groceries are still expensive, but President Trump has warned that if you put these Democrats back in office, it is going to make things even worse.
Tim Wildmon: President Trump is traveling the country trying to rally the troops to vote and help him maintain Republican control of the House and Senate so that he can do more things for the country. That's basically what his argument is. He's touting those numbers.
Ed West: All politicians are going to accentuate the positive. We were talking this morning that we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room when we talk about economic issues, because people are concerned about the price of gasoline right now, diesel, groceries, and the cost of living.
I think all those things he mentioned are true and factually accurate, which is wonderful, but that's not the world people are living in right now. I think he would do well by saying, “Listen, this is a momentary bump that we're having to experience here. I wish it weren't so, but it is our responsibility as the United States of America to protect the world from nuclear war. We're trying to start with America.”
Tim Wildmon: Also to protect America.
Ed West: Yes, to protect our country and our national interests around the world from these lunatics in Iran. We are doing the very best we can. It means prices have gone up in terms of gasoline and so forth, but they're going to come down. You're going to have to stick with us.
Tim Wildmon: Do you think that's the right approach? Is it Trump's style to admit anything like that?
Chris Woodward: I'm not sure it's any politician's style to do that for this simple reason: if you start talking about the problems, the other side is going to clip those things out and use them in ads.
However, I think the American people are generally a pretty hardy people. They can endure some hardship if they understand why. They want to know what's the plan. They want it clearly communicated by the administration. I don't think a proper case has been built as to why we did this in the first place. It has been explained to some extent about the nuclear weapons, but I think the president could get away with saying, “Folks, I know this has been tough. It is temporary, and here's our plan.”
Tim Wildmon: You don't want to give anything away to the leaders of Iran, but you could say, “Here's our plan. Gas prices are about to come down in the next few months.” This has been going on since February 28.
Wesley: I mentioned before that I don't think the war is going to stop anytime soon, unfortunately, and I don't think prices are going to come down.
Tim Wildmon: Who wants to hear what you just said?
Wesley: Nobody.
Tim Wildmon: You mean because the war is going to continue?
Wesley: That's right.
Tim Wildmon: Why can't we just end it?
Wesley: We can. But if you look at history, once you start something like this, if you had a plan to get out, you would have done it in the first three months.
Tim Wildmon: I want to say that's not true, but I think it is true, which is why I want to move on from this topic. I think that's why people are frustrated. They think it's going to go on, too.
Ed West: I think President Trump and his team are trying to put the best spin possible on the state of the economy, but it would do well just to recognize that we are having cost-of-living and inflationary issues and tell folks how we're going to get out of this.
Listener: My name is Laura. I'm calling from Chattanooga, Tennessee. I started listening about six years ago, during the spring when COVID just started. You guys spoke truth and opened my eyes in many ways. I was already a believer, but your station made me much stronger and much bolder in my stance for Christ. I shared your message with all my friends and family and told them they had to listen to this station.
I am still an avid listener. I listen every single day. I work from home, and you guys are in my ear from 6:30 to about 4 o'clock every day. God bless you and your station. You have made a major impact.
Listener: Hi, my name is Dwight. I'm from Borger, Texas. I've been listening to AFR for probably close to 10 years. I listened for the first three or four years, and during the Share-a-thon I kept thinking about giving money, but I didn't. I kept feeling the push for it, so I finally made a donation.
When I made that donation, I got a blooper from Peer to Peer, known as Learning University. I had gotten on Learning University one time, and there I was at the end of the day. I felt that being motivation, because the next year I became a monthly giver. Things have been going well for me, and I love all of the different shows. Y'all have a blessed day.
Tim Wildmon: Welcome back, everybody. It's our Stand Firm Share-a-thon. We thank you for listening to American Family Radio, day one of our fall Share-a-thon. We appreciate everybody who's already made a gift. We've had 1,431 donations already this morning, and we're averaging over a hundred gifts an hour here on American Family Radio.
Tim Wildmon: Let me reintroduce our panel: Ed Batagliano, the one and only; Debbie, visiting us from Austin, Texas; Wesley; and Chris Woodward.
Debbie: Good morning, Tim.
Tim Wildmon: You live in Texas?
Debbie: Austin, Texas.
Tim Wildmon: A Senate race is going on there that is all over your neighborhood.
Debbie: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: Tell us about some of the things you are doing for the election coming up in November.
Debbie: First of all, everybody needs to remember that before you vote, you need to know more than just the names of the people on your ballot. You need to know what those people would do with power, what policies they support, and, for Christian voters, what they believe.
That's why a voter guide exists. We do a deep dive of research on all of that for legislative candidates at the federal level in 40 states, all your state legislative candidates, ballot measures, and state Supreme Court justices this year.
Go to iVoterGuide.com, enter your address, and get your personalized ballot before you vote, before you check any box, and before you fill in that mail ballot.
Tim Wildmon: How many Christians across the country have taken advantage of our voter guide?
Debbie: Millions of voters have used a voter guide across the nation.
Tim Wildmon: So if you give a gift to us, you're impacting voters all over the country.
Debbie: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: A lot of the nation's eyes are on Texas because of the Senate race. You've got Allred, the Democrat, and Paxton. I've been reading that Allred has been ahead in almost every poll for the last couple of months. Do you think it's going to be neck and neck?
Debbie: It is shocking. The fact that President Trump is showing up in Texas and campaigning shows that it's close. I don't put a lot of faith in polls. Rush used to say polls are there to discourage Christians from voting.
Tim Wildmon: But when the same thing shows up again and again, you start to wonder.
Debbie: It comes down to a turnout election. We've got to get our people to turn out to vote. It is possible and conceivable that it is close, which is why we need everybody to turn out.
Tim Wildmon: Who's better on our issues?
Debbie: One hundred percent Ken Paxton.
Tim Wildmon: I knew the answer before I asked it, but I wanted people to hear it from you because you live and breathe this stuff.
Debbie: We rate each candidate. This is an objective rating system based on our questions. We're not just giving our opinion.
iVoterGuide is releasing the Texas voter guide tomorrow. We're in the final stages of quality control. In the primary, at least, Ken Paxton was rated a Verified Conservative, which is our strongest rating. The evidence showed that when he was a state legislator and when he was attorney general, he fought for conservative values.
We also have information related to all the lawsuits he filed against the Biden administration, so his rating is earned. He's been a champion and a leader on policy.
Chris Woodward: What kinds of things does the iVoterGuide take into account? Sometimes people think it's just how candidates voted, but other things come into play.
Debbie: A lot of people see a voter guide that is just questionnaires, so it tells you what the candidate says they want to do. We look at what they've done as the best predictor of what they'll do, because candidates have been known to say one thing and then not follow through or do something different.
We look at their votes if they've ever been a legislator. Allred was a Texas state representative, so we know how he voted on issues relating to transgenderism and boys' and girls' sports. Those votes are telling.
We have scorecards from liberal and conservative groups. It's nonpartisan research. We have campaign finance data, so we know who supported their campaign and who they accepted gifts from, as well as who they have supported as an individual.
We also use independent research and questionnaires, and we read through their social media and websites. All of that factors into the rating, and it is available at iVoterGuide.com.
Tim Wildmon: We are talking to Debbie, vice president of AFA Action. The website is iVoterGuide.com.
Ed West: The theme for this Share-a-thon is “Stand Firm,” from 1 Corinthians 16, verses 13 and 14: “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, do everything in love.”
Tim Wildmon: The number to call rings our office, where people are answering the phone from all over the country. They say, “I love American Family Radio. I want to financially support you so that you can stay on the air and keep AFA Action and iVoterGuide going.”
Listener: AFR has done so much for me. I get up and listen to it, and I just want to say it's a better world with it than without it. Thank you.
Tim Wildmon: A lot of people are hurting out there, and they need to hear a voice on the radio that's reassuring and tells them that God is in control.
Ed West: Part of the problem for all Americans is that we have 24-hour news from all over the world. A lot of it is bad, and you can get overwhelmed with a steady diet of that.
Part of the reason why American Family Radio exists is that we bring a Christian perspective on that news. It may be bad or discouraging, or it may make you think, “What is going to happen?” We bring the gospel and the Word of God into the picture. I think that undergirds people with the hope they need, because God is in control.
God will determine whether America continues and grows stronger or whether we experience the alternatives, which are not so great. But God calls people to get involved. My dad always said, “God doesn't call us to be successful. He calls us to be faithful.”
Tim Wildmon: Success is a byproduct of being faithful. It doesn't always happen the way we expect, and even if we don't see success, whatever we define that as, to be faithful is our number one calling from the Lord as individual Christians and as the body of Christ.
Debbie, tell us about the radio program you have on the weekends.
Debbie: We've been blessed to be a part of American Family Radio. We debuted our program, which is called The Compass, and the theme is “Navigating the Public Square Together.” We do it with faith, conviction, and truth.
We talk about the role of being salt and light, civic responsibility, and equipping you to know what the Bible says about those things and what to do about them. We talk about elections, but we also talk about the roles that churches and pastors should play and what the Bible says about all of that.
It's been a joy and a pleasure to be part of the AFR family.
Tim Wildmon: When does it air?
Debbie: Saturdays at 1:30 Central Time. It's a 30-minute program.
Ed West: Earlier, when I said everybody listening is a voter, I added, “or they should be.” What I meant is that we hear almost every election that only half of the Christians in our country are registered to vote, and of that number, only 25 percent actually go to the polls and vote.
Debbie: I'm not sure how accurate those numbers are. That came from the early 2000s. But the main question is this: Should Christians vote?
When Christians say, “That's a temporal thing. That's politics. That's of this world. I have my mindset on heavenly things. I just want to preach the gospel. I don't want to get involved in that,” I would say one of the founding principles of my voter guide is that the most important thing is to lead people to Christ. The second most important thing is to preserve the freedom to do the most important thing.
We saw during COVID that that freedom was being impinged by people we had elected: city council members, mayors, governors, and members of the U.S. House. Churches were shut down. Our freedoms were impinged by people we elected.
If we say politics are dirty, it's because the godly are not participating. When the godly aren't participating, it's going to be as ungodly as a result.
Tim Wildmon: You've thought through this.
Debbie: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: It may be too late for people to register in some states, but in some states you can still register. Isn't that information also at iVoterGuide?
Debbie: All of that information is there. iVoterGuide.com is a one-stop shop for election resources. Some states have a 30-day deadline. If you go to iVoterGuide.com, scroll down, and click on your state, it will tell you whether you have to register 30 days in advance or whether you can register on Election Day.
We're still within 30 days. We're a month from Election Day, so make sure you get yourself registered if you're not.
Tim Wildmon: Don't say Debbie said you could, but check the information for your state.
Chris Woodward: Her team gets into the weeds for people as well. I went to a panel discussion that Debbie and others had at the Pro-Life Stand Summit, which AFA Action sponsors with FRC and FRC Action. Her team was talking about the judicial races that they cover.
There are judges who run in certain areas. They covered those, but they also cover school board elections. People don't realize that school board elections happen at very random times throughout the year. Her team has people laser-focused on those specific things.
That's why you need to vote down ballot, because today's school board candidate is tomorrow's state representative, congressman, or Senate candidate.
Tim Wildmon: There are people who vote at the top of the ticket, especially in a presidential election, but they may not vote for a Senate candidate or anything else down ballot. The reason most people give for not doing that is, “I don't know anything about those people.” The cure for that is iVoterGuide.
Debbie: We recently did some research with George Barna, and that's exactly what he found. Likely voters are 85 percent likely to vote at the top of the ticket, but only 55 percent say they will fill in the whole ballot. That's a 30-point drop, with people skipping races.
It's not apathy. They're turning out to vote. It's a lack of information. He asked why, and the number one answer was that they don't have information on who to vote for.
The solution is a nonpartisan, trusted voter guide, and that's exactly what iVoterGuide is. The race they are most confused about is the school board race because it is frequently nonpartisan. It doesn't say Republican or Democrat, so there is nothing to guide you. They're leaving it blank, and we're letting the ungodly choose who will be on our school boards. I think that explains what we've seen happen in the schools over the decades.
Tim Wildmon: That is why, in my opinion, nefarious forces in some of the last few elections have poured money into local district attorney races and school boards to try to grab control of the mechanisms of authority and power in this country and change the culture.
Debbie: Most people don't spend a lot of money when they are running for school board, so a good bit of help from an outside group can make all the difference, especially when people don't know what the candidates stand for. Information is power.
We found in the school board races we covered two years ago, almost 300 races, that the average winning margin in a school board race was less than 400 votes.
Tim Wildmon: That's incredible. The power is in the church.
Ed West: We have 165 radio towers. While your gift impacts you individually, it also helps impact people all across America.
Tim Wildmon: We've met tens of thousands of our listeners over the years. Our listeners may be in their cars, at school, or driving trucks. They can feel that we're impacting them, but your support helps reach people all across America.
Listener: I happened to come across an AFR station a few years back, and I've been listening ever since. I listen to 88.3 or 89.1, and I listen to you from 7 to 4. I'm an Irish guy, so I'm not on social media, but I love listening to AFR, especially Today's Issues and Todd Herman. As a Christian radio station, I appreciate that. Thank you, and God bless you.
Wesley: I don't think he said where he was listening, but I think that is probably one of our stations.
Ed West: We've got Irish listeners out there.
Tim Wildmon: I thought he said Amish.
Wesley: He said Irish.
Ed West: That explains why you weren't laughing. You didn't get the fact that he was Irish.
Tim Wildmon: We may have that for a second. There is an Irish community not far from where we are.
Wesley: I appreciate our Irish friends who listen to us on American Family Radio.
Tim Wildmon: I am going to show my ignorance. Do Irish people listen to the radio?
Ed West: I actually saw a 60 Minutes report several years ago where they followed an Amish family that had a deli at a train station in Philadelphia. They could use technology while they were at work, but then they had to put it away and go home.
Tim Wildmon: I think there are a variety of different Amish beliefs on that.
Wesley: This is why we learn here at American Family Radio. I learned something.
Tim Wildmon: We survived that hour. I don't know if we thrived.
Ed West: Thankfully, we had Debbie. She added some content and gravitas to the program.
Tim Wildmon: We'll be back after the news with more of Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Trivia Friday is coming up Friday right here.
Tim Wildmon and the Today's Issues panel discuss President Trump's economic message ahead of the midterm elections, including concerns about gasoline prices, groceries, inflation and the ongoing conflict involving Iran. Debbie, president of iVoterGuide and vice president of AFA Action, explains how Christian voters can research candidates, ballot measures, judicial races and school board elections before voting. She also discusses the Texas Senate race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico and explains how iVoterGuide evaluates candidates. The conversation also considers why Christians should participate in elections, the importance of voting down the ballot and the role of faith-based perspectives in public life. Debbie introduces The Compass, a Saturday AFR program focused on faith, civic responsibility and the public square.
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