I am on the heels of recently attending two very important and meaningful events this spring in the Dallas area. In March, the Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC: a focus on faith and Judeo-Christian values, featuring Christian leaders like Pastor Joshua Navarrete, a national faith leader and civic engagement advocate, the Senior Pastor of Redeemer Apostolic Church and the National Faith Director for Bienvenido USA.

The Reverend Franklin Graham also addressed attendees, urging unity against what he termed a "Democrat socialist agenda,” to open the conference. He spoke about the need for repentance and faith, while also calling for action against “global [anti-Christian] persecution.” Repentance means turning away…more on that later.

I guess we could also spend all day discussing what exactly that anti-Christian “persecution’ is. However, I believe the key word here that causes strife within the community of many pastors is the word “action.” Perhaps the best way to display true repentance and take “action” is to use our God-given privilege to vote and turn our nation around while we still can.

Just this morning (Mother’s Day) in Bible Study Class, our teacher mentioned a pastor at a church he had once previously attended saying that he avoided “controversial” subjects when preaching the “Word” from the pulpit. If anything, Scripture is, by definition, controversial. If I’m not mistaken, it was controversy that crucified our Savior.

Among the many other topics, the need to protect family values, constitutional rights, and the role of faith in American society were clearly expressed. I encourage everyone to go to the CPAC website and read for themselves.

A couple weeks later, in April, I returned to the Dallas area to attend the three-day Turning Point USA Faith Forward Pastors' Summit, at which over 1,200 pastors and ministry leaders came to focus on strengthening the Church, combating cultural compromise, and equipping leaders with a Biblical Worldview. (https://tpusafaithevents.com/)

The Faith Forward theme focused on “strengthening the Church by returning to, and preaching on primary doctrine, fostering Biblical discipleship, and reigniting evangelism to impact our communities and nation through much needed awareness spread from our pulpits. It was about equipping leaders to stand firm on foundational Christian truths and proclaim the gospel boldly, while working together to eradicate wokeism from the American pulpit.” While I would agree that the pulpit is for teaching the Word of God, connecting the dots between teaching and application has always been an imperative. (That “give unto Caesar” thing.)

Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk, spoke on the topic of “Make Heaven Crowded,” The name given to her current national speaking tour. TPUSA’s website states it as follows:

“The vision is alive and stronger than ever. Prayers are rising, support is pouring in, millions of students are rallying, volunteers are flooding in, and vigils are filling churches and schools across the nation. The fire Charlie lit is burning brighter than ever.

“Now the responsibility is ours. We will honor his legacy by pressing forward—not slowing down, not surrendering. This is not a time to preserve what was built. This is the time to fight harder, grow faster, and unleash the true power of the grassroots machine Charlie created.”

This must be done from the pulpit. The Christian community needs to understand that this is a battle between good and evil and that the political arena is the stage upon which the battle is being fought.

Charlie Kirk was killed on September 10, 2025 for his Christian beliefs in marriage and having children. The last book he wrote, released around the time of his death, “Stop, in the Name of God,” sold out immediately. I know that using the term “martyr” here might seem overstated by some, but I believe the recent assassination of Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk’s "martyrism” is truly a current day example of Christian persecution.

For me, I would like to see a nation filled with the same Christian values that I was raised in still intact for my grandchildren and generations beyond. We are a nation that surely has been blessed with the grace of God. There are so many events surrounding the Revolutionary War, WWII, President Trump's attempted assassination and so on. Miracles in our nation’s lifetime. We must actively stand up for our traditional conservative values, as demonstrated throughout Scripture and stated in our Founding Documents, guarding against the infiltration of Sharia Law, Transgenderism, LGBT "rights," protecting our borders, language and culture, etc. We must not return to an era in which Christians hunkered in the “Catacombs” to worship in hiding.