Rick Green [00:00:07] You found your way to the intersection of faith and culture. Thanks for joining us today on The WallBuilders Show. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. Our websites are wallbuilders.show and wallbuilders.com. And make sure you write down or remember wallbuilders.show because today we're gonna be sharing some links with you and they'll be in the show notes so that it's easy for you there. Wallbuilders show, that's also an easy place to share the program. A lot of people listen to the program, they get excited about it, they wanna do something. Well, the quickest, easiest first thing you can do, be a force multiplier and share the program. Let more people know about WallBuilders where we take on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Later in the program guys, well, and I guess I should mention, you know, we always talk about going into every area of the culture and honoring God in what you do. And sometimes we do shows on the arts, which is probably the most unusual of all the different things we think of when taking God into every era of the country. You know, business, ministry, education, politics, government, typically people think of us I love it when we have a show on arts and entertainment. So later in the program, we got a special guest talking about an amazing piece of art for the 250th and honoring God in that as well. 

Tim Barton [00:01:12] Well, Dad, I know you have an article that was kind of an inspiration behind some of this that you want to get to. But Rick, I do want to follow up before we jump too far forward and get to this actually amazing piece of art that we'll hear more about in the interview. But on Friday, you told us, first of all, some of the good news about Patriot Academy campus, about you having the opportunity to acquire, rescue some of these cottages that could have gone the wrong direction. You let people know, we encourage people to support this endeavor, what's going on. And there's actually been a lot of response, which I do want to get an update from you on that. I also want to let people know at WallBuilders, we had a lot calls yesterday at wall builders and even some voicemails over the weekend, people saying, hey, I've gone to Patriot Academy and I couldn't remember where to go and find the button. And Rick, you... yesterday took care of that so if people go today if they want to continue to help support this acquisition of these cottages keeping it out of the hands of um some of this Islamification move that's happening all over the nation but certainly happening in Texas. Where there was a group of Muslims that wanted to come in and literally buy this some of his property out from under you, that was adjoining and part of the campus. And again, God just incredibly opened some doors, brought provision in and we're encouraging and inviting other people to be part of what's going on with this and they can find out more on your website. But if they want to give there's now an easier way on your website to do that to support these cottages. Rick what do they do? 

Rick Green [00:02:48] Patriotacademy.com for all of that. And now there's a, well, unfortunately I'm in the picture, so it may scare them away. It's kind of like a scarecrow thing, but there's, there's picture there, but Kara's in the picture, my wife, so it saves the picture. So, concentrate on Kara, not me. And it, it says our craziest roller coaster ride ever as an organization is coming to an end. That's what's on the picture anyway, click on the pictures and it'll tell you all about what's been happening with the cottages. And first I just want to say thank you, David and Tim for letting me talk about that last Friday. For yesterday letting me highlight some of the speakers at the Patriot Academy Leadership Congress last week, really appreciate that. And appreciate y'all coming down. That was an incredible Leadership Congress So many sharp young people and man every time you guys spoke we could have done a five-hour Q&A at the end of your presentation They were hungry for more and just so appreciate y’all being there. But yeah, we did Friday have a great program on wallbuilders.show. You can go there to listen to the program again for the details, talking about what has happened at the campus. And man did people respond! Incredible! I mean people were calling wanting to find out more. Some people sponsored an entire cottage, which is a significant donation. Some people just sent in what they could. My staff is just keep telling me the incredible conversations they're having with people. People are calling and praying with my staff, praying for us. It's just been incredible. So, thank you. Thank you WallBuilders audience for being a part of that. I think since we started talking about this publicly last week, if my count is right, we've already had it's either seven or eight cottages fully sponsored. That's a hundred thousand dollars per cottage that people have stepped up and sponsored. And then a ton of people have given smaller donations. Some have even given larger donations. And so, it's a significant lift. It's a big piece of property It's 47 acres and 40 brand new cottages on it, but just imagine how many Patriot Academy Students will be able to come through and stay in those cottages spend the entire year with us for the Institute or like last week just do one week with us on the campus for the Leadership Congress and not become this campus that those cottages- not become a new Islamic boarding school for the cultural jihad that they are attempting in our country. So, it's been such a turnaround guys and just literally days. Just it's been about two and a half weeks since this whole ordeal happened and the Lord has moved mightily! 

Tim Barton [00:05:06] It's absolutely incredible, and as you mentioned for people that want to know more, patriotacademy.com. Go click on that picture of Rick and Kara. It gives you an opportunity to donate so you can support this. And the reason we would encourage you to do this, lots of reasons, but to connect some of the dots, these cottages were built to be the support for Patriot Academy. So, so Rick, as you guys are hosting all these different events, whether it's Constitutional Defense or Leadership Congress, whatever levels of leadership training that you are doing, and you do a lot throughout the year. 

Rick Green [00:05:37] Or other groups, other groups coming in like Moms for Liberty or, um, you know, Turning Point's Prep Academy. So, a lot of different groups come in and we train them here at the campus. And, and that's one of the main reasons we built the cottages. 

Tim Barton [00:05:49] Well, and so to that end, like that's the reason these cottages were there, and then the guy that built it, he decided he could make more money doing something different among other things, let's say. But the fact that this was going to go an entirely wrong direction, not to rehash all of Friday, but could have been devastating to the vision that God had given you for that training ground down in Fredericksburg. And so, to see what God is already doing is amazing. But again, we encourage people to continue to support this. And then don't just support it financially. Go take a trip to Fredericksburg. Go down, do a constitutional event, go see what's happening. Be a part of this because like with many things that we encourage people to go do and be part of once you've gone and experienced it, once you have been down and become part of that community, you will have an even greater heart for it because you will recognize how special  the thing is it's actually happening down there, the training that's taking place, the groups that are coming in, it's incredible. So patriotcademy.com click on that picture of Rick and Kara. It will take you to the story, which also has the donate button that you can support along the way. But man, praise God for the incredible things happening. And Dad, you have, in the midst of all of this, been waiting to tell some of the story because I think it was you that saw the article initially and you were like, this is amazing. Or maybe, maybe it was first you were in person and then you shared the about how amazing it was. But what did you see and what is what is this amazing piece of art we're about to find out about?

David Barton [00:07:28] Well, it's something that I saw that I got attached to way back when I was a really young kid. So shortly after George Washington Thomas Jefferson died, I went to Williamsburg to visit the place where they, well, maybe a little longer after they died. Nonetheless, when I as about four or five years old and went to Williamsburg, and Williamsburg is a community where they do everything according to the way it would have been done in the 1760s or 70s or whatever. And so, as I walked around as a young kid, and I watched the blacksmith guy making hinges and making all sorts of things. I couldn't imagine how you made that stuff. But the one that got me was watching a glass blower, watching a guy take just a tube of glass and melt that in the heat until it was a big blob on the end. And then he started blowing into it and he would fashion it into pitchers, like for drinking or for mugs or glasses or candle holders. And I just was mystified at how he could shape that glass to what he wanted by blowing into it. And so I was recently in Iowa, I spoke at the Family Leader Convention there. Family Leader's one of the really effective statewide groups in Iowa has just great relationship with the legislature, able to do really good conservative constitutional stuff. And so, while I was there, they unveiled a flag that was, it was made out of glass and it was hand blown. So, it was a hand-blown American flag. But the dude was like 30 feet wide and 15 feet high. And I'm going, whoa, whoa. How do you, how can you blow glass to something? And how many pieces does it take? And then it was, they had colored glass in it so that you had stars and stripes in it. You could look at the red and white stripes and the blue stars. And on the, where the stripes were, the red white stripes. They had taken with gold lettering and written Bible verses on it. So with gold lettering on top of the glass, there are these Bible verses and it was just, I just looked at that and said, how is that even possible? 

Tim Barton [00:09:27] Now, Dad, I know you were mesmerized by this. I'm curious, were they blue stars or white stars with a blue background? Because otherwise it's a very different looking flag. 

David Barton [00:09:36] No, good question, Tim. And it looked like an American flag. So it had to be white stars on a blue background. But it was all the red, white, and blue. And how they do that with blowing glass, I have no clue. But I got to meet the young man who did it. And young man, I say young man. I don't know how old he is. He's a whole lot younger than I am. So, he's probably somewhere in his 20s, 30s, who knows where that is. And it turns out there's only three glassblowers in the entire United States that are capable of doing this project. And I'm just captivated. I guess we have fewer and fewer artisans today because there's more and more ways for technology to make our stuff and to actually have a hands-on person that can-do old-school technology, well, lack of technology, do old-school craftsmanship and artisanship, going back to something that, you know, was in the 1700s of all things. It was just fascinating for me to see that and to talk to him afterwards. And then I saw the article you mentioned where that an article is talking about this great massive flag. It's a world record sized flag of blown glass. And I thought it'd be really fun just to kind of talk to him as a young man and why'd he do it? What's going on? What's he gonna do with it? And I'm looking forward to hearing some of the perspective he's got because it was, again, it was just such a mind blowing. I don't know how to say it. I tantalized it. I just kept staring at it because I couldn't imagine how you could blow glass to that size and somehow, he did it. I'm looking forward to hearing the story 

Rick Green [00:11:04] His name is Logan Ryser. He's going to be with us when we come back from the break and David, I'll, I'll say one thing, I'm the same way when I watch glass, I haven't got to see it very often, like once or twice in my life. And when we did the Independence Hall interior at the Mark Adams School and, and those guys were blowing the glass for the chandeliers from, from Independence Hall, oh man, I wish you could have been there, bro. You would have loved, it was absolutely amazing. And they had so many failures first, right. As they were trying to figure out how to make those curves and do it all. It was it was incredible to watch it and see the success once they finally got it done So I can't imagine to have a flag what like you're talking about and those two the pieces being that long and it being that big It's gonna be incredible Logan Ryser, the artist will be with us when we return from the break. You're listening to the WallBuilder Show 

Rick Green [00:12:55] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Logan Ryser is with us with the most amazing flag you've ever seen in your life. Hey Logan, thanks for coming on, man. 

Logan Ryser [00:13:04] Thanks for having me on. I love what you guys do. 

Rick Green [00:13:06] Well, thank you. David was blown away by your American flag, your glass American flag. Largest glass American Flag, I guess, in the world. I don't know, but, man, how in the world did this come about? I know our buddy Steve Deace was involved somehow in talking to you about this, but very cool 250th moment. 

Logan Ryser [00:13:23] You know it, you know it. Yeah, Steve Deace was super generous in meeting with me up in Des Moines a handful of times before we ended up with the final project. I joke with everybody, the first pitch was making the entire United States out of glass. We ran into Alaska and that was gonna be a big problem. Absolutely not toning out the size of that state down and Texas was gonna a big deal, it is a big deal, especially for you guys, right? But yeah, it's possible, but man, after that, we went to the flag and that was solidified after that. And we were really excited about the project and we worked back and forth with details. And even on the beginning, we were playing around with the idea of making a vertical orientation. And man, was I happy when we went into the landscape or the horizontal orientation. I wouldn't have to be 45 or 50 feet in the air trying to handle those glass panels. 

Rick Green [00:14:18] Well, and give us just kind of the dimensions, the size of it. 

Logan Ryser [00:14:22] Yep, so we're 28 feet wide, 15 feet tall, and you have to remember, every single one of these glass panels are edge to edge. So when this project is installed, this is essentially one piece of glass. This is 1,000 pounds of glass hung midair with airline cable. 

Rick Green [00:14:41] Thousand pounds of glass hung midair. 

Logan Ryser [00:14:45] Yep. 

Rick Green [00:14:45] With airline cable. 

Logan Ryser [00:14:46] Absolutely. 

Rick Green [00:14:47] You hope that cable doesn't break. No kidding 

Logan Ryser [00:14:49] A lot of engineering on the project too, for sure. 

Rick Green [00:14:53] Yeah, yeah. So how did you guys transport this thing? 

Logan Ryser [00:14:56] So custom made wooden crates and a lot of prayer. Yeah, it wasn't bad driving to Des Moines, but we're hoping to get out to DC for the Freedom 250 Race at the end of August. And that's going to be a much longer road trip. So, we're going to buckle up for that one. But everything went really smooth. Transportation went well, installation went well. We didn't lose any panels. And yeah, everything went really, really well. Praise God. We were up until 1 a.m. the night before. It was the first time installing this project because we had a... a beautiful truss system built by Steve Sukup was the main sponsor of this project. And we are extremely grateful for him. His guys did an amazing job installing that rig and making sure that we had the frame that we needed to install the flag. 

Rick Green [00:15:46] You have some, some cool scriptures installed or blasted into it. Tell us about that. How'd you pick the scriptures and, and apparently, it's a gold, 24 karat gold sandblasted. 

Logan Ryser [00:15:58] Yes, so for the red panels we have a 24-karat gold foil, so this is much heavier than gold leaf and this is the only the only company in the United States that makes gold foil. There's only one left, I believe the other option is out of Japan, so we had a clear-cut choice and so we picked up this gold foil when the glass was 2000 degrees during the hot process of making these vessels. So rolled up the glass, rolled up the gold and Past that, it was a lot of prayer and a lot time of figuring out which Scriptures we were going to go for, but it's Psalm 35, it's the first three verses of Psalm 35 and the last two, and then we also have 2 Chronicles 7:14. And the meaning behind that would be where we started and where we are right now. And I know I was talking to David and Kristina too about how much your guys' book, The Beginnings, has meant to me. And just illuminating that scene with Jacob Duche' and everything that God did with him. And man, I'm just completely blown away by that meeting in the First Continental Congress. And Psalm 35 ran me over like a Mack truck. 

Rick Green [00:17:11] Nice, nice. So that, that history, you know, emblazoned into the flag there. And then of course, uh you know even President Trump reading 2 Chronicles 7:14, you had, that's, that that's a cool part of this as well. 

Logan Ryser [00:17:25] Yeah, and I think part of that story with Jacob Duché, so we talk about how John Adams mentioned that, you know, that this was providential because that Common Book of Prayer was written a hundred years before that reading, and it was scheduled and lined up on that day. And we didn't know for sure that President Trump was going to read 2 Chronicles 7:14, you know, while we're planning this out, but you know obviously some extremely powerful scripture and calling our country back to repentance and pushing that as much as we possibly can. 

Rick Green [00:18:01] Amen. Tell, tell us about the, you know, where it has been seen so far. And, you mentioned the race that's going to happen in DC. So, kind of what's the plan for the, the remainder of the 250th. 

Logan Ryser [00:18:14] So where it's been seen so far, it was unveiled at the Family Leadership Conference. And like you said, David was there. That was an amazing conference put on by Bob Vander Plaats and his whole team. Speaker Johnson was amazing too. But yeah, so that's where it been. And we had, we probably had it unveiled for about two hours, which is pretty wild. So, we had an amazing unveiling there. They dropped this really crazy curtain and man; it was a really cool moment. But just the viewership after that event. I had maybe half the people that I talked to that were ending up in tears after seeing this sculpture in person. And I cannot emphasize, you know, and especially where it's going to go, emphasizing how much I want to have this in the public's eye to let Americans see this sculpture. So, we're going to have it hopefully at Freedom 250, but after that, I would love to see a stop at the Iowa State Capitol building for a number of months and then potentially back out in D.C. until it ends up at its final home. And that should be a pretty phenomenal spot. We're not for sure on that, but let's just say that the construction might be done in 2028. 

Rick Green [00:19:21] Okay, so you already have a place where it's gonna end up where it's gonna end up. 

Logan Ryser [00:19:24] It's in talks right now. Yeah, I don't know exactly how much I can share, but yeah, Speaker Johnson was very, it was pretty straightforward at the beginning of his speech that President Trump's gonna love this sculpture and we would love to get it into our nation's capital into somewhere legendary, so. 

Rick Green [00:19:40] Yeah, yeah, that'd be amazing. And so you, you said 2028. So will, will it travel between now and then in addition to those places you mentioned, or if people are interested in having it brought to their state capital or to their church or whatever it might be, would you like them to reach out to you? 

Logan Ryser [00:19:55] Absolutely. Yeah, I cannot stress enough. This is just a monumental sculpture. And we have around 2,000 hours, over 2, 000 hours into this sculpture. And it's breathtaking. And it almost even transformative as well. So, we can backlight it and have lights pour through the scripture and illuminate the scripture. But then when we front light it, you can see all of that 24-karat gold. And it almost waves along those red stripes. And then when it's back lit, you can see the stars in the blue union. So another part that's really cool about the craftsmanship. So, I'm one of only maybe three people in the United States that make this glass. And I really am in kind of a different neck of the woods because my glass is about twice as thick as normal stained glass around three mil. I work in about a quarter of an inch or a little less. And that's why we can hang it with airline cable. But we're able to sandblast an entire layer of color away. So, this is called flash glass. We can sandblast away the color so that we can have light pour through that blue union and be completely illuminated. 

Rick Green [00:21:03] Man. So this is, and your schedule, I mean, I guess, is there a way to tell people what it would take to get it there? I mean do you have a budget for that? Or they would need to sponsor, uh, to do that if you, like if it's a state fair or something like that, how, how would we get it somewhere? 

Logan Ryser [00:21:20] We definitely want it inside, so we need the right building. It would act like a sail out in the wind. If there's any type of glass facade, or if we can get this in sunlight, that would be absolutely amazing. But yes, there will be an installation budget. It is a ton of work. It's gonna be less work the second time. I know that for a fact. And, but we would be willing to travel anywhere in the United States and try to get this as many places as we possibly can. 

Rick Green [00:21:47] I love it. All right, the website, LoganRyser.com, LoganRyzer.com and that's R-Y-S-E-R. So L-O-G-A-N-R-Y-S-E-R.com LoganRyser.com. You can see Logan's other work there as well and then contacting him on the form there on the homepage if you're interested in bringing this amazing, amazing artwork to your area and giving people a chance to see it. Logan, incredible work, brother. God bless you, man. Thanks for being a part of making the 250th special. 

Logan Ryser [00:22:12] No doubt, Rick. Hey, thank you so much for having me on. 

Rick Green [00:22:15] You bet. LoganRyser.com is the website. Stay with us. We'll be right back with David and Tim Barton. 

Rick Green [00:23:26] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Logan Ryser for being with us and we're going to have a link at wallbuilders.show today where you can actually see pictures, actually it's video, it's a reel of his artwork of the, of this flag. It's a, it' a beautiful, beautiful thing to, to see. So, we'll have a link there, but it's too hard of a link to give out. So, you got to go to our website, wallbuilder.show in the show notes. You'll see that link. Back with David and Tim now and just amazing guys. And clearly, he's a patriot and then the amazing verses and language that he put on the flag as well. It's more than just art. It is a message 

David Barton [00:24:00] Oh, man, 2000 hours, he said. Imagine 2000 hours on one glass project. That's just, I mean, there's 2080 hours in a year if you work 40 hours a week. And I love the fact that they're now going to have a home for it and it looks like it's gonna be in DC. It oughta be in D.C., and D.C. is a great place for people to see the patriotic kind of stuff, especially since the 250th is bringing back a focus some patriotism. But that's just an amazing, and it was amazing to see when it was there, but it's amazing to hear the story of how they put that together. 

Tim Barton [00:24:37] Well, also, cool too that part of his inspiration came after reading The American Story: the Beginnings. And finding out what happened in the first Congress and so Psalm 35 makes it on this unbelievable piece of artwork, the American flag and glass. And then of course, Rick, as you alluded to as he pointed out having President Trump, that the verse that President Trump read at America Reads the Bible, that being part of it. That there's so many God connections. And guys, one of the things we have talked about so often over the last many months is just how cool it's been to see God on the move in lots of ways. And when you see a resurgence of people that are loving their country and more importantly, loving God and trying to put the Bible back in the center of what we do, and in this case, putting the Bible on this, again, incredible piece of artwork. That will at some point God willing be displayed up in Washington D.C. for lots of people to come and see. It's so Encouraging thinking about the fact that we very likely are not only in a revival but in a great awakening. As you study history, and I know for people that maybe if you don't travel as much and have the opportunity, like, you know for Dad and Rick and me as we travel and speak all over, we get to see the groups all over the nation. And when, when we are not having to be in one bubble, when we're outside of that bubble and you're seeing what's happening around the nation, it's so clear that God's on the move. And this is another one of those cool examples of God being on the move where love of country and love of God and the Bible is going forward. That's really encouraging. 

Rick Green [00:26:17] And another great example of you never know where the seeds are gonna land, right? So, like you said, he got inspired by reading The American Story. You guys have people tell you all the time about how much they enjoyed the history and those types of things, but you don't always know the incredible fruit that's gonna come from that. So, here's just another example, folks. When you're a force multiplier, when you share, whether you're sharing the program here, you're talking to people, you can get the same kind of fruit happening in your communities as well. Thanks so much for listening today to The WallBuilders Show.