Faith And Culture Opening

SPEAKER_01 0:07

You find your way to the intersection of faith and culture. Thanks for joining us today on the Wall Builder 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 going to 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 want to do something. Well, the quickest, easiest, first thing you can do, be a force multiplier and share the program. Let more people know about wall builders where we take on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Later in the program, guys, we well, and 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 area of the culture, you know, business, ministry, education, politics, government. Typically, people think of us as talking about those things. I love it when we have a show on arts and entertainment. So later in the program, we've got a special guest talking about an amazing piece of art for the for the 250th and honoring God in that as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Well, Dad, I I know you have an article uh that was kind of an inspiration behind some of this that you want to get

Patriot Academy Cottage Rescue Update

SPEAKER_03 1:17

to. But Rick, uh, I do want to follow up before we jump too far forward and get to this uh actually amazing uh piece of art uh that we'll hear more about in the interview. But on Friday, um you told us, first of all, some of the good news about Patriot Academy campus, about you having the opportunity to uh acquire, rescue um some of these cottages that could have gone the wrong direction. Um, you let people know uh we encourage people to support this endeavor, what's going on. And there's actually been a lot of response, which um I do want to get an update from you on that. I also want to let people know at Wall Builders, we had a lot of calls yesterday at Wall Builders, uh 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. Uh and Rick, you um yesterday took care of that. So if people go today, uh if 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, um, where there was a group of Muslims that wanted to come in and literally buy this some of this property out from under you that was uh adjoining and part of the campus. And again, God just incredibly opened some doors, uh brought provision in. And we're encouraging and inviting other people to be part of what's going on um 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?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

PatriotAcademy.com for for all of that. And now there's a uh well, unfortunately, I'm in the picture, so it may scare them away. It's kind of like a scarecrow thing, but there's uh there's a picture there, but Kara's in the picture, my wife, so it saves the picture. So concentrate on Kara, not me. And it uh 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 picture and uh 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, uh, 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 uh man, every time you guys spoke, we could have done a five-hour QA at the end of your presentation. They were hungry for more, and uh just so appreciate y'all being there. But yeah, we did uh 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 um 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 uh 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, Wall Builders 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 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 uh for the cultural jihad that they are attempting in in our country. So it's been such a turnaround, guys, in just literally days. Just it's been about two and a half weeks since this whole ordeal happened, and the Lord has moved mightily.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Well, it's absolutely incredible. And as you mentioned, for people that want to know more, PatriotAcademy.com, uh go click on that picture of Rick and Kara. It gives you an opportunity to donate. Um, so you can support this. And and the reason we would encourage you to do this, uh, 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, um, whatever levels of leadership training that you are doing, and you do a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Or other groups, other groups coming in, like Moms for Liberty or um, you know, Turning Points 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.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Well, and and so to that end, like that's the reason these cottages were there. And then uh the guy that built it, it it he decided he could make more money doing something different, among among other things, let's say. Um, but the the fact that this was gonna go an entirely wrong direction, um, not to rehash all of Friday, but could have been devastating to the vision that God had given you for that training ground um down in Fredericksburg. And so to see what God is already doing is amazing. But again, we'd 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 uh the thing is that's actually happening down there, the training that's taking place, the groups that are coming in. It's incredible. So Patriotacademy.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, uh, you have uh in the midst of all of this, um, been waiting to tell some of the story because I 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 article by how amazing it was. Um, but what did you see? And what is what is this amazing piece of art we're about to find out about?

The Glass Flag That Stunned David

SPEAKER_02 7:29

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, and went to I went to Williamsburg to visit the place where they, well, maybe a little longer after they died. Nonetheless, when I was 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 uh 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 uh like for drinking or for mugs or glasses or 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, spoke at the Family Leader Convention there. Family Leader is 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 gl it was made out of glass and it was hand-blown. So it's a hand-blown American flag, but the dude was like 30 feet wide and 15 feet high. And I'm going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, how how do you how can you blow glass to something? And how many pieces does it take? And then it it was they had colored glass in it so that you had stars and stripes in it. You you could look at the red and white stripes and the blue stars, and on the where the stripes were, the red and 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 was that even possible?

SPEAKER_03 9:27

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.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

No, good question, Tim. And it was, 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 I, and young man, I say young man, I don't know how old he is. He's he's a whole lot younger than I am, so he's he's probably somewhere in a 20s, 30s, who knows where that is. And it turns out there's only three glass blowers in the entire United States that are capable of doing this project. And I'm just captivated. Well, I 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, 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 in the article is talking about this great massive flag. It's a world record-sized flag of blown glass. And I thought it would be really fun just to just to kind of talk to him as a young man and you know, why'd he do it and what's going on, and what's he gonna do with it? And it's just 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 I 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.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

So I'm looking forward to hearing the story. His name is Logan Riser. He's gonna 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 watched 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 Independence Hall. Oh man, I wish you could have been there, bro. You would have loved it. 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 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. This is gonna be incredible. Logan Riser, the artist, will be with us when we return from the break. You're listening to the Wall Builder Show.

America 250 Resources And Events

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Hey guys, this is Tim Barton from Wall Builders. I want to let you know about a special landing page we have on the Wall Builders website. If you go to wallbuilders.com, there is a little box that says Wall Builders is celebrating 250 years of American freedom and independence. Click on that little box and it will take you to the landing page for 250 years of America. And on the landing page, there are several different little boxes you can click on. One of them is for events, it'll let you know of some major events that are that are coming up that are going on that you can actually come and participate in. You can come here, my dad or I give to me to tell them the stories about the birth of the nation, about the founding fathers, the faith connection in America. There's also a tab for resources that you can click on, and it will take you to lots of different speeches and sermons and documents and proclamations from the founding era. And then there's also a little tab that will take you to the wall builder store with lots of resources, all the things that maybe a hat you want to wear, shirt to wear, or other wall builders products to read. This is the place to go to celebrate 250 years.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Welcome back to the Wall Builder

Logan Riser On Building The Flag

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Show. Thanks for staying with us. Logan Riser with us with the most amazing flag you've ever seen in your life. Hey, Logan, thanks for coming on, man. Hey, Rick, thanks for having me on. I love what you guys do. Well, thank you. David was blown away by your American flag, your glass American flag, largest glass American flag, I guess, in the world. Uh, I don't know, but uh man, how in the world did this come about? I know our buddy Steve Dace was involved somehow in talking to you about this, but very cool 250th moment.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

You know it. You know it. Yeah, Steve Dace uh was super generous in meeting with me up in Des Moines a handful of times before we ended up with uh the final project. I I joke with everybody, the the first pitch was making the entire uh United States out of glass. The uh we ran into Alaska, and that was gonna be a big problem. Uh absolutely not toning uh the size of that state down, and Texas was gonna be uh a big deal. It is a big deal, especially for you guys, right? But uh yeah, there's there's it's possible, but man, after that we went to the flag and uh that was solidified uh after that, and we were really excited about the project, and um we 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 uh when we went to the uh the landscape of the horizontal uh orientation, I wouldn't have to be 45 or 50 feet in the air trying to handle those glass panels. Well, and and give us just the kind of the dimensions, the size is of it. 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 when this project is installed, this is essentially one piece of glass. Uh, this is a thousand pounds of glass hung mid-air with airline cable.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Thousand pounds of glass hung mid-air with airline cable. Absolutely. You hope that cable doesn't break. No kidding.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Um, a lot of engineering on the project too, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

So, how did you guys transport this thing? So, custom-made wooden crates and a lot of prayer. Yeah, we uh it wasn't bad driving to Des Moines, but we are we're hoping to get out to DC for the Freedom 250 race at the end of August. And that's gonna be a much longer road trip. So uh we're gonna buckle up for that one. But everything went really smooth. Uh transportation went well, installation went well, we didn't lose any panels. And uh yeah, everything went went really, really well. Praise God. Uh, we were up until 1 a.m. the night before. It was the first time installing this project because we had a uh a beautiful truss system built uh by uh 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 uh and making sure that we had the frame that we needed to install the flag.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

You have some some cool scriptures uh installed or blasted into it. Tell us about that. How'd you pick the scriptures? And and apparently it's a gold uh 24 karat gold sandblasting.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Yes. So for the red panels, we have a 24 karat gold foil. So this is much heavier than gold leaf. Uh and this is the only the only company in the United States that makes gold foil. Uh, there's only one left. Uh, I believe the other option is out of Japan, so we had a clear-cut choice. And uh so we we picked up this gold foil when the glass was 2,000 degrees during the hot process of making these vessels. Uh so rolled up the glass, rolled up the gold, and past that it was a lot of prayer and a lot of time uh figuring out which scriptures we were gonna 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 uh Christina too about how much uh your guys' book, The Beginnings, uh has meant to me, and just illuminating that scene with Jacob Duche and everything that God did with him. And man, I'm I'm just completely blown away by that meeting in the first continental congress, and Psalm 35 ran me over like a mag truck.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Nice, nice. So that that history uh you know emblazoned into the flag there. And then, of course, uh, you know, uh even President Trump reading uh 2 Chronicles 7.14, you had that's got that's a cool part of this as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Right. Yeah, and uh I think part of that story with Jacob Duchey, uh, so we talk about how John Adams mentioned that uh you know that this was providential because that common book of prayer was written a hundred years before that reading, and it was it was scheduled and lined up on that day, and we didn't know for sure that President Trump was going to read Second Chronicles 714, uh, you know, while we're planning this out. But uh, you know, obviously some extremely powerful scripture and and calling our country back to repentance and uh and and and pushing that as much as we possibly can.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Amen. Amen. Tell tell us about the you know where it has been seen so far, and and uh you know you mentioned the race that's gonna happen in DC. Um so kind of what's the plan for the the remainder of the 250th?

SPEAKER_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 Vanderplotts and and his whole team. Uh Speaker Johnson was amazing too. But uh yeah, so that's where it's where it's been. And we had, we probably had it unveiled for about two hours. Which is which is pretty wild. Uh so we had an amazing unveiling there. They dropped this really crazy curtain, and man, it was a really cool moment. Uh but nice. Just the viewership after that event, I had uh 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, you know, 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 gonna 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 DC until it uh ends up at its final home. And that should be a uh a pretty phenomenal spot. We're uh we're not for sure on that, but uh let's just say that the construction might be done in 2028.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Oh, okay. So you you already have a place uh where where it's gonna end up.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

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

SPEAKER_01 19:40

So yeah, yeah, that'd be amazing. And so you said 2028. So will will it travel uh between now and then in addition to those places you mentioned, or are what if people are uh 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?

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Absolutely. Yeah, I I cannot I cannot uh stress enough what the this is a uh just a monumental sculpture, and we have around 2,000 hours, uh over 2,000 hours into this sculpture, and it's it's breathtaking. And you know, it's almost even uh 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 backlit, 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 uh uh normal stained glass, around three mil, I work in about uh 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 we can sandblast away the color so that we can have light pour through that blue union and be completely illuminated.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Thank man. So this is and and your your um your your schedule, I mean, did 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 a 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?

SPEAKER_00 21:20

We we definitely want it inside. So we need it, we need the right building. It would it would act like a sail out in the wind. Uh, if there's you know any type of uh glass facade or only, you know, 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 uh, but we would we would be willing to travel anywhere in the United States and and try to get this as many places as we possibly can.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

I love it. And all right, the website loganriser.com, Loganriser.com, that's R Y S E R. So L O G A N, R Y S E R dot com, Loganriser.com. You can see Logan's other work there as well, and then contact 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.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

No doubt, Rick. Hey, thank you so much for having me on.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

You bet. LoganRiser.com's a website. Stay with us. We'll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Declaration Signers Book Spotlight

SPEAKER_03 22:23

Okay, we want to let you know about a new product we have here at Wall Builders called Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor, The Signers of the Declaration. Like most Americans, you might be someone that you recognize some of the names of the Founding Fathers, but do you know their story? We want to help remedy that. My dad and I have written biographies on all 56 signers of the Declaration to help reintroduce people to the men who literally sign their names on the line for the sake of the nation. When they did this, they knew that they were essentially signing their death warrants. They were risking everything for the hope that they might be able to purchase freedom for the rising generation with their lives, their fortunes, and sacred honors. In spite of the hardship that every one of them endured, none of them recanted or backed away. Now, if you don't know their story, you can get to know all 56 of them. Go to wallbuilders.com and look for the book Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor, the signers of the Declaration.

Why The Flag Feels Like Revival

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Logan Reiser 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 uh it's a beautiful, beautiful thing to see. So we'll have a link there, but it's too hard of a link to give out. So you've got to go to our website, wallbuilders.show. In the show notes, you'll see that link. Back with David and Tim now, and uh just amazing guys, and clearly he's a patriot, and then the amazing uh verses and language that he put on the flag as well. It's more than just art, it's a message.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Oh man, when you uh two uh two thousand hours, he said. Imagine two thousand hours on one glass project. That's just I mean, there's two thousand and eighty hours in a year if you work 40 hours a week. And and you know, the I 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 ought to be in DC. Uh and DC is a great place for people to see the patriotic kind of stuff, especially since it's the 250th is bringing back a focus on 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.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

Well, also cool too that uh part of his inspiration came after reading the American story 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, um, Rick, as you alluded to, as he pointed out, um having President Trump, the the verse that President Trump read at America Reads the Bible, that being part of it, that there's so many cool God connections. And guys, one of the things we have talked about so often over the last many months um 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 um that are loving their country and more importantly, loving God and trying to put the Bible back uh in the center of what we do, and in this case, putting the Bible on this again incredible piece of artwork uh that will at some point, God willing, be displayed up in Washington, DC for lots of people to come and see it. It's 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 uh, 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.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

And another great example of you never know where the seeds are gonna land, right? So, you 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 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 Wild Bowler Show.