Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the intersection of faith and culture. It's the WallBbuilders Show. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. Websites are wallbuilders.com and wallbuilders.show and yes, my, my voice is back down an octave level. Guys. I was, did I sound like a middle school girl yesterday with Petra? I mean, was it that bad? 

Tim Barton [00:00:31] I mean, I think it was obvious enough. The fact that, we were excited to have a conversation as well and you just kept going and we're like, I guess, I guess we're not part of the show today. That's no problem. It was... Bro. It was so fun. I told, I told one of our team, my favorite part about listening to it was it reminded me, we've had a couple of moments. We've interviewed some people that, you know, musically were a big deal for our era, generation growing up. I remember when I interviewed Rebecca St. James and For King and Country, and it was like, I can't believe I'm interviewing Rebecca St James. Like I was in middle school and high school and her music was so cool, whatever, right? It's been a few decades, but it is so fun to be able to connect with people that have served and loved God in many ways faithfully and it had such an impact on culture and on generation. And so... It was really fun listening. Obviously, you were very excited about it and I love that for you. It was, yeah, it was great. 

Rick Green[00:01:37] Good stuff, yeah, it's very fun. 

David Barton [00:01:39] It's interesting how things are kind of cycling back too. Some, you know, Petra was, they've been kind of off the news for a good while and now back in. And it's interesting that we're kind of returning to some things that had been really important in a previous generation or even a generation or two back. And I think that's a really good sign of some of that stuff coming back. 

Tim Barton [00:02:02] Well, guys, I think it's one of the things we've talked about a lot that the the faith resurgence happening in America I was gonna mention this yesterday. I didn't have the opportunity to be on the program yesterday But on on Sunday 

Rick Green [00:02:16] That's just beyond belief. That's beyond belief, I'm sorry, I can't help it. I can help it. 

Tim Barton [00:02:21] I see what you did there. 

Rick Green [00:02:21] I can't help it, yeah. But more power to you, Tim. Sorry, I'll stop, I'll stop. 

Tim Barton [00:02:28] Only, only older people know the references, but that's fine. So on Sunday I had the chance to go over to Lake Point Church in Rockwall, which is, Josh Howard's church. And it's one of these churches that is a mega church. And I was blown away for so many reasons because he emphasized discipleship so heavily. I mean, it was, it, it. Was a far deeper message than what you expect from some of these seeker friendly churches that just want to say the things that make people happy and that's how they grow their congregation. It was so different. And guys, what boggled my mind that the, the main auditorium, and they have multiple campuses, that this main campus, they have overflow rooms. And, and the main auditorium, it's probably a 3000-member seating in that auditorium. I'm guessing something close to that. I'd imagine I could be off by 500 one way or the other, but it was very large. And there was, there were no open seats. There were people sitting and standing in the aisles on the stairs along the back. It was overflowing. And what was incredible about this is I would say the overwhelming majority of people there were in their twenties, thirties and forties. And when we talk about, you know, God on the move, Dad, you're saying like this resurgence of things coming back. Well, a lot of what's coming back is, is a faith movement. And I know for many people listening, depending on what state, what city, what county you live in, it's not unusual that we will have people asking, hey, so, you know, are there really good things happening? Do you see good things? Because where we are, it's very discouraging or frustrating. And what I can tell you, just firsthand, being able to be very blessed to be in some of these places where God is abundantly moving, it is amazing that God is reaching the hearts, the minds of rising generations and really maybe many generations of people just that are, are willing to be used by God, that their eyes and their ears are open, their hearts are receptive. But guys on Sunday, just to reaffirm, like the move of God happening in this nation, it was absolutely incredible to see what God is doing at Lake Pointe through pastor Josh Howerton, that entire organization, church and ministry, incredible team over there. And, and it was just another indicator that God is on the move in this nation. Incredible things are happening. Even so much that when Petra is becoming cool again, you know, God is on the move. Well, Tim, with you being there, I mean, how many, how many services do they have in a weekend there? And they're all full. They have two Saturday services and two Sunday services. And the Sunday services, generally speaking, are the ones that are the most full. But even the Saturday services are packed is my understanding and again they have multiple campuses but they're averaging like 35,000 people a weekend coming through their campuses and again it's just it is incredible that there are people that they're not coming for seeker-friendly messaging. Josh Howerton started a series in 1st Timothy excuse me 2nd Timothy which is the last of the Pauline Epistles. It's the last thing that Paul wrote shortly before he is executed for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's writing to encourage Timothy. And so Josh is just walking through the details of what this is and has this incredible message that he unfolds. This is not something that is, is a self-help message. This is a Bible centered, gospel centered, discipleship driven message. And the room was packed and overflowing with people that were coming to be discipled, not just to get life coached, not just to feel good, people that we're being discipled of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and how you do that to the fullest guys. It was so incredible and encouraging to see what God was doing. 

David Barton [00:06:39] That's also the difference between a revival and awakening because, you know, a revival is let's all come to Jesus and awakening is let us figure out how to live like Jesus in this area. And so those kinds of messages and sermons, even that itself is such a good indication of maybe things to come. But if it is an awakening like we think it is, I mean, Whitefield went 34, 36 years in that Awakening never knew he was in one and maybe the same thing with us. This may go for decades and hopefully it does. But we'll see change over that time and just what we're talking about here, it's just a good indication of some change already beginning to happen. 

Rick Green [00:07:16] Well, and you talk about things coming back around. It's, it's so, um, ironic to me, Tim, that building that you were in is the building I grew up in going to church. I mean, we helped build that building for Church on the Rock. What 40 years? How, let's see, I'm, yeah, that would have been 40 years ago when we built that church and Russ Taft used to, used to be there and help with worship and, you know, so some of that eighties music, even, even all the way back then. But ,you know, I was watching Josh on Sean Ryan and listening to some of that and just his ability to communicate and have that platform. The interviews that you've done with Josh, I think are up in the millions now right and views. I mean, it's absolutely incredible the way that God is using these voices and and opening up the door and so the revival I think it's absolute real and as you said Tim, it is the tenor It's the it's the courage with which these messages are being given. And people are hungry for it. I mean, I I think they don't ,you know, this whole tickling of the year's thing is getting old and and people want to know truth and so they're hungry for it. So I hope more pastors will be encouraged to do the exact same thing. It's super exciting to see such a growth in the church and a growth with these young people, especially, I mean that's part of what you know we're obviously all very involved it with working with the youth and seeing that next generation come up. So, super, super exciting. And of course, speaking of youth, and education our friend, Ryan Walters, it's been a few months since we had him on. Did incredible work up in Oklahoma. And David, I think you worked with him, even back then when he was Superintendent of Education up there, some of the great policies that they implemented. When we had him on, I remember we talked about the fact he's like a Trump at the state level because he's just pushing the envelope. And now of course he's helping to train these teachers all over the country. David, think you keynoted the conference. So I was there a couple of days later, maybe the next day after you were there. But how exciting to see public school teachers. And I know y'all have had groups coming in for the teachers, for wall builders and training them for years. And now this thing is just growing like crazy to have these conservative, civics minded, wanna teach students to be good citizens. And Ryan's conference, I think was just incredible. And so David, what did you talk about when you opened up the conference? 

David Barton [00:09:22] I talked to them a lot about where we were on the 250th. So I brought history in and related to that. But just going to Ryan for a minute, this is a guy that's really fascinating. He is super grounded. A young man, I put young man. He's got to be what between you and Tim somewhere, maybe. No, probably, I don't know. What is he in his upper 30s, lower 40s, where? 

Tim Barton [00:09:44] I like that you are still identifying that as a young man because he's 30 years younger than you. That's got to be super young. I think he's probably in his 40s, is my guess. But yes, in the grand scheme of things that's young, I was just chuckling with somebody on staff remembering Dad, when you turned 40 you were involved at a Christian school at the time and they brought out these balloons... It was over the hill... Like 40 used to be really, really old. At least people joked about it being old. And now it's like, oh, he's only 40. That's so young. I appreciate that because as you get older, obviously it becomes younger So he's a full-grown man. I don't know if I'd call him a young man at this point. He's a full-grown man. 

David Barton [00:10:41] Well, it's interesting because he's got it. He was in charge of education in Oklahoma and Oklahoma certainly is one of the reddest states in the United States. And as it turns out, in education, it was one of the more liberal states in the United states, and this is a problem with red states. Once they get red, the only way you're going to get elected is to be red. So if you've been blue all your life, you suddenly turn red. I've been red my whole life. And you get elected as a red guy when you're really a blue guy. And so there was so much liberality. You know, it's interesting. There's five states that do not allow homeschool kids to participate in public school activities even though they pay public school tax, Oklahoma is one of those that's a very blue policy. And so education wise Oklahoma was not particularly out there leading the way in conservative policies and he got his brains beat in by by Republicans in Oklahoma that are not necessarily conservative, that were just over the top for public school everything. We don't want competition. We don't want to have to improve things. And so he did such a great job of being articulate, of being a really a well-mannered guy in the face of some vicious attacks. And now he's taken on this national group where that you have so many, and they, I think they have, is it 15 or 18 thousand in this group, Rick, but they're public-school teachers from across the nation that don't wanna be part of the union. They don't want to be part of the progressive stuff. They wanna be a part of something solid. And so we were just getting them good information when we were there. And that conference really, really was a strong conference and it's great to see Ryan doing that. And by the way, if you're a public-school teacher, maybe think about jumping into that organization that Ryan's leading now. 

Rick Green [00:12:21] Yeah, very encouraging. We'll learn more about it when we come back from the break. Ryan Walters, our special guest, you're listening to The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:13:33] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Ryan Walters back with us, I think last time you were on the show, you were still in Oklahoma, maybe, maybe it was right after you had gone to Teacher Freedom Alliance, but anyway, we, we love having you on man, you did incredible work in Oklahoma and now I think of it this way, you're basically exporting that good work all over the country. So Ryan, thanks for coming on, man. 

Ryan Walters [00:13:54] Hey, I appreciate it. Always honored to be on Rick. Appreciate it. 

Rick Green [00:13:57] Well, enjoyed being with you at the conference for the Teacher Freedom Alliance. I noticed you had this other guy named David Barton. I guess you just needed to fill a spot. I don't know. I don't know what was going on there. No, David actually came back. He's like, man, we got to get right on. This is so cool what they're doing with these teachers. And anyway, so super excited about what you're doing. I loved what I saw there. And man, this is the way to take education back and make it an institution that actually supports America instead of tearing it down. 

Ryan Walters [00:14:22] No, that's right, and I'm telling you, when you have Rick Green and David Barton, I'm tellin' you, you get a lot of folks very excited and very excited about what we can do here and to make America great again. And you know, I mean, it's fascinating because you look at the education landscape, you know and like you said, Rick, you know what we did in Oklahoma was we just took on the radical left and said, listen, we're taking these institutions back. You know, we are not gonna sit back and allow education to be controlled by left-wing groups like the teachers’ unions. Like these school administrators that are just these far-left folks that are in these spots. And so we're gonna take the fight to them. We're gonna have an aggressive game plan to come out and bring education back to some common sense. I mean, that's the reality is so much of this is common sense, don't you want the next generation to love this country? I mean that should not be a controversial statement, but of course, in a lot of education circles it is because it's been dominated by DEI, CRT, all this anti-American nonsense So I mean, our teachers are just so electrified hearing from David Barton, hearing from you, and saying, yes, this is the type of curriculum, this is a type of understanding of America we want our students to hear and feel. And of course, that's what so many parents and grandparents around the country have been asking for. And so it's been tremendous. And again, it's an honor to work with you and it's a honor to see that work being done inside the education space. 

Rick Green [00:15:50] Man, I love the fact that, you know, with these teachers, because a lot of times we conservatives get a bad rap and they act like we're anti-teacher because the, the, typical teacher unions became so left wing, we were, we were anti-Marxism, anti-leftism. And those teacher unions are so taken by that philosophy that by going against them and the, and the things that they were doing is sometimes people labeled us as just being anti- teacher when in fact, we were rooting for the good teachers that were out there that we're still trying to keep the pro-America stuff in and just trying to give kids good reading, writing, arithmetic. Chicken. You know, good values, good American values, good history. And so what you've done and what the Teacher Freedom Alliance is doing is basically coming alongside those teachers and helping them, getting them good training, getting them, good resources and bringing them together. I think one of the things I noticed at the conference anyway, they're all looking around the room going, I'm not the only one, this is kind of nice. You know, so that's another thing you do is bring them together for community. So anyway, I think just hit on that a little bit, the importance of not giving up on education. And not giving up on good teachers out there. 

Ryan Walters [00:16:51] Well, no, you said that really well, Rick. I mean, when you look at education and you look at, yeah, the left always tries to say, they're conservatives, they're against teachers. It's like, no we're against absolute nonsense being pushed into the classrooms. And look, if you're a social justice warrior activist masquerading as a teacher in the teacher's union, pushing this anti-American and lies, transgender lies to our kids, yeah, we don't want that nonsense pushed on our kids. But we want great people in education. We want our kids, I mean, I've always looked at, you know, teaching in general it tends to attract more conservative, traditional minded folks because again, it is a profession where you're saying, look, I wanna pass this on. I wanna conserve American values by passing it on to the next generation. I want to ensure that these values don't go away, that they don't die. And so you have so many good people that are teachers, but I'm telling you, they are beaten down. They are targeted by the teachers' union. They are target by left-wing administrators. And so, you know, our thought with the Teacher Freedom Alliance is number one, we've gotta have a counterweight to the teachers union to come in here and say, listen, there is a professional organization that actually is professional, not a left- wing operation funneling money to the Democrat party. But we actually are gonna do a lot of the things that the teachers unions claim that's what they were created for 30 or 40 years ago, which is true professional development. We wanna help you be a better history teacher. We wanna you be better math teacher. We wanna to help you do these things. And then, you know, the thing that, of course, you're so spot on about that I hear forgotten so often is we are here in education, we have a school system to produce good American citizens. If we don't produce good American citizens, this experiment in a constitutional republic will not continue. And so we want good academics. We want kids to be able to fulfill their God-given potential so they can go out, use those talents God gave them. But we also wanna make sure that our kids understand the nation's values, love this country, and are able to continue along that value set moving forward. There's a lot of great teachers around the country that wanna do that, but I'm gonna tell you, they are up against some tremendous forces there from the teacher’s union and these left-wing groups. And so we're gonna continue to fight them tooth and nail all the way. 

Rick Green [00:19:20] Well, you know this way better than I do, but I remember even 25 years ago when I was in the legislature, a lot of what I would hear from really good teachers is, Hey, you, I don't want to be a part of this teacher union, but it's the only way I can get liability insurance, the only way I could do some of this professional development. And so I just have to. And so then that teacher union ends up with all of that money from the dues and they're not using it. They're using it for a little bit of those things, but they're also using it to radically transform education into a Marx.... I mean, I think that California teacher unions alone spent, I remember it being literally hundreds of millions of dollars over the years to stop school choice and that sort of thing. I know you guys are already doing, I mean, you've got an insurance thing you do for them, you got the professional development, you got, you know, get putting curriculum in front of them, you're bringing them to... All the things like you said, that they used to have to say, well, I have to be a part of the teacher. No, you are giving them an alternative to that. 

Ryan Walters [00:20:10] And Rick, I'll show you, you know, one of the things we discovered when we first started here was, you know even in states where you leave the teacher's union, you're having to go back to get your professional development to keep your certificate, to keep you job. I mean, this is how embedded they've put themselves in education. That even in red states so many times, you have to go through the teacher unions to keep the certificate to be a teacher even if you're not in the union. And so we're sitting here going, well we can offer professional development and frankly we'll offer it a lot better than what the union's doing. It won't have all the left-wing nonsense, right? If you're gonna do professional development in math, there's not gonna be any DEI or nonsense in there. But we're gonna actually find really great folks to come out and provide these types of professional developments. We're gonna bring back classroom discipline. That's another one. I mean, the left has gone crazy with this victimization mindset in our schools where you see schools are just chaotic. There's no discipline. It's just a mess. We have a lot of our teachers go, hey, sign me up, I wanna understand how to manage a classroom, wanna understand how to have high expectations on kids so they learn some self-responsibility about their behavior so they can grow up to be better functional adults. I mean, these are things that as you start putting this together, it attracts really good teachers. To your point, it brings them together in a community as well where they're not alone, they're now isolated. But again, these are things that for the longest time the union has dominated, and by the way, collected money off of every aspect of this. Then they go and turn around and give to the furthest left Democrat candidates in the nation. And again, the Supreme Court said a few years ago in the Janus case, you don't have to join the teacher's union to be a teacher. You don't half to give dues to the Democrat party to be teacher. That would of course violate your constitutional rights and liberties there. So, we're gonna continue that fight and we're gonna continue to expand in what we're offering for good teachers. 

Rick Green [00:22:00] We are so aligned, man. I'm just looking right on your website, helping teachers who develop free moral and upright American citizens. That is, that is the mission. That is absolutely the mission is why we do what we do here at WallBuilders. Why Patriot Academy does what it does. Just so thrilled with what you're doing. Ryan loved what you did in Oklahoma. I mean, we were, we talked about you all over the country that we needed more folks like you in education. So super proud of you and, and appreciate you being a champion out there, teacherfreedomalliance.com. We have a lot of teachers that listen to the program. Really want to encourage y'all. Go to teacherfreedomalliance.com. And I think I read on your website, Ryan, for teachers' membership. Is it free? Is that, did I read that right? 

Ryan Walters [00:22:39] It's free, you know, we want to support you. We want to make sure that teachers have that. Again, we're not funneling money to the Democrat party. So we're able to do these things for the teachers. So again, it is free. There's no charge to teachers, sign up, get involved in the work we're doing. There's, there's no cost of entry there. 

Rick Green [00:22:58] In any state? So are you in all 50 states? Do you have to be in a particular state to join or it's all of them? 

Ryan Walters [00:23:01] All 50 States. 

Rick Green [00:23:02] All 50 States fantastic! All right! Teacherfreedomalliance.com get signed up there, and then of course I know this was your big annual conference you just had, but I'm assuming y'all are still doing stuff throughout the year So if they get on the email list now you got stuff coming up in the in throughout the school year 

Ryan Walters [00:23:16] That's right. We're all over the country with our, with our professional development, with their trainings, with our conferences. So yes, sir. And if you sign up, we'll be giving you emails and when we're coming near you. Cool.

Rick Green [00:23:27]  All right. Teacherrfreedomalliance.com. That's Ryan Walters! Appreciate you brother keep it up man we'll see you soon. Thank you Rick appreciate you, brother. Stay with us folks we'll be right back with David and Tim Barton. 

Rick Green [00:24:42] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us back with David and Tim now and, and, yeah, man, they're growing like crazy. Thanks to Ryan for coming on and thanks for what he's doing. We've always said this guys, there's good teachers in the classroom. Cause we're always lambasting the teacher unions because they do such evil leftist work, but there are good teachers out there. We know them, we work with them. And I'm just thrilled that they have an organization like this to plug into. 

Tim Barton [00:25:03] Yeah, teacher freedom Alliance is a really great thought. This has been needed for a long time. As Ryan pointed out, when you have a lot of these teachers unions that are funding democratic candidates that are promoting ideologies that, that aren't just political, they're actually destructive to the nation. When you look at Marxism and communism, those are things destructive to the nation and also things that don't encourage students to use their God given gifts, talents, and abilities to go do something productive. In society and for God's kingdom, it actually encourages the opposite, that you're a victim and you have to overcome and overthrow the oppressor, etc., etc. This is what we have been seeing as a result of, honestly, some of these really bad teachers unions promoting this bad philosophy, but to see Ryan and so many incredible people leading in an opposite direction, offering some really good teachers a good alternative to some of these woke teachers unions is encouraging. And because we still have the majority of the youth in America going to public schools, we cannot fully abandon the public schools. Now, all of us would kind of agree, if you are a parent and you have the option to homeschool your kid, that's a good option. You should take that, but we also recognize that there's a lot of parents that they're gonna be in the public school system. And so if your kids are in public school, we would encourage you  advocate for your teachers to join into this movement, become part of this Teacher's Freedom Alliance so they can get better training and they can encourage and promote truth to students. 

Rick Green [00:26:38] Teacherfreedomalliance.com, teacherfreedomalliance.com. Thanks so much for listening today. You've been listening to The WallBuilders Show.