Combating the Culture with Truth – with Jeff Myers: Today we have Jeff Myers with Summit Ministries on to talk to us about the state of the culture and the direction of our young generation. With woke culture and indoctrination in all levels of education, what can we expect moving forward? And what can we do to protect our young people from this toxic culture? We need to overcome this culture with Truth.

Air Date: 3/7/2023

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Tim Barton and Rick Green

Guest: Dr. Jeff Myers

Summit Ministries

Summit Ministries Polling Data

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Transcription:

Rick Green
Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. Thanks for joining us today on WallBuilders. You can find out more at our two websites WallBuilders.com and WallBuildersLive.com . Lots of archives available for you there as well as great materials for you to dive in and get educated, equipped and inspired to do your part to help us save this constitutional republic. We’re always thinking biblically around here. We want to look at things from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. And you can learn how to do that go to WallBuilders.com . Get some of those materials today. I’m Rick Green, America’s constitution coach here with David and Tim Barton. David, of course, America’s premier historian and our founder at WallBuilders. And Tim Barton, national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. Alright, David and Tim we’ve got Jeff Myers with us later in the program from Summit Ministries new book out about truth, which of course we talk an awful lot about here on the program, and really is the single most important factor, David, you do a whole talk on this at our biblical citizenship, class Truth and Courage, and the fact that truth has been lost in the culture, but we can restore it if we’re willing to stand for it.

David Barton
So one of the things about truth is people really will respond to it when it’s presented in a good manner. Logically, there’s a lot of resistance to it, because people don’t understand truth. But truth is something that you can verify, it is something that you can measure. It is something that you can articulate and argue. Jesus had all these teachings about truth, had a lot of people mad, but truth proves to be right. And there is a love of truth. And America has to get back to that. And we saw some polling recently, we’ve even seen it through some of the groups we work with, where we’re seeing really high agreement or a lot of areas in America that just shocked us. You know, 72% of Americans from all demographics, from all parties, for everything, said that they support traditional American values, traditional moral values. I would never have believed that based on what I see and what I hear and the discussions that go on. And so if you can figure out, Hey there is common truth that we have agreement on, let’s start from there and talk about there and build out. Having that worldview that says truth is important, and helping other people understand that it does have an impact on their lives. I mean that’s something I think we can do more of in America, because we do have a lot of agreement. We just didn’t know we did, because that’s not what we hear.

Tim Barton
Well, and I think too, you know, guys, there’s a lot of things that, because arguably the Holy Spirit’s, right? There’s things that a lot of people just feel inside them in, and things that maybe are intuitive for some people, but there’s something that’s it’s almost like instinctually, there’s some things that we know are true. And there’s some things that we gravitate towards, there’s things that people are looking for in certain realms of security, and especially like with his moral value structure. There’s a security in a moral value structure. And people are longing and looking for that. And so often, we don’t recognize how many Americans have the same ideas about issues, because maybe it’s, you know, we live in cancel culture, and people are scared to say something and they don’t want to get canceled. They don’t want to deal with the negative repercussions, especially over the last several years. What we’ve seen with the pushback that some people get for standing up and speaking what they believe to be true, nonetheless, Dad as you mentioned, that the polling that we’re seeing indicates that there are a lot more people that are on the same page than what most most of us realize where so often we’ve heard about the silent majority. And we begin to wonder, right, we’re skeptical, is there really a silent majority anymore? And you know, we’ve seen a couple elections that there’s a lot of question marks around and we’re not really sure was it really a fair, legal, ethical, just election? Or has America really gone that crazy? And what some of the polling shows us is maybe America is not as crazy as we thought. But maybe they’re also not thinking as deep or as well as they should, which lets us know that there’s a lot of people out there that are very winnable, that are very reachable, and we just need to understand how to have those conversations, how to do some of that work.

Rick Green
The ground is fertile, man. I mean, it’s the harvest is plenty, the workers are few, right? I mean, that’s kind of the situation we face. There are a lot of people willing to listen, willing to learn. They’re asking the right questions. And it’s why standing up for truth and speaking that truth and not being afraid of getting canceled and all those things are so incredibly important. Well Dr. Jeff Myers does that at Summit Ministries. He’s going to be with us when we come back from the break stay with us you’re listening to WallBuilders.

Tim Barton
This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment from American history. After the final victory at Yorktown the Continental Army awaited the outcome of peace negotiations with the Great Britain. Pastor Israel Evans, a chaplain in the army proposed to George Washington, but they build a structure where church services can be held during the month of waiting. Washington approved the plan and urged his officers to ensure that the soldiers attended service Pastor Evans further knew, if we were to secure the liberties they had fought for sound education would be crucial. He declared, every parent and every friend of the freedom of his country ought to be attentive to the improvement of our youth, in the principles of freedom and good government. And then the people will stand fast in their liberty for a long time. Our schools today need to return to teaching the principles of freedom and good government in order for America to survive and prosper. For more information about pastor Israel Evans and other colonial patriots, go to WallBuilders.com

Rick Green
Welcome back to WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us. Really great to have Dr. Jeff Myers with us, tons of books already but a new one out, Truth Changes Everything, you got to read it. And just amazing work over at Summit. Man, bless you, brother. Thank you for coming on and joining us here on WallBuilders. Today,

Jeff Myers
Rick, I’m glad to be with you. I drank three cups of coffee so I can talk as fast as you.

Rick Green
[laughter] I have to do that did not sound like the real country boy that I am, Jeff. If I was myself, these interviews would take three hour… we’d be the Joe Rogan of Christian radio, you know.

Jeff Myers
I’ve known you and I’ve known David and Tim for a long time. The WallBuilders people just kick it up a notch.

Rick Green
Move fast, move fast. Well and before we jump into what’s supposed to be our topic of the day, there’s so many things I want to talk to you about. First of all, the new book and Summit for this summer, I want to make sure that our folks know they need to send their kids to Summit. My best Patriot Academy graduates always have been through Summit to get that grounding and worldview. And so before we even get to the topic of the day, tell us real quick for this summer, you’ve got almost every week in the summer, you’re not full yet, so folks can still get there, right? And where do they go to sign up?

Jeff Myers
That’s right. Go to summit.org . Every two weeks, beginning in the middle of May all the way to the end of August, we’re offering these student conferences for 16 to 22 year olds, most of these young adults are on their way to their college or their career. And they need to know how to strongly stand for their faith. And then to develop leadership skills. Those two things always go hand in hand. You got to know the truth. And then you’ve got to be able to live the truth. So we bring in top Christian thought leaders who are smarter than their college professors and more well versed in the key issues. So that they can be confident they can stand for a biblical worldview, even in very difficult academic, or career situations.

Rick Green
It’s critical man, and I heard you speak recently. And that was one of the things that stood out in the talk was just the hope that I felt, as you told some of the stories of, you know, kids at the time coming through the program, and then things they were doing later in life or even just a couple of years after coming to Summit and you tell some of the stories in the book. But it’s, it’s just so encouraging to see. But it’s also just… it reminds me how simple this is in reality, if you get truth in, if we put that good stuff in, good stuff comes out. But we just haven’t been putting the good stuff in for decades and decades in this country. And Summit has really filled the vacuum there of what the Church used to do in every community across the country. So God bless you for what you’re doing. And keep it up. You also have some polling data that I want to ask you about, that is, you know, encouraging. I mean, these are good signs, what you’re seeing in the data.

Jeff Myers
Well, you know, Rick, we’ve started polling at Summit. Now we’re, at the core of it, we’re a youth training program, curriculum, courses, events, conferences, things like that. But I decided to start doing some polling because I wanted to understand the cultural moment that our students are coming out of. And I especially wanted to find areas where there is substantial agreement on the part of Americans. 70% or higher, where people agree on something because you get the impression that if you say anything about your faith, you’re going to be canceled, you’re… people are going to take offense. They’re going to hate on you in social media and all of that. So a lot of people just stay silent, when they ought to be speaking out, because there are a few people out there who will cancel them. Our poll showed, Rick, that about 5% to 8% of Americans are just jerks. They hate everybody. They had everything. They don’t think that anybody who disagrees with them should even be allowed to speak. They should be canceled if they do speak. And they say that their main strategy for dealing with disagreement is to quote, cut other people out of my life. Quote.

Rick Green
Wow! But that wasn’t t 50% to 80%. That was 5% to 8%.

Jeff Myers
That wasn’t… 5%to 8%, yeah. But they’re so mean, that other people just say yeah, yeah, it’s not really worth it. I’m not going I’m not going to say anything. Well, the new poll, that you are referencing…

Rick Green
And they’re so loud that you think there’s more of them than there is, because they’re very obnoxious.

Jeff Myers
Yeah, yeah. That’s right. Well, you know, that’s the old media strategy. If you think you’re losing raise your voice. But the truth is, and that’s what this new polling reveals. People can see it at summit.org/press, you can go to our press room there. And we found… Well, we asked because of Damar Hamlin, you know, having cardiac arrest on the football field, the whole NFL came together, lots of these young men came forward with their faith stories. And we found that two thirds of Americans say public calls to prayer during times of national tragedy are helpful. And the vast majority of American voters said they respect more people who take a stand for their religious beliefs than they respect people who compromise those beliefs to fit the current culture.

Rick Green
Wow. Wow, that’s the opposite of what we feel right? We think that, oh, well, no, if I stand firm, nobody’s going to like me. You’re saying way more people said, no, if you stand firm, I’m going to respect you more.

Jeff Myers
That’s right, yeah. This is not just your mom saying, honey, you know, that was terrible for you to say that, but I still love you. This is Americans. Two thirds of Americans are… I think it was even more than that, said, oh, no, Republicans, Democrats, independents, it’s more respectful to stand for what you believe and to actually say it, than it is to compromise and be weaselly about it.

Rick Green
I feel like you just gave a shot of, I don’t even know what the right drug or whatever it is, but a shot of like backbone into people by saying that, you just basically gave people reassurance not that they should have had, you know, relied on social proof and what the people around them were going to say, but we’re human, you know, we do tend to, too often, care what people think. So you just gave a shot a backbone, into everybody listening right now, that, hey, you’re actually going to be more respected and loved if you stand for what you believe in. I love this. Go ahead, I’m sorry, I interrupted you.

Jeff Myers
Yes, no, no, I think it’s really important to understand that how you say something is nearly as important as what you’re saying. So you want to talk about the talk. It is helpful for people to say, you know, I have a viewpoint on that that you might not agree with, or I have a viewpoint on that that might rub you the wrong way, but you know, I’m glad that you’re willing to listen and here’s what I think. So you can always say, hey, and I want to hear what you think, too. But I’m glad we’re in the kind of conversation where we can both share.

Rick Green
Oh, we need that.

Jeff Myers
Those sorts of things do help in the process. You know, learn curiosity. Be willing to take the time. So we have this time orientation that if you can’t say it in 30 seconds on TikTok. It’s not worth saying, but the truth is life… You know, art is long, and life is fleeting. You know, that’s the old Henry Wadsworth Longfellow quote. But the truth is we we ought to be able to take the time, this might take an hour; can’t be done in 30 seconds. There’s no mic drop moment here. But hopefully, we can move forward together side by side towards the truth, rather than bashing into each other, thinking that one or the other of us, represents the truth.

Rick Green
Ah, that’s so good, Jeff, man, that’s… I mean, what you’re describing is good old fashioned civil discourse and being able to have real conversations with each other, instead of just shouting. And so I liked the first point a lot better “stand firm” than the second point that I have to be nice, but I’ll accept it, I’ll try to be nice. No, no, it’s good! [laughter]

Jeff Myers
Nice is not, you know… I think in terms of biblical value…

Rick Green
That’s not the word! [laughter]

Jeff Myers
That’s not really the word. Nice is not really a biblical value, but gentleness is. The apostle Paul said, God’s people should be gentle, able to teach and patient, instructing his opponent with gentleness, in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to acknowledge the truth. So gentleness is good. Niceness is why people don’t speak up when they should, because they’re thinking, you know, sort of like commenting on someone’s manners at dinner, that’s unmannerly to do it. And so if you think only in terms of niceness, you’ll probably never engage. You’ll always try to escape whenever tough things come up.

Rick Green
That’s so good. You know, you’re really good at this man. You ought to think about doing it full time. Maybe having a place where you train other people, thousands of them every summer, just throwing that out there at you, man. Okay, you had another data point about wokeism and cancel culture and that maybe the tide’s finally turning? What did… what was that based on?

Jeff Myers
Well, we’re finding that… and I can’t remember the specific statistic that you’re referring to at this moment. But we’ve done over the last eight months, we’ve been asking a lot of questions about wokeness. And we’re finding that the vast, vast majority of Republicans, Independents and Democrats are saying no, being able to say what you think is the most important thing, and not indoctrinating children. People are really disturbed. There were two things that we keep polling on: critical race theory and on transgender, because those are top of mind for a lot of people. And it’s somewhere around 70% of Americans consistently are saying, this should not be in the curriculum. Children need to be learning math, reading, and so forth and civics, but they do not need to have their teachers indoctrinating them about pronouns, and about the idea that all white people are racist and so forth. Americans are just not on board with this. Unfortunately, the educational establishment is very on board with it, and… unless parents stand up and say, no, no, you don’t run the school, this school is run on behalf of our children. The citizens… I trained school board members the other night, and I said your bosses are not the administrators and the teachers if you’re on the school board. Your bosses are the voters. So, somehow there’s got to be a turning point.

Rick Green
Yeah, yeah. Did you have to adjust your… even in your two weeks with the 16 to 22 year olds, as this wokeism thing just exploded, I mean, you guys kind of had perfected you know, over time, those two weeks, you only get two weeks with them. So you got to cram as much in as you can and, and take them through that process. When this stuff happened, did you have to add some things, adjust some things to make sure you were addressing this specific, you know, rise in the culture of this illogical wokeness that’s going on?

Jeff Myers
You know, Rick, we do adjust things to… because things are coming with questions. At Summit Ministries, sort of the way we operate is, we say, you might even be a skeptic. Bring all of your questions with you. We will treat them respectfully. We will dialogue. We’ll go deep. We’re not going to run away from any of those big questions. But we do have a starting point, just like in Patriot Academy. You take the Constitution as the starting point. That is the true north that you’re using as the training. In our program, we’re starting with a biblical worldview. Well, if a biblical worldview is really true, it’s not just true in theology, it’s also true in philosophy, ethics, economics, politics, law, all of the other areas. And so then we just learn new ways to help students take that foundation of a biblical worldview, and apply it to do things to come up. The cultural moment always produces new controversies. The question is, do we have a true north, so we can measure where we are in relation to those controversies? And we think it’s a biblical worldview. And you know, students come here and they say, Okay, I have a respect for the Bible, but I don’t really believe it. Or they say, yeah, I’ve always heard the Bible, but I don’t really know why I believe it. All of those kinds of things, that’s why that two week program can be so powerful in grounding them.

Rick Green
I love it. I love it, man. Ah, such good stuff. I wish we had so much more time. We got to get you on more often. If you’re willing, we’d love to have you as often as possible. I’m just so thankful for the impact that you’re having, that the ministry is having, and even just the, honestly, even the topic on this new book, I mean, that is the fight right now- Is there truth? Or is there not truth? Is it all moral relativism? I mean, or is… are there actually moral absolutes? And you’re not just making the points, you’re helping us make the points, you’re equipping people to engage in that conversation. And the way you describe that earlier, the whole being able to discuss these things with people. There was a time when we would say, hey I don’t agree with you, but I’d fight and die for your right to say what you believe, and that, I thought had been lost, but you’ve given me hope that, that most people feel that in their gut, they still want to have a respect for differing opinions and people standing for what they believe. So this has really been encouraging, just to talk to you about this. How can people, number one, get the book and and follow as you come out with these polls? Can they just get on your email list at Summit?

Jeff Myers
Yes, you can get on our email list, just go to summit.org. And then every week, we send out a review of all the different things that… tools dealing with cultural issues from a biblical worldview, plus those polls, but you can always track the polls just by going to summit.org/press, you’ll see the press room right on the front page at summit.org. You can follow what we’re doing there. And then the book, same thing, you can get that anywhere books are sold, it’s called Truth, Changes Everything. It’s the story of fascinating heroes from history and science, art, politics, justice, and all these other areas. People who really, they changed their world, in times of great crisis, because they understood and believed not only that the truth exists, but that the truth is found in Jesus.

Rick Green
They had that foundation, that true north that you were talking about earlier. Last thing, Jeff, for those who aren’t 16 to 22, your Understanding the Times series and other programs, I mean, that’s for anybody of any age, right? I mean, because, you know, we’ve got two generations, where we didn’t get these things in our education system. So for those over 22, where would you recommend they start?

Jeff Myers
Yeah and you can still go to summit.org. We have a program called Base Camp that we do a couple of times a year. It’s a three hour simulcast. We’ve got one coming up March 29, that’s going to be on the topic of gender identities. And we’ll have three experts talking about how to raise gender secure kids in the midst of what is turning out to be a lot of cultural indoctrination, so those programs are available for people of any age, a lot of teachers pastors take advantage of those.

Rick Green
So you’re only taking on the easy topics, none of the controversial hot topics. I’m kidding! That’s awesome that y’all are doing that. We appreciate you, Jeff. God bless you, man. Thanks for coming on WallBuilders today.

Jeff Myers
Thank you, Rick.

Rick Green
Stay with us, folks. We’ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Have you noticed the vacuum of leadership in America? We’re looking around for leaders of principle to step up and too often, no one is there. God is raising up a generation of young leaders with a passion for impacting the world around them. They’re crying out for the mentorship and leadership training they need. Patriot Academy was created to meet that need. Patriot Academy graduates now serve in state capitals around America in the halls of Congress, in business in the film industry, in the pulpit and every area of the culture. They’re leading effectively and impacting the world around them. Patriot Academy is now expanding across the nation, and now’s your chance to experience this life changing week that trains champions to change the world. Visit PatriotAcademy.com for dates and locations. Our core program is still for young leaders 16 to 25 years old, but we also now have a citizen track for adults. So visit the website today to learn more. Help us fill the void of leadership in America. Join us in training champions to change the world at PatriotAcademy.com .

David Barton
This is David Barton with another moment from America’s history. How should we respond if confronted with frustration and conflict? The proper response was given over 200 years ago in a lengthy speech, when Benjamin Franklin told the delegates at the Constitutional Convention, in this situation of this assembly, groping as it were, in the dark to find political truth. How has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the father of lights to illuminate our understanding? Have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance? God governs in the affairs of men. I therefore move that henceforth, prayers employing the assistance of heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business. Benjamin Franklin knew that prayer was the proper response.

David Grothe
For more information on God’s hand in American history, contact WallBuilders at 1-800 8 rebuild.

Rick Green
We’re back. Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders. Thanks to Jeff Meyers for joining us today as well. We’ll have links to Summit Ministries at our website today, if you go to WallBuilders.com and WallBuildersLive.com. So guys, of course worldview, I mean, that’s something that we talk about a lot here on the program, because it drives our positions on the issues in the political realm, and our personal realm, in our family lives. I mean, worldview affects everything. And having that base, that foundation of truth is vital.

David Barton
You know, that worldview is vital. And I thought one of the things that Jeff said was really important, that how you say something is as important as what you say. And when you look at Jesus and dealing with people and worldview. It’s interesting that he often asked questions like the woman at the well believed completely different from what he believed. And she even said that, hey, we’re Samaritans, you’re Jews. We don’t get along well. And he just started asking her questions. And I thought what Jeff said was, hey, you know, I may disagree with you on this, but this is where I see it. What do you think about that? And that ability to have a conversation, I think what we’re finding is people do want conversations. And if you can keep it from escalating into a polarized verbal fight, there’s a lot of discussion that can be had. And that’s a lot of way of dealing with worldview. And you know, Jesus did that a lot. Just asking questions.

Tim Barton
Well, and too, I think one of the reasons that oftentimes, conversations escalate is because someone feels threatened or feels like they can’t defend their position. And so then that’s when you get into the ad hominem attacks. That’s when, right, you see people start yelling and calling you names and throwing slurs at you, is because they don’t feel prepared to defend the conversation. And especially with the younger generation, they’ve been taught that you just shout down people that disagree with you, right? And this, I mean Rick, one of things y’all talked about in the interview, where it’s really a very small percentage, given the majority of the American population, a very small percentage that’s into this major canceled culture, thinks we should silence people that don’t agree with us. But it’s because they’re are so loud that it feels like there’s a significant number of those individuals in America. The reality is statistics, polling shows us, it’s not that big of a number. It’s just they’re so loud. And as, Rick, I think you’re the one that mentioned this in the interview, is so often if people feel like they’re losing, that’s when you should shout louder, right? That’s what they’re told. And this is part of the battle we’re dealing with. And yet, that’s not where the majority of Americans are. The majority of Americans are ready to have a conversation. They want stability, they want peace in their life. They don’t want chaos. They don’t want drama. They don’t want these issues. And so often they’re looking for truth. And they’re just not always sure where to find it. And that’s where places like Summit are so helpful. It’s so great. When I was growing up, I had a lot of friends who went to Summit. I was working nearly every summer at Brookhill ranch as a summer counselor, so I didn’t have any summers open to go. But I had family that went. I had so many friends that went. And as even as, Dr. Myers pointed out, they’ve had so many incredible testimonies of people that had that foundation. And then because of that biblical foundation, they were able to go on and do significant things, making a difference in God’s kingdom, making a difference in the world around them. And having that solid foundation sets people up for success. And then that’s where places like Patriot Academy, the WallBuilders the leadership training program, or Summit Ministries are incredible opportunities for young people to go, to get that training, get that foundation so they can go make a difference in this nation.

Rick Green
Well, thanks again to Jeff Myers for joining us from Summit Ministry. So many different ways that you can get your kids equipped. It’s just you’ve got to be so purposeful about this, these days. Regardless of whether you homeschool, private school, public school, when they get into those, you know, that 15, 16, 17, 18 years old, they’re really beginning to cement what they believe. They’re starting to question, what do I believe, not just what does mom and dad believe or the pastor or who else, and they’ve got to study these things themselves. So a lot of programs that we recommend around here, make sure they go to High Point out in Hot Springs, Texas, they can go to Leaders Academy, which is a great one year program, my kids have been through both of those phenomenal, phenomenal experience, Summit Ministries, as Jeff was talking about earlier, another great program for you to send your kids to in the summer. That’s a little bit older, 18 and… And then, of course, Patriot Academy, we’ve got those happening all over the country this summer, we got seven of those this summer. So check out PatriotAcademy.com to learn about the Leadership Congress, where you can take that worldview as a student and apply it in the political realm, apply it to legislation. You serve as legislator for the week, and you get an opportunity to network with other young people from across the nation. So all of those resources, all of those tools. We’ll have links today at the website so that you can learn more. But do not be passive on this. Certainly do not send your kids off to some you know, public university where they’re going to get brainwashed in the leftist philosophies and the lies and they’re going to tear down what you’ve poured into those kids all these years. But it’s not enough to just send them to a Christian university, or hope for the best. You need to do this worldview training. You need to do this leadership training. Get them equipped, so that they can, you know, regardless of what they’re going to do, go into politics, go into business, go into entertainment, whatever area they’re going to go into, so that they can be good, biblical citizens. Thanks so much for listening today. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders