Capitol Conversations

This year, at the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting, 13 resolutions were passed, eight of which relate to key issues and concerns within the ERLC’s public policy work. On this episode, Jeff, Travis, Steven, and Chelsea discuss the importance of these resolutions and the process behind how they are proposed and adopted. Specifically, the D.C. staff explores the eight resolutions relevant to the ERLC’s work in Washington and what implications they hold for the future.

This episode of Capitol Conversations was recorded live in Birmingham, Alabama from the 2019 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. This episode consists of three brief conversations with ERLC staff and local church leaders at the ERLC booth about the value of cooperation as a convention of churches. The episode finishes with highlights from Russell Moore’s address on the floor of the convention.

Daniel Patterson serves as ERLC’s Vice President for Operations and Chief of Staff. In these roles, he directs the executive office of the president, public relations, and helps drive operations across the organization. He completed an MDiv and PhD in systematic theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife Molly have been married since 2010, and together they have three children. @DLPatterson

Dean Inserra is the founding and lead pastor of CITYCHURCH, where he leads the vision and preaching. Dean was called to start a church in his hometown of Tallahassee and is passionate to see a worldwide impact made for Jesus. Dean graduated from Liberty University and attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He holds a MA in Theological Studies from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is pursuing a D.Min from Southern Seminary. @deaninserra

Ashlyn Portero is originally from Tallahassee and loves calling the city home. She began attending CITYCHURCH in 2009 and joined the staff in 2011, and currently serves as one of the Executive Directors, overseeing and supporting staff and day-to-day ministry operations. Ashlyn graduated from Florida State University in 2010 with a B.A. in English and is currently a student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary online. She loves seeing the Gospel change lives and enjoys helping people connect at CITYCHURCH. @ashlynportero

On Thursday, June 20, the Supreme Court decided the fate of the Bladensburg Peace Cross, a memorial to the fallen of World War 1 in Maryland. The memorial stands thanks to a 7-2 decision by the justices yet the opinion of the court was fractured. Jeff, Travis, Steven, and Chelsea circle up on the afternoon the opinion came down for this special episode to discuss the case, the opinion, dissent, and what it all means for the future of Establishment Clause.

Jeff, Steven, and Travis welcome national security expert and Asia analyst Olivia Enos from the Heritage Foundation to the Leland House to discuss the latest news from North Korea, especially the plight of the persecuted church. Olivia traveled to Singapore and Hanoi for the nuclear summits between President Trump and Chairman Kim-Jong un. And Steven recently traveled to South Korea as part of ERLC’s religious liberty efforts on the Korean peninsula and visited the DMZ to hear from Christian North Korean defectors.

Olivia Enos serves as a policy analyst in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation specializing in human rights and transnational criminal issues. Enos has published numerous papers on human trafficking in Asia, human rights in North Korea, and reforming the U.S. refugee program and writes a bi-monthly column in Forbes. Her commentary has appeared in The Washington Post, The National Interest, The Diplomat, and Real Clear World, as well as numerous scholarly publications. She has also appeared on Fox News, CNN, and the BBC. She earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Patrick Henry College in Virginia, and a master of arts in Asian studies at Georgetown University. She and her husband Zach currently reside on Capitol Hill.

Steve Aden on overturning Roe v. Wade

This is part three in the series: What’s happening with the abortion debates in America?

Jeff, Travis, and Steven are joined by Steve Aden of Americans United for Life to discuss the legal strategies for protecting life and the possible path to overturn Roe v. Wade. The momentum continues for the pro-life movement as state governments in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Missouri enacted new laws prohibiting abortion. All this attention then catalyzed nationwide conversations about life, women, and the unborn.

Steven H. Aden serves as Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel at Americans United for Life overseeing all legal operations of America’s most effective pro-life organization. Aden is a highly experienced litigator, having appeared in court against Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry dozens of times and appointed by the attorneys general of six states to defend pro-life laws. Aden secured court victories that upheld Arizona preventing six abortion businesses from offering abortion, applied Missouri’s abortion laws to chemical abortion and upheld the right of Louisiana regulators to shut down dangerous abortion facilities. A prolific author and analyst on sanctity of life issues and constitutional jurisprudence, Aden is bar certified in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Hawaii (inactive), and is a member of the bars at the U.S. Supreme Court, numerous federal circuit and district courts. Aden has practiced law since 1990 and earned his J.D. (cum laude) from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. from the University of Hawaii.

This is part two in the series: What’s happening with the abortion debates in America?

Jeff and Chelsea are joined by Trillia Newbell and Dan Darling to discuss what it means to bring a holistic pro-life ethic to bear on this current cultural moment. The momentum continues for the pro-life movement as state governments in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Missouri enacted new laws prohibiting abortion. All this attention then catalyzed nationwide conversations about life, women, and the unborn.

Trillia Newbell is the director of Community Outreach. Trillia has a degree in political science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and is currently pursuing her M.A. in biblical counseling from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is the author of two books, United: Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity and Fear and Faith. Trillia lives in the Nashville area with her husband Thern and their two children. @trillianewbell

Daniel Darling is the vice president for Communications. He is a columnist for Homelife and is a regular contributor to In Touch and a contributing editor for Christianity Today's CT Pastors. Dan's work has appeared in USA Today, CNN, Washington Times, Huffington Post, and The Gospel Coalition. Daniel is the host of The Way Home Podcast and an associate pastor at Green Hill Church in Mt. Juliet, Tenn. He is the author of several books, including his latest, The Dignity Revolution. He personally blogs at danieldarling.com. @dandarling

Podcast Episode | Part 1: Dana Hall McCain on Alabama’s pendulum swing

Chelsea’s USA Today article | I'm pro-life. That means protecting the unborn from abortion and also caring for women.

Trillia’s RNS article | It’s unfair to say Christians’ pro-life stance ends at birth

Dan’s book | The Dignity Revolution

ERLC | Capitol Conversation Podcast

This is part one in the series: What’s happening with the abortion debates in America?

Jeff interviews Alabama columnist Dana Hall McCain to talk about the headline news made by her state’s new pro-life bill. Last week was momentous for the pro-life movement as state government in Alabama as well as those in Georgia, Tennessee, and Missouri enacted new laws prohibiting abortion. All this attention then catalyzed new nationwide conversations about life, women, and the unborn. Dana’s column last week, The abortion pendulum is moving, places the Yellowhammer State bill in the national discussion and makes sense of how the church should engage in this cultural moment.

Dana Hall McCain is a columnist for Alabama Media Group, focusing on topics of faith and politics. Her work appears on the AL.com website, as well as in the Huntsville Times, the Birmingham News, and the Mobile Press-Register. She has previously written for a variety of faith-based platforms about issues affecting women’s ministry, marriage and parenting. Dana has served her home church and numerous parachurch ministries as a Bible study leader, Women’s Ministry Director, and small group leader. One of her greatest joys is serving as a mentor to pregnant women at her local Christian pregnancy resource center, Wiregrass Hope Group. Dana and her husband, Greg “Scooter” McCain are parents to two children.

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, and the child welfare system is overwhelmed, especially in the middle of the opioid crisis. Yet many faith-based foster care and adoption providers find themselves defending their very right to exist up against legislation like the Equality Act. These providers and families entered the child welfare system because of their religious convictions to care for the vulnerable. We need as many providers as possible to serve vulnerable children and that means, as Russell Moore argued, letting Catholic adoption agencies be Catholic. Jeff and Chelsea welcome their coalition partner Hillary Byrnes, a religious liberty advocate from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to discuss the future of faith-based child welfare.

Hillary Byrnes is director of Religious Liberty and Associate General Counsel for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Washington, D.C. Hillary staffs the Committee for Religious Liberty, which the U.S. bishops established to address growing concerns over the erosion of freedom of religion in America. Before joining the USCCB, Hillary worked in private practice and served as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School, cum laude, where she was an Article Editor of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy, and earned her bachelor's in Foreign Service, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University. Hillary is a member of the bars of New York and the District of Columbia and has been admitted to practice before several federal trial and appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court.

After she and her husband David Kuo were in a car wreck late one Saturday night in 2003, Kimberly waited in the George Washington University Hospital for news of his condition. The newly married couple were at the top of their Washington careers at the time. David worked in the White House as a senior aide to President George W. Bush. Kimberly was an executive downtown having previously worked in the Senate as a top aide for Majority Leader Bob Dole. When David was finally wheeled out of the emergency room, he gave his wife a thumbs down. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given six months to live. Kimberly joined Jeff and Travis at the Leland House to share her family’s courageous story of living life to the fullest when battling a terminal illness and why physician-assisted suicide is not the answer for such a tragedy.

Kimberly Kuo has over 25 years experience as a Communications and Marketing professional in national politics, federal government, corporations and start-ups. Her experience in politics includes time as Press Secretary for Senate Majority Leader and then presidential candidate Bob Dole and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp. She currently serves as Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, Communications and Communities at Coca-Cola Consolidated. In addition to opinion pieces, she also writes music, poetry and children’s fiction. She loves writing for and teaching young kids at Forest Hill Church in Charlotte, N.C., and her greatest joy is adventuring with her two children.

Jeff, Steven, Chelsea, and Travis grieve the recent attack on Christians in Sri Lanka this past Easter Sunday and discuss what to make of the recent surge in terrorism targeting faith communities. This attack on our brothers and sisters in Christ comes after other attacks on people in religious services, including on Mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. As people of the cross, we must confront these tragedies with mourning. And then we look to the hope we have in Christ as we consider how best to protect our neighbors and live courageously in a broken world.

Why Church Shootings Don’t Intimidate the Church by Russell Moore

Blasts Targeting Christians Kill Hundreds in Sri Lanka

The Terrorist Attacks in Sri Lanka podcast episode of The Daily from The New York Times

Blessed are the persecuted by Casey B. Hough

Mosque in New Zealand | New Zealand Shooting Suspect Is Charged With 50 Counts of Murder

Tree of Life Synagogue | 11 Killed in Synagogue Massacre; Suspect Charged With 29 Counts

FBC Sutherland Springs | A stark, white room: Sutherland Springs still struggles with church massacre

7 ways to pray for First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs by The Southern Baptist Convention of Texas

ERLC | Capitol Conversation Podcast