Defending Freedom Show

Kayleigh Bush was crowned Miss North Florida 2025 and was weeks into her reign when she was handed a contract containing a new definition of the word "female." She declined to sign it. That decision cost her the platform, the scholarships, and the community service initiative she had built her candidacy around.

In this conversation she walks through what was in the contract, what it actually cost her, why she says the fight was about young men rather than pageants, and what she would tell a young woman being pressured to sign something she doesn't believe.

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Bill Federer is an author and historian who has spent decades working from original documents, colonial charters, state constitutions, ratifying convention records, and the private letters of the men who wrote them. He is the creator of American Minute and the author of Miracles in American History, Who Is the King in America?, and Silence Equals Consent, among others. His conviction is simple, most Americans have been taught a version of their own founding that the founding documents do not support. In this conversation, he lays out what the First Amendment was actually written to do, what the original states required of their own officeholders, and why the founders looked to a 400-year stretch of Israelite history for a model of government without a king.

Bill's Links:

American minute - https://americanminute.com/

Books

Miracles in American History - https://americanminute.com/collections/printed-books/products/gift-edition-miracles-in-american-history-32-amazing-stories-of-answered-prayers

Who is the King in America? - https://americanminute.com/collections/printed-books/products/who-is-the-king-in-america-and-who-are-the-counselors-to-the-king-an-overview-of-6-000-years-of-history-why-america-is-unique

Join The Defenders Circle here: https://www.thedefendingfreedomshow.net

Join The Defenders Circle here: https://www.thedefendingfreedomshow.net

He was born into a devout Muslim family in the Middle East, smuggled out by his father during wartime, and spent years in Europe and then America before a personal crisis sent him looking for a God who would answer. He wrote out a list of the world's religions and started at the top. What he found at a church door changed the direction of his life and cost him his family, who told him he could never come home.

Today he trains pastors and equips believers to share the gospel with Muslim neighbors, and he does it under an assumed name with his face and voice concealed. In this conversation he walks through the theology he left, the six years he spent in church before he believed he was actually saved, and what he's learned in three decades about reaching people the church has largely written off.

Because of ongoing safety concerns, our guest's identity is protected in this episode.

Pastor Andrew Sedra was 17 when his family fled Egypt. His father was a pastor, and preaching the gospel there carried real prison risk. They escaped through Thailand and were resettled in Australia as religious refugees. Nearly two decades later, he pastors a church in Sydney that has been banned from venue after venue, and the terrorism police have come to investigate him for what the state calls hate speech. He came to America to say that what he escaped is not confined to the Middle East. In this conversation with Colby Wiltse, he lays out what he watched happen to Egypt, what is happening now in Australia and the UK, and why he believes America still has a window that the rest of the Western world no longer has.

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Jackee Andrews is a Regional Director for Citizens Defending Freedom. Pastor Shane Bost serves as CDF's Faith Director in Virginia. Both work at the intersection of local government and the local church, helping Virginians understand what their elected officials are actually doing and equipping pastors to speak on it.

In this conversation, they walk line by line through two constitutional amendments Virginians will vote on this November, comparing what the ballot summary says to what the amendment text actually says. They cover parental notification, provider licensing requirements, third-trimester standards, and the religious exemption clause that was removed before the floor vote.

If you're a Virginia voter, these are the details you won't get from a ballot summary. If you're anywhere else, it's a case study in how amendment language works and how quickly a constitutional change outruns every law beneath it.

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Amy O'Donnell is the Executive Director of Texas Alliance for Life, an organization that has worked for nearly four decades to protect unborn life in Texas, one law at a time. Her team was outside the Supreme Court during the Dobbs arguments and helped pass the Human Life Protection Act that took effect when Roe fell.

Four years later, she argues the fight has moved, not ended. Abortion drugs are being mailed into Texas in defiance of state law, the FDA has stopped requiring reports on the women they harm, and the federal government has done nothing to stop it.

In this conversation, Amy explains what actually changed after Dobbs, where the fight has moved, and what it will take to close the door the federal government left open.

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Chloe Cole is one of the most recognized detransitioners in the country. She was put on puberty blockers and testosterone at 13 and underwent a double mastectomy at 15. By 16 she understood what had been taken from her. Today she works to make sure no other child goes through it, testifying before elected officials, speaking to parents, and lending her name to the Chloe Cole Act, a federal bill that would protect every minor in the United States from these procedures and give the children who have already been harmed a real path to justice.

 In this conversation, she walks through what actually happened to her, what the doctors told her parents, and where the bill stands right now. If you want to understand this issue from someone who lived inside it, start here. 

Find Chloe here:
Chloecoleofficial.com
https://www.instagram.com/chooocole
https://www.youtube.com/@UCyuRRFpva_KWgyhKuiNwX8A 
https://x.com/ChloeCole?lang=en

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Vernadette Broyles is the founder and general counsel of Child Parent Rights, an organization defending families whose children have been affected by gender ideology in schools and in the medical system. Before starting this work, she spent over a decade as a guardian ad litem representing children in Georgia's courts, prosecuted criminals in the Fulton County DA's office, and served on both state and federal boards overseeing child protective services.

In this episode, Vernadette sits down with Colby to explain how the transgender movement moved from the fringes into public school classrooms, often without parents ever being told. She breaks down how federal policy under the Obama and Biden administrations pushed schools toward affirming gender confusion, how curriculum tools like the "Gender Unicorn" are used to introduce these concepts to elementary-age children, and why this is happening even in conservative states like Georgia.

Drawing on her legal background and years representing vulnerable children, Bernadette makes the case that this isn't a fringe issue, it's a coordinated effort with roots in greed, politics, and ideology, and it's reaching kids earlier than most parents realize. She also shares what the church has gotten wrong in responding to this issue, and what parents and pastors can do to protect the children in their care.

If you're a parent, pastor, educator, or simply someone who cares about the wellbeing of children, this is a conversation you need to hear.

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What happens when a parent or a volunteer starts asking questions a school district does not want to have answered?

Laura Cervantes was elected as a booster club president. She began questioning Plano ISD’s policies, financial behaviors, and attempted control over an independent organization. What followed was years of alleged retaliation, stolen mail, an unauthorized  takeover of the organization’s bank account, and ultimately the arrest of Laura and two other mothers.

In this episode of The Defending Freedom Show, Laura shares how three parent volunteers went from serving their children’s school to being booked, fingerprinted, and jailed. Only for a grand jury later return with a no-bill, finding insufficient probable cause to move forward with the charges.

Now, Laura is taking the fight to federal court. Her story is a warning to parents across the country and a powerful reminder of what can happen when ordinary citizens stand up to powerful institutions.

Watch, share this episode, and stand with Laura in her fight for accountability and parental rights.

Support Laura’s legal battle at CitizensDefendingFreedom.com/StandWithLaura

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Former Hollywood stuntman, stunt coordinator, and action director Mike Smith joins The Defending Freedom Show to share the story behind his career, the accident that changed everything, and the spiritual journey that followed.

Mike worked on major film and television productions throughout a decades long career. He performed in Batman Forever, wore the Batsuit as a stunt double, worked on shows including The X-Files, and performed asa double for James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies. 

But in 2014, a stunt went wrong. Mike fractured his L2 vertebra, was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, and underwent emergency surgery. The injury stripped away the identity he had built  and forced him to confront who he would become next. 

In this episode, Mike opens up about:
• Breaking into the Hollywood stunt industry• Becoming a Batman and James Bond stunt performer• The dangerous reality of professional stunt work• The accident that nearly ended his life and career• Chronic pain, prescription medication, and recovery• Losing his faith and later encountering the Holy Spirit• Spiritual warfare and the questions that changed his life• Creating the documentaries Out of Shadows and Into the Light

Mike’s story is not simply about leaving Hollywood. It is about losing everything that once defined you, discovering what is real, and allowing God to rebuild your life with a new purpose.
Subscribe to The Defending Freedom Show for more conversations about faith, freedom, culture, and the issues shaping America.

Mikes Films:
Out Of The Shadows: https://www.intothelight.movie/#home
Into The Light: https://www.intothelight.movie/#home

Episode chapters:
00:00 Introduction: Meet Mike Smith
01:13 From Texas Athlete to Elite Diver
07:21 The Road From High Diving to Hollywood
15:16 Landing Batman Forever
18:15 Performing the Batman Stunt
22:41 Becoming James Bond
23:06 Transitioning Into Stunt Coordination and Directing
25:25 The Accident That Shattered His Spine
32:09 Chronic Pain, Medication and Withdrawal
39:02 Rebuilding His Identity Through Recovery
44:36 The Warning That Changed His Spiritual Journey
49:53 A Terrifying Spiritual Attack
52:45 Returning to Church and Encountering God
1:01:35 The Story Behind Out of Shadows and Into the Light
1:21:44 Narrative Control, Cultural Warfare and Final Thoughts