Texas Impact's Weekly Witness

This week, Scott was joined by The Rev Becky Fox, pastor and head of staff at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Lubbock. Covenant has a long history of engaging in justice ministries and advocacy in Lubbock and beyond. Scott and Becky discussed the important role churches like Covenant play in rural Texas and the role faith communities and faith leaders play in responding to the current political moment. With faith being in focus this election season, Becky discussed what it is like to have her denomination and mainline faith communities being discussed in mainstream culture. We hope you enjoy this episode and invite a friend to listen along. If you share it in your social media, make sure to tag us! To learn more or get involved, check out Texas Impact's Action Center at texasimpact.org. Weekly Witness is hosted by Scott Atnip and engineered and produced by David Vassallo. Our executive producer is Bee Moorhead. Theme music by Kimberly Zielnicki, Hayden Havard and Andres Garcia-Bonilla. The opinions expressed on Weekly Witness are those of Texas Impact and our guests, and they do not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors. Weekly Witness is a product of Texas Impact. Visit us online at texasimpact.org.

This week, Scott was joined by Rev. Brooke Dooley, associate pastor of youth and young adults at Friends Congregational Church in College Station. Brooke also serves as the youth director for the South Central Conference of the United Church of Christ. Brooke discussed her call to ministry, from a closeted youth trying to find a space in College Station to a liberal activist; then, her journey to seminary and serving as a pastor back in the town she grew up in, where she is now able to provide hope and guidance for the next generation of kids needing a safe space. Scott and Brooke talked about the current political landscape, the questions young people are asking, and how faith communities can support younger generations. We hope you enjoy this episode and invite a friend to listen along. If you share it in your social media, make sure to tag us! To learn more or get involved, check out Texas Impact's Action Center at texasimpact.org.

This week, Scott was joined by Rev. Mel Caraway, a retired United Methodist pastor and long-time Texas Impact Board Member. Mel is a leader in the faith-based climate advocacy space at the denominational level and international level as a long-time COP attendee. Rev. Caraway joined the conversation to talk about his faith journey and how climate advocacy became his area of focus. He also talked about the work listeners could take to engage their community and congregation in effective climate work—a perfect conversation for this Earth Day. We hope you enjoy this episode and invite a friend to listen along. If you share it in your social media, make sure to tag us! To learn more or get involved, check out Texas Impact's Action Center at texasimpact.org. Get full access to Texas Impact at texasimpact.substack.com/subscribe

This week, Scott was joined by Imaad Khan, a former policy analyst with Texas Impact who made numerous appearances back in the early days of the podcast. Imaad talked about his faith and advocacy journey pre-Texas Impact, including how his faith and family shaped his desire to study and work in the public policy space. He also offered reflections on his work post-Texas Impact and how he views our current challenges here in Texas and throughout the world through his faith lens. This conversation was well-timed, because the three major Abrahamic faith traditions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) recently celebrated significant holy days/seasons—and Imaad offers reflections from his Ramadan journey. But, coming out of the holy days/seasons, we are once again seeing an increase in anti-Muslim rhetoric, so Scott and Imaad reflected on that and the role people of faith play in creating a more supportive and inclusive community. We hope you enjoy this episode and invite a friend to listen along. If you share it in your social media, make sure to tag us! To learn more or get involved, check out Texas Impact's Action Center at texasimpact.org. Weekly Witness is hosted by Scott Atnip and engineered and produced by David Vassallo. Our executive producer is Bee Moorhead. Theme music by Kimberly Zielnicki, Hayden Havard and Andres Garcia-Bonilla. The opinions expressed on Weekly Witness are those of Texas Impact and our guests, and they do not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors. Weekly Witness is a product of Texas Impact. Visit us online at texasimpact.org. Get full access to Texas Impact at texasimpact.substack.com/subscribe

This season on Weekly Witness, we are highlighting faith leaders who advocate for justice and equity. Our conversation this week is a great reminder that "faith leader" does not always mean "clergy." As a lay-person, Robert Rivera has been a leading faith voice in the communities he has served, including in high levels of leadership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and as the Director of the St. James Family Life Center in Houston. Robert is a leader in connecting our faith institutions with immigrant communities, where he has spent decades organizing. He is also a leader in the Houston Faith Votes movement. We are excited to bring you this conversation with Robert to challenge all of us to think about our work in immigration advocacy and civic engagement. If you want to get involved in Texas, check out Texas Impact's Action Center and consider signing up. We want to give a special shout out this week to the Texas Faith Votes team and the Immigration Action Team and hope you will consider joining. We hope you enjoy this episode. and hope you share it in your social media feed. Make sure to tag us, and invite a friend to listen along. Weekly Witness is hosted by Scott Atnip and engineered and produced by David Vassallo. Our executive producer is Bee Moorhead. Theme music by Kimberly Zielnicki, Hayden Havard and Andres Garcia-Bonilla. The opinions expressed on Weekly Witness are those of Texas Impact and our guests, and they do not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors. Weekly Witness is a product of Texas Impact. Visit us online at texasimpact.org.

This week, Scott was joined by Rev. Mara Bim for a conversation about her faith journey and work in the immigration space. She is familiar to many in the Texas Impact audience as a longtime friend and advocate, and she was recently a featured speaker at the Texas United Women in Faith Legislative Event. Rev. Bim serves as the Justice and Advocacy Fellow at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas and as a writer with Baptist News Global. The timing for the conversation was great, because it was the same week as the Faithful Resistance: A Public Witness for Immigrant Justice event in Washington, D.C. Thousands of people faith marched on the U.S. Capitol for a rally and for legislative visits, after a moving morning of worship with a powerful sermon by United Methodist Bishop Latrelle Easterling. (Event resources to stay engaged are linked at the bottom of this page) If you want to get involved in Texas, check out Texas Impact's Action Center, and consider signing up to get involved. If you are particularly interested in immigration advocacy, consider joining the Immigration Action Team. We hope you like the new format. If so, make sure to subscribe, like and share the content with your networks. Weekly Witness is hosted by Scott Atnip and engineered and produced by David Vassallo. Our executive producer is Bee Moorhead. Theme music by Kimberly Zielnicki, Hayden Havard and Andres Garcia-Bonilla. The opinions expressed on Weekly Witness are those of Texas Impact and our guests, and they do not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors. Weekly Witness is a product of Texas Impact. Visit us online at texasimpact.org.

Weekly Witness is back with a new look and a new sound, as well as new content. The Texas Impact team recognizes that this is a unique moment in history, and we believe it is especially important for people of faith to lead and engage. So, we want to use the podcast to highlight faith voices who are leading in the areas of justice and advocacy. We want to give them a platform to inform, inspire and motivate us in the long journey that lies ahead as we prepare for elections and the Texas Legislature returning to Austin next January. And, who better to kick off this new season of Weekly Witness than Rev. Phil Dieke? Phil is an ordained deacon in the Horizon Texas Conference, where he serves as Chair of the Conference Board of Church and Society. He also works in an advisory capacity with the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church. He serves many other great causes, including at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary with the 787 Collective and Houses of Hope, as well as president of Texas Impact's board. When most people think of Phil, they immediately think of his commitment to justice and equity—and maybe his fantastic hair. Scott had a chance to talk with Phil about the current political realities we are facing in the United States and how faith leaders and people of faith are called to respond in this moment. Phil talks about people who inspire him, who he takes his cues from (an answer that might include some familiar names), and what it looks like to faithfully live out our call to be co-creators of a world that is more loving and just. Check out the new and improved Weekly Witness and let us know what you think. Weekly Witness is hosted by Scott Atnip and engineered and produced by David Vassallo. Our executive producer is Bee Moorhead. Theme music by Kimberly Zielnicki, Hayden Havard and Andres Garcia-Bonilla. The opinions expressed on Weekly Witness are those of Texas Impact and our guests, and they do not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors. Weekly Witness is a product of Texas Impact. Visit us online at texasimpact.org.

This week we continue our year-end series talking with the Texas Impact team about where we see public policy in 2025 as we prepare for a big year in 2026. Last week we talked to Membership Manager Kat Karbach about Texas Impact membership and this week we continue the series with Texas Impact's Executive Director Bee Moorhead and outside legislative counsel Beaman Floyd. As we reflect on public policy in 2025, it is probably fair to say that the system is not working as well as we would hope. That is true not just in terms of policy outcomes, but also our policy processes. Bee and Beaman will talk about that and much more as we consider how we can navigate the often troubled waters of public policy and how people of faith can play a substantive role in both navigating those waters and creating a better future on the other side. As always you can more way to get involved on our website https://texasimpact.org/ Join us on Substack https://texasimpact.substack.com/

This week, we continue coverage of the United Nations climate negotiations known as COP30 held this year in Belém, Brazil. Last week, we had the Texas Impact team reporting from Belém, and today, Rev. Dr. Becca Edwards joins the program soon after returning from the COP to talk to us about the latest from the conference with a few days remaining. Becca wears two hats—one as Dr. Becca Edwards, the climate scientist, and the other as Rev. Becca Edwards, United Methodist pastor. So, she will share her perspective as both a scientist and a pastor who has been writing about the role faith and morality played at the COP and the role people of faith have in responding to the climate crisis. Check out our team's work on Texas Impact's substack and YouTube as well as through Texas Impact's media partnerships with the Austin Chronicle, Baptist News Global, and United Methodist Insight.

The election is over, and even though there weren't big statewide or federal races on the ballot, local elections and good public policy matter, and so we are excited to welcome Texas Impact's Outside Legislative Counsel Beaman Floyd back to the program to talk about the election results and where we go from here in the legislative calendar. Now that the constitutional amendment election is in the rearview mirror, we expect at some point to begin tracking interim hearings. The candidate filing deadline for Texas races is about a month out, so primary election season will be upon us soon. As always, Texas Impact has tools and resources to help you stay engaged. Learn more at texasimpact.org.

This week we take a break from the news of the day to talk about work important to many of us in the faith community–caring for our siblings who are being systematically marginalized by harmful public policy. Our transgender friends and neighbors have been specifically singled out for attack since at least 2017 in high profile and public ways starting most prominently in Texas when the first "bathroom bills" started coming to the forefront. For many Texans, there is a lot of ignorance on the subject, so we thought this week we would bring in an expert to talk to us about the science and help us understand this topic from a medical perspective so we can be more effective advocates. Texans of faith who care about equity need to stand up in support of our transgender neighbors specifically with our faith hats on because the attacks are largely coming from Christians and we need to speak up to say clearly—you do not speak for us. There are people of faith and good conscience who believe in equality. So, joining us for the conversation this week is Dr. Lolly Lockhart, who has been an RN for over 60 years and loves nursing. She has been an active member of the American Nurses Association, Texas Nurses Association and has served as a consultant, and seemingly every other position, in the nursing world a person could hold in addition to providing expert testimony at the Capitol on behalf of herself and others. Lolly is a treat, and I hope you enjoy the conversation this week.

This week we turn our attention from Austin to the nation's capitol, because the center of the policy universe right now is the government shutdown. The decisions of Congress in the coming weeks will impact every one of us. Joining us for the conversation this week is friend of the program, Min. Christian Watkins, a Texas transplant currently serving as the Government Relations Advocate with NETWORK Lobby. Christian has been in the middle of these conversations, providing training for faith based advocates, and just before we recorded today, he was part of a rally that included faith leaders and members of Congress calling for Congress to protect our healthcare. Spoiler… we need more faith leaders and elected officials doing exactly that across the country. Christian joins us, still in his clergy collar from the rally, to give us a shutdown 101 and talk to us about the stakes related to health care and give us some advocacy marching orders. Find out more about the work of NETWORK Lobby at networklobby.org Watch the Interfaith Leaders and Congressional Democrats Rally and Prayer Vigil here: https://www.youtube.com/live/sYP26BOVEIo?si=fbp4NTIb7_nORTU1 Additional resources: Faith in Action's Shutdown FAQs Watch NETWORK Lobby's Shutdown Edition: Faith Tools to Protect Health Care