And I'm Scott Detro in Raleigh. On a late October evening in North Carolina's capital city,

a massive stage in a dark auditorium is backlit by tall screens,

and bass thumping music and vocals are filling the space.

There's a table of judges in front of the stage.

Think American Idol, but with a clearly religious focus.

Its worship team audition night at Cross Assembly Church inside this congregations nearly

1,700 seat sanctuary on a sprawling multi-wing campus that resembles a high school or community college.

Hey Scott, nice to meet you.

Scott, I didn't meet you, man.

This Pentecostal church is led by Pastor Chad Harvey whose sermons, often to weekly

crowds of about 3,000, usually wind up on cross-assemblies social media channels.

If I thought the fate of history depended on the 2024 election, I'd be as anxious as you and popping as many pills as you are.

Fortunately, I don't believe that stuff.

My hope is in Jesus, not in the politics. But as Harvey

ends up telling us, there is no way to completely avoid political discourse in the church.

Every time I take this stage, I do not take it in my own name.

I don't take it in the name the lieutenant governor.

I take it in the name of Jesus Christ.

That is Republican Mark Robinson, North Carolina's lieutenant governor, and now a gubernatorial candidate, speaking

to cross-assembly back in 2021.

Several years before he became the star of Democratic attack ads across the North Carolina airwaves for a string of controversial

comments, stances, and alleged actions.

...