On Being an Evangelical Senator During the Trump Presidency

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Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2018

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Oklahoma politician James Lankford became a US Senator in 2015, the year before Donald Trump officially became the Republican Party’s candidate. Lankford didn’t support Trump in the GOP’s primary but ultimately backed him during the election. “What I really look for in a presidential candidate is someone who is a great role model, and I didn’t get that this time,” said Lankford. “I was very frustrated. I didn’t have a good option. I didn’t have that person who I would say is a great role model for my daughters and for my family.” Lankford has served nearly a decade in Washington, DC. But before that, the Southern Baptist thought he had found his calling as a Christian summer camp director. When he decided to transition, he found peace in his change in calling after observing the Bible’s attention to politics. “There are about 36 and a half books in the Old Testament that are written to, by, or about a political leader. It was often the prophet going to a king, King David writing in a psalm, or Solomon writing in Proverbs,” said Lankford. “A third of the New Testament was written to a political leader: the Book of Luke and the Book of Acts.” Lankford joined associate digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss why he started a bipartisan Bible study, what he thinks of the president’s tweets, and why he’s challenging white people when it comes to race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.0	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.
0:28.5	Music Michael Del Rosario at Apologeticsguy.com. You're listening to Quick to Listen.
0:30.5	Each week we go be on hashtags and hot takes to discuss a major cultural event.
0:35.0	I'm Morgan Lee, Associate Digital Media Producer here at Christianity
0:38.2	today, and I'm joined almost as always, but not actually really, by Mark Alley.
0:43.8	Well, yeah, always. It's fair. Always in parentheses or quotes or whatever, yeah.
0:50.2	I'm joined with all the best episodes. There you go. All right.
0:53.6	So, Mark, we are doing something a little bit different today on the podcast, what is happening.
0:58.3	Well, our guest is James Langford.
1:00.9	He's the Republican senator, a Republican senator from Oklahoma who has served since 2015.
1:05.9	He previously served two terms in the House of Representatives.
1:08.6	And before his time in politics, he worked in Baptist youth ministry for nearly 15 years.
1:13.1	He's a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and preaches from time to time at his home church in Oklahoma City.
1:19.9	So welcome, Senator.
1:21.7	I'm really glad to be able to be with y'all.
1:23.6	We are glad to have you here, too.
1:25.4	And because there's an Oklahoma City reference and because listeners know that we love sports, we need to talk about your team this year.
1:31.4	Well, it's teams when you come to Oklahoma, but the professional team is definitely the Oklahoma City Thunder.
1:35.8	And how are you feeling about them?
1:37.0	You know what? It's been a tough year for them. They're closer to 500 than normally are. They're typically well above above 500 but not quite there this time well
	...

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