Welcome to the intersection of faith and culture. It's a wall builder show. We are taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. And today we're doing that from the Patriot Academy campus, sitting in the House chamber right now where the leadership Congress,

our national leadership Congress, is taking place. Tim Barton and I will be here teaching the

students all week long. And today on Wall Builders, we've got some of the students actually here

to share with you what we're experiencing here at the campus. Now, we do this actually several

times throughout the summer. We call them regional academies around the nation and state capitals, but our big one is this week.

We call it the National Leadership Congress. We got our largest class ever, about 140 students here from across the nation. They are learning leadership skills.

They're learning founding fathers philosophy. They're learning the process. And they do it in a mock legislative simulation, as well as hearing from a lot of great speakers.

Our first guest today is the governor of Patriot Academy this year.

Benjamin Greasinger, Governor, thanks for joining me on the program today.

Thank you for having me.

All right, so you got totally booted from your state of the academy this morning, the opening session, and you're supposed

to give your state of the academy, and some guy running the show ran everything late,

and then you got canceled until tomorrow. Who was that? I'm not really sure. You know,

it was just kind of a ghost in the wind situation. I think they call him Rick Green. It's a very

interesting situation. But I think it honestly worked out for the best because the Lord was definitely moving here. A lot of what I was going to say was already touched on by every single speaker before me. So it was one of those things where I knew, okay, maybe this was a lot of me, maybe it was the Lord, but I definitely needed to go in and tweak some stuff. So you get an extra night. Exactly. Yeah. So you're doing yours on the floor session. So we'll actually be

gaveled in just like the real Texas legislature and just like the real state of the state that

the governor gives in each state, you will give sort of a report on what's been going on with

Patriot Academy and where Patriot Academy is going. And also, are you going to address any of the things in the country or the role of Patriot Academy? You haven't written that new speech yet. What are you thinking? Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the main things that we can talk about is all the growth that Patriot Academy has had within this last month alone. I mean, we've had over 200 people on campus, working hard, getting this thing built. And within that, you'd see the environment that they've been building, the atmosphere from who they are and what they're wanting to accomplish. You know, they're out here working hours and hours in the sun, but there's always joy on their face because they know that what we're doing here is truly taking background in the culture and they can do with a smile because they know that's what they're called to do by God. And you kind of get to see it all because you see that part of it, but then you also see behind the scenes what it takes to put on even a legislative simulation like this, but then you get to see the young people out here, your colleagues, in the debate and in the

committees and in the workshops, and you see the light bulb come on. You kind of get the same privilege I do of seeing their growth. You actually experienced it and had that kind of growth. And now you're giving back and helping other students get it. Pretty cool. Yeah, that's exactly right. When I was younger, I didn't really know anything. And then going through being a freshman in the first year and a second year, you know, the lights click each year. You're not going to have every light on a board of light up at the same time. Right. But being able to sit where I am right now and look at these freshmen in first years and second years and see the light pop and see them. You really understand the floor session. And even for the first years and second years, they may have got it the first time around and now they're going to the freshmen and they're

helping them get it as well. It's kind of really cool to see it because when you're younger, when you're first in it, you never know what it's going to look like. And then down the road, when you've had that experience and that age come with you, you get to look back and see, oh, that's where I was and now I'm here. So it's a really cool point of view to see from.

You may have solved the problem that I haven't been able to solve for 25 years. I've never been able to communicate to people what Patriot Academy really is, the leadership Congress. It's impossible to describe. They'll watch the videos. I'll give a speech on it. But then when they come, they're like, oh my goodness, it's even better than what I thought or I didn't even realize this was going to

happen. What's kind of your elevator pitch? What do you tell people when they ask you about this Patriot Academy thing? Well, the whole point of Patriot Academy is, yes, we want to pour into the next generation, but not only that, we want the, you know, a year above the next generation to pour into them as well.

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