Weekly Witness Ep.507 Ramadan Reflections with Imaad Khan
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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...
info_outline
Weekly Witness Ep.506 Faithful Witness in Rural Texas with Rev. Trent Ormsbee-Hale
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott was joined by Rev. Trent Ormsbee-Hale, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Weatherford, TX. For long-time listeners, that congregation might be familiar, because he served with and then followed Texas Impact’s past Board President, Rev. Franz Schemmel as the pastor upon Franz’s retirement. Scott and Trent reminisced on their shared history. Scott knew Trent and his husband Anthony while they were undergraduate students. At that time, Trent was discerning his journey in ministry, coming out of a Fransiscan background in a journey that led him to now serving as an...
info_outline
Weekly Witness Ep.505 “Are You With Us?” with Robert Rivera
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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...
info_outline
Ep.504 Organizing in Texas with Rabbi Josh Fixler
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott welcomes Rabbi Josh Fixler, associate rabbi at Congregation Emanu El in Houston to the conversation. Josh is a friend of the program—so much so, in fact that we had trouble narrowing down the conversation because Rabbi Fixler has a wide-ranging justice portfolio. We landed on Christian Nationalism and civic engagement, because Rabbi Fixler has extensive expertise in those areas, and both have been at the forefront of the policy conversation in Texas over the last few weeks. Christian Nationalism has been a leading factor in harmful public policies in the reproductive health...
info_outline
Ep.503 Showing Up with Rev. Mara Bim
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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 . The timing for the conversation was great, because it was the same week as the event in Washington, D.C. Thousands of people faith marched on the U.S. Capitol for a...
info_outline
Weekly Witness Ep.502 "Do Your Thing" with Regina Q. Banks
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
The Texas Impact team started the week with Bee and Rev. Dr. Becca discussing the scientific method and the idea that government officials can’t unilaterally repeal science following an announcement from the administration that they had "repealed a scientific finding." So, it seemed particularly well-timed (shall we call it divine?) that we had already scheduled Regina Banks to join the podcast for this week. For those of you who followed along with , you will remember that Regina Banks is the Director of the Lutheran Office of Public Policy-California. Regina is a leader in the ELCA...
info_outline
Ep. 501 Imagine Better with Phil Dieke
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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...
info_outline
Ep. 464: Year-End Policy Wrap-Up
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
We have finally made it to the end of 2025, or, at least the end of the 2025 Weekly Witness recording calendar. And, what a year it has been-from regular and special sessions with both good news and news that made us question those in power, the Texas Impact team has walked with you to effectively advocate on issues important to Texans of faith. Joining Scott for the year-end review are members of the Texas Impact Policy Team, Rev. Dr. Becca Edwards, Rev. Kyle Riley, Rev. Keats Miles-Wallace, Gracie Bonilla and Rebecca McIlwain. The Weekly Witness team looks forward to being back with you in...
info_outline
Ep. 463 Bridge Over Troubled—What Now?
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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...
info_outline
Ep. 462 Members Equip Us for Action
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week we kick off 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. Membership Manager Kat Karbach kicks us off to talk about Texas Impact membership. Many listeners have participated in Texas Impact teams, joined us for advocacy events, made calls as part of the Rapid Response teams, and you obviously love the Weekly Witness podcast. All of that is supported by faithful Texas Impact members. As we near year-end, it is a perfect time to encourage friends and neighbors to renew their Texas Impact membership,...
info_outlineThis 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/
Additional resources:
Faith in Action's Shutdown FAQs
Watch NETWORK Lobby's Shutdown Edition: Faith Tools to Protect Health Care