Weekly Witness Ep. 464: Year-End Policy Wrap-Up
Release Date: 12/19/2025
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...
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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...
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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,...
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Ep. 461 Implementation, Ethics, and Finance, Oh My!
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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...
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Ep. 460 ...It Just Can't Be a Loser
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
The Texas Impact team is on the ground and churning out great content from the United Nations climate negotiations known as COP30 Belém, Brazil. Make sure you are following along 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. This week on Weekly Witness, members of that delegation–Bee Moorhead, Rev. Becca Edwards, Dylan Le and Regina Banks join the conversation with updates from COP30. This content is important to help us understand the global...
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Ep. 459 Cotton Candy for Dinner: The November Election and What's Next
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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...
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Ep. 457 Science + Faith for Informed Trans Allies
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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...
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Ep. 456 There's Always a Grift
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week we are excited to be joined by State Representative Mickey Dollens from Oklahoma. You might ask why Texas Impact would have an Oklahoma state representative on the program. That’s a great question—and we have an answer. We met Rep. Dollens at a recent event focused on combating Christian Nationalism sponsored by Interfaith Alliance. He shared his story of crashing a meeting with the National School Chaplain Association and how that group and similar groups are pushing a Christian Nationalist agenda in state legislatures across the country. He has been leading the fight to...
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Ep. 455 Working Together to Turn the Tide
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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...
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Ep. 454 This is a Religious Story
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
There is a lot going on in the world from government shut downs to statements and actions that threaten democracy and try to pit Americans against each other as enemies. And, in an increasingly polarized media landscape, it is hard to know where to get good, quality information. Religious media can play an important role in this landscape. There are many great religious media outlets, and this week we are talking with Mark Wingfield, who serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. This is his second time working as a journalist, having worked in print journalism for 21...
info_outlineWe 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 2026. We wish everyone a meaningful and relaxing holiday season!
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