Ken and Betsey review over five years of Beach Talks as Ken posts the podcast’s 400th episode. Three friends check in to celebrate - Darcy McKenzie, Osahon Obazuaye, and Ken Fong. Betsey, a Chicago resident, shares some of her experience this month spending three delightful weeks in Tuscon - the Arizona Desert. Ken and Betsey then compare notes on the new administration’s first two weeks in power. It’s been a firehose of headlines, including those controversial cabinet appointments, an avalanche of executive orders, bizarre explanations (for Southern California fires and then those terrible plane crashes), targeted attacks on D.E.I., inflationary tariffs, trade wars, and plans to absorb Canada, Mexico, Panama, Greenland, and now Gaza under America’s domain. Elon Musk takes the axe to congressionally mandated programs. Oh - don’t forget - it’s now “The Gulf of America” and “Mt. McKinley.” Predictions of the imposition of the feared Project 2025 (which the then-candidate for President claimed he knew nothing about) turn out to be way understated. Turns out, it was a detailed script for these first two weeks. The President and his supporters said they would “drain the swamp,” but it looks more like Steve Bannon’s colorful prediction - that on Day One, Trump would “flood the zone with sh*t.”

Ken and Betsey commit to keep this podcast and their Beach Talks going - we need each other now more than ever.

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When Ken researched his Bible School classmate, Melvin Warren, he stumbled across Dr. Curtis’ book. It referenced a familiar, legendary press conference. In 1970, at the famed Arch entrance at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Melvin made a speech as the cameras rolled and journalists scribbled notes. He claimed that the school’s racism so marred his experience as a student that he tore up his diploma and tossed it into the trash. He made national news.

That incident not only drove Ken into a years-long quest to understand the dynamic of racism in his white evangelical church but it also played significantly into the doctoral dissertation of another Moody grad, Dr. Jesse Curtis. Dr. Curtis is now an assistant professor at Valparaiso University. Ken and Jesse compare notes on that momentous event. It prompted Ken’s Beached White Male journey. It also contributed to Dr. Curtis’ doctoral focus - now a book considered a “must-read” by both Jemar Tisby and Kristin Kobes du Mez. Ken and Jese discuss The Myth of Colorblind Christians: Evangelicals and White Supremacy in the Civil Rights Era.

Dr. Curtis covers the history of racism in the white evangelical church going back to the Billy Graham era when Howard Jones became the first African American evangelist on “The Team.” Jesse believes that the Church Growth Movement founded by Donald McGavran contributed to the segregation that was a feature in the explosive growth the church at the turn of the century - including “ethnic” congregations and mega-churches. McGavran’s protege, C. Peter Wagner, added fuel that dynamic. In their wide-ranging discussion, they talk about evangelical super-stars like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels as well as champions like Bill Pannel, Tom Skinner and John Perkins. Curtis argues that the notion of “colorblind Christians” is a myth.

While he wrote some five years ago, the case is as relevant as ever. Just this week, in his inaugural address, the 47th President stated, “We will forge a society that is colorblind…” His supporters stood in enthusiastic applause. Ken and Jesse agree: this is not progress. SHOW NOTES

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Episode Number 399

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Ken welcomes Washington political commentator, speechwriter, and author Peter Wehner. Pete is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum. He is well known for his prolific contribution to the intersection of politics, public policy, and faith. Early on, he identified as a conservative, a Republican, and an Evangelical. From 2011, when Donald Trump campaigned to challenge the legitimacy of the Obama Presidency, suggesting that he was born in Kenya and not the U.S.A., Wehner has called out the danger of a Trump presidency. Pete has been a stalwart in opposing Donald Trump and in the process, he no longer identifies as a Republican or an Evangelical. He remains a traditional conservative. However, he has offered a powerful and sustained critique of evangelical support for Donald Trump and a Republican Party that has become subservient to the newly elected President. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson played a key role in that transition. Ken and Pete have a lively discussion over his early years as a new Christian, his college career, the influence of his scientist father, his move to Washington, Reagan’s speech after the Challenger disaster, George Bush’s 9/11 speech (Pete was in the White House that fateful day), and finally Donald Trump’s complete take-over of the Republican Party and his return to the White House for a second term. SHOW NOTES

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Episode #398

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