Tonight on America’s Hope, we’ll hear from Star Parker and Steve Emerson and what they both have to say about being involved in politics in the most unusual way. America’s Hope starts now. From the NTD Global Headquarters in New York, I’m Kelly Wright, and this is America’s Hope. Good evening. Thank you for joining us this hour.

We do hope that you’re safe and well, taking care of yourself and your family because you matter. This time right now, some of you are at the RNC because you believe that it matters. You’re at that RNC convention to actually watch the Republican party nominate president former president Donald Trump to be its presidential nominee going into the presidential election of November 2024. But tonight, we’re gonna depart from the RNC. And while it’s going on, we wanna focus on someone who’s been very vocal about Republicans and Democrats.

Chia Star Parker. She’ll be joining us tonight. She’s a noted author, columnist, TV host, and the founder of CURE. And then we’re also going to be joined by Steve Amerson, a recording artist, who has found a way to reach out to members of Congress, both sides of the aisle, Republican and Democrat. He has a unique way of reaching out to them with his word on the hill.

Let’s get started. My first guest is a friend, someone that I haven’t talked to in a couple, years, but, when you’re a good friend, that friendship is always the glue that holds you together, and she is noteworthy. Her name is Star Parker. Many of you have heard of her. She is the president of the Center For Urban Renewal and Education, better known as CURE, which she founded in 1995.

And Star serves on the US Commission on Civil Rights, California advisory committee, and previously served on the US Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission. In 2017, Starr joined the White House Opportunity Initiative advisory team and has served on the board of directors of the National Religious Broadcasters and the Leadership Institute. And Starr is a nationally syndicated columnist and the author of several books, including Uncle Sam’s Plantation, How Big Government in Slaves America’s Poor, and What We Can Do About It. And, Star, it’s just good to have you on the program. How are you doing?

No. Thanks. It’s good to be back with you. Yeah. It’s good to look, you’ve you’ve got a lot going on, and, certainly, there’s a lot going on in America right now.

Oh, there’s such a thing as the presidential election that’s coming up, where we see former president of the United States, Donald Trump, going against, the current president of the United States, Joe Biden. Both have a message to America. And Americans have a decision to make come November. As you look at politics, something that you studied, and and government, something that you studied and worked in for a while, what do you see on the landscape of this election? Well, I think I see what everyone is seeing that we have 2 conflicting views of where we should go in the future, for our country.

We have one that believes in individualism and freedom, and personal responsibility. We have the other side that wants to micromanage every aspect of everyone’s lives. So therefore, it’s rooted in socialism and a lot of statism as well as secularism that anyone can do anything they want anytime they want to do it. When you see someone overselling abortion and why they should kill the offspring as opposed to the party that’s saying no. Maybe we should at least have restrictions.

And then those of us like myself who say it’s a crime against humanity, we shouldn’t be doing it at all. I think most Americans are starting to get comfortable with what the choices are going to be and very uncomfortable that they have to make a decision. You know, you you say it correctly that there’s there are decisions out there and choices to be made. You talked about abortion. You talked about, the other aspects of, the Biden and Trump way of leading government.

There’s also the immigration issue. I’ve been to the Texas border, and I’m I’m sure you have too. And what many people, No. I haven’t. You know, many American citizens living in Texas, they’re saying, hey.

Do something here because we feel that we’re being infiltrated, invaded, and the people that we see coming across the border now illegally, mean harm for America and nothing good for America. What do you say about their assessment of what they’re living through? Well, we’ve seen a lot of the harm and not just in Texas, all across the country. Broken border is not a new phenomenon. In fact, when president Trump came to town, he decided that maybe we need to do something about that broken border, and he did.

And he through his efforts, we started seeing decreases in the amount of people that not only snuck into our country, but decreases in crime. He did a criminal justice reform bill that allowed for us to refocus on state laws, when it comes to how we treat criminals, what we do in our policing, and then we saw the Biden administration come in and undo and unravel all of those efforts. So now we are being, as many call it, invaded, and it’s impacted every place in America, including here in Washington DC. Sir, on another subject matter is that when president Joe Biden ran as a candidate, he was talking about, his goal was to heal the soul of America. Have we seen any healing in America based on what you’ve seen taking place in America?

No. If there’s, that’s probably the only thing that president Joe Biden has said that’s coherent about the election, that it is about the soul of America. And he’s made it very clear what his world view is about the soul of America. And it’s been overwhelmingly rejected including in the black community. It’s one of the reasons I’m really glad and fascinated that, our tone we have a annual tone that we bring out, in opposition to what the Urban League does with their state of black America.

We bring out the state of black progress. And it just happened to just come out right at Juneteenth in an election year where African Americans are overwhelmingly saying maybe we ought to think about other ideas for how we should govern our lives going into the future. We’ve been believing this political promise of the Democrats for the last 50, 60 years, and we’re left wanting. And now we see exactly what, their side wants for the country under the leadership of Joe Biden. So we’re very happy here at CURE for the timing of this tome to really be able to talk about policy differences, in these two world views when it comes to how we do our public policy.

And I wanna talk to you about that because that is significant. As you know, the black vote, the the black, electorate is always sought after when it comes election time. Donald Trump is doing something that few Republicans have ever done. He’s actually going into the black community, as he did so recently here in New York City over in the Bronx, and stunned America by going into the Bronx, an area that is predominantly, Democrat, and yet overwhelming support was shown that day. That was not, something that anyone could foresee.

I’m curious to know what you think is going on, with regard to, Donald Trump taking his message to black Americans as no Republican has ever done before? I’m not gonna agree that no Republican has ever done it before, but what I will say is that you should not be shocked, that Donald Trump is going into black community. He’s very comfortable with African Americans. He’s he’s an entertainer. He’s from the Hollywood world.

He knew Oprah and knows Oprah personally. And I’ll sharpen it. These are his friends. So he’s comfortable in this community. Why do you think his message is resonating in, the black community as opposed to Joe Biden?

Well, everybody knows why Joe Biden’s message isn’t resonating in the black community. But a couple of things here, Kelly. When we think about that younger black voter, these are the ones that are attracted now to Donald Trump. These are the ones that are actually looking away from Joe Biden. Why is that?

Well one thing is that they’re a couple of generations away from the civil rights era. While they appreciate that era, grandmama, maybe great grandmama was in that era, they’re not. They’re in the great middle class. 40% of African Americans live in the suburbs. So they experience America.

We can call them African American, but they’re American. They know the freedom of America. They know that they’re in the middle class or even greater than the middle class. They know that we still have pockets of problems, and there are some problems that are are more evident than others in certain ZIP codes, but they’ve experienced real, economic growth, educational growth. So there are those African Americans that are tired of being lied to by the Democrats that are saying, wait a minute.

We have to start thinking about our future too. We have to start thinking not collectively but individually. And I think that that’s one of the reasons that there’s this openness to hear from, the Donald Trump, campaign, if you will. They’ve experienced it. Donald Trump was here and they started seeing their monies grow.

2 things that are underappreciated. When he passed that tax bill, the following year, we saw more African Americans make it over $75,000 a year that lived under 75 under $25,000 a year. This was historic. It should have been on every front page, but very few people even know about it. When we started getting into criminal justice reform, it started dusting through the numbers.

We saw for the first time that we actually have more young African Americans in college than in jail. So what’s happening is this revolution of the African American who’s been forgotten, that grew up in healthy life, perhaps in a single household, but healthy life and has been making healthy decisions in America. They know that that part of America does work for them and they wanted to continue working for them because they experienced it under Donald Trump. Under Joe Biden, they’ve seen exactly the opposite happen. Not only has the economy unraveled, but as you mentioned earlier, the border has been left open.

There’s so much to get into. I wanna take a break because you have a a new book that’s coming out. I definitely wanna talk about that. I’m talking to Star Parker. She’s the president of the Center For Urban Renewal and Education, CURE, And we’ll continue our discussion with STAR after the break.

Welcome back to America’s Hope. I’m talking to Star Parker. She is president and founder of CURE, which she founded in 1995. And, Star, look, you you’ve written so many different books. In our first segment, we were talk breaking down, the differences between, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Talk to me about where you see these trends leading, towards an outcome of the of this year’s presidential election. I know you can’t, you don’t have a crystal ball in front of you, but things have changed. Things have changed, but there are places that people want focus, and they’re not the 3 areas that the Biden administration keeps insisting. One abortion. Oh, the numbers are out.

A lot of African Americans know that 20,000,000 were killed at our own hand because of legalized abortion, and we’re ashamed. More black people dead than were alive during the sixties when we had a civil rights movement. It’s a crime against humanity. We shouldn’t be doing it in too many comparisons to slavery. So we’re hearing now, especially post, Roe in the Dobbs world, now having these discussions in the states, more blacks are becoming uncomfortable with abortion.

Another message that that, Biden wants to keep insisting is the most important thing that we should be thinking about is on democracy. Well, that is such a subjective term. No one knows what he means. And especially when at the same time, he’s trying to control every aspect of our lives. And then the 3rd is on j 6, January 6th.

But he’s talking to a group of people who appreciate protests. And in fact, they’ve experienced protests during BLM. They saw protests. They were involved in protests. Protests that also got out of hand and ended in riot.

Black people are not unaccustomed to riot opportunities that have happened in our country. And now we see this j 6 and we hear from the left, the progressive left, that this somehow is outside of what has ever happened in America before. So folks know that they’re being lied to. On the other hand, you see real issues that need to be addressed. The economy, housing policy, education policy, health policy, economic policy.

We can pretend that we don’t know anything about what’s happened in the collapse of Social Security, but everybody knows it’s collapsed and everyone knows that the economy is collapsed and that inflation is running us out of what we used to call normal 4 or 5 years ago. So it’s not rocket science to see that African Americans, like all Americans, are saying, look, I gotta get beyond all this race stuff and start thinking about myself and my family and what policies work best for myself and my family. Star, I wanna get, a little bit deeper into that. But before I get back to that and your your new book, I I do have to ask you the Israel question, and the Ukraine question. We we know what’s happening with Ukraine.

We know that Ukraine is receiving more money, and we know that Israel is now receiving more money from our congress, in order to wage, the the battles that they’re, fake facing. But on college campuses across America, we saw a lot of anti Israel, hate. And we even saw some of these pro Palestinian, pro Hamas, demonstrations go on to say, the chance that we would only imagine Iran, providing, and that is death to Israel and death to America. Have young Americans forgotten the fact that we had a 911 that was conducted by radical Islam, and do they no longer see that the threat that took place and actually was lived out on October 7, 2023 in Israel can also visit our shores once again? I think most young people are not thinking about it, and the progressive left doesn’t care.

And in fact, we’re still having discussions. They believe that Israel created 911. They’re celebrating Hamas. They know they’re empowering Hamas, with their protests here, and they’re loving on it. And that’s one of the reasons that now the squad is scared because the Jewish community in America is not gonna tolerate their anti Semitism.

They’re pushing back, and they’re getting them out of elected offices. So, yes, this is very, very important discussion that we have to have as a country. And there are a lot of people that are youthful and that are out there in their streets that weren’t even born at 911. But no. Make no mistake.

What that rhetoric is that we’re hearing on these college campuses and death to Israel is the same rhetoric we hear through progressive left continuously about social justice and their social justice movement. They really believe that their problems are somebody else’s fault. They really believe there’s an oppressive class and that those that are being oppressed by that oppressive class need to be put in check, all their money taken for them and annihilated in some cases like what they’re chanting about Israel. CURA is very adamant and strongly in support of of Israel. And in fact, we have a stealth campaign we’re working on that I can’t give too much details for, but we have been very strong in our support of Israel and making sure that we can get the messaging out and mostly through our black clergy network that we cannot allow for this discussion to move towards some type of 2 state solution.

You cannot give a state to someone who wants to kill their next door neighbor. And this is something that I think most Americans are waking up to that reality. But, no, too many not engaged. And it’s really a challenge because as you said, now we’re in couple of wars. After that debacle coming out of Afghanistan, we’re seeing 2 of our friends, if you will, countries that are democracies in war and we, as American people, are kinda conflicted on it.

But there are some leaders that are not conflicted on it, and that’s another thing that will be going into this presidential election. They’ll probably talk about it in debates. But, definitely, in the presidential election, people should think about which party really makes you safer, secure in the principles of our founding. Yeah. To your subject about the book.

Yeah. What’s your latest book and and what are you, trying to say to America? Well, this one actually is a tome. You know, it’s not my personal book. It’s actually a a a work of cure, and it’s a tome because it’s a collection of essays on specific topics, experts in their field.

And what we’ve done is we’ve countered the, the the aggressive, you know, Urban League with their every annual year putting out their state of black America telling the same story from the sixties that the country doesn’t work. So what we decided to do is to actually show that the country does work, where we are healthy as black people, but where we still need to get some work done. So we have essays, from on health issues, on housing issues, on education issues, on economic stability. Steve Moore even talking about personalized Social Security, the HUSOC out of, out of AI talking about the poor side of town and why we need it again, what we’ve done wrong in housing policy to trap people in certain ZIP codes, and now their lives are in a in a mess. Health care, we have a Sally Pipes.

We have a Grace Marie Turner. It is full of real figures. Ian West and and Leslie Heiner on education policy, where we’ve gone wrong and how do we fix it. So this is an actual tone, a collection of essays or or a project that CURE, has started putting out once a year, to counter that narrative that keeps pretending that America has not progressed when it comes to African American interest. Star, I I gotta get, a very pointed question.

I wanna get into you personally. Who is Star Parker? What did you go through to become the woman you are today? Oh my goodness. How much time do you have?

I’ve gone through a lot. I’m 68 years old. I have 2 grandchildren. I’m on my way to retirement. I’ll be turning the reins of cure over very soon here.

Leaving Washington, DC and see what’s available in the next chapter. But how I became on the national scene is because I lived the aggressive lives of the left, ended up on welfare, and then got tapped to do welfare reform or to consult on welfare reform after a Christian convergent change in my life and and doing a business, starting a business. So it’s been a journey, like all people’s lives, and then they get to the place where they’re 68 years old and say, is anything else that I should do for the Lord, before I start going into further sunset years and don’t wanna get up out of a rocking chair? I’m looking for those opportunities right now. But in the meantime, CURA has done incredible, established work here in Washington, DC.

We’re very proud of this tome that we have out annually. We also do a policy summit annually with our clergy this year. Our clergy will be surprised to know that we have a surprise for them instead of doing our annual meeting here in Washington DC. And we put out an annual report on the state of, of abortion, you know, the impact of abortion on the black community. So we’ve been very successful.

We own black community news.com, have our own television show. So we’ve been very successful in the things that I’ve set up as a result of being tasked by the Lord, to to take my story of transitioning out of welfare into success, to allow it for others to appreciate and maybe even help them get out of the broken ZIP codes and the broken lives that they’re in right now. Star, somehow, you don’t well, first of all, you don’t look 68. And secondly, I can I don’t think I can see you sitting in a rocking chair and just sitting down watching life go by? I think even from a rocking chair 5?

I wanna do it at 95. I’m going to sit in a rocking chair at 95. Look. If Tom Sowell can leave at 90 and say I’m going to do photography, then surely at 95, I can sit in a rocking chair. I will believe it when I see it.

Picked up in a lot of his spots. I’m kinda glad. When he left, I got picked up in the spots that he left when it comes to being syndicated by creators. Then when doctor Williams passed and, such a dear friend and such an unfortunate, for him to pass into eternity, I got picked up a lot of spots. But where I’m really surprised I’m getting picked up in a lot of spots is is, oh, oh, not getting your name.

Oh, gosh. Charles Kronheimer. You know him? Charles Kronheimer’s Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It’s Knew him personally. Incredible that people are yeah. You know, I mean yeah. What a brilliant bright thinker.

And now, you know, my column is running where his column used to run. So, you know, it’s humbling, for me to stay focused. But you’re right. I probably won’t stay in a rocking chair too long, but I do like to rock and think. Rock and think.

I like that. And then put it into action. Star, look, you you have an intense love for America. So my final question and you gotta come back. We gotta have more of these discussions.

I’d like to, you know, be be, the the there’s an open door policy here for Star Parker. Anytime you wanna come on, just come on. But what is your your hope for America? I hope that this election, we really realize that the majority of Americans realize that we can’t go on the way that we are. We can’t go on morally.

We can’t go on, in our economic affairs. And so I hope that they see what’s really at stake. That we’re going to either be biblical and free in our worldview or we’re going to be secular in status in our worldview as a society where our lives are forced to touch. In our individual lives, we have freedom to do what we want, but there are rules that govern those freedoms. And I’m just hoping that we come out of that election on the side of God.

Well said, my friend. Good to always have you on. Thank you for joining us on America’s Health. So much. She Star Parker, president of the Center For Urban Renewal and Education, CURE, which she founded in 1995, and she’s still serving America in a very strong, courageous, and bold way.

And she does it with love. Sometimes tough love, but that’s what you do when you sit back in a rocking chair and crack that whip and say, come on, America. Get it together. Thanks, Star. We’re coming back with more of America’s Hope in just a moment.

And my thanks to Star Parker for appearing on America’s Hope. When we return, we’ll talk to Steve Amerson, a man who’s found unique and effective way of reaching out to members of congress. That’s next. His grace on thee. So welcome to America’s Hope.

My guest tonight is Steve Amerson, and let me introduce you to Steve. He is a renowned recording artist based in Hollywood. And beyond the music, Steve is celebrating 10 years of outreach and encouragement to members of congress on both sides of the aisle, I should say. The word on the hill is a unique ministry dedicated to promoting God’s word and uplifting his voice in our nation’s capital. Things that make you go, and are the members of Congress listening?

The Word of the Hill offers weekly worship services, a staff bible study, spiritual guidance for lawmakers and their staff, and various special events throughout the year. Steve, good of you to join us this hour on America’s Hope. I’m so glad that you’re here. I understand that, with what you’ve been doing for the past 10 years, you also take time out to actually handwrite notes of encouragement to approximately 200 congressional offices each month. That’s a lot of work you’re doing.

Well, Kelly, first of all, it’s great to be with you. And, what I do on Capitol Hill, what I’ve done since 2014 is a, it’s a ministry. It’s a mission of encouragement. And, you’re right. Every trip, I write 200 notes, handwritten notes, and deliver them to congressional offices.

I estimate in the past 10 years, I’ve written, somewhere between 3,738,000 notes. Wow. And oftentimes, I will hand deliver them, to the member of Congress if I see them. But most of the time, I will step into an office and hand my note to one of the staffers. By this time, unless they’re a new intern or someone new in the office, they know me.

And, I’ll leave my note there. And, Kelly, there’s an accumulative effect. There’s a member of congress. She’s no longer there, but she had been getting my notes for about 2 years. And she she and I had never met face to face.

And one day I walked, I opened the door, she’s standing there, and I hand her my note and she says, you’re the one who’s been praying for me. Wow. And Kelly, just that moment of the fact that I had been investing all of those years and then the moment that we met, then we were bonded. Every time she would see me, there was just a a great experience. One day, I was over on the senate side, and I saw another senator that I’d never met.

And I introduced myself in the hallway, and she said, I have some of your notes taped to my mirror. And I look at those every morning as I’m getting dressed. Oh. One day, I turn the the corner, over on the house side, and I see a member. And he sees me and he says, ah, the great encourager.

So it’s those kinds of moments that are, kind of the payoff for me, in terms of being on Capitol Hill. You know, Steve, that’s refreshing to hear. I’ve gotta ask you, what served as the impetus, for you to go to Capitol Hill and let members of Congress know, as well as your staff, that you’re there to do nothing else except to encourage them to be the kind of leaders that our nation needs. Well, as I mentioned, I started going there in 2014. I was asked, if I would come professionally.

I’m a singer. That’s what I do. And I was asked if I would come and sing and lead worship in the first service back in the capital, weekly worship service in the capital in a in 144 years. There used to be worship services in the capital on Sunday mornings. They were held in statuary hall.

There would be as many as 2,000 people there on a Sunday morning. Thomas Jefferson would ride his horse from the White House to the capital for these services. The marine band would be in the there’s a little balcony that surrounds Statuary Hall, and the marine band would be up there playing for the hymns. Wow. So a friend of mine said, would you come and sing in the first worship service in 144 years?

He said, I don’t have any money to pay you. Nothing for travel, nothing for hotel, nothing for your time. Would you come? Sounded like a great deal to me. And, so I went that first time.

And at the end of that night, he said, would you come back twice a month? And I discussed it with my board, and, they said, well, let’s give it a try. And I went 4 or 5 times. And after those trips, I I was writing my board an email as I was flying from, DCA back to LAX, back to California. And I was just saying, I don’t think we can continue to do this.

And, Kelly, it was within weeks that people around the country heard what I what I was doing and began to support, my presence there on Capitol Hill. And as I was going, I would typically fly in and land, around 4 in the afternoon, there at DCA. And I was there Tuesday night, and I was there Wednesday. The service was not until Wednesday night, and I thought, what am I gonna do? I I’m I’m really not a great tourist.

I I just, you know, I’m a worker. And I began to walk into congressional offices just with my business card. And on the back of my card, I would just write, I’m praying for you, and I would leave it in offices. And I knew when I started going, I think I knew 2 members of Congress. And then I thought maybe I need to get a little smarter about this.

Yeah. And so I had my assistant to my assistant. I created up a greeting card, has my name on the front, has my information on the back. And then on each card, on each note, there’s a verse of scripture. There’s a quote, and the quote might be from CS Lewis or Will Rogers or might be from Jimmy Hendrix.

You know, I just they’re they’re broad, and then I’ll just write a note of encouragement. Oftentimes, I know issues that members are are struggling with. I I know that they, there’s a member that has a son who’s a methamphetamine addict. There’s a member whose son committed suicide several years ago. And so I’ll just write a note.

So that’s kind of how this developed, to service, but also to be productive on the hill. And my guess is, roughly between 253 100 members know me. And more than that, Kelly, I’ve gotten to know these staffers that work on the hill. They know. And when I walk in, they know that I’m not a lobbyist.

I’m not a reporter. I’m not a constituent except for my my representatives, but they know that I’m just there to be an encouragement. And I believe that as a person of faith, everyone needs to be encouraged. I I heard the phrase several years ago, everyone we know has a battle we know nothing about. And so just to encourage people is part of what I do on Capitol Hill.

Steve, I’m I’m, I’m touched by what you’re saying because I know it’s from your heart, and the sincerity of what you’re doing, has to resonate with members of Congress. And let’s be fair. I I’m a journalist, and I’ve I’ve worked on the on on on the Hill for a number of years. I’ve worked at the White House for a number of years. So I’ve covered presidents of and I’ve covered members of Congress.

I’ve reported on when they’re in trouble, and I’ve reported on when they’re causing trouble. But the bottom line is, to your point, everyone needs to be encouraged, whether they sit in the Oval Office as the president of the United States or if they are members of Congress from the Senate, to the House, Republican to Democrat to Independent, they need encouragement, as well as their staff, because it’s really, it’s really hot and heavy in terms of what we see going on in our world today. There’s so much going on that they have to, hold on. And then, as you rightly pointed out, some of them go through personal trials. And when they go through personal trials, who do they lean on?

Who can they trust? And it seems to me with your source of, of encouragement, which comes from a higher authority, you’re giving them something that they really need. Kelly, it’s I’ve had numbers, both on the house side and the senate side tell me that they have kept every note that I’ve written to them over the past 10 years, which, you know, I’m I’m amazed at that. I remember it was, probably 8 or 10 months ago now. I was leaving the the capital.

It’s about 9, 9:30 at night, and I was walking back to my hotel, which is over by the Canon, building. And I I met a couple of young guys, that worked, for some leadership in the capital, and there was a young, gal with them, and they introduced me. And, she goes, I know who you are. You leave notes for my boss. And, she said, there’s one of those notes that I gave it to her, but then I took it back, and I’ve kept it at my desk.

It meant so much to me. And I looked at this young gal, as you know, the the folks that there are 18,000 people that work on Capitol Hill. And I would guess, you you might know better than I, but, probably 80% of them are 35 years of age and younger. And younger. Yeah.

And I looked at this young girl and I said, oh, I called her by name. I said, oh, god loves you so much. And she looked at me and said, I hope so. And and she’s, I see her every trip. In fact, when I was on the hill most recently, I ran into her.

There’s a little sandwich shop on the first floor of the Cannon building now, and, she happened to be there, and we chatted, and I said, I’m buying your lunch. So just little acts of kindness like that, means so much. I I I have a friend, His his name is Barry Maguire, and I love Barry. He’s a personal faith. And one of the things that I’ve heard him say over and over is that our job is just to move people a little closer to Jesus every day.

So as I walk the halls, as I step into offices, that’s really what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to move people a little closer to Jesus. That’s good, Steve. Walking and talking the golden rule that, Jesus has given us, and, I’m gonna take a break when we come back. Wanna talk to you a little bit more about what you do with the word on the hill, but also about your music.

Talking to Steve Emerson. We’re taking a break. We’ll be back with more of America’s Hope in just a moment. First, about Steve. Thanks for supporting him.

He is almost an omnipresent force here at the capitol now. He’s a really important presence. I just want you to know that that if you’re sowing into this ministry, I’m just gonna tell you that I think it’s a good work. He has a way of of relating to all sorts of people, and, you know, here in this environment in the swamp, there are all sorts of people. So Steve has figured out how to minister to people in this environment, and, you know, one of the unique things just by way of example real quick is that all the time, I’ll have notes from Steve, you know, in his station area on on the desk, and it’s stacked up with a lot of correspondence, but I always read Steve’s notes because I know it’s gonna be a word of encouragement.

And I know it’s only gonna take me a few seconds to read it. That’s the beauty of it. Like, Steve doesn’t write these long, you know, letters because he knows we’re never gonna read it. So thanks, brother, and all you’re doing and and continue to do and and for you. Let me turn it back on you, man.

Don’t worry in doing good, because it’s a great fruit, and we see that. I’m US senator Marsha Blackburn. And seeing Steve’s face, hearing that friendly hello, getting a personal note from him on my desk, it means more than you know. The way Steve also works with our staffs, being here to minister to our staff, to have a friendly hello and a listening ear so many times. How important that is.

So thank you for what you do to support those of us that are on Capitol Hill. Welcome back to America’s Hope. Right there, you’ve just seen speaker of the house Mike Johnson as well as senator Marsha Blackburn talking about our guest, Steve Amerson, and the fact that he’s been able to provide so much encouragement to members of congress. And I should point out that he’s reaching out to members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats. And, Steve, even though we heard from the speaker of the house, Mike Johnson, and senator Marsha Blackburn, both of them are Republicans, You’re also reaching out to Democrats.

And and the reason why I wanted to bring that up is because some of the comments that we get on America’s hope and remember, this is a a show about hope. Yet some of the comments that we get, I’m wondering if people are really understanding that hope applies to every and anybody, and that you don’t throw Democrats out with the water and you don’t throw Republicans out with the water. You have to collectively try to bring them into that net of hope. Talk to me about how that’s possible for you when you’re trying to encourage everybody with hope. Oh, Kelly.

I got I gotta be honest with some folks on the hill that, in terms of my my own, private, you know, philosophy, they drive me crazy. But I don’t have the option. I don’t have the option not to love these people. Wow. Wait.

Say say that again. You don’t have the what? I don’t have the option. Not to love. Not to love them.

And you know what? There’s a there’s a representative, from my state of California. This representative is often on my flights as I go to DC. And one day, I saw her. She was, stepping into her office there in the Rayburn building.

And, before she slipped in, I handed her my note, and she opens it up, and she reads it. And she said, you know what? My grandmother used to give all of her grandchildren’s scriptures. Wow. And I looked at her and I said, you know what?

You wanna do that for your grandchildren. So these members, whether Republican or Democrat, I think many of them don’t know what my own, you know, political stance is, and that’s just fine with me. If they don’t know, that’s fine with me. But I want them to know that God has put me there to love on them. Oh, Kelly, one night I get into the elevator, there in the capitol and, getting ready to go down and do our services.

We used to do our services in room HC 5, which is in the basement of capitol. Now they’re up, on the 1st floor. But one night, I get in the elevator and it’s just me and I’m steps in the elevator lane. I’m very careful when I’m on the hill. When I pray with people on the hill, I never bow my head.

I never close my eyes. I just look at them and I talk with them and I pray. It freaks some of them out. 1 member of congress said, oh, it always freaks me out, Steve, because you don’t close your eyes. But I’m on the elevator.

This member steps in. And I said, what do you need God to do for you today? That’s oftentimes a question I will use as I travel and and when I’m on the hill. What do you need God to do for you today? And she just looks at me and says, I need prayer for my adult son.

Wow. And I began to pray for her, and she grabbed hold of me. She grabs my shoulder as I pray, and I was going to the basement. She was going to the subbasement, and I’m praying and the doors open the basement, but I’m still praying. And she stays on.

I stay on. We go to the subbasement. I finished praying, and she said, God put you here for me today. Wow. And, I said, I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.

And she goes, please come see me. So Steve. That’s fine. Those opportunities to love people, are just, like I said, we don’t have the option. Yeah.

Yeah. And and, you know, the you’re not doing it with any agenda. You’re just doing it because, you know, you you’ve got the love for God, and you’ve got the love for the leaders of this nation. I appreciate you doing that. Let me talk about your career real quick.

Remind people and inform people what you’ve been able to accomplish, because it’s it is quite stellar. Well, Kelly, I’m a musician by training. I, here in Los Angeles, I’ve sung for a 175 feature films, things like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Hunt for Red October, Home Alone 1 and 2, Sister Act, Men in Black, Fantastic Four. So I and I’ve sung for video games and television shows. Then I began I’ve I’ve been traveling across the country since 1988, singing in all kinds of venues, churches with orchestras, nonprofit situations.

I do a lot. I sing for the Gary Sinise Foundation on occasion. I’ve sung for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and Foundation. So professionally, I’m a I’m a singer. That’s the gift that God’s given me and that I’ve tried to hone.

But I think ultimately, in fact, sometimes when I get on an airplane and I’m flying to DC or flying someplace, people will say, so what do you do? And sometimes I’m a little coy, and I’ll just say, well, I’m in communications, because that’s what I do. And and, whether I’m talking or singing, and you know this, it’s it’s about communicating. It’s about, touching people. When I’m singing, I I I wanna take a lyric and I wanna put it right into people’s hearts.

I want I wanna touch them with that lyric. So, historically, that’s what I’ve done, and I I’m still traveling and singing. So I will work my concert, opportunities around my trips, when I when I go to Washington DC. I’m I’m delighted to meet you and have you on this program. Don’t make it your last stop here.

Come back, because the world needs encouragement beyond Capitol Hill. Don’t give up. Keep showing that hope. My final question for you is, what is your hope for America? My hope is that people would seek God, that that they would earnestly old testament scripture, if with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you will find me.

And that’s my prayer that people will will seek God with their whole hearts. That’s a good hope. That’s a great hope. Thank you, Steve, for showing some good hope to our members of congress and through your music and and even to Hollywood. Hollywood needs a good man like you.

You know, I’ve tried to be a good man. You know what? I don’t see you know what? This is this is the word for your folks. What whatever they do, they need to use it as their place of ministry, and that’s what I’ve tried to do.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks, Steve. Appreciate you so much.

Thank you. Steve Emerson from America’s Hope. We’re coming back with more in just a moment. So I’d like to thank our guests who appeared on tonight’s program, Star Parker and Steve Emerson. 2 dynamic individuals who have their unique perspective on how they show their love for God and country.

The bottom line is both of these individuals have found a way to hold on to hope and letting it prevail and letting it rise up in the most dire circumstances. Individually and collectively, they’re showing all Americans, including members of Congress, that hope prevails. Until next time, America. Good night. God bless.