Transcript [00:00] joining us now is Troy Miller Troy is [00:02] the president and CEO of nrb National [00:05] Religious broadcasters that equips [00:08] Christian communicators to share the [00:10] gospel with Excellence on radio [00:12] television and digital platforms Troy [00:15] thank you for joining Sunday the road [00:17] forward great to see you oh Ryan great [00:20] to be with you guys thanks for having me [00:22] well I just want to talk real quick as [00:24] we begin this interview today first of [00:27] all it is Super Bowl Sunday day all [00:30] right and I don't want to put you on the [00:32] spot but I think I'm going to do you [00:35] have any predictions or loyalties uh who [00:37] who's going to win well look I grew up [00:40] in Nebraska about three hours from [00:43] Kansas City so I think I'm gonna go with [00:46] Kansas City on this one okay I'm I'm [00:48] fully in support of Kansas City and [00:51] that's uh that's where my money is uh [00:53] figuratively speaking I don't bet but [00:56] but no I think I hope they win I hope [00:58] it's number four for them I love Patrick [01:00] Mahomes love the the hunt family and uh [01:04] even even though I'm a sore Dallas [01:06] Cowboys fan I'm not a big Eagles fan and [01:10] Andy Reid I really like him as a coach [01:13] and uh I think they're going to do big [01:15] things well it's cool I live here in [01:17] Nashville so our claim is number one [01:20] draft pick this year yeah good there we [01:22] go all right don't waste it don't waste [01:24] it well listen um you guys are doing [01:27] incredible work at nrb and I I'm so [01:30] thankful for your leadership um talk a [01:32] little bit about the advocacy work you [01:35] have as your general counsel Michael FIS [01:38] there's a lot of things you're doing to [01:40] advance religious liberty and that's not [01:42] just for uh Christian broadcasters [01:45] that's for Christians everywhere what [01:47] are you guys [01:48] doing yeah that's for Christians that [01:50] are in any kind of broadcasting or even [01:53] working uh in secular broadcasting so [01:55] there's just a lot of work there uh the [01:57] last Administration you know we the [02:00] government against you know Christian [02:02] communicators so we had to step up to [02:04] plate on a number of things we are [02:06] currently taking the IRS to court over a [02:10] uh employment kind of reporting [02:11] regulation that they wanted to put in [02:13] place which was really behind it was a [02:15] lot of Dei uh just a way to get Dei into [02:19] Christian broadcasters so we're taking [02:21] them to court we think that's an [02:23] overreach asking Christian broadcasters [02:26] who by by court and by law uh can hire [02:30] anybody they want to that fits their [02:32] mission so so we're taking them uh over [02:34] that we're also uh constantly looking at [02:37] what's going on in the music royalties [02:39] Area Christian broadcast stations pay on [02:43] average [02:44] 177% more in music royalties than [02:47] National Public Radio does National [02:50] Public Radio which is probably one of [02:51] the most based biased organizations in [02:54] the country uh gets a a big break um [02:57] through federal regulations in in laws [03:00] so we're covering that that's another [03:02] piece that we're working on but the [03:04] biggest one is uh a piece called the [03:06] Johnson Amendment which Senator Johnson [03:09] uh back in the late [03:10] 1950s uh after a bunch of churches [03:13] opposed his Senate race uh he slipped [03:15] this amendment into a bill that was [03:17] never voted on it was just added into [03:21] the reconciliation process uh that [03:24] really restricted this is the bill that [03:26] silences most organizations Christian [03:29] organizations and even just nonprofits [03:31] in general uh from being able to speak [03:33] up during elections on both candidates [03:35] and issues and uh we think that's [03:38] unconstitutional we think it's gone on [03:40] way too long and so we're taking the IRS [03:43] to court over that and that will open up [03:45] the not not again not just for Christian [03:47] organizations but for nonprofit [03:50] organizations uh who are working on [03:52] cultural uh uh issues that'll allow them [03:54] to be able to talk about this during [03:56] election times yeah I I think that is so [03:59] important this is something in the the [04:01] first Trump Administration you know [04:03] president Trump did bring this up and I [04:05] think there were a lot of pastors that [04:07] frankly didn't even know about the [04:09] Johnson Amendment they're like oh well [04:11] we we just didn't talk about politics [04:13] but oh yeah that that was probably the [04:15] reason that kind of started that that [04:17] that whole Trend because it's been going [04:19] for for decades now but what was [04:21] interesting Michael Ferris I learned [04:23] this from him I don't know the list he [04:26] has the list but there there's a number [04:28] of so called nonprofits I think they're [04:31] non nonprofit magazines and newspapers [04:34] like the newspap yeah the Philadelphia [04:37] chir being one of them that they [04:39] actually do endorse candidates and yet [04:42] the IRS has not gone after them for that [04:45] right I mean so there are there's [04:47] examples where this isn't [04:48] happening that's one of the key premises [04:51] of the case as Mike put this together is [04:53] the law is not being applied equally and [04:56] of course that itself is is illegal [04:59] under the law the law has to be applied [05:01] fairly across all organizations there [05:03] are several non uh uh profit news [05:06] outlets that have endorsed candidates uh [05:09] Philadelphia Inquirer is one of them uh [05:11] there are several other across the [05:13] country that will list in there and on [05:14] the other side of it there are several [05:16] big churches very Progressive churches [05:19] churches that push very Progressive [05:21] issues um that have had candidates speak [05:25] yes and as a candidate and have actually [05:28] come out and endorse candidates on their [05:31] media programs and from their pulpits [05:33] and they don't receive a letter but we [05:35] have dozens of churches on the [05:37] conservative side um that the minute [05:40] they've talked about it they've received [05:41] letters from the IRS threatening their [05:44] non uh exempt status their tax exempt [05:46] status uh if they continue this and the [05:49] and the IRS uh really puts a chill uh on [05:53] this they make sure that that nonprofits [05:55] know this when they sign up and when [05:57] they get approved so this is an area we [05:59] it's just blatantly a violation of the [06:02] First Amendment government is stepping [06:04] in telling people what you can and can't [06:05] talk about and especially religious [06:07] people um who want to talk about this [06:10] from a faith and biblical point of view [06:12] you know I I I'm going to go ahead and [06:14] just add two comments to what you just [06:16] said because you're you're spot on um [06:19] there both in the Commonwealth of [06:21] Virginia where where we're broadcasting [06:24] um Gary hammerich uh Pastor senior [06:26] pastor of Cornerstone uh he received an [06:29] IRS letter simply for preaching a Fourth [06:31] of July sermon in which he did not [06:33] endorse any candidate but he was just [06:35] very clear uh about um the evils of the [06:38] Biden Administration and and things that [06:40] were uh being perpetrated uh by the [06:42] Biden Administration and he got one of [06:44] those nasty letters uh on the flip side [06:47] of that uh former vice president C Cala [06:51] Harris uh appeared on a simoc cast with [06:55] over 300 uh churches in the Commonwealth [06:57] of Virginia where they basically [06:59] endorsed her candidacy uh and [07:03] um they received no repercussions [07:06] whatsoever from the IRS for doing that [07:08] and so yes I mean it it's a system uh [07:11] that's completely weighted against [07:14] conservatives yeah not only no [07:16] repercussions they didn't even hear a [07:18] peep from the IRS there wasn't even so [07:20] much as a letter uh sent to them saying [07:23] hey this is uh illegal under the law you [07:25] shouldn't do this uh she also went down [07:27] to Atlanta and spoke at a large Church [07:31] there that was televised and they did [07:33] the same thing they basically endorsed [07:35] her candidacy uh for president uh across [07:38] the state of Georgia so this this is [07:40] there's just multiple instances of this [07:43] where where the IRS is you know [07:45] unequally uh applying this regulation [07:48] and it's clearly weighted uh against [07:51] conservatives yeah I I want to talk [07:53] about your upcoming annual meeting uh in [07:56] Dallas Texas um what what what do we [07:59] have to look forward to I actually going [08:01] to be in attendance um and I know Dr Tim [08:03] Clinton and many others are going to be [08:05] there thousands will descend upon this [08:08] this convention so tell us a little bit [08:10] about it yeah it's exciting this is the [08:13] largest gathering of Christian [08:15] Communicator so if you're in any kind of [08:18] broadcasting radio television whether [08:21] you're a broadcaster or a program [08:22] producer podcaster if you're a Christian [08:25] filmmaker and now lots of Christian [08:28] Publishers have joined up and become [08:30] part of nrb so if you're in any of that [08:32] if you're in the New Media YouTube [08:33] channels you name it this is the place [08:35] to be we are going to talk about all of [08:38] the Innovation that's going on in [08:40] Communications today AI will be a big [08:43] topic for us we have multiple sessions [08:44] talking about artificial intelligence [08:47] we'll talk about other changes in the [08:48] landscape things that are going on [08:50] especially in video as the market shifts [08:52] around we're also going to talk about [08:54] the top religious issues when it's um [08:57] when they're related to uh freedom of [08:59] religion and freedom of speech and even [09:01] some freedom of assembly we know [09:02] churches were shut down and forbidden [09:05] from meeting together during Co so we'll [09:07] talk about all of those issues in in [09:09] addition Ryan as you said you and over [09:12] 50 other people will be broadcasting [09:14] live from nrb and that that that uh [09:17] number is growing every day we have the [09:19] largest exhibit floor we've had in over [09:21] 20 years 260 exhibitors uh there to help [09:25] people who want to get into Christian [09:27] Communications and then we have a lot of [09:29] Hands-On sessions for people too to [09:31] learn uh like I said how to get started [09:34] and what all these new Innovations are [09:36] yeah by the way any Headliners that we [09:39] have to look forward [09:40] to uh there's some announcements that [09:43] might come at the end but look we have [09:45] Pastor Jack Hibbs is coming out of [09:47] California he will be doing the opening [09:49] session here our panels are filled with [09:52] the top uh uh experts in each of these [09:55] areas whether it's AI or whether it's [09:57] journalism uh we just have number of [09:59] people there and and these are the [10:01] experts so uh it it's going to be very [10:04] informing and it's also going to help [10:06] you be a better Communicator we say look [10:08] at today's world everybody's a [10:10] communicator anybody that has a phone [10:12] they have a Facebook account they have a [10:14] Twitter account or X as we say today [10:16] Instagram you're a communicator and you [10:18] have a a a broader influence than you [10:20] think there was a recent study that said [10:22] the average person on social media has [10:25] an influence ring of about 480 people w [10:29] that's a big influence ring that [10:31] Christians can be uh reaching with the [10:33] gospel and reaching and talking about [10:35] the cultural issues of today very very [10:37] well said Troy Miller uh president of [10:41] nrb thank you so much for joining [10:44] us thank you for having me today do [10:47] people ever come to you asking for help [10:49] maybe hope how about prayer do you ever [10:53] wish you understood the issues better [10:55] that people are wrestling with or how [10:57] about how to use the Bible more [10:59] effectively and caring for people if so [11:02] I'd love to get a copy of our care and [11:03] counsel Bible in your hands featuring [11:06] 116 topics written by some of the [11:08] world's best mental health and Ministry [11:10] experts I think you'll love it topics [11:13] like discouragement abuse depression [11:15] divorce anxiety abortion and more so you [11:18] can learn more about these issues and [11:20] how to 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from [12:18] the Apostle Paul so whether therefore [12:20] you eat or drink or whatever you do do [12:22] all to the glory of God I hope you're [12:25] encouraged to see the opportunities that [12:27] lie ahead the Harvest field are white [12:30] with opportunity to give glory to God [12:32] and all that we say and all that we do [12:35] let's get busy serving him until next [12:37] time God bless you
