Point of View September 29, 2026 – Hour 2 : The Bucket Ministries Project, Midterms and Early Voting

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View Radio Talk Show, Kerby Anderson. Second hour today and we're going to spend some time talking about a ministry we've focused on before, the Bucket Ministry, and in particular talking about what's going on in Nigeria and other places around the world.

[00:00:30] And then in the bottom of the hour we're going to spend some time talking with our good friend Debbie Withnow about the iVoter Guide and some very important issues in the midterm election. So a lot that we will cover, but if you're not familiar with this we'll probably tell the story again of Christopher Beth because as an individual that was traveling down the Amazon he began to think, can't we give clean water to individuals? And he's been on the program to talk about that story, but also we'll talk about some of the other aspects of that.

[00:00:58] If you click on his picture you will see that that will take you to thebucketministry.org and so I would encourage you to do that. If you scroll down you're going to see some of the articles. One of those is a YouTube video which talks about the slum in Nigeria, which we'll get into in just a minute. And if you want to follow him there's a link to Facebook and X. And Christopher, welcome back to Point of View. Kirby, it's great to be back with you today. Thank you so much.

[00:01:25] Let's talk about the story. It's a fascinating story because you had no intention of starting this ministry. But like a lot of us who get to go on short-term mission outreaches, you are going down the Amazon. And all of a sudden that's when these bottles of water that we're looking at right now seemed very different than the experience you had in Brazil.

[00:01:48] Exactly. So in 2012 my daughter came home from school and she said she wanted to go on a mission trip to the Brazilian Amazon. Now she had been to South Texas before, but the Amazon seemed very unrealistic for us to send our daughter. So we had this idea. We said we're going to say to her that she can go if she pays for the trip. It was a $3,500 trip.

[00:02:17] And at this point my wife and I are thinking there's no chance she's going to pay for this. And I will tell you two weeks later she's got $3,500 from friends and family. So we're at this point of needing to decide what do we do next? I mean we told her she could go if she raised the money. So that became my job to accompany her on that trip because we weren't comfortable with her going by herself.

[00:02:44] So we boarded an airplane, flew into Manaus, Brazil, and boarded an open-air riverboat that went 18 hours into the Amazon basin. To the darkest parts of the Amazon where, I mean you see pictures in National Geographic of the places we visited. And we started ministering to people along the river system.

[00:03:07] And it was just, I only went on that trip, Kirby, to bring my kid home. I just went to be a dad because I had just started a relationship with Jesus about two or three years before that. So I really had no idea what was going on. I had no idea the language that these people were speaking on the boat because they're talking about being the hands and feet of Jesus.

[00:03:36] And I didn't know what that meant. I hadn't been discipled yet. So here I am. It's the third day of the trip. And I'm assigned to go across the river and to visit a couple in a home and tell them what we're going to do in their village that day. And the previous two days I did the same thing, but I didn't say a word. I was very uncomfortable.

[00:04:00] And if I was told to pray in the home, I was praying on the other side of the home that nobody would make me talk to them. So on the third day of this trip, I'm sent over there alone with a translator and with a pastor. And I'm sent to really visit these people, tell them what we're going to be doing, and then pray for them. And I'd never prayed for anyone in my entire life before, not verbally at least.

[00:04:28] So we entered this home, this beautiful couple. Their names are Marlena and Olivia. Marlena looks at me. She's kind of sizing me up in a way. And she says in Portuguese through my translator, are you thirsty? And I'm looking around and I'm saying, yeah, I'm thirsty. I mean, I'm looking for a bottle of water and there's nothing in this home. This is a hut on the edge of the Amazon River. I'm looking for a refrigerator.

[00:04:58] It doesn't exist. I'm looking for a water cooler. It doesn't exist. So at this point, I say, yes, I'm very thirsty. And I watch her walk into her kitchen. She takes two cups. They were mismatched and they were cracked. And she walks out to this little dock area and she bends down and collects two cups of water from the river.

[00:05:22] And I am standing in the doorway saying, there is no chance I'm drinking that. And I thought, well, maybe she's got to water a plant or something. So she walks in and sure enough, hands one cup to me, one cup to my interpreter. So there's these points in life where you have to make a very quick decision. I'm holding a glass of water, Kirby. That's got things swimming in it. And she wants me to drink it. But the gravity of this situation sets in.

[00:05:51] And what I realize is she thinks that's normal. Mm hmm. She thinks it's OK to drink water out of a river. And if she thinks that's OK, what is happening here that I'm bearing witness to at this point? That's right. So as I'm starting to understand the situation a little bit more, I heard something I've never heard before.

[00:06:20] And I don't take this lightly. And I'm also not real proud of this moment. But prior to this day, if I had a friend from church that said, hey, I just got a word from the Lord today. My response. And again, I'm not proud of this, but my response was skepticism. Yeah. Come on. Did he really stop his day to give you some instruction?

[00:06:45] But that day in 2012 on the Amazon River, as I'm holding a glass of dirty water, I heard two words and he said to help them. But it came with no instruction, no manual, no cliff notes. What does help them mean? So I didn't know if I'm supposed to repair their boat, cook them dinner, give them 50 bucks. I don't know what help them means. So we get home and start trying to understand the world water crisis.

[00:07:12] And prior to that day, I had no experience with a world water crisis. I didn't even know it existed. If I think I lived a probably a pretty privileged life that if I'm thirsty, I went and bought a bottle of water or I went to my refrigerator, put it underneath the filter and I got clean water. But I found that the World Health Organization and UNICEF and other organizations cite that there's over 2 billion people. That's right.

[00:07:41] That lack access to safely managed drinking water. And I had no idea. So at that point, what ended up happening is I got a quick education on the world water crisis and I found out what help them meant. And that was help them know Jesus and use clean water as the mechanism to start that relationship.

[00:08:04] If you go to the website, you'll get the bucket ministry in which they talk about more than 2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water. But of course, over 3 billion people have little or no access to the gospel. How can we put water with the gospel? Well, that's what we're going to be talking about. We'll give you a very good instruction, I hope, and overview, if you would, on what is happening in Nigeria. But we'll talk about some other things as well. And of course, talk about how they're using water filters and distributing those and making an impact.

[00:08:34] But let's take a break. We will continue our conversation today as we're talking with Christopher Beth, the bucket ministry. And you can find out more by going to the website right after this. This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:09:04] You know, for more than a decade, policymakers have been discussing the problem of food deserts. I started writing about this issue three years ago because there are zip codes of low-income neighborhoods without a grocery store that can provide fresh and nutritious food options. Dr. Merrill Matthews recently wrote about this issue and was on my radio program to discuss it. He reminds us that the major food chains like Walmart, Kroger, and Whole Foods have announced that they are leaving some major urban areas.

[00:09:30] Of course, we've also seen other retail outlets that don't sell food that are also leaving those same crime-ridden areas. The explanation is simple. They have become bastions of progressivism. Crime is on the increase because shoplifters and other criminals aren't punished. Record levels of unchecked theft and crime make the stores unprofitable. So let me add my perspective to his observation. Food deserts are a real problem and wokeness, and especially critical race theory, make the problem worse.

[00:09:56] In a recent speech I gave in the Dallas area, I started with the economic fact that it takes $12 million to plant a grocery store in the region. And the risks are high given the limited profit margins. In two cities in which I've lived, the local grocery store went broke and closed. When a food chain announces that it will locate a grocery store, there are the inevitable charges of racism. A white grocery chain will put local black convenience stores out of business.

[00:10:22] Once it is built, the food chain must hire law enforcement to stop shoplifting and smash and grab. Again, you hear the charges of racism. And if only a few people are hired from the community, once again you hear the charges of racism. So food deserts are a real problem, but I suggest that the current political, economic, and cultural issues aren't making it easier to solve the problem. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:49] Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net. That's pointofview.net. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back once again with Christopher Beth, and we're talking about the Bucket Ministry. You can go to thebucketministry.org. It's an organization I hope you'll connect up with. And last time, Christopher, we were talking about Kenya.

[00:11:17] That was on my mind because even yesterday I have been a mentor to a seminary student. Every seminary student, this one is a seminary student at Midwestern Baptist Seminary, must have a mentor. And she, before that, was a missionary in Kenya. Wow. And, of course, you were in one aspect of Nairobi, Kenya, if I remember it correctly, in a very poor area. So, Kenya's been in the news, but even more so, I want to focus on Nigeria.

[00:11:46] We've had all sorts of individuals on this program. Paul Baraka, in particular, has talked about what is happening in Nigeria every day. They estimate up to 12 Christians are killed in Nigeria every day. This is just a time of unbelievable persecution. But you have been able to go into this very poor area in, was it Jos, Nigeria? Correct. And if nothing else, that's a good way, first of all, to talk about what's going on in Kenya

[00:12:15] and the ministry that God has given you over these years to use a filter and the gospel to go into some of the darkest places on the continent. Amen. Well, when you lead a relationship that starts with clean water, it opens many doors that you don't often get open using other tools or techniques.

[00:12:38] So, we have worked all over Africa and we've worked in Nigeria since 2018. And we've really seen an opportunity that when we lead with water and the water becomes the initial relationship, that it allows us to go very deep and we build relationships that last a long, long time.

[00:13:05] And when I say we, it's not Americans, it's not Westerners that are doing this work. So, our mode of operation is we like to say that we work through neighbors serving their neighbors or neighbors reaching their neighbors. So, 100% of our field laborers in Nigeria are Nigerian and they live in the same mission field where they're working. Right. So, they're neighbors to the people that they're serving.

[00:13:34] And neighbors will always be able to go further, go faster, and go deeper than an outsider can. And specifically in Nigeria where there's different people groups and different tribes, that becomes very, very important that we have someone close to them that is sharing the most important thing with them. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[00:14:01] But that relationship starts through clean, safe drinking water. One of the things I want people to do is scroll down because they can see how they can get involved, but they can also see a picture of the filter. Because that is, in some respects, pretty obvious and you can go into all sorts of different stores, whether it's a Cabela's or an athletic store or even probably a variety of even grocery stores and find a filter.

[00:14:31] This one is very significant because it uses the same kind of technology that you use in kidney dialysis. And so, if you're going to be drinking this water for the rest of your life, you want to make sure it works. And who would have ever thought, other than you working with the Lord, that a filter can be an opening to the gospel? What a great thing. Amen. So, the filter is made by a company in Tampa, Florida. And you're right. It's derived from kidney dialysis technology.

[00:15:01] It's a very simple filter. It uses the gravity of water in the bucket to force it through the filter membranes. And the filter membranes capture all the dirt, debris, parasites, bacteria that are in the water. And what it yields is clean, safe drinking water that looks as clear as anything you'll see in a bottle of drinking water. But more importantly, that filter will last over 20 years if well cared for.

[00:15:30] And the beautiful thing about that is we're not walking in giving people a gift that is going to last them a few days, a few weeks or a few months. And so, the longevity of the gift also enhances the relationship that the missionaries get to forge with these people. Let's talk about activities that people can be involved with. There's a connection there for donation.

[00:15:55] But I know that you've talked about the fact that sometimes individuals can follow you and go on a short-term mission trip, a very different one than you had when you went to the Amazon, for example. So, talk about the different ways in which our listeners can connect up with you. I love that. And we're a very simple organization. We're simple people. And we try to keep it simple. So, the first way would be to join our intercessory prayer team.

[00:16:23] And that is probably the key of what we do. We have people that every single day they are praying for the organization. They're praying for the missionaries. They're praying for the recipients. They're actually praying for the donors. And they will call donors and ask them, what are your prayer requests? And I believe that's the core of what we see a lot of people participating with.

[00:16:50] But then, as you mentioned, going on trips, one of the greatest things is being able to see where God is at work. One of my favorite quotes comes from Henry Blackaby. And he says, watch and see where God is at work and join him in his work. And you can't do that from afar. And so, we run anywhere from probably eight to ten trips a year to a variety of mission fields.

[00:17:18] Some very easy, like going into Mexico. Some a little more strenuous, like going into southern Kenya and living in the bush in tents for a week with the Maasai people. But there's no greater way to see where God is at work because we lose all of our distractions. We don't have access to our phone. We don't have access to Wi-Fi and cellular. So, we get to focus and see exactly where God's at work.

[00:17:47] And we can decide how to join him there. Let's talk about how many countries you're in right now because that's pretty significant. Yeah, so we're working currently in about 15 countries. In a few of those countries, we have multiple campaigns going throughout the country in different regions. But we're in North America, South America, Africa, and a few countries within Asia right now. Let me just mention, too, that one of the things that we've done, in addition to a link to the bucket ministry,

[00:18:17] is if you go and scroll down, you're going to see Jetta Slum, Nigeria. And that will actually give you a chance to go to a YouTube video. So, you click on that Learn More. And that will then, it's about, I think it's about a minute and a half. So, it's very easy to follow. And it gives you a little bit of a sense of that. So, one of the things I would encourage people to maybe do is use that to educate others.

[00:18:43] I mean, you could pass this on to somebody who is wondering about what you could do to maybe do a short-term mission trip. Maybe you have something that you would like to use for your upcoming missions conference. They could play that video and then talk about the bucket ministry that you have. And in some respects, if nothing else, Christopher, I always love to bring you on because it's just a great illustration of, I wasn't headed in this direction of ministry, and now here I am.

[00:19:10] And this is, in some respects, an illustration that one individual can make a difference. And in some respects, something as simple as water. Jesus was witnessing to the woman at the well, right? And the Samaritan woman about water. It just seems to me to be just a great opportunity to use the gifts and talents and resources we have for God's kingdom. And I just really think you've done a great job in that regard. Well, thank you so much.

[00:19:37] I think we get to see the Bible come alive when ordinary people just find that one step of obedience and can step forward and say yes and look at a problem and try to find a solution. So it's great to see other people doing the same thing. And I'm just blessed to be able to serve and help people at this point in my life.

[00:20:04] Let me just mention again that we have a link to thebucketministry.org. That's really all you need there. Then you can click on and find out there's a place where you can get involved. There's campaigns. There's a kids club, which we didn't mention. There's a way in which you could contact Christopher if you'd like to maybe have you come and speak at a missions conference. Scroll down, gives you some of the information about the 2 billion people that still lack safely managed drinking water. And, of course, the 3 billion people that have little or no access to the gospel.

[00:20:34] And what a great opportunity for you to participate. So if you would want to do so, there's all sorts of connection points. And you can even see what the filter looks like. And all of that is available at thebucketministry.org. So thank you for coming in once again. And last time we were talking about Kenya. This time we were talking about Nigeria. Who knows what we'll be talking about next time. Indeed. Kirby, thank you so much. We're going to take a break. And when we come back, you know what? We're in the midterm elections.

[00:21:00] And a number of you said, I want to know more about the iVoterGuide. And so we're going to talk with the individual that made it possible. But also a very good study that's come out illustrating the fact, and this comes from George Barna and the Cultural Research Center, that a lot of people that vote maybe only vote for the top of the ticket and don't vote all the way down. And we need to change some of that. But we need to educate ourselves about it. So we'll talk about that with Debbie Withno right after this.

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[00:22:54] You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. We're in the midst of the midterm elections. And as I pointed out just the other day, some of you are actually located in states that already have early voting.

[00:23:23] Here in the state of Texas, less than three weeks from now, we will have early voting. And, of course, we are all headed towards this very important election in November. So, a while back, I actually encouraged our producer, Derek, to contact Debbie with now to, first of all, talk about the iVoterGuide, which we will, of course, have links to and continue to encourage you to get information about.

[00:23:47] But I also wanted to talk with her about the research that she had done with our friend, George Barna, because they have actually looked at what we call the down-ballot dilemma. Debbie is one of the smartest women I know and has a master's degree in computer science from Princeton University, worked as a system engineer at AT&T, but then got involved in this very important issue of providing the best kind of voter information possible.

[00:24:17] And I've been so impressed with the work that she has done over the years. As a matter of fact, they have probably evaluated more than 12,000 candidates, reached probably up to five million voters. And so, again, we want to talk about the iVoterGuide, but also the concerning issue that oftentimes individuals, including probably many of you in the listening audience,

[00:24:44] only maybe voted for the top of the ticket, didn't go down the ballot. And that's really important. So, Debbie, welcome back to Point of View. Great to be with you, Kirby. So complimentary. I appreciate you. Well, let's, if we can, talk about this. First of all, I knew when you used to work with Richard Ford. Richard Ford and I went way back. He's no longer with us. But, I mean, just thank the world of him and you as well. But now this is a division of American Family Association.

[00:25:10] I think I'd be remiss if I did not mention that you are the vice president of the American Family Association action and a member of the board. Right. So that has been a great home for you. And it has been something that they have been promoting on American Family Radio.

[00:25:26] But we want to continue to promote it here because what you've been able to do is find ways to provide very good in-depth analysis and rating of candidates so that people, when they go in to vote, are voting intelligently and learn a lot more about individuals that support our faith, our family and our freedom. Well, amen. Honestly, if you've never looked at iVoterGuide before you voted, I would challenge you to do it in this election.

[00:25:55] And don't just stop when you see the page with the gauge on it because, as Kirby said, we do rate the candidates that we research. But look at the data. There is nobody who does a deep dive of research like what iVoterGuide does. We just had a panel at PrayVote stand and we got oohs and aahs from the audience when we actually showed them the data we've gathered on ballot measures, on judges, on school board candidates. There's so much information out there.

[00:26:23] And iVoterGuide makes it easy for you, the voter, because our mission is to give you the tools to know who you're voting for. What do they stand for? Not just the names of them, but what policies are they going to support? What are they going to do with power? Because who we vote is critical and we need the information to be able to make those decisions wisely. So, really, in the whole body of Christ, this is the role that God has given to iVoterGuide. And my heart, our whole team's heart, is to do it to the very best of our ability. And Kirby, it's been not just 12,000 candidates.

[00:26:52] That's every election cycle. And we've been doing this since 2012. So tens of thousands of candidates that iVoterGuide has researched. Amazing. It will be almost 15,000 this year. Yeah, 15,000 candidates across the 5,400 races. What's some of the information I have? And I was rounding down, but I guess I need to round up and get it accurate. But again, the point about data is worthwhile because as the old guy around the table, I remember when we used to get some of these voter guides, and they were good but not great. And what they did was they would go and get a candidate to fill out a survey,

[00:27:22] and some candidates would and many candidates would not. And so as a result, you would get maybe some information, but you are very data-driven. So there are all sorts of other pieces of information. For example, who has actually given to the campaign? Who has endorsed the campaign? If an individual says, well, I'm a judge, I'm really not going to answer your questions.

[00:27:44] Yes, but if that judge is receiving funds from the American Family Action or from Concerned Women for America, I'll equal for them. I have a pretty good idea where he or she stands. If, on the other hand, they're receiving funds from, I don't know, the ACLU, People for the American Way, whatever the group might be, they're getting George Soros money, I have a pretty good idea where they're going as well.

[00:28:07] So there are various ways to educate candidates about these issues and to encourage candidates to fill them out, but there's also even better ways to educate voters so that they vote for the right candidates, right? Well, yes, because you wouldn't be surprised that candidates know what you want to hear to get your vote. Yeah. So that's what they're going to tell you. But are they going to do that is the real test.

[00:28:33] So that's why iVoterGuide looks at what they've done as the best predictor of what they will do. And out on top of the campaign finance data, if they've ever held office, like we're discussing ratings for state legislators in Texas right now and in Georgia and other states, we're looking at how have they voted on gambling bills, marijuana bills, tax bills, you know, right to life legislation, all of the broad spectrum of issues to really look at are they conservative

[00:28:59] on all the issues and how they're voting, and, you know, that factors into how we're going to assign those ratings. And it's all of the data is there for you to look at for yourself. That rating is really just kind of a summary and a predictor of, you know, is this guy all in the conservative space, or do they have some positions, some votes, some donations that land them on the liberal side of the spectrum. And so that's what goes into that gauge. But the questionnaire, as you said, you know, too many voter guides, that's what it used to be.

[00:29:26] We had a candidate, interestingly, who they all, they get to quality control and see what goes public before it goes out there. And that candidate wasn't happy with the rating. And he said, didn't I tell you everything you wanted to hear? And he had, but he had done some things that put him not as conservative as he wanted to propose himself to be. So again, that's what a voter guide does. Yeah, I love just the procedure which you go through. I've met some of the people that you put together in panels to evaluate all of that. And very impressive.

[00:29:56] But I want to spend some time talking about this other issue. And the other day when we were talking about you when you weren't on the program, we do do that sometimes. Liberty McCarter actually was talking about the fact that, you know, I'll be honest, I'm one of those people that in the old days probably voted for the top three or four of the ticket, but didn't vote all the way down. So we have this very good article that you have written, the down ballot dilemma. And you've been saying the same thing I've said for years.

[00:30:24] A lot of people say, well, I'm not that concerned about who the district attorney is until we find out the district attorney has decided that, well, we won't prosecute people if they steal less than a hundred dollars worth of goods or I really don't know who my county judge is. And then we have the pandemic and the lockdown and we have mandatory masks. And these people have a greater impact sometimes on your life than even the people we send to Washington, D.C., don't they?

[00:30:51] I would say frequently they have almost always they have more impact on you. If you think about school boards that are determining the curriculum that are taught in your schools, your kids, your kids, friends, they're choosing the library books that are there, the bathroom policies. You've got district judges that are setting, you know, enforcing the laws and no cash bail or whatever is going on. Those are the things that impact your family, your community, your church much more strongly than what happens in D.C.

[00:31:19] And, you know, D.C. takes a while to get much of anything done. But yet all the news is about federal where everybody focuses on Congress and Senate and president. And those are important. But the things in your state, even your governor and your ag commissioner and things like that, not less, I mean, more so than local races are super important. And what we found with the research with George Varna is kind of what I have thought had happened,

[00:31:45] which was 85% of people vote at the top of the ticket, but only 55% of people vote all the way down. So a 30 point drop in people who are skipping some of those down ballot races and not making their voice heard, not choosing who they think is best going to represent them. And that's a surrender of their influence, a surrender of their vote. We're going to take a break. We're going to come back and get into this a little bit more detail. But let me just mention that we have posted that article so you can find it. Of course, you can go to iVoterGuide.

[00:32:14] We have all sorts of links there as well. I might just also mention if you'd like to connect up with what Debbie is doing, this is great resources as well, because if you click on some of the buttons, we will also give you an opportunity to follow her on Facebook, Instagram and others. You might want to have her come and speak or just consult with her. But when we come back, I do want to talk about why that is the case.

[00:32:39] You have mayors, you have district attorneys, you have county commissioners, you have county judges, you have city council. Of course, you have the school board. And if indeed these are the individuals that are going to affect you and your children, what is it that is causing them to not learn a little bit more and how to begin to make an intelligent decision about those individuals,

[00:33:04] much better to elect them or defeat them at the ballot box instead of having to show up at a city council meeting or a school board meeting and tell them how frustrated you are with some of the policies they have. So we're going to come back and talk a little bit more with Debbie if you would like to know more about her. We have all sorts of information on our website. And of course, be checking out the iVoterGuide. What a great resource. And of course, we have all sorts of material that's available here.

[00:33:33] We have the kind of two page summary. And then there's a full report that you can click on and find out more as well about the down ballot dilemma. Let's take a break. We'll be back with more right after this.

[00:33:57] You're listening to point of view, your listener supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes to be with now with us as we again are talking about I voter guide and the need for us to vote all the way down the ballot. And Debbie, again, we sometimes jokingly say we should pay attention to everybody from the president down to dog catcher. Actually, the one at the very bottom of the list is usually precinct chair.

[00:34:22] And as an individual's run for precinct chair, I'm always kind of offended that people didn't work their way down to find my name on the ballot when I ran for those very few times when I ran for precinct chair. But why is it then that in some cases individuals simply do not vote for people that might be their mayor, their district attorney, their county commissioner, their city council member or their school board member? What have you found? Well, what we found was we had George Barnett ask that question, right?

[00:34:52] We have our intuition of like why I personally wouldn't do that. But what George found through doing his research, which I so highly commend his methodology and his whole process of doing research that we were right. It's not they don't care. It's that they don't have enough information on who to vote for. That was the number one response, more than 25 points higher than the next popular reason, which was that races are fixed. So it's not apathy. They've actually turned up to vote.

[00:35:21] They've gotten into the bowling booth, but they can't vote all the way down the ballot because they don't know who to vote for and they don't want to get it wrong. So they just skip it and leave it blank in those races, you know, like mayor and city council. We even asked, are there races that are even more confusing, even more difficult for you to vote for? And the number one race there was school board by 10 points.

[00:35:43] And I think part of that comes from, you know, in a lot of those races like mayor and city council, they at least run as a Republican or Democrat or a party that is behind their name. School boards are nonpartisan in many parts of the nation. And so you don't even have a party label to guide you. So by far the most confusing race, which was a guide to me and I voter guide that it's really the the the the opportunity to provide information. And I love that the thing that would turn around their behavior and get them to vote.

[00:36:13] The number one reason was a nonpartisan voter guide with with from a source I could trust. So something like I voter guide is what will change that behavior as we cover more and more down ballot races. And again, you can't cover all the way down. I understand that just because of the difficulty. So if they don't have something in their I voter guide, first of all, I can't imagine going to the polls without an I voter guide. But more importantly, there are other ways to spare it that out.

[00:36:42] Now, again, I'm fortunate in that when I vote for a judge, I'm voting for people I've actually met and for individuals that are maybe running for city council. I may have actually endorsed them. But there is, I think, of phenomenon that has changed. And that is almost every candidate, even people running for school board and fairly low down the ballot races, usually have at least a Facebook page or a Web site or something like that.

[00:37:08] But you then can see how they maybe they've had some endorsements. Of course, you can also ask some of your local groups if they have endorsed them or have given to them. So they're without a whole lot of work and just a little bit of clicking on your computer. You can also get some of that information, can't you? Yeah, perfectly. Yes. So I tell my advice to people, find out your sample ballot so you know exactly what's going to be on your full ballot.

[00:37:37] Then you go to I voter guide and get the information that where we've already done the research for you to figure out, you know, how to vote on all those statewide races all the way down to your state legislature in areas of Texas. We're even covering some of those county judge races in Williamson County and Kendall County. We're covering some school board races in quite a few areas, but not nearly all of Texas. So but get that go to I voter guide first. And that gives you time to then find out the names of the candidates, do a Google search, find their website, read their social media,

[00:38:05] maybe Google their name and then a controversial issue if you want to know, you know, their pro-life position or abortion position and see what you find. There's a lot of information on the Internet. You just have to use a little bit of discernment, read their website, look at who's endorsed them. You could, in fact, search their name and endorsement to find out what's going on or do their opponent. So, you know who you're voting against or, you know, what, where they stand and really do your research. I voter guide spends about four hours on every candidate.

[00:38:33] I know I would not have time to do that on all the candidates in my ballot. So I go to I voter guide first and then follow Kirby's advice and redo be a good steward and research the candidates on my ballot. Both the whole thing all the way down. Let's talk about I voter guide for a minute because you have all 50 states covered. Now we broadcast all over the country. So that's good to see that map.

[00:38:54] Then you have 41 states with federal and statewide coverage and then 32 states with federal, statewide and state legislative coverage. And if you look at that map of the United States, it matches very much with the map of where we are broadcasting. So there's a lot of information there. But the first step, let's talk about that. You can actually go to I voter guide dot com and then you can, first of all, put in your physical address.

[00:39:23] Then you can benefit in a number of ways. You can see who represents me. You can view your my voter guide. There are other resources that we've made available in the past for people to make sure that they're still registered. If you haven't moved in the last year or so, that's probably not a big issue, although it's worth checking. If we're no other reason, then sometimes they're pulling off individuals because they were assumed to be dead or moved or whatever and want to make sure they didn't accidentally remove you.

[00:39:52] Probably unlikely, but something to check. And so then there's a way in which you can already begin to be educated about who your representatives are. You can get essentially sort of a sample ballot. And then from there, you have just all sorts of ways in which you can then educate yourself. And then I might suggest one other point.

[00:40:14] And that is, Debbie, you could then pass that information on to your neighbors, your family members, your coworkers who aren't maybe even aware that there's such a thing as an I voter guide. So what would you recommend? I would recommend all of the above. I think you should sign up for I voter guides email list so that we'll let you know when your voter guide is released. Right now, we've got about half of the states where we've released the voter guide, meaning the full evaluation and all the research.

[00:40:41] So if you go and enter your address and you just see candidates names and photos, but not a gauge, it means we're still in process. And we've, you know, halfway done. We got another half to do before early voting really begins in all those states. And Kirby, I would remind people that, you know, there are ballot measures that are on the ballot in many states. And those are frequently written in such a confusing way that it's hard for voters to know, you know, what does this yes really mean? So we also do research on ballot measures.

[00:41:07] If they're go, if they're statewide in your state, we're covering your state Supreme Court justices. We have legal researchers who are reading rulings and rating each judge from activist to originalist. In Texas, we've got, you know, a dozen at least judges that we've researched and evaluated. So go to ivoterguide.com, enter your address, get your personalized ballot, print it out, pass it. I print it, hand it to my family, hand it to friends at church, or tell them to go get their own ballot by forwarding an email, passing out something at church.

[00:41:36] We've got resources on our Take Action page at ivoterguide, really tools for you to share, ivoterguide, because we have personalized ballots, voter guides for every address in America, all 50 states. It's a great way to make sure that you're voting not just intelligently at the top of the ballot, but as far down as we go. We need every American, especially every Christian, to be voting and to be voting a complete ballot.

[00:42:00] This election is critical in the direction the country takes, and if you want it to go the direction you want it to go, you need to make your voice heard. So vote and vote wisely by using ivoterguide.com. Well said. As we talked about just a couple weeks ago, it's not one you want to sit out, especially in light of all that is at stake. And so, again, you can't use the excuse that I don't know who these people are. I don't know what they believe. I need somebody to educate me about that. Well, that's why we have the link to ivoterguide.

[00:42:28] But also, let me encourage you maybe to get this article that Debbie has put together, The Down Ballot Dilemma. It gives some great information from our good friend Dr. George Barna. And I'm just thrilled you're working with him. But again, not surprising that an engineer would want as much data as possible. So there, you've pulled that together in a very good way. So, Debbie, thank you for being with us. And I'm sure we'll call on you again. But thank you for being with us today here on Point of View. Always a pleasure, Kirby. Thank you.

[00:42:54] Just before we run out of time, let me first of all say thank you to Megan for all the work that she does behind the scenes as our engineer. Derek, thank you for pulling together all these interviews today as our producer. And we look forward to seeing you tomorrow right here on Point of View. It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority. They say men can be women and women, men.

[00:43:22] People are prosecuted differently or not at all depending on their politics. Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens. It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing. You feel like giving up. But we can't. We shouldn't. We must not. As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II, Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never. Never yield to force.

[00:43:51] Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. And that's what we say to you today. This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join Point of View in providing clarity in the chaos. We can't do it alone, but together, with God's help, we will overcome the darkness. Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151.

[00:44:20] Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.