Pastor Dr.Tampam Take on Immigration

This is Andy Thomas from the Masculine Journey Podcast where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Welcome to America Foundation, Dr. Chris Hughes.

Well, hello today. I am so excited about our guest that we have on our show today. Dr. Frederick Tappan is just a new friend of mine, and he is such a blessing.

Instantly, when I met this man, I fell in love with him. So you're going to be in for a treat today on The Christian Perspective. You're going to learn a lot. We're going to talk about the immigration issue, but I just love Dr. Tappan's heart for Jesus and his community and all the things that he's doing. We're going to talk about a lot of different sides to him. He's a radio show host and a pastor and a candidate for office, which we might jump into. I didn't warn him about this, so I'm going to give him a little heads up towards the end of the show. I don't normally let candidates talk about them being a candidate on our show, but because I believe in you so strongly, we are going to touch on that towards the end of the show.

So brace yourself for that, brother. I know it won't be a hard time talking about it. Thanks for joining us today on The Christian Perspective. Before we get up and rolling, I just want to thank Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary for being the host of The Christian Perspective studios. It's such an honor to get to broadcast from the studios here on the campus of Mid-America. If you are looking for a place for your kids or grandkids to go to college, Mid-America is not just a seminary anymore, but they are actually an undergraduate institution as well.

This school is called The College at Mid-America. They have great programs, and you can come here and know that you're getting a top quality education. But more importantly, you're developing a biblical worldview while you or your students are coming to campus here at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.

Maybe you've reached a point in your life where you said, I've got some extra time, and I'd really like to know more about what the Bible says. Well, you can now go to seminary without even having to come to campus. They were really trailblazers in the line of online education. They have great programs, so you don't have to leave the comfort of your home or your office.

You can stay where you are in most cases and study online and learn about all kinds of things. What I'm excited about is they have this new program in apologetics. And what is apologetics?

It's just knowing how to defend your faith, knowing what you believe and why you believe it. I'm so excited to see how that program is going to pan out. It's a fairly new program, so you might want to take a look at it. If you want to learn more about the Christian faith, go to mabts.edu.

That's mabts.edu. And of course, I want to thank our main show sponsor, the Citizens for America Foundation. Citizens for America, y'all know if you've been listening this week, just this past Saturday, we had a wonderful event in Memphis, Tennessee, called the Culture Engagement Summit. In fact, my guest today, Dr. Frederick Tappan, was one of our speakers at the Culture Engagement Summit.

It was a tremendous day. We had nearly 40 speakers. People spoke on the main stage. We had people on breakout sessions.

We had exhibitors here. And that was all put on by the Citizens for America Foundation. So if you want to see a video of that day, you can go to citizensforamericafoundation.com and you can sign up for our newsletter and get information on how to get the video for the entire day. And we don't have this part ready yet, but our staff is working on it.

They needed a little bit of a break after such a big event that we had in Memphis this past week, but they're going to be breaking it out. So on the YouTube channel, like if you want to hear the panel discussion that Dr. Tappan was in, for example, you can go and just search that one area and listen to that one speaker or you can watch the whole event. But I encourage you to check that out. We sure appreciate the work the Citizens for America Foundation is doing. Well, Dr. Tappan, I'm so excited to have you on The Christian Perspective today. You are a graduate. I was thinking about this when I was talking about Mid-America and how great it is. You've been to school there.

I think you're taking some classes now. First, I want to welcome you to the show and then maybe share with us a little bit about your experience at Mid-America. Welcome to The Christian Perspective. Thank you so much, Chris. Dr. Hughes, I am just elated, thankful, and blessed to be here today. Again, as Dr. Hughes has noted, when we met, it was an instant connection, heartwise, emotionally and spiritually. And I just appreciate your friendship. You've given me so much great information just in the short amount of time that we've known each other.

And I am honored and blessed to be on your show today on The Christian Perspective. And to answer your question, yes, I am currently a student at Mid-America. Actually, this is my second term. I first started in the associate's degree program in 1993.

That's two or three years ago. And so I got that experience. It was awesome. Life took some turns where I had to stop. I went back to school at another institution.

But God brought me back. And so I'm looking forward to finishing up sometime next year. And I am just elated about the school.

I love it. Dr. Spradlin is a great leader. Also, he was one of the speakers here in Memphis. And I'm just so excited and thankful. And everything that Dr. Hughes said about the school is true.

And it is a great choice if you're looking for a place to have a Christian worldview in all phases of life. Well, I love what you pointed out where you said you kind of took a little bit of a break there. That was the same for me, is really what motivated me. I was going to be the only one in the family without a doctorate at some point. So I figured I had to do something to catch up with the rest of them. So I went back to school later in life.

And I think that's a trend. We get intimidated and think, well, I'm too old. You are not too old to go to school, y'all. You should never, ever stop learning, particularly as Christians and as leaders. You should be in a continual process of learning throughout your life. And sometimes we couldn't afford it when we were younger.

Maybe we had young children and our family was pulling us in different directions and we didn't have time to go to night school and work a job. Well, you don't have to do that anymore, as Dr. Tappan knows, particularly at Mid-America, because their online program is so great. Well, we're not here to do the commercial, although I always love promoting them.

And I know we're both big fans of Mid-America. Pastor, I want you to share a little bit about kind of tell us, you know, just things that nobody knows about Fred Tappan and your family and kind of who you are and where you are so our audience can get to know you. Again, I will thank you, Dr. Hughes.

Again, my name is Frederick Duane Tappan and I am a senior. I have a beautiful wife of 35 years. We will have been married. She's been putting up with me for 35 years.

Congratulations. She is not just my other half, she is my better half. And I thank God for her. We were high school sweethearts and she's been right by my side and, you know, for all these years. And I praise God for her. Couldn't have had anyone any better to be my right hand.

And I praise God again for her. We have two children. My son's name is Frederick Duane Tappan II and I have a daughter by the name of Alexis. And I have two grandkids, my son and his wife, Ariella. They have two kids, Frederick Duane Tappan III and Alexander Duane Tappan.

And they are age three and two. And I have been pastor of Eureka True Vine Baptist Church in Memphis for 25 years. This year is actually year 26. Pastor, you're breaking the national average, particularly for Baptist preachers, because I think the national average is staying at a church less than two and a half years. I want to commend you for being a pastor who was committed to staying long term at his church and making an investment in his community. What a great honor to have you as a pastor for that long. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'm really proud of you.

No, no, no, no. I appreciate that. You know, it had something to do with what I asked God for. And if you ask God for something and he gives it to you, then you've got to be committed to that task. And I asked, I said, Lord, if you want me to pastor, this was prior to me pastoring. And so I would love to pastor in my community, near the community where I grew up, near the community where I know the people, I know the problems, I know the situations. And I have some idea on how to help and be a blessing to the community. And God blessed me to do that. This is my first and only pastorate. And we started with about five members. And now, you know, at our height we were probably close to about four or five hundred.

And then COVID hit and, you know, all that happens and we're building it back now. But God allowed me to pastor in my own community. And we have been a bulwark of community missions and making sure that the people in our community are served. We feed – where our church is now, it's in a food desert. There's not a grocery store within, you know, a two-mile radius. And probably half of the individuals within a two-mile radius don't have cars. So they walk to get their food. Well, there's no grocery store. The closest grocery store is about five, seven miles away. So what we're doing, we have a food giveaway once a month.

The last time we did it was last month. We fed over 500 families in this community. And not only that, that's short term.

That's short term. Long term is we are partnering with a CDC, a local CDC here in Memphis, to build a grocery store. We have – it's called a micro grocery store. We have about six or seven acres of property in the back of our church. We're going to donate two acres of that property for a micro grocery store where the employees of the grocery store will own 50 percent of the business. So we are just elated.

Not only will it turn this area from being a grocery desert to a grocery oasis, but it will give individuals that are part of this group some economic – an economic boost and teach them about entrepreneurship and give them an opportunity to be productive citizens, productive and money-making citizens in our community. Well, I just want to commend your church for – and your leadership for having the vision to do that. You know, we both were at the Culture Engagement Summit in Memphis, Tennessee, this past Saturday. And that's part of what we were talking about.

It's not just politics when it comes to culture. Your church saw a need in your community, in your immediate culture, and you're meeting that need. Well, Pastor, is there a website for your church? Like if somebody listened to this and they think, wow, I'd love to help them buy groceries for this little micro grocery store or help out in some way, is there a website where they can follow you to learn more about what you're doing?

Most definitely. It's EurekaTruevine.org. EurekaTruevine.org. We're also on Facebook under Eureka Truevine Baptist Church. And you can reach us there at any time, and you'll have an opportunity to contact us. And we'll definitely contact you back. And we would love for anyone who is interested in helping with this venture to step right up and be a blessing to us, because we have been a blessing to us.

You've been a blessing to this community. Well, thank you so much for sharing, Pastor. See, that's not something we even planned to talk about today, but God just brings these things together into light where hopefully some of our listeners will want to help you and support you with what you're doing. We've got to take a quick commercial break. When we come back, I'm going to ask you to share your Christian testimony of how you came to know the Lord. And then we're going to eventually jump into the real topic we're supposed to be talking about today, the crisis on our southern border. So stick around.

We'll be right back. Walk in the footsteps of Jesus and see the Bible come to life. This December, join nationally syndicated radio host and founder of the Citizens for America Foundation, Dr. Chris Hughes, on a life-changing trip to Israel. It's one of the world's oldest and most fascinating travel destinations. Learn the faithful from all over the world for thousands of years. Visit Jerusalem's religious quarters and explore Christianity's most treasured religious sites, like the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and the Via Dolorosa. Walk with Chris through the winding alleyways of Nazareth's old city and visit ancient Bethlehem, the place of our Savior's birth. Float in the Dead Sea, visit the Sea of Galilee and the Jewish fortress of Masada. See firsthand where the events of the Bible took place. Touring Israel with Dr. Chris Hughes is a travel odyssey like no other.

Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com and get ready for an unforgettable trip and memories that will last a lifetime. Do you desire to build family relationships that stand the test of time? Does creating a godly family seem like a daunting challenge?

You're not alone. I'm Connie Yaupers, author of Parenting Beyond the Rules and host of Equipped to Be. As a mother of five, I understand your struggles. For 35 years I have been helping families just like yours build lasting relationships.

I'd like to invite you to tune in to Equipped to Be and visit ConnieYaupers.com where I share useful tips and proven strategies to help you navigate the seasons of motherhood, faith, and life with confidence and joy. History was made on today's date. Stay tuned for an American Minute with Bill Federer. The director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, died this day, May 2, 1972. For 48 years, under eight U.S. presidents, he oversaw the Federal Bureau of Investigation, becoming famous for his dramatic campaigns to stop gangsters and organized crime. He established the use of the fingerprint in law enforcement and successfully tracked down well-known criminals.

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Welcome back to Christian Perspectives. Chris Hughes, my guest today, is Dr. Frederick Tappan. He is in the Memphis, Tennessee area. We met as I was preparing for our Culture Engagement Summit. You know that the Citizens for America Foundation had just a week ago this past Saturday in Memphis, Tennessee. And by the way, if you missed it, I encourage you go to CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com. That's CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com. Sign up to get our newsletter and other stuff that we send out. We're going to make available to you, even if you cannot be there, we'll make available after the fact where you can watch a video of the day and see the wonderful great speakers, including our guest today, Dr. Frederick Tappan, was on one of our panels that day talking about why Christians should get engaged in the political process there in their local communities.

And boy, Dr. Tappan, you and your team did a great job. Before we jump in, though, to what we're really going to talk about today, Pastor, I always like to ask our guests, because I think it's so neat to see how different people come to know Jesus. So I don't know if you were ever a wrestling fan. I don't want to get you in trouble with your church. Did you ever watch wrestling when you were younger?

Look, I tell you what, that's so ironic, Dr. Hughes. One of the stories that I told in the sermon Sunday was about how excited I was about wrestling. We were huge wrestling fans. And wrestling was really big. Local wrestling was really big here in Memphis when I was growing up. And it would come on every Saturday at 11 o'clock. So whatever we were doing, if we were outside playing football, if we were cooking or whatever, everything would stop at 11 o'clock to go and watch the local wrestling show.

And so, yeah, wrestling was a big part of my childhood. So listeners, stick with us. I am going somewhere with this. I know I come up with crazy things all the time when you're listening to the show.

Well, I'm going to get myself in trouble because what I'm going to say now is not politically correct, Pastor. But you've met me. I'm a short guy. Well, I'm a short, fat guy now.

But believe it or not, I used to be in pretty good shape. I wrestled in high school and was recruited to wrestle in college. But anyway, because I'm so short, when I was a little boy, this is going to get me in big trouble here. I knew I could never wrestle effectively against these seven foot giants that are on TV today. So when I was a kid, I don't know if you had this in Memphis, they had midget wrestling. And so I wanted to be a midget wrestler. And because I was probably I wasn't tall enough to compete against the other guys, but I was probably just like half an inch taller than the guys in the midget wrestling. I was going to wear a mask. This is a kid. You know, other kids want to be firemen and policemen.

My dream as a kid was to grow up and be a masked the giant midget wrestler. I don't know why I'm telling you that had nothing to do with where I was going. What I wanted to share with you is interesting stories. I'm going to be in so much trouble.

OK, y'all go ahead and send the e-mails to me. Folks, first of all, he's not that short. He is not that short.

I am too, but you're kind. Y'all notice he didn't mean he's not fat. He just said he's not short.

Well, Pastor, I was going to share because I do want you to share your testimony is sometimes you hear some incredible testimonies. I had. So there was a wrestler. I don't know if you are familiar with this name in the late 80s, early 90s, and he was the world champion. And he was one of the meanest wrestlers to ever exist. His name was Nikita Kolov, and he was the Russian nightmare. You've heard of him, Nikita Kolov, the Russian nightmare. He was I mean, I don't really hate anybody, but I hated him. He was such a bad guy. And then he eventually became a good guy.

But that was at a time when our country was in the Cold War, which we a lot of people, well, we might understand it again soon with what's happening over in Europe right now with Russia, looking at evading different places. He played a character where he was supposedly a Russian that came over here. And during the Cold War, he didn't speak English and he was just really, really mean and hated Americans. Well, he's really an American guy.

He's not a Russian at all. He did change his name to Nikita. But he's been you. You might want to have him on your radio show. He is a tremendous Christian pastor. And Nikita was on my show and shared his testimony. And, you know, he was he was a worldly guy.

I mean, he wasn't the character he played in professional wrestling, but he was a worldly guy. And just these friends kept inviting him to come to church and he wouldn't do it, wouldn't do it. And he just got like a wild hair one day on a Sunday afternoon and just something said, hey, you know, got nothing else to do. Why don't you just go watch this so they will leave you alone and quit asking you? So he called him up and said, hey, you know what?

You've asked 100 times. I'm going to go to church. And he went to church on a Sunday night and the Holy Spirit grabbed a hold of him, pastor. And he got he walked down this giant of a man who was world famous, you know, at the time of being this terrible guy. Just God got a hold of his heart and he walked down the aisle and surrendered his heart and soul to Jesus. He resigned from wrestling, became an evangelist.

And the day he travels the world. So you never know how you're going to hear an encouraging story. And, you know, that really the point I love to share about Nikita's story is somebody invited him. Y'all that are listening, invite your friends to church. Most people have never been asked.

There was a survey I read a while back, like 80 percent of the people said that if anybody ever did invite them, they would go. Invite people to church because you never know what God's going to do. Dr. Tappan, tell us how you came to know Jesus.

Well, my story is not as compelling as that one. My parents were avid churchgoers, avid believers. My mom, she was a Sunday school teacher. She taught the matrons. She taught the deaconesses.

She was an awesome, awesome teacher. My dad was a musician. He played for several different churches.

He was a great singer. And so, you know, I grew up in church. I didn't know anything but church. I used to tell people my parents were drug dealers.

And they would look at me really funny, Dr. Hughes, in that. And so I had to explain to them. I said, they drove me to Sunday school. They drove me to worship. They drove me to BTU. They drove me to evening Bible study, you know. Praise God that they did. Amen. Praise God they did.

Most definitely. And so I didn't have a choice in the matter. And so early on, one day, I was really young, and I had a great pastor. His name was Reverend O.D.

White. And one day, I can't remember exactly how old I was, maybe about seven or eight or something like that. And it wasn't at the time, as we would call it, when the doors of the church were open. Just like in the middle of the service, I walked up to the pulpit. The pastor stopped what he was doing, and he picked me up. I'll never forget it. He picked me up, took me back into the pulpit, and he said, Little Tappan, what can I do for you?

Something to that effect. I said, I believe in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I want to be baptized. And from that point on, I knew exactly what I was doing.

That's why I can recall it so well today. And, you know, God pricked my heart, you know, back then. Because, you know, he had made a change in me in relation to knowing who he is and who he was and who he would be in my life. I didn't know at that time that I was going to be called to the pastor or called to the ministry. But from that point forward, you know, man, I've been a believer, and I've been following and loving the Lord and telling my story.

I've not been a theologian, but you know what? I can tell, and I share this with other people. You may not be a theological doctor, but what you do know, what you are a doctor of, is your life. You know your life. You know your story. You know what God has done for you.

And so that's what I share, especially early on. You know, I just shared my story and showed how, you know, what happened when God made a change in me. And, you know, as I grew up and got to know the Lord a lot better and began to change my life into exactly what he wanted me to be, you know, I began to have not only, not only have experiences with him, but then I had a testimony.

And before you can have a testimony, you have to go through some tests. And so I had to go through some tests in my life, and God brought me through, and I thank him for it. And, you know, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Well, thank you, Pastor, for sharing. And, you know, the important part of, I mean, there was a lot of what you said, but it's important for us to realize that, you know, even if our parents do carry us to church, that doesn't make us a Christian. We still have to, like you shared, and that's what I loved about it, is you came to a point where you realized that you were a sinner who needed salvation through Jesus Christ. And you had to make that decision yourself, and you went and shared that with your pastor. And that's something that we all have to do.

There aren't any spiritual grandchildren or spiritual children in the sense that just because our parents are Christians, that we're automatically Christians. We have to make that decision ourselves. So thank you so much for sharing that story. Well, I hope those of you that are listening can realize that I really love this man.

I mean, he may not feel asleep about me, but he has just been a blessing to me. And because, you know, usually I jump right in and talk about all the political stuff, but I just felt a kinship with him, and so I've been wasting too much time talking about other things. We're going to get into the political stuff that you all want to hear about now.

So Dr. Tappan, we've got a real issue right now. I mean, you cannot turn on the news any night without probably one of the first stories to be to talk about the crisis on the southern border of our country right now. There are just hundreds of thousands and really millions that have come across the southern border. You know, I know a lot of people are critical of President Trump because he wanted to build a wall, but now there's nothing there, and we don't really have a border for our country, and people are just flooding in. Does that issue concern you to see what's happening in the southern border right now?

Yes, it does. And, you know, when you're talking about something that is unchecked, and the only thing that's in place really other than the regular immigration laws is something called Title 42. And Title 42 really was initially a public health initiative during COVID from the CDC, and it was initiated to expel or stop illegal immigration. And in the two years between 2019 and 2020, there were 1.7 million expulsions. Now, that's a lot of expulsions, but there were 2.4 million in all. There were 2.4 million immigrants that were trying to come across. So they only got a chance to catch half of those illegal immigrants in that two-year period.

And Title 42 wasn't all-encompassing. It only affected undocumented immigrants seeking asylum. We're not talking about those that flipped across, they walked across, they crawled across, or whatever the situation was. But we don't know who these people are. We don't know what diseases they have.

We don't know what they are here to do, if they're here to be law-abiding, if they're here to be criminals. And we're going to talk about that just a little bit later. But we don't know. And so the documentation must happen if we want to make sure that we keep this thing under control. Those things that don't get monitored and controlled get out of control.

And I think that's what's happening now. This is not about political correctness. This is about security for our country. We don't know who's coming here.

We don't know what individuals have on their mind. And so in order for us to know that, they must be documented and it must be orderly. I love immigrants. We're all immigrants here unless we are Native Americans. And that's one thing people don't realize.

All of us that are here, unless we're Native American, are immigrants. So there must be an orderly way for it to be done. We'll talk about that just a little bit in relation to what the process is and how long it takes to get that done. But there is a process and we must follow through with that process. And those individuals that don't follow the process must be made to follow the process.

Boy, I agree with you. You know, we're talking with Dr. Frederick Capp and he's from Memphis, Tennessee. We're talking about the issue on the south border, southern border of the United States right now and the terrible problem we have with illegal immigrants coming across the border. We've got to take a quick commercial break. When we come back, we're going to dive into that. Talk about why people come here from other countries.

Stick around. The United States of America has a strong Christian heritage, but most Americans don't know the truly important role that God in the Bible played in the founding of this great nation. This June, join nationally syndicated radio host and founder of the Citizens for America Foundation, Dr. Chris Hughes, for four amazing days in our nation's capital. With Chris, you'll embark on a journey of discovering the hidden secrets of Washington, D.C. and rediscover much of America's forgotten Christian heritage. Your tour will include an up close and personal look at the nation's establishment and how it's evolved over the centuries. Learn about the government and the men who helped forge this new kind of republic, one that acknowledged the creator from its very inception.

Know the truth about the creation of the United States of America, about the faith of the founding fathers and how Christian principles were used to establish this form of government. Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com today and secure your spot to join Chris Hughes in Washington, D.C. this June. This show is brought to you by Generous Joe's, the coffee company with the Christian perspective. This is the answer that Christians and conservatives have been looking for. A coffee company that gives back to causes you care about.

Order your coffee today at ShopGenerousJoes.org and even subscribe to a subscription coffee plan and never forget the coffee you love or the causes you care about. Welcome back to Christian perspective. My guest today is Dr. Frederick Tappan.

He's a pastor in Memphis, Tennessee, a businessman, a radio show host and a political candidate, which we'll talk about hopefully towards the end of the show. Dr. Tappan, you know a lot about the problems associated with illegal immigration. Why do people migrate to other countries? Why don't they just stay where they are? Well, a lot of people leave if they're refugees. You know, we've got people coming across the border now that are from the Ukraine, as far as the Ukraine, from Russia. They're dealing with the unrest that's happening in Eastern Europe right now. Some come because they want to come over and commit crimes.

And again, we'll find that out a little bit later. We have those that are coming across because they're related to those that are citizens here in the United States. We have those that come across on green card visas. Those are coming here to work and to make sure that they're trying to do better for their families.

You know, I would say, you know, probably at least half of those individuals are here just because they want to have a better life. I have no problem with that, but there's a process for that to be done. And they must go through the process.

You must follow that process. And, you know, my heart goes out to those individuals that are in foreign countries that are being, you know, that are being abused and that are being raped, that their children are being taken away from them. You know, there's some despots that are in charge of many of the countries. Some of the majority of our immigrants come from Central and South America. But like I said, we have them coming from all over, from India, from Ukraine, from Russia. And so, but it has to be an orderly process for those individuals to be a blessing to the nation and a blessing to themselves. And, you know, it's our responsibility, even as Christians, to make sure that these people know about Christ. And we'll talk about that a little bit.

We're going to probably have some of our liberal friends upset with us. I want you to listen to what both of us are saying. We're not saying that people shouldn't come to the United States of America. What we're saying is there's a legal process to do it. And if you come, you just need to follow that legal process. Dr. Tappan, when President Trump was in office, he was sending people that came across the border back to their home countries. Now we've got the governor of Texas putting them on buses and shipping them to Washington, D.C. And he's doing that because the Biden administration literally was putting people on airplanes and secretly in the middle of the night, flying them to communities across the country, not telling communities and dropping them off. So what should be done with these illegal immigrants that are entering our country? They've got to be sent back and go through the process.

That's what it is. And there are some there are some reasons why they don't have to go through the complete process. If you're related to someone here in the United States, there's a different process. If you have a job offer and there's an employer that will sponsor you for a green card, you don't have to go through the regular process. If you're a refugee from a country that fits certain criteria, you don't have to go through the regular process. If you win a diversity lottery, which I'm not exactly sure what that is, but you you you don't have to go through the regular process.

You can have an extraordinary ability in science and arts or in sports or something like that. You don't have to follow completely or you can be an investor of at least a million dollars. And that's another way. But other than that, there is roughly a two year process and for people to be able to be eligible to to come into the country.

But there's a process for that. Again, as you say, Dr. Hughes, I love people. Some of you know, I know immigrants. I've worked with them.

I've worked in the in social services for many, many years. And we have immigrants here at our church that are members of our church that we welcome, that help us to to ingratiate ourselves to to people that are immigrating to the country we have in our just in our community. We have a large contingent of Sudanese.

We have a large contingent of Hispanics that are right here in this community. And so we welcome people that are immigrants. But again, when coming across the border, there is a process and that process must be upheld for there to be order. Otherwise, what if we don't have order?

There's disorder. Well, that's what I was going to ask you is what would happen if we erased our borders, which is kind of being done right now, and just let people live wherever they want to do. Do you think that would be a problem?

Almost definitely. It's just if we were to eliminate and some of the liberal parts of our government want to eliminate Title 42. If it comes down to that, we're going to see crowded, overcrowded facilities, overrun border stations. We're going to see fatigued border patrol agents and other supplemental employees, increased numbers of undocumented immigrants coming into the country.

We will see an increased crime rate because, again, there is a portion, especially of federal crimes, on the border that are committed by some of these individuals that are of ill repute. And so we must force what's already on the books. Again, there are some that are on the far left that are saying, hey, we shouldn't have any borders. People just should be able to come and go as they please. But that is disorder. And, you know, the Bible tells us that we have to do things decently and in order in all facets of our lives, in all facets of our government.

And so that's not that. Would you like to have open borders on your house? No, because you lock your doors.

Yeah. You want to control the individuals that come in and out of your house. And the same thing should be done in our country. Well, I know that the other side argues, well, they help our economy and they help out. I live in an area in northwestern North Carolina where we have a lot of migrant workers come because we have the largest population of Christmas trees in the country. They come and they work. But, Pastor, they're not sneaking across the border to come and work. There is a legal process where they come for this purpose and for a specific period of time.

I know you mentioned that you have some people, I think you said from Sudan, in your community. Are there times where you think that they are a benefit and help for our economy? Or does that outweigh the need to come here illegally? Or you still think they need to come here illegally regardless of what benefit they have on the economy?

They have to come here legally in order for it to be a benefit to them as well as their country. Because, you know, the individuals that are illegal, they're sneaking around, they're afraid. They become victims of crime because the people that live here that are committing crime, some of them identify illegal immigrants to commit crime against because they know that illegal immigrants can't report them. And that is something that's happening in our city right now. Particularly in human trafficking and the sex trade, it's terrible in that area.

Exactly, exactly. All types of crimes are being committed against these people because they are undocumented and they know that there's definitely reticence about going to the police because if the police find out that they're illegal, then they may be deported. And so not only is it a detriment to our community, but it's a detriment to them when they are undocumented. Because if you are documented and you are legal, you have every right that I have. I was born here.

You have every right to life, liberty, safety, and the pursuit of happiness that I have. But you must be a legal citizen in order to enjoy those things. Yeah, a lot of the work construction that's done here in Memphis is done by those people that have come across legally. Before you hire somebody, I don't know if they're legal or not legal, but these people are very great artisans.

A lot of them are. And so, yeah, they can bring a lot of good things to the table. But again, it must be done in the right way. It must be done legally. And I don't think that's asking too much. That's not asking too much to have an individual to go through the process to become legal.

Right. Well, I know you're running not for U.S. Senate yet, but for State Senate in Memphis. But it's an issue because immigrants are coming illegally to cities and counties and states all across the country. And even though your vote might not be something that can stop it on a national level, what do you think that we can do? I mean, it's a problem in too many politicians.

You're not one of them. Too many of them out there identify problems, but never give a solution. What's the best method to slow this down or to stop illegal immigration? Actually, Dr. Hughes, is to enforce what's already on the books. The rules are there for a reason. The reason we're having such a problem is that we're coming up with ways to skirt the rules. We're coming up with ways to say, OK, well, just let me in.

Just do this. No, enforce the rules that are on the books right now. What's happening? A lot of the illegal aliens that are coming across the border are being responsible for many of the crimes that are being committed in those border cities. A report that I read the other day from the Texas Department of Public Safety, between June 1st, 2011 and July 31st, 2018, 297,000 noncitizens were booked into Texas jails. Of that 297,000, 202,000 were confirmed as illegal immigrants. So those numbers are real. Those numbers tell a story. Noncitizens accounted for 25 percent of federal drug arrests in five judicial districts along the Mexican border in 2018. So there's a real problem there. We're not pulling numbers out of the sky.

These are real numbers. These are statistics from the Justice Department. And so we have individuals that are accounting for many of the crimes in those border areas because we are allowing too many to skirt the process. And so I think we need to invest more in border control. We need to invest in our border control agents. We need to invest in that area because, again, there are individuals, nefarious individuals, that are coming here to do harm to our country, to do harm to our children, to do harm to our families. And so when you have those negative individuals that are involved, it hurts those that are coming across for positive things, coming across for better health, coming across to becoming part of our labor force, coming across because they're looking for safety. They're looking for more security. They're looking for help in relation to these totalitarian individuals that are in charge of their countries right now. So we want to be a blessing to all, but again, it must be done through the legal process.

So understanding that there are individuals that are good and good-hearted and want to be a part of America in the right way, that's great. We want to help them do that, but we must go through the process. The process takes about two years. It takes anywhere from 12 to 24 months to go through that complete process, and it's about 10 steps. And again, if you go through the process, the majority of the process, Chris, it's eight months to get your application processed. It takes eight months to get that done.

And then after that, you can be cleared in as little as 12 months, but normally it takes about 17 and a half months to get the whole process done. We're talking to Dr. Frederick Tappan from Memphis, Tennessee, about the issue of illegal immigration. When we come back, we're going to talk a lot about what they've done and the problem with illegal immigration. We'll talk about how the church can address this issue.

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Chris Hughes, my guest today is Dr. Frederick Tappan. We've been talking about the issue of illegal immigration. We've talked about how people are coming here illegally by the just hundreds of thousands. When they come here, many of them don't speak English or make any attempt to learn it. They don't assimilate. Really, a lot of times they bring not so much from people from maybe Central and South America, but some of these from other countries, particularly Muslim countries. A lot of times they don't make an effort to assimilate at all.

Some do, so don't start sending me emails. But a lot of communities, particularly in Michigan and areas like that, where they basically bring their whole community from where they left and kind of keep it intact. When they come here, they're not assimilating. That's going to be a problem when we don't have a national unity. Pastor, you mentioned that we're really all, except for Native Americans, we're all immigrants. But what we did is we united under common bond. We had a common language that we spoke. And yes, we were founded really as a Christian nation. And we united around really the Christian faith for many years. And we united behind a nation that we loved. And that's not the case with many of these particularly illegal immigrants that come across our country borders today into the United States.

I want to be able to talk about something you're doing on a personal level in a minute. But as we wrap this up, do they, when they get here, I know we give them a lot of benefits. I guess we're providing free health care for them. I heard recently we were giving them free cell phones. Are they getting free health care too? Yeah.

I mean, a lot of them are. And, you know, again, those are benefits for citizens. And so, again, it's putting more pressure on a health system that is already under pressure. That is already stressed.

That is already has a shortage, a massive shortage of nurses and doctors. And so you're putting extra stress on the process. And so it's, you know, again, we've got to follow the process. Because, again, what happens when we don't follow the process, it puts stress on our financial, on our economy. It puts stress on our health care. It puts stress on our policing. You know, those are the most stressful areas of our life normally.

But when we add to that glut of illegal immigrants, you know, it places an enormous amount of stress on the system. And so we'll think about, you mentioned health care, Dr. Tappan, think about what just happened with COVID. You know, they're making us get all these vaccinations. They're making us wear a mask. And again, I don't care if you listen or if you have a vaccination or a mask. But when they're making all of us do it and then they're telling us we can't go to church and is a body of Jesus Christ over COVID.

But we'll open up the border and we'll let hundreds of thousands of people come and we don't even test them for COVID. But you and I, Pastor, can't go to church. I mean, that just burned me up.

That created stress for me. And it does. You know, it made no sense. So we have to, but they don't.

We are citizens and they are not. But there's a disconnect there somewhere. We've got situations that are uneven. We've got rules that are being abrogated.

And it is just not working. And that has led to myriad of problems that we're having on the borders right now. Yeah. Well, we had other things we were going to talk about.

I want to ask one more important question that I want to switch into something personal that's happening in your life right now as a pastor. This is a reality. I mean, we don't we don't like it, but probably. I mean, the truth being told, no matter what happens, the ones that are here are probably going to stay here. And, you know, our country is never going to look like it did.

And that's fine. You know, the way it did a few years ago. But we, as followers of Jesus Christ, whether they come here illegally or not, we need to love them. We need to share the love of Jesus with them.

How can we as Christians and as a body of believers help in this process? You know, when we have people like look, look at the Middle East. I mean, and again, it's not just people that are from Mexico that are coming here.

There are people from all over the world are going down there and they're coming through that southern border. They don't speak our language. It is a total culture shock, pastor. I mean, I know you've probably been to other countries that travel all over the world speaking and preaching.

And we just assume everybody's like us. They are not. Their cultures are different. They've never been to. You were talking about how you don't have a grocery store in your community. They don't have a grocery store maybe in their entire country.

You know, some cases. Exactly. It is a culture shock. So when you have somebody come across the border, doesn't speak the language.

And imagine when you've lived in some barren land your whole life and you walk into a Wal-Mart. I mean, these people don't know what to do, what to expect, how to work in our society. And as you said, they're they're afraid and sometimes unjustly, but they're afraid of law enforcement. So how is we can we as a church as Christians love these people and help them through this process? I personally I think we should offer English as a second language in our churches.

Our Sunday school classrooms are just sitting there. You mentioned the process of how to become illegal through eight months to two years. Why are churches offering classes to help these people fill out again? They can't read the form. It's not their language. Why aren't we offering classes to help them become legal through the proper process? So I'm sorry I got off on a rant there. But how can we as Christians help these folks? Well, again, that is so important.

And you came up with some very salient points. What we did, fortunately, with our Spanish speaking contingent, we had a young lady who joined the church that that was bilingual. She was from Honduras. And so she did all of our translating. And that was that was a huge, huge help to us. And what we're doing right now, we're about to open up a program.

It's an after school program that will that's set up for third grade literacy to make sure that our children are ready to read by third grade. And and so we want to add some ESL as a part of that because of the contingent of immigrants that we have in this area. And so that's something that you can do if you find one one of the people in your community that speaks that language. Then, you know, ingratiate yourselves with them.

They don't have to be members of the church. But a lot of times they'll they'll volunteer and to do the work of translating. And so once you have that translator, then there are a couple of things that we try to do. Number one, we try to listen to their story. You know, we ask questions to to help them understand who we are. And then we listen to where they came from. We ask questions about the person's hometown, their country, their family, their cultural holidays, their hobbies, their passions, their goals. We say, tell me the story behind, you know, the festival of the faith that you came from, because a lot of them are not Christians.

A lot of the Sudanese, most of them are Muslim. So they want to hear about Christ. They want to hear about it. We've got to share with them our story. Then we have to remember the essentials and what are the essentials to share my own story. They they are very interested in hearing about Jesus Christ, how Jesus Christ, who he is in your life and how he affects our lives and and what he's done for us and how they can get to know Jesus.

And those are important things for them to know. We need to respond to their story with the story of Jesus. Don't just listen to their story and don't share the story of Christ about what he's done, how he died on the cross, how he rose on the third day morning.

Tell about sin and about the beginning, Adam and Eve. All those things are great, but we have to respond with those stories to help them understand who we are and why we trust Christ as our savior. And then we have to walk alongside them moving forward. Don't just tell them the story and then lead them. We need to have a system where we can talk with them and we can continue to be involved in their lives. And finally, if they accept Christ as savior, you know, bring them into the church, baptize them. And even after they come into the church, don't lead them to just the congregation. Have classes set up.

We have classes set up. We call it our early Christian education program. And it talks about like the basics of Christianity. It talks about Jesus. It talks about the Holy Spirit. It talks about God the Father. It talks about baptism. It talks about giving. And we go through all the basics so they can have a great foundation in relation to who Christ is.

And those are some of the things that, you know, all churches can do to reach out to our immigrant constantly. Well, Pastor, we've run out of time. Can I ask a favor of you?

Because I wasted too much time talking about wrestling in the beginning. And you've given us such good advice for a church. Will you come back and do one more day with us? And I want to talk specifically about your campaign and how God's using you to run for public office. Will you come back with us again?

I will definitely do that. It would be an honor to talk to you. OK, so y'all stick around. We're going to have him back. Pastor, thank you for being with us. God bless you. Y'all, let's go impact the culture for Jesus. Thank you for listening. The Christian Perspective with Chris Hughes. Learn more about impacting the culture for Jesus. Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com.