... current events and theology all come together. And now here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Welcome in.
Joey Hudson in for stew today. You know, with just one week in office, President Donald Trump had a busy week to start his second term in office from immigration to energy independence to the elimination, all the nonsense of diversity, equity, and inclusion to visiting the Carolinas up in the Asheville, the western North Carolina area of North Carolina on Friday to visit and to look at some of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. He then went on to look at the devastation of the wildfires in California. President Trump kicked off his new term at a breakneck speed.
I think we all can agree about that. We're going to hit on some of the highlights today and just how Trump 2-0 will affect the faith community. Also, we'll visit with an organization that is making a difference in the business world. The Christian Business Men's Connect is a network of business leaders all around the country with one thing in common. They love to talk about their relationship with Jesus Christ. We're going to try to cover a lot in this one hour today, this Monday edition of Truth Talk Live.
I'm Joey Hudson again sitting in for Stu Epperson. Of course, your voice is important as well. You can join the conversation by calling 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884.
If you want to contact me directly, I welcome your emails joey at joeyhudson.com. So, one week ago today, we were watching as a newly sworn in President Donald Trump was quickly making his mark as he launched a second term in the Oval Office. And I use the word launched purposely because that is exactly what Donald Trump did. He wasted no time getting started on a mandate that the American people gave him last November. President Trump began his second term in office with bold promises for America's coming, the golden age as he is referring to it. The President claimed that not just a national mandate was given to him, but also a divine mandate, repeating that he had been saved from last year's assassination attempt so that he could make America great again and pledging that his administration will not forget our God.
Donald Trump has mentioned his relationship with God more in this past year since that attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania than I think any time probably in his lifetime. As he talked about the plans to swiftly act on immigration, on energy policy, on the climate and trade, Trump said during his inaugural address in a ceremony that was moved inside, of course, because of the harsh winter weather, he said, I returned to the presidency confident and optimistic that we were at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. You know, incoming presidents often try to strike a balance between kindness to the outgoing administration, calls for the country to come together for a unified country as a new administration takes over, and clarity of where they want to lead our country. But we all know to a degree that's just not Donald Trump's style.
It never has been. In his inaugural speech, the incoming president painted a pretty dark, depressing picture of the nation under Joe Biden and the Democrats, and attacked the current state of politics as radical, corrupt, and vicious. But President Trump also gave us hope, hope that it's not too late. And with God's help, we can turn our country around.
And that was probably the most important theme. I was in Washington last week for the inauguration, had some great seats that, of course, were not used when the ceremony was moved indoors. As part of my duties with the Mike Gallagher show, I was outside of the Capitol and had a great time talking with people who had who had traveled to our nation's Capitol to be there to hopefully witness the inauguration, which they did not, but just to be in Washington during this historic occasion.
Sure, they were disappointed that they were not able to see President Trump being sworn in or right there in person. But you know the thing that in talking with people, the thing that the word, I guess, that came up more often than not, and that was that word of hope. We have a new sense of hope that we're going to put God back in front of our country, hope that our country is going to return to God and that we're going to listen and that we're going to be guided by him. People are now hopeful that our country is going to be turned around, that we're going to get back to our Christian foundation. And rather than just going along with some of the nonsense that we've witnessed over these past few years, that we're going to have the courage to stand up to evil and again, put God back at the center of our nation and our government. Trump's return to the presidency comes with a large and emboldened support base of Christians. A lot of Christians, especially evangelicals, they're the cornerstone of that Trump support.
His supporters rallied in force last week in Washington, including the pro-life advocates, the social media influencers, trade workers. They all gathered to celebrate his vision for making America great again. The mood this time around, though, was a lot different because I think from eight years ago, when people still weren't quite sure the direction that Donald Trump may take our nation in, now they were embracing it. They know who he is, they know what he's capable of, and they're ready to start down that path with him. It's a shift in the political machinery, if you will, but also a good shift because, again, we have that hope. We know that we know that together and with God's help that there are big things that can happen in our country and that's the direction we're headed in.
Trump's base seems confident, they seem unified, and not just as voters who someone who cast a vote last November for him, but as someone who wants to be involved, as a nation who wants to be involved in the rebuilding of our country, and that's what we're going to see, I think, with Donald Trump. Now, there are going to be some bumps along the way, but we'll get through that together for sure. I'm Joey Hudson in for Stu today. Hope you'll join the conversation.
There's lots of ways to do so. You can call 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. If you want to contact me directly, just send me a quick email, joey at joehudson.com. Glad to have you with me today.
Continuing today's show, I'm Joey Hudson in for Stu Epperson. You're welcome to join the conversation. You can call 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. If you want to contact me directly, your emails are welcome, joey at joehudson.com. You know, one of the things that I believe we're going to see a lot in the new Trump 2-0 is that God is going to be reintroduced into areas that may be some of the extreme policies of the left, the non-Christian world, were successful in eliminating in the past few years.
If there's ever a time that we need more of God, it is now. That includes our business leaders. And there's a great organization I want to spend some time on today, an organization that's making a difference in the business community.
The Christian Business Men's Connection connects businesses and professional men to God and to each other so that they become more like the men God designed them to be. On our guest line today, the CBMC Regional Director for the Carolinas, Bill Montross, and Greg English, who leads the local CBMC group in my hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. Welcome, guys. How are you? I'm doing fine. This is Bill, Joey. I'm doing fine.
Thank you. Hey, Bill. Good to have you.
Greg, good to have you as well. Bill, let's start with you. Give us that 30,000-foot view of what CBMC is all about. Well, in four words, it's presenting Jesus and developing business men. So we exist to encourage guys in the marketplace to use their positions as a platform for ministry. And we know that God has put us where we are for a purpose, for His purpose, and it's to encourage guys, equip guys to be able to carry that out. We're a discipleship and evangelism-focused, great commission, and we believe that work is best done in community with others.
So we have a lot of focus on teams, and as I say, one-on-one discipleship is kind of the bedrock of our ministry. We've been around since 1930. Started out in Chicago in 1930. We're now in 350 cities and 90-some countries around the world.
So it's been a stable in the marketplace for a long, long time. Wow. You said 350 cities around the U.S.?
Yes, yeah. And that's where we, I mean, we have people in just about every place, but I mean, that's where we have teams located would be in 350 cities. Either what we call Connect Three Teams, which are connecting men, weekly teams that meet to encourage guys, kind of a MASH unit. Guys come in and pray for each other, kind of encourage each other to go back into the marketplace and do what we call them to do. And then we've also got teams of young professionals and a group we call Trusted Advisor Forums that focuses on business leaders or C-suite guys to kind of serve as each other's board of directors for guys that don't have a board. So we've got a group of each other's board of directors for guys that don't have a board. Sure, sure. Greg, talk with us, if you would, about how you got involved with CBMC and the effect that your group is having with businessmen in the upstate of South Carolina, my hometown.
Sure, Joey, thanks for having me. Well, we share a common mentor and a fellow named Dana Sullivan. He's the one who got me involved in CBMC in Greenville, South Carolina.
And I got involved back in 1993, so about 32 years ago. And what was really attractive to me is, you know, we've been given, as Bill said, the Great Commission to make disciples. And, you know, Jesus also asked us to be His witnesses. And, you know, you wonder as a business or professional man how to do that in the marketplace. And the great thing about CBMC is it gives you a platform to do that. So what Dana got me involved in and is a group, Bill referred to it as a Connect 3 group, but a group of guys that meets weekly. And then we plan quarterly luncheons at a local lunch club here. And we bring in speakers who come to talk about their careers in business or in sports.
For example, Dabo Swinney spoke to us years ago, and Charlie Duke, who walked on the moon. So guys who've had really interesting careers come to us and talk about not just their careers, but how their faith has influenced their careers and their lives. And then after those quarterly meetings, we have different groups that get together, either one on one to go through a Bible study called Operation Timothy, or similar studies. And also there are small groups of guys that get together for group discipleship.
Yeah. Bill, if someone were to say, well, you know, this all sounds great, but why CBMC? Why couldn't this be done in your local church group?
What's your response? Well, it could be. Unfortunately, you know, too often a discipleship gets neglected, is my view in the local churches. I think we're singularly focused. I mean, that's why we exist, is for discipleship. And I think in a lot of cases, you know, the view is that, well, I'll let my pastor do the discipleship. And in our view, we can reach a guy right where he is, and we can reach a guy where he is. You know, it's not like I'm trying to present this spiritual walk to a group of people, but it's tailored to the individual.
So we're one on one, basically. And it's just much, I believe it's much more effective than the trying to disciple masses of people. Our whole approach also is that, you know, we're not just making disciples, we're making disciple makers, but when they become a disciple of Christ, they will in turn disciple other men. And so it's this whole idea of spiritual reproduction. Yeah, and Greg, that's what really resonates with you. I mean, you said 32 years that you've been involved with this. I mean, that's what you've seen over and over again, isn't it?
Well, that's right. I can't count the number of men that I've had an opportunity to have spiritual discussions with, and in a way that I might not be able to interact with them if it weren't for CBMC. And another big draw is that CBMC is non-denominational, so we're not, you know, focused on particular issues that sometimes divide Christians, but we're focused on sort of the material issues of the gospel, and that allows us to reach across denominational lines. Sure, with me today, Bill Montrose, he's the CBMC Regional Director of the Carolinas, Greg English, who leads a local chapter of CBMC in my hometown in upstate South Carolina. Guys, do y'all have time to stay with us through the break? Because there's a lot more I'd like to talk with you if you have the time to hang in there with us. Sure, sure, happy to. Yeah, I'm Joey Hudson, in for Stu Epperson today. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884 is how you join the conversation. Continuing today's show, I'm Joey Hudson, in for Stu Epperson.
Appreciate you spending a few minutes of your afternoon with me. You can join today's conversation by calling 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. If you want to connect with me directly, just email me, joeyhudson.com. And let me invite you to join me on my daily podcast, Just the Truth. Just search for Joey Hudson, Just the Truth, wherever you listen to podcasts. And you can find me online, joeyhudson.com.
I'd love for you to join me each day. On a guest line today, we're talking about the Christian Businessmen's Connection. It's a great group of local professional men who come together to talk about their faith and their love of Jesus Christ. Bill Montross is the CBMC Regional Director for the Carolinas. Greg English leads the local CBMC group in my hometown of Greenville, South Carolina.
Gentlemen, I appreciate your time this afternoon and continuing to join us here. If someone, and Bill, this is to you, if someone is listening today and they'd like to be involved, how can they become involved and find a local CBMC group? Well, the easiest way is to go to our national website, which is www.cbmc.com. And on there, there's a link to local sites. And within the local sites, that web page will give you all of the teams that are meeting, where they're meeting, and so forth.
Or just a connect button that says, hey, I'd like to get connected. We do not charge membership. It's a strictly volunteer organization. We have a set of tools that are also available through that site. Greg mentioned Operation Timothy, that's our discipleship tool.
They're all online. Operation Timothy, our relational evangelism tool called Living Proof Experience. And all you have to do is go inside, sign up on our advanced system, and you'll input a username and password and you have free access to all of our tools. But the website is available both, you know, for mobile apps as well as, or mobile use as well as for your computer.
So it's pretty, pretty easy to navigate. And the other way is just to find out who the CBMC guys are in your area. And, you know, I'm in the Charlotte area. And I get two or three calls a week from guys that have heard about CBMC. I mean, Greg in Greenville, they do these fantastic quarterly events where they, as he mentioned before, that's a great way to get connected with just see what the organization is all about.
Yeah. And, you know, the thing, Bill and Greg, what I love about CBMC and back years ago when I was first introduced to the organization are the tools that you provide. Because quite often, I think, I think men and businessmen in particular, you know, they have trouble expressing their faith and talking about their faith, but you, through some of the programs you have, you kind of map it out for them, don't you, Bill? Yeah, I would tell you that, you know, I was led to the Lord by a traveling evangelist back in 1969.
And I said traveling evangelist, that means that he left town the next day. And I, you know, I was left on my own. And that's why I have such a passion for discipleship now. And I, I had to try and figure it out by myself. And I didn't do a very good job of it.
But I found a CBMC group that, here in Charlotte, that small group that was just, we're going through Operation Timothy in the very first chapter. And that Operation Timothy is what is your purpose. And I had never really considered my purpose.
I was in my 50s. And I'm embarrassed to say it, but, you know, I just kind of defaulted to the American dream, you know, make a lot of money, get a lot of possessions, and keep climbing the corporate ladder. And, you know, Operation Timothy made me stop and look at, you know, gee, what, I mean, God put me here for a reason, for a purpose.
And so, it's just kind of a methodical, it's a road to run on, rails to run on, to grow in your spiritual development. So, and that's, like I say, it's been a fantastic experience for me. I've been doing this, I got involved in CBMC, not as long as Greg. I came into CBMC in 2001, so.
Yeah, yeah. With me today, Bill Montross, the CBMC Regional Director of the Carolinas, and also Greg English, who leads a local CBMC group in Greenville, South Carolina. Greg, what would you say is the biggest challenge that you face sometimes in keeping a local group together? Well, I think, you know, I'm also involved in other civic groups like Rotary, and there's just a challenge these days to, everybody's so busy, and a challenge to find time to get involved in activities or things. But one thing I like to remind the guys who are involved is that, you know, we business and professional men have at least 10 slots a week for breakfast and lunch, and those are prime opportunities to meet with other guys. And so we really try to make a concerted effort to do that. And, you know, I think some of even the business development books talk about never eat alone. And so it's great if we can combine business and spiritual discussions and engagement with prayer and Bible study over breakfast or lunch. Sure. And, you know, that was my experience many years ago when, as you mentioned, Dana Sullivan introduced me to CBMC, and, you know, for about a year or so we just, we had breakfast every day, and that gave us a, I'm sorry, once a week, and that gave us an opportunity to share with one another and to talk about our relationship with Christ and to read and study his word.
And look, hey, I eat breakfast every day and I eat lunch every day, so I got time. Right. Yeah. Bill, again, in our closing moments together here today, just talk with our listeners. If someone is interested in maybe even starting a new area, maybe there's an area that there's not a present CBMC group, what's the process to potentially start one? Yeah, go to our website. If you don't know someone that's involved, go to our website and just initiate a connection, and that will get routed to the area that you're in. I cover from North Carolina to Florida, so, you know, if anybody in that area has a desire to start a group, and it doesn't take a whole lot to start a group. I mean, we can start a group with three people.
I was just telling some guys today that, you know, I've got two guys in one particular area, and so we're going to help them get started with a group. But it starts with, you know, the website or a connection that you already have. And, you know, if you know somebody in Des Moines, Iowa, that is looking to get something started, you can reach out to our national team through the website or to a local guy who can put you in touch with whoever's out there to help you get started. But, you know, the website is probably the fastest, you know, simplest way.
Do a connect request, and that'll get routed through our headquarters to the appropriate area. Yeah, and again, that website is CBMC.com. CBMC.com. Greg, any parting words of wisdom from you if someone is interested in being involved or maybe starting a group?
No, I'll just reiterate what Bill said. If you go to CBMC.com, at the very top, it will give you a link to local sites. And, you know, you just find your city, and you can click there. If you're in Greenville, South Carolina, and it'll take you to our web page, and there's a link to email us. And then somebody from our group will get in contact with you if you're interested in learning more.
Yeah. Gentlemen, thank you again for your time today, and I applaud what you do. And just keep up the good work. I appreciate what you do in our communities. Thank you, Joey. Thanks for having us.
Sure thing. Bill Montrose, CBMC, Regional Director of the Carolinas, and Greg English from Greenville, South Carolina. Again, if you want information or if you'd like to start a group, become involved. And I can tell you that CBMC, they're doing some great work around the country. Go to CBMC.com.
CBMC.com. And if some of you have had an experience, I'd love for you to share that with me. Email me, joey at joehudson.com. If you are involved in CBMC somewhere, I'd love to hear your story as well. I'm Joey Hudson. In for Stu Epperson today, I hope you'll join the conversation. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. Coming up, we're going to talk a bit about Trump 2-0 and some of the changes.
Boy, did he hit the ground running, did he not? Hundreds, literally hundreds of executive orders. One of those, of course, or several of those addressing the issue of immigration. That's coming up on Truth Talk Live. Welcome back as we continue this Monday afternoon edition of Truth Talk Live.
I'm Joey Hudson sitting in for Stu Epperson today. Of course, your voice is important. You can join the conversation by calling 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884.
If you want to contact me directly, I welcome your emails at joey at joehudson.com. One of the biggest issues in the 2024 election, of course, was immigration. Probably the top issue. As I traveled around, I happened to be at the Iowa caucuses. I then traveled to the New Hampshire primary. And these are two states, of course, who obviously are not border states. But when I had a chance to talk with people in these states early last year, as we were starting the process of nominating the GOP candidate for president, immigration was top of mind.
So many people told me in Iowa and in New Hampshire that they wanted our southern border to be secure. And it was affecting them in their communities. Illegals were in their communities breaking additional laws. So as President Donald Trump started signing executive actions last week, immigration, of course, was at the top of the list as well, closing down our border once again, instructing additional troops and officers at the border, restarting building the wall, remain in Mexico, was reinstituted. They immediately, at 12 o'clock when President Trump was being sworn in, the CBP app that allowed people to make a reservation for a hearing, that closed down immediately.
Some of these issues, though, have raised important questions for Christian communities, particularly around immigration. Trump's administration is preparing to scale up deportations. They're calling it the largest deportation operation in our country's history. They have frozen the refugees resettlement program. Hundreds of illegals have been arrested this past week. Of course, there was a drama yesterday of the Colombian president not allowing U.S. military planes to land in the country to return people who had come to our country illegally.
After some threats of various cons from President Trump, he agreed that he would send his presidential plane to pick them up. The White House posted on X, under President Trump's leadership, ICE agents are working tirelessly to protect our communities from illegal alien child rapists to gang members and individuals with suspected ties to ISIS. Here are some of the worst criminals arrested. The post shows nine different illegal immigrants who have already been convicted of vicious crimes like child rape or have alleged links to gangs and terrorist organizations and other serious crimes. And they're in our country.
They're in our communities. The non-illegal immigrants highlighted in the thread include their photos, as well as some short biographies explaining their crimes. For example, one post reads, make America safe again. Edgar de la Cruz, a convicted child rapist and Mexican national, was arrested by ICE in Seattle on January 25th. Another post reads, make America safe again. A Jordanian national with suspected ties to ISIS was arrested by ICE Buffalo on January 24th. Another reads, make America safe again.
An MS-13 gang member from El Salvador wanted for aggravated homicide with a red notice was arrested by ICE in Los Angeles, January 24th, and the list goes on. These arrests and the promise that this will be the largest deportation in our country's history has sparked some concerns among faith leaders. Like Miles Green, president of the World Relief, he emphasized that as Christians who believe in the sanctity of family, it's crucial to oppose policies that separate families on a massive scale.
But what is the right thing to do here? You have a couple, for example, who come to our country illegally. They have a child here. Should we be concerned about deporting the entire family? Tom Holman, Trump's border czar, border czar says kind of tongue in cheek, but he's serious about it, that he's not going to separate families, that he'll just deport the whole family.
Is this what should happen? Just because the couple came to our country illegally, had a child, should they be protected from being deported? Do they have a right to stay here now? Does that create some type of barrier or shield that should allow them to stay here to care for their child? Or do we send the entire family home? Because I agree, the family doesn't need to be separated. The child should not be left here alone.
But that's what the left, those are the scare tactics that the left tries to use. Well, you know, we don't want to leave these little children. We don't want to separate them from their mom and their dad.
But does their mom and dad, does it matter that they broke the law coming here to begin with? Love to get your feedback. You can email me joey at joeyhudson.com. You can join the conversation today by calling 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884.
What's the answer here? As Christians, yes, we have to have compassion. But we also have to abide by the rule of law, do we not? And our country has strict laws, if they're enforced, on who can come into our country and how they come into our country. And they, obviously, millions of people broke that law. They ignored that law. And they have come into our country uninvited.
And they've had children. And now those innocent children are being used in this tug of war. Vice President J.D. Vance got into this this debate over the weekend. He expressed his disappointment over the criticism from U.S. Catholic bishops regarding the Trump administration's early immigration policies, which include, of course, efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. And as a practicing Catholic, Vice President Vance suggested that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, known as the USCCB, may be motivated by financial interests rather than purely humanitarian concerns, pointing to federal funding that the organization received during the Biden administration to help resettle unauthorized migrants. Vice President Vance, in an interview, said or questioned the Catholic bishops' motive, saying, are they worried about humanitarian concerns or are they actually worried about their bottom line? Of course, he is referring to the tens of millions of dollars in federal funding that the organization has used to assist migrant resettlement. The vice president also noted that the bishops had not been supportive of the immigration enforcement policies that Americans had voted for.
And if there's one thing clear, that was very clear last November the 5th, that Americans think that we should close our border, that Americans believe that people need to stay in their country and they don't come into our country and use our resources. The vice president said, I think the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has frankly not been a good partner in common sense immigration enforcement. And despite his criticism, the vice president expressed hope that the Catholic bishops would take a more balanced approach, emphasizing that his remarks came as a devoted Catholic. I mean, he's one of them. It's not like he's criticizing a particular religion that he doesn't know anything about. He's not part of. The USCCB has strongly opposed several of Trump administration's early executive orders. They opposed the revocation of the Biden era policies that restricted immigration enforcement in sensitive locations like churches, schools, and clinics.
They've been very, very upset with Tom Holman and some of the comments that he's made. And he has sent ice ages into churches and some of these sensitive areas who that traditionally had been protected to make arrests. But you tell me. So you have a you have an illegal alien who has murdered someone and they're smart enough to know that under the Biden administration, if they're in a church, ice is not going to bother them. But under President Trump, the new sheriff who's in town, those protections no longer exist. And wouldn't you rather ice agents go into that church and arrest that murderer, that illegal murderer, than to then to leave them alone because they're simply in a church or a school? Does that mean that you that an illegal alien who has raped a child can serve your child pizza and end up in a church? Your child pizza in their school because they're protected by ice because of the school? You can imagine some of these arguments have not gone over very well with the Trump administration. The Bishop Mark Setts, chair of the Catholic Bishops Migration Committee, is accusing the administration of dismantling humanitarian protections. What is humanitarian? How do we need to treat these folks? I'm Joey Hudson in for Stu. Great spending the afternoon with you. I'll continue those emails.
