2024 NDFALA Legislative Academy
On October 11th and 12th, NDFALA will launch its first Legislative Academy! The mission of our Legislative Academy is to help you, our state legislators, integrate your faith and best practices into your political work. You will gain knowledge, practical skills, and learnings from former legislators and other experts to tackle today’s tough issues in an uncompromising yet winsome way. Further, we endeavor to provide a vibrant community of Christian policymakers here in ND who encourage, inspire, and lift each other up in prayer. Our goal is that you become the most well-informed and effective Christian leaders in ND!
The Legislative Academy is a one-and-a-half-day event that starts with insights into the founding of our nation. We are blessed to have an incredible keynote speaker, Dr. Mark David Hall from Regent University, who will present: Did America Have a Christian Founding?: Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth.
After this foundational start, experienced legislators who share your biblical worldview will provide insights and knowledge you can use. This includes institutional expertise beyond what you’ve already acquired, best practices, and skills to identify where things can go wrong. Some of the key topical areas will include life, family, education, energy, agriculture, and much more!
Because Legislative Academy is purely educational and because generous donors have agreed to underwrite the event’s expenses, there is no cost to you! We will provide all materials and meals during class-time hours. You would only need to pay for transportation and lodging for the event.
Media Training: We will also offer general media training to all participants from the national organization, Family Policy Alliance. In addition, we will be offering one-on-one media training with Autumn Leva of FPA, available to the first 10 legislators who sign up for Legislative Academy, so secure your spot today and take advantage of this great opportunity!
Friday Dinner: We are hosting a dinner at the Northern Lights Atrium of the North Dakota Heritage Center on Friday, the 11th at 6:00 pm. We invite you to bring along a plus one for dinner. Dr. Mark David Hall will be presenting a talk entitled: Why Tolerate Religion? The Rise and Fall of Religious Liberty in America. Dr. Hall will also be available for book signing and discussion after his presentation.
About Our Keynote Speaker: Dr. Mark David Hall
Mark David Hall is a professor at the Robertson School of Government at Regent University. He is an internationally recognized scholar of early America and an expert on the importance of Christianity in the flourishing of America’s experiment in ordered liberty. He is also widely regarded as a leading student of religious liberty and church-state relations in America. Hall serves as an expert witness for the U.S. Department of Justice, the State of Arkansas, Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Institute for Justice. Prior to Regent, he was the Herbert Hoover Distinguished Professor of Politics at George Fox University.
Dr. Hall earned a B.A. in Political Science from Wheaton College (IL) and a Ph.D. in Government from the University of Virginia. Hall’s primary research and writing interests include American political theory, the relationship between religion and politics, and religious liberty/church-state relations.
Dr. Hall has written, edited, or co-edited over a dozen books, including:
Who’s Afraid of Christian Nationalism: Why Christian Nationalism is Not an Existential Threat to America or the Church (Fidelis Books, 2024)
Great Christian Jurists in American History (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Faith and the Founders of the American Republic (Oxford University Press, 2014)
Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Dr. Hall has also penned more than 150 book chapters, journal articles, reviews, and other pieces.
About Autumn Leva
Autumn Leva is the Senior Vice President of Strategy at Family Policy Alliance and an attorney who has spent her career advocating for families at both the state and national levels of government, both from within and outside government. She has a breadth of political experience from statewide issue campaigns, federal candidate campaigns, voter engagement and get-out-the-vote efforts, and state and federal election compliance. Autumn is also a media veteran with decades of experience working with television, radio, and written communications. She designed the highly successful media training program for Family Policy Alliance Foundation’s Statesmen Academy, the premier national Academy for state legislators, which now has over 240 graduates serving in 41 state legislatures.
Autumn has led teams that collaborate with state and national allies to advance or defeat legislation that directly impacts families; micro-target key voters to impact critical elections; equip the grassroots to engage on policy and political issues that matter to families; and train and support elected leaders who advocate for families in the mission field of public office. Autumn and her team wrote the original “Help Not Harm” legislation, the first legislation of its kind prohibiting minor gender transitions, and then trained legislators and coalitions on how to run and message the bill, which is now in place in 23 states.
Autumn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and a J.D. from Regent University School of Law, and she is licensed to practice law in Virginia.
Registration: We are currently able to offer our Legislative Academy to sitting legislators. There are only 30 spots available for the event, and they will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, so don’t delay – get your application in now before it fills up.
To apply for the 2024 Legislative Academy, click here. After you fill out the application, please scan and send it to mark@ndfamilyalliance.org with your plus one for Friday's dinner included in the email.
(Note: Election candidates who are not already in office are also welcome to apply to attend, to the extent space is available. They will be required to first be endorsed by North Dakota Family Alliance Legislative Action and to also cover their own cost of attendance. Contact us at 701-355-6425 for more information.)
Our next interview: Rep. Mike Motschenbacher
We are very excited to present to you our fifth legislator interview. Our purpose in doing legislator interviews is so that you can better get to know the legislators representing you, from both a personal and legislative perspective.*
For our fifth interview, we decided to visit with Representative Mike Motschenbacher from District 47. This past session, held in early 2023, was his first year as a Representative. He served on the House Finance and Taxation and Political Subdivisions Committees. We know you'll enjoy learning more about his experience in the Legislature, his work with constituents, and much more.
You can watch the interview here.
President Kamala Harris? No thank you.
Today you are privileged to hear from our latest addition to the NDFA family, Marit Heidbreder, who is now our Executive Administrative Assistant. As I think you’ll quickly see, her skills not only include administrative work, but also insightful and well-written political commentary.
- Mark
President Kamala Harris? No thank you.
“The first woman president would be an amazing achievement for our country, right?”, another waiting customer inquired as we waited our turn to be served. “I mean, you’re a woman too, surely you agree!” I kindly smiled and considered my response. I am certainly not against the advancement of females in the political arena, however, the woman in question and what specific beliefs and values female candidates may hold matter a great deal to the country. They will be serving and representing all of us and any consequences of those beliefs will have lasting effects. The implication was that because I am a woman, of course I would support any woman with her sights set on the role of President simply because it is perceived as advancing our gender. I respectfully replied that my hope for the upcoming election is that our country can achieve goals that align with my beliefs and values rather than my gender.
The drama of this election season is on full display around us as President Biden recently announced that he would not continue his bid for re-election, and instead endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place as the Democratic nominee. Maybe you’ve heard some rejoicing from neighbors, friends, or relatives who may see hope in this turn of events for their party.
Unfortunately, Vice President Kamala Harris and her beliefs fall in direct opposition to the values of faith, family, and freedom both you and our organization hold. As most of us know by now, VP Harris is extremely dedicated to the pro-choice movement and has been outspoken that the Supreme Court took away a “constitutional right” from women with the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Before leaving the Senate to become Vice President, she received perfect 100 scorecard ratings from reproductive rights groups such as Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America (now known as Reproductive Freedom for All), and NARAL Pro-Choice California. She’s adamant that when Congress passes legislation to return the “protections and freedoms” of Roe, she will sign it into law.
She’s concerned about protecting reproductive freedom and liberty, but whose freedom and liberty? Democrats routinely elevate the mother’s life and current circumstances above the unborn child’s life and future circumstances. However, according to Psalm 139 we know that God’s handiwork upon our lives begins in the womb where he began knitting us each together with meticulous care. Of course, we understand that a pregnancy is not always convenient or planned by the biological mother and father, but a baby is undoubtedly a gift from God (Psalm 127:3) and can certainly be a blessing to individuals such as those waiting to adopt.
Unfortunately, her distorted values don’t stop there. Vice President Harris has a long history of supporting the LBGTQ+ agenda. While she was a California Senator, she co-sponsored a bill that would force public schools to allow biologically male athletes who identify as transgender to play on girls’ sports teams. According to Harris, performing some of the first same-sex marriages in the U.S. was one of the most joyous experiences of her life. At a Pride event on June 4, 2023, she said, “We will not rest until everyone, no matter who they are or who they love, is treated equally and with dignity.” Later that same month while hosting a Pride event at her residence, she declared to the crowd, “Pride is patriotism!”. She even provided guests with Pride-themed, rainbow-colored, fans emblazoned with her VP seal and signature.
Our Biblical worldview tells us something else; that there are types of love that are abhorrent to God (Lev. 20:13). If our country’s leadership believes that all types of love are considered equal and permissible, that puts us outside of God’s commands and blessing.
We also know that VP Harris has a view of religious freedom that on the surface sounds faithful to the Constitution, but upon further inspection, is actually an erosion from what our forefathers intended in the First Amendment. She regularly touts “freedom of worship”, which to her means you may worship as you like on Sundays, but she doesn’t recognize the deeper freedoms we have to allow our decisions in life and work to align with our faith. The First Amendment has stronger wording which protects our right to freely exercise our faith. It’s plain that the term “exercise” has a broader intention than just freedom to worship. While she was a U.S. senator, Harris supported a bill called the Do No Harm Act that aimed to weaken our religious freedoms, which is highly concerning for the future direction of our country.
It's clear that Kamala Harris is not the right choice for a nation whose God is the Lord. At times it is hard to know how to positively engage with those around us who take a different view from our own. Especially when the other side can be so at odds with our faith and values. Sometimes I have taken the “bait” and regretted my words, so I always try to remember that first and foremost, everyone around me, regardless of where they fall politically, is a fellow child of God who is made in His image (Gen. 1:27). They may not realize that fact, but it doesn’t keep it from being true. Ultimately, as we engage with others, we want to be vessels for the love of Christ and endeavor to represent Him well. I pray each of us will embrace the opportunities we are given to do so!
Goodwill
by Jacob Thomsen
You are walking down the street, downtown in a major city. You see banners and flags of a political ideology that you do not agree with. There is a rally going on and these people are shouting things that you vehemently disagree with. What are you thinking at that moment? Are you thinking about how wrong those people are? Are you thinking about why those people are crazy? Maybe you’re even thinking that those people are evil.
This is something I’ve been contemplating for some time now. It’s remarkably easy to fall into any of those lines of thought regarding political ideologies that we disagree with. I’m often guilty of it myself. Because of our current political climate, we view them as the “other” or someone who is an enemy. At this point, I could say that Christ tells us that we are supposed to love our enemies, but the real question here is, are they really our enemies?
We are Americans. We are unified under one flag, under God, indivisible. That’s what it says in the Pledge of Allegiance. Do we believe that? The thing about those who believe a political ideology that we disagree with, is that they are not intentionally trying to destroy America. I’m not going to argue against the fact that the consequences of their decisions are sometimes very bad, but they are doing what they believe is best for the country, just like the political ideologies that you and I hold.
Unfortunately, modern news and social media are among the primary causes of the division that we deal with today. They sensationalize hot topic issues to get more engagement and bolster more and more extreme viewpoints, thereby also driving their profits way up. It’s why the viewpoints attributed to the majority of the people, are actually from a loud minority. It’s everything we see in the media.
Today, in our country, if someone who is a popular figure holds a viewpoint that the other side disagrees with, they will try to “cancel” them, and it’s true for both sides. Then it becomes a situation where people don’t want to see that person succeed because of their political ideology.
This is the opposite of goodwill. Goodwill that has driven our country forward for its entire existence. We admire stories like President Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill, or Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Antonin Scalia being friends. Ideological foes can be great friends and will the good of the other.
That’s what love is, to will the good of the other. The aforementioned relationships were not based upon being enemies, but friends. As Christians, we are called to a higher level of thinking. Let’s no longer fall into the trap that modern media sets for us. Let’s actually love each other and will the good for our friends who are in our nation, under God. Let’s be indivisible.
What it takes to get to that point is to see them as people, not their political ideology. Your political ideology is not your identity. You may be married, have kids, like a certain football team, have certain hobbies and skills, and most importantly, are created with dignity and worth in God’s image. Remember these things apply to those who disagree with us as well.
We need to learn to listen to one another. James 1:19-20 says, “know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” This is a perfect way to begin to show love to each other. It also shows that there’s no point in getting unreasonably angry so quickly over these things, because our unrighteous anger is not productive.
Christ calls us to die to ourselves, to die to the desires of our flesh. Those desires include belittling and attacking the other side for their mistakes. Let’s die to those desires and be reborn to love. If we can begin to love those that we perceive as enemies in our country, and I mean actually love them, “agape” is the word used in the Bible, then we can begin to turn the page on this era of hatred across the aisle in our country.
When we have friends and family that we disagree with, we still want them to succeed; we still will the good for them. It’s important to remember that America is a big, mixed, crazy family. When one American succeeds in making life better, we all succeed. It’s time that we bring goodwill back into our lives. If we stand firm in our beliefs and at the same time will the good for our fellow Americans, we can make America a better place.
Four Years, Two Trees, and a Lifetime Apart
It was August, 1995. The weather was very hot that summer, in the 90’s if I remember correctly. We were learning how to cope with being new parents to our son Christopher. That meant lots of sleepless nights, bottle washing, diapers, and the other marks of a newborn. It was fun, exhausting, and challenging all at the same time. And in the midst of this, Ruth’s father was lying in a Bellingham hospital dying.
Dad had multiple strokes over the years. The last stroke was severe enough to require hospitalization, and we all knew that he would probably not live long. The last few years of his life were spent quietly feeding the cows on the farm or playing with the grandchildren. Dad was not a leader, but a follower. Despite his low profile life, we loved him and we knew God loved him.
We received a call on the morning of September 5 that Dad had died. We made the trip to Bellingham for the funeral, and spent the next months learning how to cope without Dad.
Some time passed and during one visit, Mom told us an interesting story. There was an old apple tree in their back yard. It was a pathetic looking tree, really. It was all bent over and had obviously seen many harsh winters. What’s worse, it didn’t seem to bear any decent fruit. The apples from the tree tasted exceptionally bad. In fact, the only person who ate them at all was Dad. He ate the apples each year. When someone would suggest that maybe the tree should be cut down, he would not even consider it. The tree was there for Dad, and Dad was there for the tree.
Mom told us that the day after Dad died, an interesting thing happened to that apple tree – it split right down the middle. Through no outside influence, the tree split from top to bottom and died. The family cut the tree up and hauled it away. Apparently, God decided that its work was done, and that it was time for it to rest. It seemed like an extraordinary sign of love for a quiet, understated farmer.
Fast forward with me now to 1999. It was summer again (although hard to tell by the weather). I was standing next to our house, looking up at the apple tree just outside our bedroom window. For the sixth consecutive year in a row, I debated whether to cut the tree down. While not as pathetic looking as the apple tree in Mom and Dad’s back yard, our apple tree didn’t exactly look great either (maybe they all look this bad?). And unlike our parent’s tree, this one didn’t even bear any fruit. I had just never gotten around to cutting it down, but this year would be different.
Well, things happen and sometimes our best laid plans are never realized. It was like that with the tree. Our interruption was in the form of Stephanie. She came along two weeks before her due date, and while we were thrilled with her arrival, some things just didn’t get done. Like cutting down that apple tree.
On the day of her birth, Stephanie arrived in the world with all the usual baby fanfare. After visits by the relatives and after Ruth was somewhat settled at the hospital, it was evening and I headed home to get some rest. With Christopher tucked into bed and with my adrenaline finally slowing down, I fell into bed exhausted. It was just past midnight, which made it September 5. As my mind wandered over the events of the past few hours, I silently prayed a thank-you prayer for our new little gift. In the dark silence of the bedroom, I heard the whisper of leaves outside the window, and then a solitary thump broke the quiet night air. It was the sound of a single apple falling from the tree outside our bedroom. A single gift coming down to earth from up above.
You see, that year our apple tree did bear fruit. It had more apples than we could have ever imagined. But even if it didn’t have apples, I guess I just didn’t have the heart to cut it down anymore. I wondered if maybe, just maybe, Stephanie might like the apples from her tree.
Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; You established the earth, and it endures. Psalm 119: 89-90