(upbeat music)

- Welcome to the show andthanks for joining us.

Today, we're gonna start off

with X-rated content,critical race theory,

and that's what's being taught to children

in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Earlier this week, a schoolboard meeting erupted

and then ended with two people arrested.

- So what are parents doing

to stop the brainwashingof their students?

Senior WashingtonCorrespondent Tara Mergener

brings us the latest on this controversy.

- This is Loudoun County.

Not only is it thewealthiest in the country,

it's also become ground zero

for public schoolcontroversies nationwide.

Loudoun voices are among the loudest,

with a growing number ofparents insisting the system

is indoctrinating their children

with an anti-American agenda.

About an hour west of D.C.,

Loudoun is famous forrolling hills, wineries,

and staggering growth.

These days, however.

- [Woman] Today, insteadof focusing on the hate

that seems to be drippingoff the followers of Jesus

in their room, in this room.

(crowd booing)

- [Tara] It's getting headlines

for explosive school board meetings.

- People like me and a lineof all the people out there

who will gladly take yourseat and figure it out.

- [Tara] Where irate parentsread X-rated book excerpts

from the required school reading list.

- [Woman] He had a big(beep), and sometimes a girl

just needs a big (beep).

- They're perverted, because that,

there is no other rationalor reasonable explanation

for why adults would want toexpose other people's kids

to sexual content.

- [Tara] Accused members of targeting

traditional family values.

- The school is immersedin this leftist ideology.

- Either teaching essentially children

to hate their parents.

- [Tara] And sound off.

- They want to divide usby the color of our skin.

- [Tara] On what critics calla divisive race curriculum.

- CRT is racist. It is abusive.

It discriminates against one's color.

- [Tara] Week after week.

- Then why do you have black lives matter?

Have all lives matter.

- [Tara] Meetings as heated outside as in.

- Enough of the toxicity and the division

and looking at your skincolor and your skin color.

- [Tara] One groupinsisting students are used

to push politics.

- I was taught at a very young age

what to look for in socialism.

What do they do? They goright to the children.

- [Tara] The other,trying to draw them out.

- Why does this offend you?

Why does these three words offend you?

- [Tara] While some parentsare behind the school board.

- Stop turning equality into a weapon.

- [Tara] Calls continue togrow from others who say

it has got to go, asvolunteers collect signatures

to recall six of the nine board members.

- [Announcer] Fight forSchools is going to fight

for Loudoun County students,parents, and teachers.

- [Reporter] As all eyesare on Loudoun County.

- We get outreach fromplaces all across the country

asking how they can replicatethere what they're doing here.

- [Tara] Topping the list of complaints,

that Loudoun is part of a national effort

to push critical race theory.

- They've just been tricked into something

that not many black people are into.

- [Tara] Which opponents say

teaches all institutions are racist.

- We're just trying to let everybody know

what these people are doing.

And they're trying to, you know,

you put a lipstick on apig, it's still a pig.

- Though an LCPS spokesmandenied several of our requests

to interview InterimSuperintendent Scott Ziegler,

Ziegler publicly insists its equity plan

is not critical race theory.

We also caught up withtwo school board members

clearly at odds.

How is critical race theorydifferent than the equity plan?

- Well, they're not the same period.

- Can you give me onesentence that tells me

what the difference is?- I don't think

it's a one sentence, it's complicated.

- [Tara] Do you thinkthat they're injecting

critical race theory, if youhad to make your own analysis?

- They're encouraging teachersto at least think about it

and to put it as ainfluence of their teaching.

- [Tara] Some parentsare suing administrators

over race based initiatives in the plan

they claim could stifle freespeech and discriminate.

- One of their equity groups,

which I don't really agree with,

because I actually gotrejected joining that group

because I'm white.

- They are doing a lot of theirdirty work through teachers.

- [Tara] In this virtualZoom meeting obtained by CBN,

we see and hear a group of teachers

and the local NAACP'seducational chairwoman

discussing ways to get schoolboard members in their camp.

- She especially has a heartfor special needs kids.

- I can frame most issues on race

in a disability rights framework too

to speak to her in that way.

- [Monica] I will say thatLeslie and Ian both ran

on the Democratic ticket last year,

so they better act right.

- [Tara] Another sensitivesubject for many parents,

and even educators here,

received attacks on religious freedom,

like LGBTQ books they say arein kindergarten classrooms.

- There's a lot of stuff in the classrooms

that are kind of shh, shh,shh, shh, but they're there.

- [Tara] Then in May, anelementary gym teacher

placed on administrativeleave for saying this.

- But I served God first,and I will not affirm

that a biological boy canbe a girl and vice versa

because it's against my religion.

- [Tara] Per order of a judge,Tanner Cross is back to work.

(audience applauding)

The fallout still spillingover into a local pulpit.

- They are emotionallyabusing our children

by perpetuating the lieabout gender confusion

when they affirm pronounsthat are contrary to biology,

reality, and the beautiful design of God.

So they need to be held accountable.

- [Tara] As local Democratsdemand Pastor Gary Hamrick

recant his comments,

Tanner's congregationis lining up in support.

- As they see thisliberal progressive agenda

infiltrating our school system,the parents should rise up

and say we don't like the people

who are making these choices.

And if they want to replace them,

they should not only replace them.

But they should themselves wantto run for the school board

and get in people that they can support

and who will betterrepresent their values.

- While some may agreewith this direction,

critics insist public schoolsfunded by taxpayer dollars

do not exist to groom activists,

shame children for their skin color,

or deny them the innocence of childhood.

Concerned parents heresay they hope their fight

will encourage others acrossthe country to do the same.

In Loudoun County, Virginia,I'm Tara Mergener, CBN News.

- Well that's certainlyin an explosive report,

and we're seeing explosive things happen

in the Loudoun CountySchool Board meetings.

And if you can imaginea school board meeting

where people get arrestedat the end of it,

that shows you just howinflamed things are.

We're very much a polarizedculture, polarized electorate,

everything is beingframed in political terms.

But here's the challenge for you,

can you actually define whatis critical race theory?

And it's a very difficult thing to define.

Is a particular textbookor a particular statement

part of critical race theory or is it not?

At its core, critical race theory is tied

to a Marxist theorycalled critical theory.

And in critical theory, itsays that the institutions,

particularly the legal frameworkof a culture, of a society,

is designed to oppress particularelements of that society,

so it can get them to work.

That's part of Marxists ideology.

And in order to solve that, youhave to tear all of it down,

get rid of private enterprise,and socialize everything.

So now in place of an employer,you have the government,

and supposedly thegovernment's going to be better

at equality.

History has proven government'snot better at equality.

And so critical race theory,

if it's designed to tear the system down,

and I keep hearing that from people,

we need to tear the whole system down.

Well, take a step back from that one,

because what are you goingto replace the system with?

Is our system perfect? No.

Can we as a culture do a whole lot better,

particularly on equality,

particularly for African-Americans,for the minorities

in the United States?

I think the answer is clearly yes.

But if you're trying to tear things down,

then that's never going to lead to unity.

You're never going to get to agreement.

You're gonna have one sidepitted against another.

Under Marxist theory,you're intentionally trying

to create a dialectic, that doesn't work.

What does work? Love.

And it's an old gospel message.

It goes back to the days of Jesus Christ.

What are the greatest commandments?

Love God, love one another.

If we're doing things in our culture

that aren't reflectinglove, let's get rid of it,

and let's try to have unity.

And just like our pledgesays, "One nation."

That's a tough one. Canwe really be one nation?

"Under God, indivisible, withliberty and justice for all."

Well, we're certainly goingto be watching this story.

And if it encourages you to get involved

in your school board, please do.

So you can always get thelatest news on this and more

by downloading the CBN NewsChannel app today, Terry.

- Well, this father and daughter teamed up

to stop church abuse.

Up next, they join us live to share ways

to resist evil and promotehealing, right after this.

(inspirational music)

Well, recently Christianshave become accustomed

to revelations of abuse in our churches.

Scott McKnight and hisdaughter Laura Barringer

are fighting against this culture.

In their new book, thisfather and daughter duo

explore the concept of tov andhow it could be the answer.

- [Narrator] In recentyears, revelations of abuses

in churches of all sizes and denominations

have shocked Christians.

Tragically, some arebecoming accustomed to it.

How do we keep these devastating events

from repeating themselves?

Author Scott McKnight and Laura Barringer

share a path forward in their new book,

"A Church Called Tov."

In this book, McKnight andBarringer explore the concept

of tov and how it can helpChristians and churches rise up

to fulfill their true callingas imitators of Jesus.

- Well, Scott and Laura, we welcome you

to the program today.

Good to have you here.

The two of you have, thetwo of you've written a book

called "A Church Called Tov."

Laura, what led you to write this book?

- Well, it all started for me...

I'm a teacher by day, sothis is not a normal position

for me to be sitting in.

But a story broke in anewspaper about my former church

a couple years back, my formerchurch, my former pastor,

and it was allegationsof abuse against him

by several women.

So as I was reading the story,I became instantly alarmed

when I recognize the names of the women.

And they were people thatour family had known,

some of them for decades,and we knew them collectively

to be women of integrity and character.

So it was very disorientingto be reading a story

about a church that I knew and loved,

and a church that's sayingit's telling the truth,

and then to also be reading the names

of these women that we knew.

So we've started many familyconversations about the topic

and about what was happening.

- You know, I think for many of us,

when we hear of any of thesechurches that all of a sudden,

it seems all of a sudden,take a downward turn.

And it's shocking someof the things that go on,

and you wonder, how is that possible?

Can you talk about whata few warning signs

of a toxic church culture might be?

- Well, it's alwaysdifficult when you're sitting

in the congregation torecognize or discern toxicity

that occurs behind closeddoors and behind the curtains.

So we look for, we thinkwe should look for signs

like narcissism, power, fear of power,

grandiosity, claiming to bethe greatest church on earth,

claiming to have thegreatest preachers on earth.

These are signs of people whoare out for fame and glory

and power rather than glorifying God

and having the anointing of God upon them

through the Spirit.

We also notice that when wehear of constant releases

and firings or people leavingand not being able to talk,

then you start to wonder what's going on.

But, Terry, it's difficultfor ordinary people

to sit in a church and toperceive what's going on

behind the scenes, becausechurches master the persona

and the appearance and images that occur

on platforms and behind pulpits.

- Well, let's talk aboutthe positive perspective

in your book for a moment,"A Church Called Tov."

What is tov and how is it morethan a works-based goodness?

- Yes, this little three letter word

is the Hebrew word tov for goodness.

And it is used throughoutthe Old Testament

over and over and over.

And it appears in the NewTestament of course in Greek,

but it is, these are Jewsspeaking most of the time,

and they would havebeen using the word tov.

Tov is about God is goodand He's full of goodness.

You know, we sing songsthat "You are good,

"and everything you do is good."

God's design for creationin Genesis 1, over and over,

is tov, humans are designed to be tov.

But humans have a choicein the Garden of Eden

to choose from the knowledgeof the tree of tov and evil.

They get to choose tovor they can choose evil.

And we see this story throughoutthe pages of the Bible.

And, in the Bible, whathappens is that we are called

to be tov, and by God's gracethrough the power of Spirit,

the Spirit and the redemptionthat comes in Christ,

humans, who are inclined not to be tov,

can be transformed into being tov.

So it's not at all aboutworks righteousness.

It is about the transformingpower of God's Spirit.

- The book mentions thatthe Western business model

has sort of taken root in churches.

Will you explain that?

- Well, yes.

This is a long story andsome of our favorite pastors

talk about this, like Eugene Peterson.

But the business model startsmeasuring things by numbers,

by money, by how many baptisms occurred,

how many butts are in seats,how many buildings are built.

And, instead of looking at thetransformation of character,

the transformation of families,

the transformation of childreninto becoming agents of tov

in our world, we startmeasuring everything that way,

then we start importing business models

of how to change things.

And we start to lose contactwith the power of God's grace

and the Spirit to do the work

and to measure what's truly right.

And that is to be likeChrist, Christ's likeness.

- So can a church that's gottenoff base get back on track?

And what has to happen for that to occur?

- Yes, we believe that it can,

because all of us aretransformed in Christ.

We believe that we have hope in Christ,

so we believe that all of us can change.

And we do believe thatchurches can be transformed.

- It is. And it isextremely difficult, Terry.

This isn't gonna happen becausewe preach a sermon series.

This is a life of patterns and habits

that have to be flipped.

We have to start measuringthe right things.

We have to start talkingabout Christ likeness.

But our belief is that thetransformation is both possible

and very, very difficult.

So it's something forus to be praying about.

- And accountability, such asignificant thing in our lives,

but in the lives of theleaders that are teaching us

and leading us.

- That's an extremelyimportant word, accountability.

In our research, we found that something

that is often lackingin some of the churches

that have had these allegations arise

is that there was a lack ofaccountability structure.

So that's an important word to mention.

- But at the other side of it is, Terry,

is we believe in accountability.

But unfortunately these narcissistic

and power mongering pastorsare also very manipulative

in learning to use theaccountability system

or to get around it or to getby it and to slip through it.

So we have to be vigilant.

I really believe that we needgodly spirit-discerning elders

and deacons and leaders in churches

who can see into people's character

rather than just the measurable numbers

that we can count on Sunday morning.

- And who aren't afraid to standup and speak what they see.

Scott and Laura's book iscalled "A Church Called Tov:

"Forming Goodness Culturethat Resists Abuses of Power

"and Promotes Healing."

And it can be foundwherever books are sold.

Great to have the two of youwith us. Thank you so much.

- Thank you, Terry.- Thank you.

- Gordon.

- Well, still ahead, abackup singer for Katy Perry

and an American Idol alum,

what drove this worship leaderto the brink of suicide?

And then what stopped her.

Tasha shares her story coming up.

(upbeat music)

Tasha was on a search for truth.

She went to Buddhist camps,

Islamic mosques, and New Age schools.

So when did her searchnearly come to an end?

The night she put aloaded gun to her head.

♪ Can you make somethingfrom the wreckage ♪

- I'm Tasha Layton.

♪ Would you take this heart ♪

I grew up in a Christian home.

I read my Bible every day. Iwas super excited to serve God.

I went on missions trips, andI was just really passionate.

Then, just like a lot of people,

experienced some prettysevere church hurt.

And I couldn't reconcile howpeople could be Christian

and yet lie about other people.

It was very wounding,especially as a teenager.

I just doubted myself. Idoubted who I was in Christ.

I needed to know that Jesuswas who He said He was

and who He says He is,because I was so hurt.

I started to study music in college,

because I always wantedto serve God in music.

But I changed my majorfrom music to religion,

and I just tried to seek outtruth wherever I can find it.

I went through this period of searching.

And so I went to Buddhist meditation camp.

I went to synagogue, I went to mosque.

I studied mysticism inEurope for a summer.

I did everything I coulddo to try and find truth.

I think what I found with theother religions I studied was

that every one of them sortof had a piece of the truth.

Some piece or some fulfillment,

but it was never holistic for me.

It was never somethingthat changed my whole being

or changed me from the inside out.

I think I just felt very alone,

and I thought no one understands,no one else understands.

When I hit rock bottom was really

when I tried to commit suicide.

I was in my dorm roomand had a gun to my head.

A friend walked in thatday into my dorm room

and saw what was happeningand just hugged me

and grabbed me, and I just broke.

In all of these other religions,

you had to strive to reach God.

You had to be good enoughor do all the right things

or to reach enlightenment or the divine.

I realized that inChristianity, Jesus pursued us.

He came down to earth.

And when I think about the grace of God,

He'll always be there.

And He prevented, He's theone that walked in that room.

And I thought, okay, this is different.

I just knew that I wanted to serve God

with my spirit, my soul, my mind.

I went back to church andfelt the Spirit of God again.

I felt God's truth movefrom my head to my heart.

That started a trajectoryof healing in my life.

And I remember the call of Godon me when I was a teenager,

and I decided to pursue that again.

And I ended up going toseminary in California.

And then when I graduated,

I was a worship pastor at a church.

Some friends of mine wereauditioning for "American Idol"

and had asked me if I wanted to do it.

And I ended up making it.

I was on the same season asTori Kelly, Lauren Daigle.

It was fun.

And I left thinking, I feel like maybe

I'm supposed to do something like this

and made the transition andended up singing professionally.

That's when I decided to moveto Nashville and pursue music

and write music for myself.

♪ My mind is racing with the question ♪

♪ Are you still good ♪

Now I'm putting out music and touring

as an artist and a worship leader.

I met my husband shortly after I moved.

And so we ended up getting married,

and he's a writer and producer,and we have two little ones.

We just are loving our littlefamily and enjoying life.

♪ Though the mountains maybe moved into the sea ♪

The song "Into the Sea,It's Gonna Be Okay,"

it's based on Psalm 46.

And there's never been amoment where we've needed

to hear that more.

♪ It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay ♪

What I love about the song is

that it can speak toindividual situations,

but it's also speaking to our world.

And I think we can relateon a lot of levels.

I would say to anyone whois questioning their faith,

God's not intimidated by their questions.

And He is pursuing them.He's already done the work.

And so there's grace that comes from that

that is more beautiful thananything else on the planet

or anything we can experience.

- God's not afraid of your questions.

He's there to prove Himself.

And the promise from Jesus

that "I will manifest myself to you."

Isn't that a great promise?

The Creator, "the one thatby whom and through whom

all things were made," that very one

wants to come to you and manifest Himself.

Now, what does thatmean when he manifests?

In the Greek it's literallyturn the light on.

But you get to experience His love.

You get to experience His forgiveness.

You get to have the calm assurance

that He's working all thingstogether for your good.

Jesus is the one who comes to you.

He always leaves the 99 to pursue the one.

He's the one that leftheaven in order to come

and be born in a stable onearth, and then give His life,

give His very soul, as a sacrifice for you

so that you would be able tobe with Him for all eternity.

He wants to forgive. He wants to love.

He wants to manifest thatHe is the way, the truth,

and the life.

Now, how do you getthat? How do you get it?

Well, you ask for it.It's a very simple prayer.

Jesus, if you really are my Savior,

if you really are theone who was sent for me,

could you show me, couldyou show up for me?

Could you forgive me? Couldyou make me new again?

If you pray that with all ofyour heart, He will answer.

He always stands byHis Word to perform it.

This isn't something where you joke around

or you do it casually,

when you do it with all of your heart,

He makes a way immediately to you.

If you want help with thisprayer, we're here for you.

All you have to do ispick up the phone and say,

"I need to find Jesus, Ineed to find Him right now."

Call 1-800-700-7000.

Here's a scripture from Galatians.

"Let us not become wearyin doing good," tov,

let's not become weary in tov.

"For at the proper time,we will reap a harvest

"if we do not give up."

(upbeat music)