According to Barna research, only 4% of adults in America have a Biblical worldview as the basis for their decision making. This is especially apparent in the political sphere, as many don’t understand how to combine their faith with politics. The problem with this is that society works best when it follows guidelines set out in the Bible, so what can we do to help equip people to approach politics with a Biblical worldview?

This week on Family Policy Matters, host Traci DeVette Griggs welcomes Adamo Manfra, NC Family’s Director of Research and Education, and Lisa Roska, a homeschool mom, to discuss NC Family’s Salt and Light Student Seminars and how they are equipping young adults to approach politics with a Biblical worldview.

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Family Policy Matters
Salt & Light Seminars: Approaching Politics With a Biblical Worldview (with Adamo Manfra and Lisa Roska)

TRACI DEVETTE GRIGGS: Thanks for joining us this week for Family Policy Matters. One of our favorite programs here at NC Family is our Salt and Light Seminars, where we offer students the opportunity to see how government works in real life and how Christians can play a vital role. We believe that our government works best when citizens play an active role, and it’s never too early to start teaching our young people the importance of engagement and encouraging them to get involved in some way. Well, Lisa Roska is a homeschooling mom and a director in a program called Classical Conversations. Her student group attended the very first Salt and Light Program at NC Family in 2021 and she continues to bring students every year. Also joining us today, the Salt and Light Program Director, Adamo Manfra. Together, we’re going to discuss why this program is such a vital part of NC family’s mission, and also get a glimpse into what students experience and learn from their participation. Lisa Roska and Adamo Manfra, welcome to Family Policy Matters. All right, so Adamo, let’s start with you. What are the Salt and Light Seminars and how do they fit into the mission here at NC Family?

ADAMO MANFRA: Sure, that’s a great question, and I think you introduced it quite well. So, our Salt and Light Seminars are kind of like a civics lesson, in person, engaged, that start here in our office, typically, and then we’re able to take them down to the General Assembly Building, where the legislature meets and has their actual sessions and committees, and they get to see it in real life. So, they get a taste of what the government looks like and then how it runs all on the same day. And that fits right in with our mission to equip families to be voices of persuasion for family values. Because when we can educate our youth in thinking about what politics looks like as a believer, then when they grow into adulthood and they start their own families, they’re already equipped to think about the world in that way. So I think it’s a great mission for us.

TRACI DEVETTE GRIGGS: Lisa, talk about that. Why did this attract you as a homeschool mom, and why did you start bringing students to these seminars?

LISA ROSKA: In 2021 I was the director of a group of students who were juniors in high school, and one of their assignments they had for their curriculum was they had to write an original advocacy speech. And at the beginning of the year, I just had this passion. I said, I don’t want this just to be an assignment. I wanted it to have some kind of practical application. So, in our local community, I had connected with a gentleman named Ray Waldbusser, who has tight connections up there with NC Family, and also with Tom Kakadelis, who both locally, had facilitated work with our Beta Club that I’m the sponsor of also. And I found out about some of the work through connecting with them at that time with some election and voting things that the Beta Club was passing out about NC Family, and I asked, hey, could we come up and see what y’all do up there? And then we were able to come up in the spring of 2021 for the first time, up to NC Family and engage with not only the folks locally, but then also go over to the General Assembly, and had an amazing experience.

TRACI DEVETTE GRIGGS: So, tell us what kind of effect this had, because I know that first time you go over to the legislature, it’s a pretty scary place, but once you’ve been shown around, you kind of, you know, can relax a little bit. So, what are you seeing from the students that you take to these seminars?

LISA ROSKA: There’s a young man, he is a sophomore now at Patrick Henry, and he still goes back to that first experience that he had when he went over to the General Assembly. And Representative Kidwell spent time with us in one of the conference room spaces, as well as some of our others, Representative Sanderson came in with us as well, and they just had a Q and A time with the students. And the students were able to share with them some of their ideas, some ideas they had written from their original advocacy speeches, and then they, too, shared some of their initiatives that they were working on. And still to this day, this young man says that that was a formative piece for him to consider going into, he’s looking at political science major, looking at international things, up at Patrick Henry, but he said that was a pinnacle point for him to have that opportunity with his representative. Kidwell was just phenomenal with the students. And so, it was formative. You know, it was a time where it imprinted something before these students can even vote, right? They were having a formative experience to realize they could have a voice and make a difference. So, it’s powerful.

TRACI DEVETTE GRIGGS: What are you seeing from the other students? Sharon, they’re not all that dramatic, but what kind of real-world differences are you seeing in the other students?

LISA ROSKA: You know, in general, you have a gamut. The students that are invited to come are all either in my class and have to write an original advocacy speech, or they’re part of another organization called Beta Club. And both of those, by their nature, lend themselves to the fact that these are students who are oriented academically as well as community, and so they already have that bend in their personality, being involved in the two things that they are. However, they have a variety of interests and a variety of experience. I’ve never had a student leave that hasn’t said, Wow, that was amazing to actually walk through the house after we learned about everything locally at the NC Family office. So, like Adamo said, they set a precedent at the office of going through the infrastructure of what they do, and then also how their advocates over at the General Assembly. And then from there, we move over and see it practically in action, with being able to see some of the sessions, walk the floor, engage with our legislators. So, the students, many of them come through. Some of them the first time, they’re a little overwhelmed, I’ll be honest, just with the magnitude of doing something like that. Some of them, who are veterans. I have some students who this year will be their third year coming. And each time they go, there’s a different piece that they bring back. And you have to understand these students in their academics, they’re studying rhetoric and logic, and so they’re coming in with a critical thinking framework as well, with just observing and engaging. So, it’s nice.

TRACI DEVETTE GRIGGS: Adamo, we got a little bit of an overview from Lisa as to what happens during the seminars, but could you give us a little more detail? What happens at the offices? What do you do when you take them over there to the General Assembly?

ADAMO MANFRA: We typically start in the morning, nine o’clock. Kick off with introductions, kind of icebreakers, get the room warm, if you will. And then we jump right into sort of talking about the shape of government. And most people, students and adults alike, sort of have a general sense of the federal government because it’s in the news all the time. So, if your parents mention it, that’s probably what you’re hearing about. And so, we start there to get the students answering and like, Yeah, I know there’s Congress and the Senate and the House and the President and the Supreme Court. And then we’re like, Okay, now let’s talk about the state, and then it starts to break down, which obviously there’s a lot of parallels. Things line up quite well, but the details are where it gets a lot more murky, and that’s an interesting way to segue into talking about the state level. Once we sort of talked about the shape of government, we then can kind of talk about how you engage in that process, and what it means to make a bill into a law, and why that matters, particularly from a biblical perspective, and why we would want to bring our Christian values into the space. And then kind of what that looks like, and how there’s different levels of that you might just need to be educated as a voter, you might feel engaged or called to be more engaged as an advocate, whether that’s sort of a community leader or in a role like NC Family or being a representative or senator yourself, or whatever you’re called to be.

And so, we talk about that, and what that would look like from a biblical perspective, and what it means for Christians to be engaged in the public square. And then after that, one of the highlights, and this is particularly true with Lisa’s group, they come in so prepared for this. We’ll watch a committee hearing, which you think of as a debate, but it’s not really back and forth. It’s just one person says their thing and then another person says theirs. But then we ask the students afterwards, like, what did you think? What resonated with you, what arguments worked, what didn’t, what struck you? And it’s very interesting to see, given their own personal advocacy leanings, which things they really get amped up about like, oh, that person said this, and that really struck me, or I really didn’t like how that person said this, or I really do like how that person said that. And so, then they get all of that, and then again, as Lisa said, we then get to go down to the legislature, they meet their representative or their senator, or both, in some cases, and see where that stuff happens and really become a part of it. And I think it’s a great experience, particularly with groups like Lisa’s, who come in and take this very seriously and want to think about it and wrestle with it, both intellectually and from a Christians engaged kind of perspective.

TRACI DEVETTE GRIGGS: You certainly can see how a group like Lisa’s would benefit greatly. But what about the groups that are not so engaged already before they walk in your door? What kind of responses are you seeing from those groups?

ADAMO MANFRA: There’s a different personality to each group, of course, and I actually did a little bit of school teaching before. And one of my classes was a sixth-grade math class. And the nature of the school I was in, we were getting students who had been fifth graders in all different schools, so very different preparation and starting positions and so, similar to that, where, you know, you had to figure out where kind of everyone was, and then get them enough onto the same page. You do that with this group. So, you may have groups that come in, already written advocacy papers, already thought about this, second timers, third timers, and you’re asking them softball questions, and you’re like, Oh, this is, they have the answer to all of these. Let’s raise the bar and get them to think sort of more abstractly and more critically about this. With other groups, it’s, have you heard of government? You know, that’s a slight exaggeration, but you’re just kind of warming them up to think about, oh, government sort of affects my life. And fortunately, when I lead or any staff here, when they lead a session, because of our heavy levels of experience and engagement in this space, we’re able to sort of adjust our presentation, and because of our commitment to the faith, we’re able to engage our students in something that will matter to them and get them over the line. They may be athletes, they may be business intended people, entrepreneurial thinkers, people that mow yards, or they may be people who have a big passion for helping people, and sort of welfare programs or helping the needy, and any of those things, you can spark them and get them and then they start recognizing, well, it’s important that policy supports that shapes that, and at least, and at the minimum, doesn’t interfere with that. And so, we’re able to get them from where they are to a next level of appreciation and engagement, and sometimes, again, with a group like Lisa’s, that’s very next level, and we apparently send them off to be political scientists, and in other groups, it’s just getting them to think about like, hey, it’s important. I might start voting in a couple of years.

LISA ROSKA: Can I dovetail off what Adamo just said there, as well as something impactful? He spoke of the committee meeting, right? And one of the things that was impactful that our students had not been exposed to was the contrasting side of those who were pro-abortion and engaging and watching that committee meeting over at NC Family, some of our students that was shocking to them to find out how adamant someone could be to take the life of an unborn child. And so, they present to these students from my group, that was impactful for them to see how powerful the other side of the argument is, because their exposure has predominantly just been one sided. So, it goes both ways. It’s really nice.

TRACI DEVETTE GRIGGS: So Adamo, what kinds of groups are eligible to participate in? Could a public school come in? Or do you think that They at least need to be from a Christian school?

ADAMO MANFRA: No, absolutely. We are firm believers that our biblical principles and the ways that God has taught us to live in the world are good for everyone. Now, if you’re already a firm believer, you’re going to be more inclined to sort of faithfully honor those principles. And if you’re not a believer, it takes more convincing. What’s good about that principle beyond the fact that God said so? But they are good principles for everyone, and government is important for everyone. Now it shouldn’t be end all be all. Our president is not our Savior, neither is our governor, but how our society is structured in our laws do affect everyone, so anyone can come. We typically take groups at least six or seven or eight, because smaller than that, it’s more like a small group discussion and more than 25 kind of over packs our space. However, we are currently playing with different models and ways in which I could come to places in house. So, if a school wanted to bring sort of the session portion onto their campus, whether it’s a private school or a public school, we’re open to entertaining that conversation and what that might look like. And sometimes that might be a travel issue, like if you’re a little further away, then it might be easier for me to drive to you and meet you in your school Co-Op than for each of your families to figure out how to get all the way to Raleigh. So, we have experimented with that and had great success with it. It sort of changes the dynamics of potentially not getting down to the legislature, which is a very impactful part of it, but sometimes having that presentation and really engaging in those thoughts and ideas and the debate and the discussion afterwards, there’s a lot of value to get from that, even if we have to modify it. And also, the audience. We typically target high school age students, but we are expanding into doing a young adult seminar this year. We already have planned, and we’d be open to doing more of those, or even adults in general. I encounter so many parents who are young parents who stopped thinking about government, in, you know, senior year of high school, and now they’ve got kids and they care, and they feel like crazy things are happening, but they have long forgotten what the government looks like. And so, we’d be open to groups of that, whether it’s in your church or bringing your adult group in and sort of educating you and getting you up to speed on how to think about these things and how to engage with these things, where to get good information and how you can impact your local, state, and federal community. So, a lot of options out there. I hope.

TRACI DEVETTE GRIGGS: Thank you for being flexible. So, we are out of time unfortunately. So, could you end, Adamo, with telling us how people can get more information about this and possibly bring a group for one of the Salt and Light Seminars?

ADAMO MANFRA: Sure, you can go to our website, NCFamily.org, look up at the top, Get Involved, and then Salt and Light Seminars are under that. There’s a form right on the website. You submit it, and the email will come to me, and we’ll definitely get you in the loop, because we want to get as many people prepared to be engaged with our values in the culture as possible.

TRACI DEVETTE GRIGGS: All right, sounds great. Lisa Roska and Adamo Manfra, thanks for your involvement in the Salt and Light Seminars and for being with us today on Family Policy Matters.

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