Western Standard

00:00:00.000 Good evening, Western Standard viewers, and welcome to Hannaford, a weekly politics show.

00:00:21.520 I'm Jen Hodson, filling in for Nigel Hannaford while he's away on holiday.

00:00:25.520 Today is Thursday, July 3rd, 2025, and our guest today is Michael Clark, Executive Director of the Christian Impact Network.

00:00:35.800 Clark and a team of Canadian political leaders are hosting a series of events for current and aspiring public servants this summer all across Alberta.

00:00:44.540 Clark himself, earlier this year, ran for the Liberal Leadership race, so he has an inside look into how the political sphere operates.

00:00:52.780 The Alberta Christian Municipal Rally, the series of events put on by this team, acts as a springboard for faithful civic engagement, and it kicks off in Westlok, Alberta, on July 5th.

00:01:05.200 On July 12th, the tour stops in Calgary at Southside Victory Church.

00:01:09.400 The ACMR tour will visit multiple communities across Alberta, including Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Edmonton, Alder Flats, Drayton Valley, Sherwood Park, and Grand Perry, and others.

00:01:22.920 You can check out the website, we'll post it in this video, so you can find out where a location is going to be near you.

00:01:29.520 Michael, thank you for joining us.

00:01:31.800 Thanks for having me, Jen. This is great.

00:01:33.720 Great. So, what inspired you to organize this event?

00:01:40.000 Well, if I go back to, you know, a few years ago, I would have called myself a Christian couch potato. 0.70

00:01:48.880 I didn't even vote for 15 years.

00:01:52.760 I was, you know, a lot of people say things like, you know, why bother? What's the point? It's too corrupt.

00:01:58.540 If you're a Christian, you know, maybe Jesus is coming back soon anyways, so why bother? 1.00

00:02:04.780 But I felt God kind of changed my heart, and, you know, I felt like, hey, why don't you stop whining about all the things you don't like and try to maybe fix some of them?

00:02:16.240 So, that was probably the first domino to fall.

00:02:18.400 And then I saw the municipal election coming up in 2022 in Ontario, and I thought, hey, why don't I give it a try?

00:02:27.320 You know what I mean? I'm not going to make things any worse.

00:02:29.560 We all know the things in the newspapers, and we read every day.

00:02:33.040 So, I thought I would, I prayed, and just said, Lord, I'll throw up a website.

00:02:36.920 I don't think anyone's going to join.

00:02:38.780 But ultimately, 110 Christian mayors, counselors, and school board trustees across Ontario signed up.

00:02:46.640 So, I had a thing.

00:02:48.440 And then it was great.

00:02:49.900 We partnered with the Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C. to give them the political science training that these new people,

00:02:57.380 they are just throwing their names in the hat, Jen, saying, they're saying, well, someone has to do something about the books in my, you know, in my kid's school board, you know, in the school.

00:03:05.620 So, we had all these people in Ontario just saying, well, I'll try.

00:03:09.460 And it was awesome.

00:03:12.080 We had a great conference, weekly training, built great camaraderie with all the municipal candidates.

00:03:18.800 See, they don't have a party municipally in Ontario.

00:03:21.480 So, it kind of acted like a fellowship for the politicians and wannabes.

00:03:25.920 So, 17 of them got elected.

00:03:27.660 And then I just, I thought the prototype worked, and I've been spreading it across the country.

00:03:31.960 And that's how I ended up creating this 12-city tour in Alberta.

00:03:37.400 That's very favorable results to have about 110 candidates come and participate in this leadership program, and 17 of them got elected.

00:03:46.780 So, given all of these different facets that go into this kind of political training and preparation from a biblical perspective,

00:03:56.740 if people are thinking about coming out to these events that are being hosted across Alberta, what can they expect to get out of the day?

00:04:04.560 Will there be speakers, activities?

00:04:07.140 Describe what the day would look like.

00:04:09.100 Sure.

00:04:09.340 Well, as it says on the, you know, the poster that's spreading around, come to this rally and let's seek the Lord for the future of Alberta.

00:04:18.740 You know, that's, you know, perhaps, you know, other groups might be only looking at the polls.

00:04:24.740 What do the people want?

00:04:25.680 What do the people want?

00:04:26.940 And they try to, you know, accommodate to that completely.

00:04:30.420 Well, a Christian has another layer. 0.99

00:04:32.360 And what we do from reading the Bible is we seek the Lord.

00:04:35.580 We, you know, it says in 2 Chronicles that if we, if those that are called by his name, if we seek his face and humble ourselves, he will hear from heaven and heal our land.

00:04:48.780 And I think everyone watching this knows, whether you're a Christian or not, we need our, we need solutions in our land.

00:04:55.580 There's a lot of very horrible things going on.

00:04:58.800 So, yeah, people come.

00:04:59.800 We will seek the Lord.

00:05:00.720 There'll be some worship songs.

00:05:02.540 We have incredible speaker lineup.

00:05:04.260 So, we have multiple MPs.

00:05:07.380 Stockwell Day is, is speaking at it.

00:05:11.120 We have multiple Christian MLAs from across the province and many mayors, counselors and school board trustees that, that are people of faith that we'll be sharing at these events.

00:05:24.960 And we'll be praying for the candidates.

00:05:26.580 We'll be introducing the candidates that are running locally.

00:05:31.100 And, you know, giving an opportunity for the people to connect with potential candidates that line up with their values.

00:05:40.800 Wow.

00:05:42.080 So, it sounds like a whole force of people coming together with one single interest.

00:05:48.580 And that is to seek the Lord, as you say, based on 2 Chronicles.

00:05:52.120 And this acts as a platform for people to build a community, to build the support and get the tools and skills that they need to actually launch a political career or maybe to pursue their current political career in a way that is more in alignment with their beliefs.

00:06:10.880 Yes. And you mentioned the 2 Chronicles verse.

00:06:13.540 So, I recently spoke with Fetine Grisechi, who is organizing the National Day of Prayer in Ottawa on Parliament Hill on July 12th.

00:06:22.780 And she used the same verse to illustrate what the goal is of that movement for leaders to come and to pray and for Christians all across the country to do so as well.

00:06:37.220 And so, what do you think is the significance of this one verse?

00:06:41.020 Why do we keep hearing it come up in various Christian movements?

00:06:46.600 Yeah, I think people like formulas.

00:06:49.600 And I don't think, you know, God's not a genie in a bottle.

00:06:53.800 You don't just get to tell him what you're going to do and what he's going to do.

00:06:57.080 But he still has provided, you know, some principles to follow.

00:07:02.740 And that verse is just a great one.

00:07:04.220 You know, if we humble ourselves, pray and seek his face, you know, if we want to just handle everything on our own in our country, well, go for it.

00:07:13.900 Look at the newspapers.

00:07:14.740 That's what happens when you take God.

00:07:17.880 We were very prosperous.

00:07:19.700 This is a very prosperous country.

00:07:20.980 And if you look at the history of our country, it was very Christian and built on Christian values and principles.

00:07:27.400 And because of that, the whole world wants to come here because it could because a Christian nation does produce, you know, or a nation built on Christian principles does produce a wonderful free place to be.

00:07:38.160 So I think that, you know, we did that for decades.

00:07:42.780 And then in the past few decades, you know, things have digressed.

00:07:46.800 So I think that if we return back to our foundations and we return back to that verse, he told us if you would like him to be involved in your country, then that was in the Bible.

00:08:03.440 So that's what we can, you know, follow that verse.

00:08:06.300 And it's probably the closest thing to a formula in a sense.

00:08:09.600 So, yeah, it's very simple.

00:08:12.340 We need to repent as a nation and turn back to the Lord and reestablish biblical principles and codify them in our laws like they used to be.

00:08:22.560 Wow.

00:08:23.200 Okay.

00:08:23.540 Let's delve into that a little bit deeper.

00:08:25.440 So in terms of humbling ourselves and seeking God and incorporating biblical principles into policies and laws.

00:08:35.620 So what would you say to someone that would hear about your event and say, well, I'm not sure about this.

00:08:42.080 Maybe we should keep church and state separate.

00:08:44.200 What do you say to that argument?

00:08:46.580 A couple of things.

00:08:47.800 First of all, if you want to take, there's a saying going around that everyone's a Christian until the Bible comes out.

00:08:53.280 And what I would say is if you if you look in the Psalms, there's a verse that says that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain.

00:09:02.240 So I I know that this idea of separation of church and state.

00:09:08.620 First of all, it was a Christian idea originally, and I'm not an academic or a theologian or a master's divinity.

00:09:14.340 So I don't know the complete history, but it's evolved into something that it never was supposed to be.

00:09:19.460 It doesn't mean, you know, don't bring any of your values that you that you've gotten from your faith into the you know, the legal sphere or the legislation.

00:09:30.220 That's not what it means is not.

00:09:32.240 Oh, well, if you are a person of faith, you can't you can't be involved in politics. 0.99

00:09:36.020 So I think there's just a the wheels have fallen off the bus on that argument.

00:09:41.540 And it's actually, you know, we do need a return.

00:09:45.560 We across this country, we need tens of thousands of people to come in and fight what the bad guys are doing.

00:09:52.740 You know, you can't just sit on your couch and whine about everything you don't like.

00:09:57.120 And as I call it, be a Christian couch potato. 1.00

00:09:59.260 You know, you need to you need to engage and and try to make it better, try to make things better.

00:10:06.980 So in a practical sense, so if there are any aspiring political leaders or current political leaders that are having a conflict or raising questions within themselves about how to integrate their faith into politics without facing criticism or or backlash around that.

00:10:28.700 What would your advice be to someone in this situation?

00:10:32.420 First of all, it is a it is a challenge in a democracy, which is kind of means it's what the people want.

00:10:41.180 Right. You're a representative of the people.

00:10:43.120 What do the polls say?

00:10:44.500 But to the Christian politician, there's a bit of a tension there because they have another agenda also, which is to honor the Lord.

00:10:53.040 The Bible is very clear that God is sovereign over the earth.

00:10:57.780 It says that he uses Alberta as his footstool.

00:11:01.320 He uses the earth as his footstool and he is the head of the government.

00:11:05.720 So, you know, there is a it is a challenge to try to reconcile, I think, for a Christian politician.

00:11:12.000 How do I how do I, you know, appease both?

00:11:15.720 You know, because I just go with the people what it could lead down a dark road and we're not honoring the Lord.

00:11:20.020 But if I if I'm brave and stand up for what is right as a leader, maybe I won't the people won't like that or won't get elected.

00:11:27.640 So it's up to every individual Christian. 0.66

00:11:30.040 How do you work that out into your policies, into your into your agenda, how you present yourself?

00:11:35.920 And and I don't our organization doesn't tell people what to say.

00:11:39.900 We don't have a book of policies.

00:11:41.200 I simply we simply want to encourage Christians to just come to the table and get involved.

00:11:48.420 And it is it's definitely a challenge, but we have to.

00:11:52.420 And if we don't, well, look at the newspaper, flip through some of the Western standard headlines.

00:11:57.980 They're they're frustrating.

00:11:59.380 And we can't we can't accept, you know, the country in this state.

00:12:04.340 Right. So you've had some personal experience about this kind of conflict between being an aspiring political leader and a Christian, incorporating your your beliefs into policies.

00:12:19.560 And when you launched your liberal leadership campaign, there were a lot of questions about how how to reconcile the liberal party agenda with Christian beliefs.

00:12:31.040 And you had some very interesting ideas that you put forward in your campaign speech.

00:12:36.440 So can you talk a little bit about those?

00:12:38.800 What what did you feel was prompted in your heart to discuss is these issues?

00:12:44.720 And how did you navigate that issue between faith and politics and even in that sense, more specifically, liberal party politics?

00:12:56.600 Because someone who is aspiring to be a political leader, who is grappling with their faith issues, their personal convictions, what the public wants and also towing that party line.

00:13:09.180 So can you talk a little bit more about that?

00:13:11.860 Sure. So first of all, people, people all across the country were like, what is going on?

00:13:17.760 And, you know, so Campaign Life Coalition had partnered with me and we're calling people all across the country saying you need to, you know, potentially drop your other party commitments and join the liberal party to vote for this pro-life, you know, candidate.

00:13:33.740 Pro-life liberal.

00:13:34.360 It was it really warped. I've heard so many stories.

00:13:38.180 It's just people are flipping out on the phone like what on earth is going on?

00:13:41.500 Why are these guys? But I'll just I'll just frame it a little.

00:13:44.160 So what happened was a group of Christians came to me.

00:13:46.660 They knew I was Canada's political missionary and they said, hey, we've raised the money, but we don't have a candidate.

00:13:54.000 Do you want to run? And this is the Saturday before the Thursday deadline.

00:13:57.660 So it's not like I never even the word liberal probably never came out of my mouth before that.

00:14:03.100 And, you know, but but they said I said, well, why would I want to do that?

00:14:08.220 You know, I most things about the liberal party I don't like and their policies.

00:14:13.400 They said, well, the winner gets to become the prime minister.

00:14:17.100 So I thought about it for one second and thought, OK, well, you know, like when David walked up to the line with Goliath that day and said, what's the guy get who kills this guy?

00:14:26.580 OK, I'll do it. So I only thought about it for one second.

00:14:30.120 It just fit, you know, and I think through my experience with that, which was wonderful.

00:14:35.420 And you guys helped with that a lot.

00:14:37.120 And we got we were pretty close to becoming me becoming a candidate.

00:14:40.280 But, you know, the takeaway is, Jen, it's hey, every Christian in the country was that a little weird. 0.99

00:14:46.520 Yes. But why not?

00:14:48.640 Like, try something. Do something out of your box.

00:14:51.700 Get off, you know, your couch.

00:14:53.180 Stop stop watching TV and everyone else and complaining or, oh, they're doing a good job.

00:14:58.580 Why don't you, Christian, you know, as they say in the Bible, gird up your loins and try.

00:15:04.320 Try something. I don't even care.

00:15:06.580 Just and that's what that was to me.

00:15:08.480 That was just trying, you know, what if it had worked and, you know, we could have had a pro-life candidate in there.

00:15:16.680 So, you know, as far as the tension, you know, that I was talking about, I suppose I felt it.

00:15:22.880 But I've already decided myself, you know, I'm a missionary.

00:15:25.740 I'm a political missionary.

00:15:27.920 And I've already decided you put God first, you know, in the Bible, when when they when the Israel had its first king, Saul, you know, we know what the people wanted.

00:15:38.880 We want Saul. We want Saul.

00:15:40.880 But but, you know, we must as Christians look to to what does God want and what what is he asked?

00:15:47.020 What does he ask of nations and provinces and cities in his in his word?

00:15:53.360 So, you know, that's how I resolve the tension.

00:15:56.360 Yes, you listen to the people.

00:15:57.580 You have to be respectful.

00:15:58.600 And you're if you get elected, you're for all the people.

00:16:02.040 But you have to put the Lord and his commands first.

00:16:07.720 Wow, that's a great point of view.

00:16:09.460 And I think that's something that a lot of our viewers would be interested in terms of what you're putting forward here is that you're speaking from experience.

00:16:20.260 You're not just, as you say, a Christian couch potato, leaning back and giving advice based on something that you haven't actually done.

00:16:27.560 So you put yourself through the ringer.

00:16:29.840 You answered that call.

00:16:31.160 And even if things don't turn out as we hope when we put our name in the hat for something like a liberal leadership race, but there's so many other things that are coming out of it.

00:16:41.660 And now you're able to to build up others in similar roles that are aspiring to to lead Canada into a new kind of future that has hope and that is bright.

00:16:56.160 And so, Michael, you described yourself and mentioned that others describe yourself as a political missionary.

00:17:04.380 So what do you mean by that?

00:17:06.160 And how did others come to know you as a political missionary?

00:17:10.780 Sure.

00:17:11.360 Well, I kind of made the term up, you know, during that, you know, when I decided that I wanted to try in the municipal election.

00:17:20.540 And and I thought, well, some people, you know, become missionaries and they go to Africa or they go to, you know, South America.

00:17:28.580 I was like, well, what can I do it here?

00:17:30.740 You know, why don't I just why don't I just be a missionary domestically?

00:17:34.560 And then I thought, well, I think the political realm is really needs it.

00:17:39.340 And I think I think a lot of Christians are afraid to, you know, they need to courage.

00:17:45.060 I've spoken to thousands of politicians, Christian politicians across the country, and they say, you know, maybe we'd like to be more brave, but the church doesn't even support us if I do anything.

00:17:56.060 So there's this weird disconnect between, you know, our Sunday life and the rest of our week.

00:18:01.880 And I want to try to work to change that paradigm.

00:18:05.640 And, you know, so I think you get in more trouble in a lot of churches saying the P word politics than the F word in a church setting.

00:18:13.320 So I think we need to we need to work through that.

00:18:17.400 And yeah, that's that's what I think about that.

00:18:22.200 Yeah, there does seem to be a hesitancy in some churches to speak about this.

00:18:27.560 And, you know, we talked a little bit earlier today about backlash and pushback, even within the Christian community, for people who are making these efforts to integrate political or sorry, integrate biblical values into politics.

00:18:45.420 And so that would be quite a journey.

00:18:47.840 And I think that more and more people are hungry to hear this kind of courageous message.

00:18:54.100 And so through the Christian Impact Network, you and some other leaders are are putting on this series of events.

00:19:02.720 So people might be asking, what is the Christian Impact Network?

00:19:06.720 And you're the executive director.

00:19:08.340 So why don't you tell us a little bit about that organization and your role there and the overarching mission that that this group has?

00:19:17.480 So we're a group of Christian professionals across the country that are actively trying to shape culture through our work in politics, law, education, media and general Christian advocacy.

00:19:32.400 See, our motto is on earth as it is in heaven, which comes from the Lord's prayer, because we desire to see human activity on earth, align with the father's will and reflect the current and present reality of Christ's lordship and dominion in Canada and the world.

00:19:51.980 So, so yeah, we, we basically, my role, I guess, if I had a spiritual gift, it would be a defibrillator, maybe a rototiller or something.

00:20:02.120 And just to, just to, just to, I see, I see, I see, you know, potential solutions and we're trying to, to create initiatives like this.

00:20:10.640 I think you've also written about our upcoming David and Goliath program, where we're going for 13 to 18 year olds and, and systematically, you know, discipling and developing them to become Christian politicians and lawyers and journalists.

00:20:24.720 Some of you, some of you, some of the Western standard guys are helping me with, you know, can we develop a hundred new Christian journalists and influencers and, and then some of the groups like campaign life are going to help me with a general advocacy.

00:20:36.920 So, so yeah, those are some of the programs we're doing and that's, you know, what, what we're up to and what we're about.

00:20:45.120 And you also mentioned partnering with a program out of Washington, DC at the Leadership Institute.

00:20:52.920 So people that attend these events that you're hosting across Alberta, there's a mention in the press release about how there's an opportunity for future endeavors working together.

00:21:07.760 So the Leadership Institute in Washington, DC is mentioned as is a fellowship and ongoing support as well.

00:21:16.620 So people aren't really just signing up for a day.

00:21:19.700 They're signing up to, to be part of a new support system.

00:21:24.460 So maybe you can just elaborate on that before we close.

00:21:27.860 So the event, this 12 city event is for everyone in Alberta.

00:21:31.600 You should, you should all come to it.

00:21:33.080 We're going to have a wonderful program and get involved for the, for the candidates.

00:21:38.400 If you are a mayor, counselor, school board, trustee candidate, if you sign up into our fellowship, you will get access to, yes, the Leadership Institute in Washington, Washington, DC.

00:21:50.400 They were very active in my, in the Ontario municipal election with my candidates.

00:21:55.540 And yeah, so basically the candidate, and then we have like, just, you get connected to all the other Christians running in the province at different levels and across the country.

00:22:05.920 So it's a, it's, it's a pretty interesting group.

00:22:09.680 And, you know, if you want to come to the event, go on the website and register, christianimpactnetwork.com.

00:22:15.360 You can register for one of the 12 city events, all the information's on the website, what time, where's the location.

00:22:21.800 And then for the candidates, there's an application they can sign up to.

00:22:25.120 If they want to speak at the event, they're welcome to, if they're a Christian candidate and they've signed up with us.

00:22:30.620 So, yeah, and, and if there's any other churches, they're like, hey, why didn't you stop in our city?

00:22:36.400 I'd say, hey, then email, email us and we'll, we'll fit it in because we, we do have some more space at the end of the trip.

00:22:42.820 Great.

00:22:44.960 Yeah.

00:22:45.320 And so, as I understand it, different speakers will be at different stops during the tour.

00:22:51.640 That's right.

00:22:52.560 Okay.

00:22:53.340 So I, I, what I'm trying to do is I've got some members of parliament, some MLAs, some, some organizations like John Hilton O'Brien and Cam Wilson.

00:23:03.340 And, um, I'm probably forgetting a whole, there's a whole bunch of people that have agreed to, to come.

00:23:08.500 So some of them will be able to come to some of the locations and then some of them are recording videos.

00:23:12.480 Fetine, you mentioned, I spoke with her, she's sending in a video.

00:23:16.640 And the last thing I say about that, maybe, maybe she said this on your show.

00:23:20.500 She was approximately 300 votes short to win in the province of New Brunswick in her provincial run.

00:23:27.680 And it, it, it's like, guys, that's one church, you know, had got out and, and pushed, you know, so don't complain later when the law, you don't like the laws and you don't like, you know, whether, whatever your thing is, drag queens and libraries or something.

00:23:41.800 If that bothers you, did you even help the Christian stuck their neck out to try to stop that? 0.98

00:23:47.600 So, yeah.

00:23:48.800 Wow, that's such an interesting perspective.

00:23:51.680 So anyone who is interested to learn more can find, uh, the poster to this event and series of events included, uh, in this link.

00:24:01.800 And we'll also link to the website so people can go and click around, find out more about the Christian Impact Network and the other organizations that Michael is working with.

00:24:11.040 So, Michael, thank you so much for joining us today and for telling us more about this series of events that you're hosting.

00:24:17.960 And, uh, we look forward to hearing more about it.

00:24:21.860 Thank you.

00:24:22.860 Yeah, thank you, Michael.

00:24:24.220 And can't wait to see all you guys.

00:24:26.480 Tell everyone hi at the, at the office and see you guys soon.

00:24:29.980 Absolutely.

00:24:30.760 We'll see you soon.

00:24:31.740 And thank you, Western Standard viewers, for joining us for The Hannaford Show.

00:24:36.220 Nigel Hannaford will be back soon.

00:24:38.400 And I appreciate you bearing with me while I am the one in the chair today.

00:24:43.160 Thank you and good evening.

00:24:44.360 Thank you.

00:24:54.660 Thank you.

00:24:57.700 Bye.

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00:25:02.580 Bye.

00:25:03.140 Bye.

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HANNAFORD： Christian political leaders launch Alberta summer tour

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