Tim Scott & Trey Gowdy Interview: Icons of Faith Series

well how many of you are glad to came to church today raise your hand up y'all [Applause] well you're gonna be more glad after you hear from our very special guest we have two sons of South Carolina with us here today at harvest congressman trey Gowdy and senator Tim Scott they've written a new book called unified subtitled how our unlikely friendship gives us hope for a divided country I met Tim and trained a while ago about in Washington DC Marco Rubio a mutual friend invited Cathy and I in Jack Graham and his wife to the Capitol and Club where they have meals together so that was the first time that I I of course knew of them but I'd never met them before so Trey gave me as a phone number I'm sure it's a decision he's regretted many times but so I noticed they had written this book and they were out touring and I said hey would you like to come to Southern California and and let me interview they said we'd love to you so that's all this came about and I did it all texting I never even had the courtesy to call him on the phone it was all done by text and somehow it worked out and they're cured today with us and they'll be out in a moment but let me give you a formal introduction in case you don't know who it is you're gonna be hearing from trey gowdy is a former state and federal prosecutor for two decades in 2010 he was elected to Congress and now was in this fourth and unfortunately his last term he's the chair of the House Committee and Oversight and Government Reform congressman Gowdy chaired the Select Committee on Benghazi you may recall that he serves in the house permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and there's much more he's a legend and he's here today with us and you're gonna meet him in a moment senator Tim Scott is a successful small businessman and US senator representing South Carolina he's the first african-american to be elected to both the House and US Senate since reconstruction and that's a great thing [Applause] and he also serves on the Senate committee and finance and banking he serves on the Committee on Banking Housing and Urban Affairs in the committee on health education labor and pensions he too is a legend they're both here let's give a warm harvest welcome to the senator and Congressman well guys welcome thank you thank you so much for I'm sort of in an awkward spot you after these things swivel though I think so but it's great to have you you know one do it 360 go all the way Wow okay whatever all the talent a senator has okay that's it well so great to have you guys um tomorrow is Memorial Day very important day tell us Tim what what Memorial Day means to you and how we should observe it as Americans for me when I think about Memorial Day I think about the men and women who don the uniform to fight for the cause of freedom so many of us sit here today because someone who would never meet us was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice more than 1.2 million Americans have paid the sacrifice so that we could live in a country where freedom includes a freedom to worship tray I remember you talking about when you fly into Washington DC the Riggin Airport there's two things you can choose to look up to the windows then that reminds you of what we should remember a Memorial Day yes sir if you look out the left hand side of the plane you see these monuments to the names we all learned in history class you see monuments to Jefferson and Lincoln and Washington and dr. King and every building is named for someone famous and every street is named for someone famous and that takes about six months when you're first in Congress you want to look out that side of the plane at the fame that the names you know and then something happens in that six-month anniversary and you begin to say well there's a right-hand side of the plane and depending on how the pilot comes in you see these gently rolling green hills punctuated with these elegant white crosses and it's tragically beautiful and symmetrical from the sky but if you can in your mind get out of the plane and walk on those gently rolling hills every one of those crosses represents a life that was either impacted or cut short and service and sacrifice to our country so you ask yourself what is the United States what is this thing we call America is that the the handful of names that we learned in a history class or is it those unnamed heroic service minded women and men who gave their lives for our country and for me Memorial Day is the right hand side of the plane boy you've written this book unified how our unlikely friendship gives us hope for a divided country you know it seems to me like we're maybe more divided than we've ever been you know and how do we well first of all let's start your with your relationship how did you two become friends and then maybe because you'd mentioned this to me earlier Tim some practical steps we can take and you had something to add to that too as to how we can start a conversation we won't even talk to each other we just go to our corners and we have our positions and and so you're really trying to address that but how did you two meet first of all well he was the Elvis Presley of our freshman class I mean everybody knew he was he really was the most famous person in that a tea person freshman class in 2010 and at least as far as I'm concerned pastor it happened one night when this person who seems to have everything on television whenever he wanted to be on television historically significant be to really really well-known people just to get the seat that he was holding so he seemed to have the world by the tail and then one night we're eating dinner together and he seemed overwhelmed he seemed exhausted he seemed frayed as my grandmama used to say and for me it was the vulnerability of someone trusting me enough to appear vulnerable to me and he needed help that night and relationships start they have to have a little bit of vulnerability yeah you you have to at least say I'm going to be authentic in this two-person relationship and I'm gonna ask for help and you have to trust the person that you're asking that for me was the night I knew that our friendship was different it was that we came into Congress not knowing each other and getting to know trey gowdy is an interesting experience I mean just just look at that here I mean it's just amazing right and you know Hebrew these uh dark suits with white socks the man that fashion faux-pas but but one of the reasons I thought John 8:32 says the truth will set you free but for me our our relationship hit a new high after the greatest atrocity and one of the reasons why I wanted to write the book was because after the mother Emanuel Church shooting in South Carolina where Dylan roof walked into an african-american church to start a race war in the home of the beginning of the Civil War the first person I called that night was a white guy from the same state this fella and it occurred to me about four weeks later that God had transformed my state in this nation in such powerful ways that if the guy who walks him to start a race war actually brings South Carolina together in a way that we had never seen in the history of our state something must have changed and the more I examined the relationship the more I realized that having that biblical foundation in common proverbs 27:17 reminds us as iron sharpens iron so one person does the other that over the five years that preceded that church shooting something had been glued together fused together in our friendship so that a black guy would turn to a white guy after a racially motivated shooting says something about the evolution of this country and what is possible in our future together you mentioned your mutual faith I heard you interviewed and you said Tim faith is a glue of our society so I know it's an important part of your lives I know it's probably the glue of your friendship and it's the glue of our society what does faith mean to you personally your faith in Christ your belief in the Word of God for both of you and then what hope does that have for America today I'll tell you I was a hopeless young man growing up in a single-parent household mired in poverty my father was not around and for me what faith ultimately meant to me when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior at Presbyterian College Presbyterian praise Lord for vegetarians it mean I found the father figure that I needed to remind me of Who I am Galatians 3:29 says that were adopted into this family and to find my own path by reading God's Word yes and watching you on TV during the eighties but long hair down the hill literally I found my identity and so often we struggle with how to respond to other people when we don't understand whose we are yeah and I found that answer by accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and frankly I would give one caution faith is not a Republican thing it's not a Democrat thing it's not a white thing it's not a black thing it's a god thing amen and we need to make sure that we that right now as I look at Trey he he has this look he gives and he's doing it right now look at his face it's not look the eyes it's a look that when you've seen him on television and he's cross-examining someone and you just want to start confessing things like congressman I think I exceeded the speed limit on the way to church today's that that look look but that trade tell us about how your faith influences you well they're they're two points tim quoted a verse earlier this morning if my people who call themselves by my name shall humble themselves and then the next part of that verse is turn from your wicked ways if there is a wickedness then there has to be a goodness and what is the source of the goodness and that is what i would argue to my fellow citizens whether they're believers or not is we need a code by which to conduct our lives and that code cannot be constantly changing it can't be the lyrics to a song it can't be whatever the most popular television show is we need a code of conduct by which we can say this is good this is not good and that code of conduct has to be everlasting and be able to withstand any tragedy or any set of circumstances in my own life and i ask myself this question from time to time if there were no life after this one what i still be a christian and i ask myself that because yes we need a savior but you also need a lord you need someone that will dictate how you live your life on this earth not just the next life but this one and I found it in a Jewish carpenter of whom it was said in me there is no male or female there is no Jew or Gentile and I have added to that there is no black white or brown there is no Republican or Democrat he's the most unifying force we have ever had in our history and he was a bridge builder and a barrier breaker and if we followed him I think the church will be better off but the country be better [Applause] in your book and by the way this is a great book I encourage you all to get a copy and read it but you tell your personal stories and here's another thing you have in common and that is the role that a mentor played in your life for you Tim it was a gentleman that well there you used to go to a chick-fil-a yes and you would stand in the longest line and why did you do that well there was this pretty girl every dude in the mall yeah was in line in front of me and they're all headed in the same direction Wow and unfortunately I was broke at the time so I could only afford the french fries yeah but it was worth the wait so um by the way something we should share senator Tim Scott is a single man girls hello what come on okay you're gonna and I'm gonna give his phone number out after the dump I know okay but um so so chick-fil-a so you're going they're getting the fries you can only afford that in the glass of water but then one day is that the owner/operator of that should play your movie working in the theater what is it next door yeah and he comes and gives you a bag of chick-fil-a including the chicken sandwich right somebody say praise Laura took away that's good I want it right now absolutely don't you wish we had oh right now is Sunday so they wouldn't be open but truly that is exactly true well but but that man was more than just someone who hooked you up with the chicken sandwich absolutely became a mentor to you he hoped he hooked me up with a new mission for my life Wow and he would come in to the movie theater and introduce himself with a chick-fil-a sandwich sledded across the hip the concession stand and for the next four years of my life which unfortunately ended up being the last four years of his life he died at 38 years young he taught me the most valuable Christian principles that all things were possible for me in this country no matter where you come from no matter what you look like no matter your circumstances if you were willing to persevere something good on the other side would happen and he would teach me these biblical principles of entrepreneurship and stewardship and taking responsibility for my own actions that has started to transform our life over time it had the germinates that galatians 6:7 reminds us whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap but he has to be patient verse 9 reminds us in due season the harvest continent John taught me through time to be patient he taught me to take responsibility not blame my dad because he was not around on my mother because she was working 16 hours a day but to take responsibility for my own life and when he started teaching me this lesson it was the year after I failed out of high school I think I might be the first United States Senator to ever fill civics which is the study of politics I will say that after five years in the Senate I am not the only one that failed civics I'll just leave it there so the power of a mentor who came into your life in tre you had a mentor in your life as well though your your parents were divorced when you're a young man so you were raised primarily by your mother but your parents are still together but this another gentleman came into your life mr. Little John who influenced you dramatically tell us about geometry yeah my parents have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and I have three sisters so whoever whoever says God won't give you more than you can handle I did not have three sisters so I had an eighth grade school sunday-school teacher and even though my parents were wonderful sometimes when you're in the eighth grade you listen to what other people's parents say more than you do your own so I went into a Sunday School class he offered me a silver dollar for every Bible verse that I learned and Jesus well counted and most of the Bible verses that I still know today or because mr. little John and scented me to learn them he was a Democrat the most racially progressive white man that I'd ever met he wanted me to work in a warehouse where every boss I had was a man of color and 99% of my co-workers or young men my age but they didn't grow up with a dad as a doctor they didn't want a member of the country club and they may or may not have the money to go to college he wanted me to appreciate how very very good my life was and how other young people by the circumstances simply of their birth may not have had those same opportunities he was eccentric he was irreverent but what he gave to me pastor was this belief that our God is a God of unconditional positive regard because no matter what I did and I did lots of crazy things he would always say I've heard worse and I'll love you when I got kicked out of a youth camp in North Carolina I don't think anybody had ever heard worse you cannot get kicked out of a Christian youth camp but I did and I knew that my father was going to kill me and I mean that literally and not figurative he was going to kill me but it was not my father waiting on me in the parking lot Wow it was dick little John by that old station wagon with the wood panels on the side to say I love you and I've heard worse and my view of God comes primarily from that old Democrat man that only voted for one Republican in his life that out would be the guy on stage [Applause] the Lord could see that couldn't he I love you and I've seen worse and he can change us as well well gentlemen thank you for coming it's been such a great privilege to have you here and I was wondering Tim if you would I pray for us you know I was just thinking about one thing is trade was talking it's just the value of a mentor you know I my mom divorced seven times and I never had a dad growing up so I was a young seventeen year old kid making all the wrong decisions you know maybe like you probably worse actually but but you know I heard the gospel I came to Christ and I found godly older men to help me to mentor me and it made all the difference in my life too and so I just think for a lot of folks listening it's like you know you know don't just be a mentor to your children be a mentor to someone else cuz mr. little John took time for Trey and look how God has put his hand on Trini and and then your mentor I forgot his name I'm sorry Jen John lemme see ya he took time for you and how God has blessed you and so look for some young man some young woman may be from a broken home but they don't have any positive role models in their life and and mentor them either I think every one of us should either be be Dean mentor or we should be mentoring or sometimes you can do both it was you know but it's so important but if Tim if you wouldn't mind just to close them prayer for all of us pray for our country and for us and the church that we would rise of the challenge of what God has called us to do perfect I'll just say before I start praying Paul Timothy Barnabas yeah mentor-mentee is powerful that's true let's go to the word to the Lord in prayer every father it is in Christ Jesus name we pray God thank you for men and women who'll stand in the gap for other people we call those Mentors but sometimes they're just a friend or a neighbor but each and every one of us have been given something special something unique from God that we should be sharing with this world Lord I believe that your word reminds us in Luke 6:38 if we will give it will be given unto us in good measure pressed down shaken together and running over will be put back in our bosom and if we give love if we give appreciation if we give respect if the body of Christ comes together and shares the love of God in such a way that it attracts people not to us but to him this nation will be transformed in the instance and so god I pray that prayer that our nation would be the beneficiary of a church that stands United for the cause of Christ and shares the love the unconditional love and acceptance that so many people today are starving starving starving to experience may we be the hands and the feet and in the end may we here according to Matthew 25:21 well done my good and faithful servant in Jesus name Amen and let's think these gentlemen for coming back today senator Tim Scott in congressman trey Gowdy [Applause]

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 30,104

Rating: 4.9021878 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, greg, laurie, tim scott, trey gowdy, greglaurie, unified, trey gowdy today, trey gowdy interview

Id: f8rFgdhHL4k

Length: 24min 4sec (1444 seconds)

Published: Tue May 29 2018