Mike Morrell is a husband, father, and grandfather. His recent book, “The Road to Restoring the Family,” collects advice and reflections based on his years of experience as a businessman, a student of U.S. history, and a California state senator.
Get Mike’s book: “The Road To Restoring The Family: Leaving an Inheritance to Our Children’s Children”
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Mike Morrell
[00:00:00] never in my lifetime have I ever seen parents. Returning to school boards to fight. I mean, this is happening all over California and I believe it started in California. When you see so many parents going, returning the school boards to say, we don’t want our children indoctrinated socially. [00:00:19] We want them to learn things like reading, writing, math, or you know, that type of thing. Cuz at one time America was number one in the world in education. We’re. We’re, I mean, we’re approaching third world, , nation status, right? And so I think the thing is parents are waking up to this. [00:00:34] And, uh, when you see a movement that’s organic coming from the people that is better than the politicians, because, , if we go back to our Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, our constitution starts those three little words. We, the people. Not they, the government [00:00:50] [00:00:50] [00:01:00] [00:01:08] [00:02:00] Actually written a book. Uh, little, really look forward to talking about this. It’s the road to restoring the family. He’s in California. He’s got quite an interesting passage. Just heard a little bit of, of this, uh, but Republican, California state Assembly. He, uh, was elected there in, uh, 20, was it 20? 2010. [00:02:20] Okay. He served till 2020. So I know there’s a lot of people that are gonna ask, what in the world was that? Like, I wanna talk about that. And then you’re still in California. That’s a whole nother piece of this. But something tells me there’s a bigger reason for all of that, uh, particularly with this, with the title of your book, the Road to Restoring the Family. [00:02:40] So we’ll talk about all those things today, but thank you. Senator for being here with us today. Really appreciate you taking the time. Thank, thank you, Justin. Absolutely. So this is, uh, first of all, I have to ask, you know, California, what’s that like? I know you, you, uh, this, you’ve been there for a while, [00:03:00] so this is, yeah. [00:03:02] Born and raised here. So, so look at. Where we live. Ranch Cucamonga. We can be in the wintertime, snow skiing in Big Bear. Yeah. Or at the lake in the summertime, an hour and 15 minutes golfing in Palm Springs, an hour and 15 minutes, um, to the beach in an hour. Unless if there’s traffic, then it might be two hours. [00:03:21] We do have great weather. We just have horrible government. And so, um, when I was in the Senate, I actually miss it because I spoke all over California. I met wonderful people, people who love God, country and family. The only part I had, um, difficulty with was going in the Capitol a lot. You know, floor schedule was on. [00:03:46] Mondays and Thursdays. And then Tuesdays and Wednesdays were your committees, so you had to listen to all the bs. Very hard on my soul. Uh, you know, cuz you just, I mean, you know, Scotty Wiener, the senator from San Francisco, he had a bill where, you [00:04:00] know, men can have relationships with boys as young as 14 and not be arrested. [00:04:04] So sitting through those kind of meetings and hearings, you know, it, it’s, I think it takes a toll on your soul. And your wellbeing. Right? And so that was a difficult thing. The the good news is, is the people in my district, I, I love them and, and there’s just a lot of good people in California who. Who wanna see California come back, which I know it’s gonna be difficult, but, um, you know, they say as, as California goes, so goes the nation. [00:04:29] Mm-hmm. Um, a lot of that’s probably accurate. And there’s, there was a gentleman, uh, uh, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Do you remember who he was? Sure. A German pastor. He was in New York in a cushy seminary in 1939. But he believed people of faith should be where the flames are the hottest, right? And so he chose to go back and fight against Hitler and went from, uh, a pastor to a soldier. [00:04:52] And of course he was executed there. And, uh, hopefully I won’t be executed here. But I think the same thing, this is where people of faith should be, right? [00:05:00] Where the flames are the hottest. And so if, if you haven’t moved outta California, Yet perhaps God has us here for a purpose and I’m, I’m hoping that’s gonna be a good purpose cuz there are some things that have been happening. [00:05:12] We’re, we’re getting a little bit smarter in Republican parties. We’re getting, we’re getting a lot of our people on school boards, which really, really we need to be there. There’s a pastor friend of mine out in Temecula, the wine country, and he got seven people from his church to run for, uh, uh, seven school board seats in one. [00:05:30] Five of those seats. Then there’s a lady who, uh, Jan, who runs the Silicon Valley Republican Women’s Club in, um, Northern California. They got three school board members elected, um, who are conservative and have conservative values. So there are things going on. There’s opportunity, uh, but it is a difficult state. [00:05:50] But I feel like, you know, we should draw the line in the sand, plant the flag, and take back this state. That was at one time very. Just the beautiful state, just not the [00:06:00] topography, but also the politics. I mean the home of Ronald Reagan. Right. You know, you, you, uh, music to my ears some of the stuff that you’re saying because when we’re in, in, in Michigan experience a lot of the same things and, and, uh, you, you know, right now a lot of folks in Michigan just feel like they’re under attack. [00:06:18] There are many, many that have moved out. In fact, uh, and I have friends that have moved to Florida, the free state of Florida. Trying to get away and, and, um, there are a lot of us that are still left that are thinking, okay, how, how is this gonna work? What, what’s gonna happen here? And how do we stand up? [00:06:34] People are standing up and fighting, uh, a back on this all the time. Do you have any maybe experience or do you have any advice for any of those folks? Yeah, you know, I think, I think, you know, one of the things I, I learned years ago, I. Um, I took a class on the seven deadly sins, right? Pride, greed, lust, ABES, gluttony. [00:06:59] And by the way, I [00:07:00] found out gluttony doesn’t mean you eat too much, it just means you wanna consume too much. You have an insatiable appetite to consume the materialistic goods of the world. Mm-hmm. And so that, so I still eat, is what I’m trying to say, but one of the ones that was interesting to me, Justin was the one on Slothfulness. [00:07:17] And it means a person who never comes to a point to think through why they’re here on earth for what purpose did, did God place ’em here? And so I think the thing is, is you, you gotta really, it takes time. You just can’t be driving down the street and say, Hey, I think this is it. You have to really give some thought to these things. [00:07:34] You have to look at your family. Where you’re at, what your talents are, and, and I think you wanna work hard to find out where your purpose is and then, and then, you know, doors open up for you there or here. And so, um, we really need to think through those things, what our purpose is. Cuz it goes beyond just, um, having a good time. [00:07:52] I like to have a good time, Joni and I like to go on vacations and. Uh, visit with friends and families, but, but I tell you what, I, I get fulfilled when I [00:08:00] do speeches here in California and when I feel like I’m maybe making a little bit of a difference contributing, uh, to something that has a bigger picture than myself. [00:08:08] So that’s what I advise people to do is consider, uh, you know, our country, our faith, and also. Um, Solomon, uh, in the book of a, uh, Proverbs says that the duty of a father is to leave an inheritance to his children’s children. So I think that’s another thing we, we as parents and grandparents have to have to put into the factor, into the equation is, um, how, how are we gonna make our country better for future generations? [00:08:34] Um, so I, I hope that gives you some sense of. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it’s one of the things that I’ve, I’ve, when I’ve been talking with people throughout the last year or so particularly that have made a stand in some place, in some area, whether it’s, uh, in medicine or in politics or whatever it might be, [00:09:00] uh, I always find that there is that faith of the threat of faith that runs through that. [00:09:04] There’s in every one of these stories, Why do you think that is? Why is it, is it just people of faith? See, there’s a bigger, there’s a bigger picture and there’s something more that’s at stake. You just mentioned the world versus maybe, uh, you know, having an understanding that there’s something bigger going on here. [00:09:22] Yeah. Um, you know, there’s a phrase, and this is what I took. From the Declaration of Independence from my book, how I, how I kind of wrote the book. Uh, the second paragraph says, we hold these truths to be self-evident, right? So how do you arrive at self-evident truth? Um, paragraph before I. Says, according to the laws of nature, and nature is God, that God puts in the nature and human nature and history, sort of the moral law and the way to live. [00:09:49] And then ultimately that goes back to God. So, you know, you and I would say we believe in the scriptures. And so I think, I think when you’re learning about history, you’re learning about human [00:10:00] nature, you’re looking at problems of the past. I mean, cuz history does repeat itself. There’s a great quote, I hope you don’t mind, I’m, I’m gonna quote, he was a congressman from 1805. [00:10:09] Or he stated this in 1805 Congressman Fisher Ames, and he states it rather well. He says All of history lies open for our warning, like a church art whose solemn lessons are chiseled. The hard stone of eternity, lessons that thunder to republics. Your passions and your vices forbid you to be free. So not only is that historically accurate, if you look at everyone back at the Canaanites to the, to the Greeks, to the Romans, and then you, you know, you look at the scriptures and tie it in and see. [00:10:41] The advice that Moses gives when a country’s moral versus immoral. So I think the thing is, when you kind of discover those things, you realize there’s a bigger calling that, that people of faith have to be involved in. We, we wanna make our community better. Um, uh, Tony Evans years ago at Promise Keepers [00:11:00] says, if, if you want to have a good country, you gotta start with the state. [00:11:03] If you want a good state, you have start with. The county. If you want a good county, you’ve gotta start with the city. If you want a good city, you gotta start with the family and then you have a good, strong family. You’ll have a good city, a good county, and a good state. And, and so I think the thing is, is that helps us is that one book that became so famous years ago, the Purpose driven Life Purpose is a good way, where’re, where we’re not, it takes the, the, the focus off of us and it helps us to be, um, left self. [00:11:35] Less self-centered and realize there’s a bigger purpose in life, which kind of helps me drive and gives me enthusiasm, and it makes me wanna wake up and, and, um, tomorrow morning to, to fight another day and to enjoy another day and all the, all the blessings that God gives. And so, um, Um, I think that’s one of the things Faith does for you. [00:11:56] You know, you start counting, uh, the bigger picture rather than [00:12:00] focusing on yourself. And again, that, that means duty to God, our country and, and our family. I’d like to just share one story, you know, and I, I think I inherited this patriotism from my dad. He was in World War II and he fought Gudo as you know, that was a very dangerous place to fight. [00:12:16] And so he, um, He had, uh, he got shot once and had malaria twice. He, uh, was more, uh, afraid of mosquitoes because of ha having had, uh, malaria twice than he was bullets. But anyway, I asked him, uh, when I was a teenager, dad, why did you join? Why didn’t you wait to just get drafted? He said, because I, I wanted to, um, I was fighting for you, Mike, and I said, well, dad, I wasn’t even born there then. [00:12:44] And he says, well, you don’t get it. He says, that’s what men do, who love their country. And so my dad, you know, gave his, you know, his blood, his heart, his mind, and his soul, uh, to, to help in his country back there in World War ii. And then after that, he became a policeman in [00:13:00] LA because he wanted to protect and serve. [00:13:02] The citizens cuz he wanted to make the, his city better, the state better, the country better. And his whole purpose was for, as Washington said, for generations yet unborn. You know, there are something about that that’s waking people up right now more than ever. Uh, I think you mentioned particularly the family and, and we talked a little bit more about your book here in just a moment. [00:13:25] Um, I want to dig into this, but. That’s something that I’ve seen wake people up over the last couple of years, particularly back here in West Michigan as well. There’s an entire group that has taken over, uh, in it’s Ottawa County, a Lake Shore County here in Michigan. Uh, they got started. Just a group of parents who were concerned, their kids were being forced to, uh, wear a mask. [00:13:49] The county, uh, commission wasn’t getting involved and it had a, a health department director who was out trying to close a Christian school down because they were giving the kids and the parents a choice, a decision. Do you [00:14:00] wanna, you can, if your kids wanna wear a mask, they can. If they don’t, they don’t have to. [00:14:04] This was at a Christian school. They were in a, in a, in a fight with a lawsuit about this and then, Eventually, uh, the county Health Department came and wanted to lock the doors up and would not let these, um, these folks have school. And so the parents involved in that school and, and many other places throughout Ottawa County decide they’re gonna stand up and gonna get involved. [00:14:26] And they formed this group called Ottawa Impact, and they had an impact. They were this board of county commissioners. All of them except for one, were republicans. They ended up premiering these folks, kicking them out, sweeping the house clean, and now these folks are serving, uh, they went on to win the general and so now they’ve, they’ve completely, but it was all started because they were fighting for their kids. [00:14:51] Yeah. They think family’s such an important thing. We often lose track of that and um, it’s the very thing that’s under attack right now. [00:15:00] We’re in a spiritual fight. Maybe we could talk more about that in a bit as well, but. It really has, you know, the enemy always kind of overplays his hand. It’s, it, it’s, it’s, it’s caused people to get engaged on a whole new level. [00:15:13] Well, look at, never in my lifetime have I ever seen parents. Returning to school boards to fight. I mean, this is happening all over California and I believe it started in California. I won’t go in the wide, but I do believe that, and this book is very entering interesting to me. Not because I wrote it, but the picture of it and the title. [00:15:36] There’s something about it that’s very attractive to people. Cuz when I speak I’m, I’m, I’m selling a huge percentage of the. The room. And I think it’s timely because people know the family’s under attack. I mean, again, that’s obvious when you see so many parents going, returning the school boards to say, we don’t want our children indoctrinated socially. [00:15:57] We want them to learn things like reading, writing, [00:16:00] math, or you know, that type of thing. Cuz at one time America was number one in the world in education. We’re. We’re, I mean, we’re approaching third world, uh, nation status, right? I think 38th or 34th in math, California, by the way, before we went to a big bureaucracy with Department of Education, California is number one in America now. [00:16:19] We’re like 44th or 48th. And so education means a lot. You can’t, uh, there, there’s a sand when you walk into the. Library Congress on, on the ceiling. It, it is just beautiful. Uh, it, it, it, it says Ignorance is a curse of God and knowledge is the wings by which we fly to heaven. And so I think the thing is parents are waking up to this. [00:16:40] And, uh, when you see a movement that’s organic coming from the people that is better than the politicians, because, um, if we go back to our Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, um, our constitution starts those three little words. We, the people. Not they, the government. And then it says the government of by and for the people. [00:16:59] And then the [00:17:00] declaration, which the Constitution rests on, says that to secure these rights, meaning our freedom, governments are instituted amongst men deriving their just powers. From the consent of the government. So the, the founders meant for the people to be in charge, right? Not the other way around. [00:17:16] Reagan expressed it this way, that the, the car is the government, the people, the driver are the people. We tell the car which way to go, not the other way around. And so this movement where you’re seeing parents go back, this is exactly. What should be happening because it, it’s gotta be a bottom up movement. [00:17:33] And I’ve been working with some, some people that are trying to get elected to the school boards and then you hope that we, you know, we, we can then, uh, jumpstart ’em, get ’em going there, get a name going, have ’em start meeting donors and then they can start working up to higher office. And so, um, anyway, so sorry to talk your off here buddy. [00:17:52] No. But, but those are, yeah, those are some of the things that, that, uh, you know, I see going on that I, I, you know, it gives me hope. [00:18:00] And, um, you know, people are waking up. Now we gotta move more of ’em to being engaged. Some are getting engaged. We, we’ve gotta make a bigger movement. This is, this is happening at, at, uh, many different levels. [00:18:14] Uh, I, I think school board is a great example though. We’re seeing that here too, where people are deciding that they’re gonna get involved. What you just mentioned, I think, and, and people ask that question, why are you in California? You kind of gave some of that answer. There’s, there’s a beautiful reason for that, but you know, it, it’s, America is under attack right now, but we’re, we’re seeing this. [00:18:35] In all, in all different shapes and forms and throughout the entire world. And, and every, every state is infected by this. Absolutely. And, um, what I, what I think I see, you know, happening is, People are slowly waking up. They’re starting to understand, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re called to occupy until he returns. [00:18:55] Well, what does that mean? A lot of people are, are starting to realize that that’s an [00:19:00] active posture. It’s not, yeah, that’s, we’re not to just sit on the couch and just, uh, and, and watch everything, you know, uh, take place in front of us. It’s somehow magically everything’s gonna be fine. No, we’re called to, to, to get out there and be a part of this fight, aren’t we? [00:19:15] Yeah, absolutely. You know, there’s a couple of things. We Christians, uh, people of faith, uh, you know, the scripture, second Chronicles of my people were called by my name. Yes. Humble themselves turned from their sins that God will hear from heaven and heal their land. It’s interesting, there’s a number of scriptures sort of like that, but if you notice them, they’re all conditional. [00:19:37] The, the key word in that one is if, in other words, if we do X, Y, and z, God will heal our land. Yes. And so we have to be proactive. Same thing, the the fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much. And, and I look that up. Fervent means you have to pray with passion and intensity. And a the righteous is someone that follows the divine loss. [00:19:57] So it means they’re moral, right? They’re known to be, uh, [00:20:00] a person who, who does those things. And so again, that’s conditional. Uh, Samuel Adams, the father of our revolution. I love what he says. He says, um, heaven will never abandon us while we. Act worthy of it’s aid and protection. And so again, it comes back. [00:20:15] It’s a condition. So we have a lot of work to do. And then one of the things too that, you know, that, you know, I try to struggle with as a politician, some of the one verse says that as we speak, we wanna season our speech with grace, which, which is a good thing. And then, you know, there’s other things too. [00:20:31] And so you have to sort of pick your battles and your spots. It says, where do our duty is to demolish arguments, um, and, um, tear down every pretension. That sets itself up against the knowledge of God. So these things that are opposed, these things in our culture, which are opposed to, to self-evident truth, it’s our duty as people of faith to, to get involved, be as they say, salt and light, and to demolish arguments, be prepared to give every man an answer, and to tear down those [00:21:00] pretensions, which, uh, sets itself up against knowledge of God and against and against our children. [00:21:04] You know, we have, we have to defend our kids. Um, I’d like to share one story with you that, that was really kind of neat that happened if, if you got a, a minute here. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, I’m on the board of a college called Arizona Christian University, small little liberal arts college in, uh, Glendale, uh, right on site of Phoenix, Arizona. [00:21:26] And so our student, uh, our students who want to be teachers. Were, uh, many of ’em were teaching within the Washington School District, the public school district. And so the board is mostly L G B T. They were at our mission statement and kicked out all of our student teachers from the 32 schools. And so, um, the board struggled, you know, what do we do? [00:21:49] Do we, you know, we turn the other cheek or do we engage, type of thing. And, and I, I, I reminded our board that. We’re trying to teach our young students to be courageous [00:22:00] Christians, right? To be courageous. I said, we have to defend and protect them, right? And so we, we made the decision to do that. We, we called the alliance offending freedom. [00:22:10] Make a long story short, we, we planted a flag in the ground. Uh, we stood firm to protect over our, our students, and we ended up winning in court. They had to pay our fees. They have to extend our contract in additional five years. With a letter of apology. And so I think there’s, uh, we can win when we engage, but um, you know, a lot of times we’re, for whatever reason, we don’t. [00:22:35] We don’t, uh, we don’t engage. And so when, when we’re silent, that’s the worst thing we can do because what it does is it emboldens evil, right? When we’re silent. And that’s as people of faith, as politicians. People ask me, what can I do? I think one of the greatest things we can do is our words count this politically correct speeches there for a purpose. [00:22:55] It’s to shut us up because the other side knows they cannot win the argument. So [00:23:00] therefore, They have to name, call us and accuse and blame us. And, and if you look at the great statesmen throughout history, uh, Churchill, uh, or Lincoln, they always took on the most difficult issues of their daylin. I mean, Churchill was booted out of Parliament cuz he wanted to take on Hitler. [00:23:15] And when, uh, uh, British people discovered what Hitler was like, they, they, they drafted him back in the service and he saved the great, uh, great Britain as well as the western. Culture. And in Lincoln, you know, on issue of slavery in 18 7, 18 57, Dred Scott, a slave, uh, made his way all the way to the Supreme Court and Supreme Court rule against him to be a free man. [00:23:37] And the next year, Lincoln takes on that issue of slavery against Stephen Douglass for the US Senate. And he loses that race because it was a losing argument at the time. He comes back two years later, he runs for president. There was a lot of people in the Republican party that did not want him as. [00:23:54] Their nominee because they knew he would take on the slavery issue. They knew it had been, [00:24:00] um, or they had seen it had been a losing issue. It took three rounds of votes for Lincoln to finally secure the nomination. And he goes on to win the presidency. And then the rest is history. And again, what separates the men from the boys I is, is these people stood up and they, they, they always take on the most difficult. [00:24:17] Contentious issues of their day and they stand firm. And, and that’s one thing I think we gotta embolden, especially our pulpits, which I’ll share something about that in a little bit. You know, it’s so important. We, we have to become more bold, uh, the enemy. Is bold. Uh oh. Yeah. They run us over. Yeah. Every, every day with, I mean, and you gotta, you gotta imagine, and I think people are waking up to this spiritual side of this fight, but, uh, they know what’s at stake and, uh, particularly when they’re getting backed into a corner, you’ll see it, it gets even worse. [00:24:52] We’re starting to see that more. We’re at a, we’re a pivotal time right now. We’re at that point where, We could go either way here if [00:25:00] we’re not, uh, if we don’t follow through and continue because we’re getting pushed back. Right. As you just mentioned, I, I was laugh because they’re gonna name call, they call you. [00:25:09] Every is in the book. Any, anything they want to say to, to try and get you to back down. But people need to stand firm, particularly those of faith that are, that are having courage, that feel that, that they’re stand called for this time. Um, we, we are being encouraged. I, I. I went to, uh, one of the things, I don’t know if you had seen much about the, uh, the revival at Asbury, uh, college in, uh, in, in Kentucky. [00:25:35] Yeah. I went down there to see that. I just felt called to go down there. I didn’t know why, but one of the things I was encouraged to see is, and it was a very incredible moment. Um, it was like, You know, the kingdom had kind of settled there. It was a sort of a glimpse of heaven, of everything that I seen that was happening. [00:25:52] People were giving away food. They were, you know, uh, sitting with people in line, that people were lined up for [00:26:00] hours trying to get into this auditorium, praying with each other. And it was just a really interesting moment. But the thing that I was most encouraged by to see is that there were young people, people that were college students leading most of this at the front. [00:26:12] Of most of this. And it was started there at that college. They went to chapel that morning and they didn’t stop all this, uh, praise and worship and, and, and all of that for, for like 20 days or, or whatever it ended up being. But I, I have two little girls and I’ve often think about, gosh, what’s this world gonna be like for them? [00:26:31] Well, I was encouraged that. God is still moving with, with the young folks, with He’s turning people, I think back to him in a lot of ways people are starting to see, cuz we’re constantly seeing this shaking world that we live in. Um, these people that are here right now. If you, if you are, you know, you’re wondering, gosh, what’s it gonna be like? [00:26:51] Or how do I stand against this to know and to have faith component to know that you’re here for such a time as this. [00:27:00] Yeah. There’s no mistake about, you know, Senator, your, your role here is, is this has been a divinely ordained. I, I, I, I think so. I mean, I sure have seen doors open and closed supernaturally. [00:27:17] Yeah. Um, and, um, um, you know, um, I tried to, um, get things going and. Uh, what you’re saying, you know, uh, years ago before when I was in business, I, I, let me go back to Alexis de Tocqueville, the classic democracy in America, um, said that, um, He, he sought for the greatness in our country. He looked at our vast world commerce and the greatness was not there. [00:27:47] Our agriculture, our, um, our vast mines and, uh, our ample rivers and, and all sorts of things. He just names books like 700 pages while [00:28:00] he finally discovers the secret. Of our greatness. He said when he walked into the church and saw that the pulpits were in flame with righteousness, and so he gave credit to the greatness of America and our rich heritage be because that those people on the pulpit were, were people that really took, took stands and stood up. [00:28:18] So today, I, I think a lot of the church has become what I call user-friendly, secret sensitive, sort of tickling the ears of men. Mm-hmm. And so years ago, I, I would invite pastors to, to luncheons and try to get ’em to come. And it was a little bit lethargic at best, and get some good speakers like Dr. [00:28:36] Larry Arn, president Hillsdale College and, and try to engage him. My civic responsibility is, is, is something that, that we should do. And by the way, it’s, it’s all throughout scriptures. Uh, right. Esther got involved with politics, was sent to the political establishment and her day. Moses and Nehemiah were sent to establish, uh, governments and, uh, Samuel and Jeremiah were sent to Warren governments [00:29:00] and, and so I mean, you know, scripture is, is full of those things. [00:29:03] And so, um, yeah, it was lethargic at, at best back then, so it was discouraging. Well, here’s what I’d like to bring you up to date now, 10 or 15 years later, over the last maybe four or five years I’ve been invited to speak at different conferences. That, um, pastors are holding, and I’ve spoken to maybe between 12 and 13,000 pastors now. [00:29:24] And, um, I, I think they’re nervous. They know. Their 5 0 1 c three is at stake, as well as their ability to speak from the pulp is at stake. I mean, if a pastor doesn’t recognize that there’s something wrong with them, right? And so, um, it, it just, it, it, this is another thing that gives me hope. Because they’re showing up. [00:29:44] A pastor of mine, pastor Jack Hibbs, a Calvary Chapel guy out in Chino area. Yeah. Um, just recently in Orange County, invited 750 pastors, I think it was, to the luncheons, to talk to them about, um, being bold from the pulpit. Mm-hmm. Um, [00:30:00] as far as the civic issues are, are, um, Concern, and I’m, I understand he had a sold out crowd. [00:30:06] So, and that, again, that’s here in California where, where, you know, it’s easier to believe that happens in Alabama and Georgia. But, but so there are, there are things happening here. And so, um, I do think. Uh, there are positive things weighing our way, but again, it’s gonna be a long slog. We, it’s taken us a long time to get here, and so we’re gonna have to dig our way out of this hole. [00:30:29] And, you know, I think there’s gonna be some rough seas ahead. I, I really do think there’s, there’s gonna be some tough times ahead, but I, I think in the long run, and, and again, I, I hope this isn’t false hope, but I believe we’re gonna prevail. The book is called The Road to Restoring the Family. Leaving an inheritance to our children’s children, and we just talked about that. [00:30:48] Um, and particularly, uh, what you, you see as the role there and, and senator, what may in fact, uh, you know, [00:31:00] maybe what the, the Bible has to say about that, why that’s so important? One of the things I’m reminded by, Does, no matter how important it is, I, what, what I think that I might be doing, uh, on a daily basis in my, my job. [00:31:11] You know, am I calling the, the first, uh, the first call is the family, right? Is is the first place that that’s, that’s where we’re supposed to minister first, right? It’s, that’s, yeah. Yeah. Starts at home. It does start at home, and it’s so important. I see that with my kids on a daily basis. I try to be intentional about that, but how can, how can folks, Uh, really dig in. [00:31:34] And what are some tips there inside that book? Well, what I, uh, couple of things, let me go back if it’s okay. To, um, our daughter, Kristen was probably six months old. Joni and I were up at Lake Tahoe. Mm. And we’re pushing her, her and installer. Uh, and there’s this beautiful log cabin home, right on the wa, the shore, right. [00:31:59] With a big [00:32:00] wraparound porch and Joanie and I said, wouldn’t it be nice if someday we made enough money where we could have a beautiful cabin like that over looking like Tahoe? And of course she agreed with me and I said, but I, I, I just had this thought come by me. I said, what if we sat on that pat porch in our later years and we had that beautiful cabin with that beautiful home, but. [00:32:20] Our little girl here was not walking with God and not being a virtuous, productive human being. Could we have peace in our souls? And Joanie said, no, we couldn’t. And so that really got me thinking, you know, the things that we do now early in our life is gonna set a pace for them later in life. And we have a lot of friends. [00:32:39] We’ve gone to church with who, who, you know, they, uh, they’ve sat on our couch crying because their kids are, are not doing well as adults. You know? So, so, um, and trust me, our kids are not perfect. They take after me, so they have a lot of my, my hangups and vices, right? But the thing is, is at least they’re, they’re trying to walk with God, I’ll put it that [00:33:00] way. [00:33:00] And, and so, um, when I decided to, to write this book, the reason why is I started looking at our country and just, uh, Thinking, you know, what a challenge, and, and I, I talk more about politics than anything else, even more about politics than I do religion. But I said, what do we need to do to kind of restore American? [00:33:19] And, and again, you have to restore the family. So what I did is I borrowed that line. Uh, from the declaration, the laws of nature, nature’s God. And that’s how I wrote the book. I addressed each chapter where were on politics. I looked at the Greeks, which is the ho of politics. Aristotle played on Socrates and I leaned upon their wisdom. [00:33:36] And then I looked at history and then we’re appropriate. I brought in the scriptures. So cuz I wanna make sure it was not from my wisdom, uh, but from, you know, wisdom on high and from people that. Possess a superior wisdom than Mike morale. And so I, I wrote, uh, I wrote chapters on everything that I could think of, um, were my kids and grandkids. [00:33:58] Um, because we have eight now with [00:34:00] one in escrow due to, um, clothes in September. And so we’ve got a lot invested, right? And so, um, I want them to prosper not just economically but politically, morally. Yes, on married someday. And so I wrote stuff on education, uh, college. I wrote it on finances. I, I wrote it, uh, on prayer and quiet reflection and how that’s good for your soul, but not only your soul. [00:34:26] It’s good for your health. And so, I tried to give them practical advice that they’re gonna need to get through life, and were, I hope they prosper in all these areas. So that, that’s what I did. I, I put, uh, a hundred percent of myself into this, and again, not from my wisdom, but from people who possess a superior wisdom, the Mike morale. [00:34:45] And again, I did use the scriptures. I tied ’em both in, in a way that, that I, I, I wanted to bulletproof this book in a way. That it will really be helpful, um, to, um, to parents because, um, I invest, [00:35:00] I’m invested. Uh, I gave up my business, by the way. Really, I don’t wanna say I gave up my business. I left my business. [00:35:06] I didn’t give up anything. God moved me on this, a higher calling to get into politics. And, and I, and I considered that an honor. And so this is another way to serve the country because we’ve gotta restore the family. I, I’d just like to share. Um, couple of things. You know, I spoke at a, uh, men’s, uh, pr uh, breakfast, uh, last weekend, and, uh, the assistant pastor, we were talking about those things and, and he said The majority of men in prison comes from fatherless homes. [00:35:33] The majority of young girls who are prostitutes have daddy issues, you know, and, and I can see people even my age, were. Where they struggle with things and, and it’s kind of interesting. You find out some of the background, you know, they had issues with, with their parents and, and typically it was daddy issues, you know, and so I just thought this was important. [00:35:52] I gave it my best effort so that my kids will prosper across the board. Prayerfully they will, they still have [00:36:00] free will, right? Yeah, well, a amen, uh, to, to that and, uh, those kids in your family prosper. Uh, and it makes it a little easier. And of course it helps, uh, folks in your community and then that trickles out to the state and the country and the world as you just mentioned, and that’s how. [00:36:17] We make a difference. And I know this sounds pretty, you know, some folks think let’s kind of pie in the sky. This is sort of, you know, uh, this is kind of general, but no, I, I think this, this couldn’t be more spec specific that if we deal with some of these issues, we talk a lot about health over the last few years and mental health has become a big deal. [00:36:35] But if we, if we deal. With the, a spiritual side of all of this. Yeah. If we deal with that, I think we’ll see, um, some mag magnificent things happen as, uh, folks move forward. So Senator, where can folks, uh, I know people are gonna want to get the book. I know they’re gonna wanna, uh, stay in touch with you. [00:36:54] What’s the best way for them to do that? Yeah. Uh, the road to restoring the family [00:37:00] and underneath it, I quote, Solomon, leaving inheritance to our children’s children, um, can be found on Amazon. So you can go to Amazon and type in just the, the road to restoring the family, or you can type in Mike Morrell, m o r r e L l. [00:37:16] And so, um, and, uh, like to give my email out too if they have any questions. I don’t know how sure if I can answer ’em all, but, you know, I’m here to try to, um, um, you know, help people. One step closer to success in things. And so that is P R H L, let me repeat that. P as in Paul, r hhl@aol.com. And it might take a while to respond, but I will do my best to do that. [00:37:45] But again, you can go to Amazon and just type in the road to restoring the family or type in Mike Morrell and uh, it’ll come up. And, uh, I’m ha, I’m, I’m pleased to say th this, this book is selling well and I think, uh, [00:38:00] um, what? Oh, let me just share one other thing. You know, the demographics of people buying are young people, which make me happy. [00:38:06] Yeah. But there, there’s another demographic and there, Justin, which kind of has blown me away, a good number of people, probably 55 years and older. Who have adult children are buying multi multiple copies. I, I don’t mean everyone does. Yeah. But usually when I speak somewhere, I, I’m getting a good handful of people who will buy between, between two and five books to pass out to their kids or their grandkids. [00:38:30] So, so there’s something I, I’m, I’m just pleased that this, this is starting to have, I hope, an impact if it can just, you know, move us one inch closer to where America needs to be, that I will feel like, you know, God has. Um, just been working in my life and the life of others. I know he has. And, uh, I, I, I, you’re being, I’m, I’m sure, uh, a little humble about that, but you’ve, you’ve, uh, I think you’ve, you’ve, you’ve, you’ve been able to see quite a bit of that yourself, [00:39:00] uh, in your life, and thank you for sharing that. [00:39:02] Thank you for being bold and taking the courage to step out and talk about these things in a time, uh, specifically when it’s not necessarily the most popular thing, but you know, Senator, it’s so needed. And you are, you’re seeing that right now with the response to this book. So please keep it up and please keep sharing it. [00:39:20] Thank you. And, and would love to have you come back again to share more, uh, that’s your time there in California and maybe some tips, uh, on how we can continue to fight here in Michigan. Yeah. Well, Justin, I wanna thank you for allowing me on the show. I hope I didn’t tuck your ear off. I get sometimes I get on a roll and I don’t know when to shut up, so I apologize ahead of time for that. [00:39:42] But I, I certainly a appreciate you allowing me on, on the show. Um, I, by the way, I’ve been canceled a few times from. Facebook and Instagram. Not, they won’t advertise my book. Um, go figure. Right? Um, and they said because of political and social issues, we’re still [00:40:00] trying to get on. Uh, but anyway, I’m, I’m grateful for you giving me this opportunity and appreciate what you do because your service is good too. [00:40:06] Bring in these things to light. I mean, um, there is a movement, you know, um, We talked about parent returning to the school board, right? There’s a whole culture of these podcasts that are having an impact on tens of millions of people, um, that are, you know, they can’t get it from CBS News or nbc, right? And they’re going to shows like yours. [00:40:28] So, um, the work that you’re doing is, is very useful and it’s productive and it’s having an impact. So again, I’m just honored to be here and, and, and likewise, I want to thank you for. For the show that you have and, and, and how you’re having an impact on your audience. So thank you. That’s what happens. If we just do what God’s calling us to do, we can make a, we can all make an impact. [00:40:50] Thank you, sir. I really appreciate your time. God bless. Yeah, God bless you, Justin. Thank you. [00:40:55] [00:40:55] [00:40:57] [00:41:00] [00:42:00] [00:43:00] [00:44:00] [00:45:00] [00:46:00] [00:47:00] [00:48:00] [00:49:00]
