Mr. Shackelford is a constitutional scholar who has argued before the United States Supreme Court, testified before the U.S. House and Senate on constitutional issues, and has won three state landmark First Amendment and religious liberty cases in the past few years alone. He was recently named one of the 25 greatest Texas lawyers of the past quarter-century by Texas Lawyer, and is the recipient of the prestigious William Bentley Ball Award for Life and Religious Freedom Defense for his leadership and pioneering work protecting religious freedom.

Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, a research-based, public policy “think tank.” He is a health policy expert and weekly contributor at Forbes.com. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Dr. Matthews is a past president of the Health Economics Roundtable for the National Association for Business Economics, the largest trade association of business economists. Dr. Matthews also served for 10 years as the medical ethicist for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board for Human Experimentation, and has contributed chapters to several books, including Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate and The 21st Century Health Care Leader and, in 2009, Stop Paying the Crooks (on Medicare fraud).

He has been published in numerous journals and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Barron’s, USA Today, Forbes magazine and the Washington Times. He was an award-winning political analyst for the USA Radio Network.

Dr. Matthews received his Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Texas.

Pastor Brian Gibson and his wife Jessi are lead pastors of His Church, a multisite nondenominational church.
Brian grew up in the small town of Providence, KY. In his teenage years he found himself trapped in drug culture, but in 1998 he encountered the freeing message of Jesus Christ. He became committed to a local church in Amarillo, Texas where he was given a firm foundation and met his wife, Jessi.
Brian has a degree in theology from Oral Roberts University. Prior to founding His Church, Brian served as an associate pastor, traveled as a speaker, taught in a school of ministry, and worked with Franklin Graham festivals.
In 2004, Brian and his wife Jessi felt it was time to launch into a new chapter in Owensboro, KY. What started as a small group studying the Bible has grown into a multi-campus organization, with locations in four different cities and over 2,500 people that call one of its campuses their home church.
His Church has locations in Owensboro and Henderson, KY, and Amarillo and Dumas, TX, with a vision to launch 100 total campuses in the coming years.
Brian and Jessi have 3 kids: Brileigh, Justice, and Chapel. He loves leading the church, spending time with his family, playing golf, and traveling to minister in churches across the world. He still reminds people every week that the bible is true, God is powerful, and church is fun!

Tommy Nelson is the senior pastor of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas. He has served on staff at Denton Bible for nearly 40 years. One of four boys, Tommy grew up in Waco, Texas, where he played football and baseball. Tom was the quarterback for the North Texas Mean Green and holds degrees from the University of North Texas (’73) and Dallas Theological Seminary (’82). Tommy has taught over 150 Song of Solomon Marriage Conferences nationwide and is the featured teacher for a number of video series and the author of several books including the bestselling Book of Romance, A Life Well Lived: A Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes, and Walking on Water When You Feel Like You're Drowning. He has also been a featured speaker for several national ministries such as Focus on the Family, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and FamilyLife Today. Tom married his best friend, Teresa, in 1972, and they have two sons, Benjamin and John Clark, who are both married and, together, have given Tom and Teresa six grandchildren.

By: Staff - firstliberty.org - May 27, 2020 Kelly Shackelford joins Shannon Bream to discuss the ongoing government overreach in California as churches throughout the state ban together in opposition of Governor Gavin Newsome’s most ...

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