Jul 2, 2020
Politics, Government, polarity of the news and social media, why
Congress introduce laws designed to fail, what its like to work on
Capitol Hill for the ERLC, the now frenzy pace of the news cycle,
Trump and the news, religion and politics, surviving a heart attack
at age 40, why he is pursuing his PhD in Public Theology, and
more.
A native of West Virginia, Matt previously served as a Policy
Director for the
Ethics & Religious
Liberty Commission (ERLC) in Washington, D.C. The ERLC is the
public policy arm of The Southern Baptist Convention, America’s
largest organization of Protestant Christian churches with over
46,000 congregations nationwide. Through broadcasting and
government relations, a
17 year career with the ERLC provided Matt with a front seat to the
nation’s debates involving religion and politics (2001-2018).
Matt’s experience includes participation with the
International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable, as co-chair of
the Congressional Working Group and later on the Steering
Committee. The IRF Roundtable is perhaps the most politically and
religiously diverse gathering in DC, uniting across deeply held
divisions to advance a most basic human right—religious
freedom—around the globe.
Matt and his wife, Crystal (a nurse practitioner), currently
live with their daughter in the greater Nashville, TN area
(Lebanon, TN). When not hanging out with family or thinking about
religion and politics, he enjoys restaurants and cooking with his
wife, serving his local church as an audio nerd, and occasionally
bangs on his vintage drums kit from the 1960’s.
The Kent Lapp Podcast Show Links: