In Pennsylvania, there’s a law that assigns a child to a school based on five numbers. Not an SAT score. Not your monthly income. Not IQ. So, what is the number sequence—the code that can be the difference in a child’s success or failure in school? It’s a zip code.
Pastor Joshua Robertson is a p...

Maybe you’ve done it—encountered a person with a disability and saw their limits—not even thinking about the possibilities of how God designed them. Neurodiverse people —that’s someone who has a brain that works differently from the average person—would likely be one of those people. They might c...

How is it possible to tell the story of the founding of America, but ignore those circumstances and events that cannot be explained—apart—from the hand of God? In every great scene of this epic story is evidence of God and the pleading prayers of the Americans. Courage and action informed by the ...

It seems that Jackson, Mississippi, has been in the news—for decades. For some, it’s a city in the deep South that represents a turning point in the Civil Rights movement.
That was the 60s. Fast forward, and Jackson’s wounds have reopened—exposing a complicated past and problems of the present. B...

When you walk into a church for the first time, you get a feeling, don’t you? You make a judgment. These people are either “like me,” or these people have no idea how to understand someone like me. There’s a certain way you’re greeted—the way people extend hospitality—that makes you feel like thi...

Maybe you’ve never thought you were part of the answer to America’s orphan crisis—confronting a reality that millions of children are waiting, hoping to become part of a family. On this episode of State of Independence, Joe Watkins speaks with Pastor Preston Broadhurst, who along with his wife Ka...

Take a minute to answer these questions: Who belongs in jail? How should we treat those we sentence to prison? What is the goal of prison? The person sitting next to you may answer these questions very differently. Because Americans don’t always agree on what we mean by “justice.”
On this episod...

You’ve heard this story of the decline of church attendance in America, haven’t you? Fewer people are walking into churches on Sunday mornings. Fewer joining. And fewer believe their grandparent’s view of God—or accept—that the Bible is without error. But what if there’s something else going on?...

What would happen if God asked you to run for political office? With everything you know about yourself, how would you respond if He said: “It’s time.” That’s the question Joe Watkins asks tonight’s guest, a wife, mother, lawmaker, and most importantly—a follower of Jesus. Joe Watkins interviews ...

What do you think of when you hear the word “persecution?” Is it criticism? Is it an unkind response to a social media post? Is it a shunning for a family member or the loss of a friendship? Those are difficult things, but they’re not what millions of Christians—followers of Jesus—would consider ...

Theodore Roosevelt wrote this about the need for biblical literacy “The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teaching were removed.”
Was he a ...

Have you ever wondered why so many of America’s storied communities are defined by magnificent church buildings— but when the doors are open, so few of these stained glass palaces of art are filled. Tonight, on State of Independence, Joe Watkins speaks with Pastor Raymond Johnson, who is leading ...

The pursuit of money or the significance of fame—without surrendering to God’s plan for your life—leaves many (maybe you) in defeat and despair. Success without spiritual purpose is like that, isn’t it? This week Joe Watkins interviews Dave Balinski; someone who has dedicated this chapter of his ...

What we know of the Amish is often wrong—shaped by reality shows, movies, and our own imaginations. But while we don’t really know much about the people who’ve decided to sit out much of the industrial age, the world wars, and now the age of social media, smartphones, and autonomous vehicles—ther...