Ep. 223 - Lisa Heisner: When Your Politics No Longer Fit Your Faith

What happens when the political identity you inherited begins to collide with the faith that helped shape it?

Melvin E. Edwards talks with educator and fellow John Brown University alum Lisa Heisner about faith, politics, race, and the difficult process of reconsidering long-held beliefs. Drawing on their shared evangelical backgrounds and years of Republican alignment, they discuss the experiences that caused each of them to question assumptions about political identity and Christian witness.

Lisa reflects on voting for Donald Trump in 2016, what subsequently changed her thinking, and why she believes loving someone is fundamentally different from trusting that person with leadership. The conversation also examines racial justice, the meaning of “pro-life,” social media, ministry, and what happens when political loyalty and religious conviction become difficult to separate.

In this episode:

* Lisa and Melvin revisit their John Brown University years and the Christian environments that helped shape them.

* Lisa describes growing up in a culture where evangelical Christianity and Republican politics became closely intertwined.

* They discuss Donald Trump as a turning point in how they thought about character, leadership, politics, and Christian witness.

* Melvin reflects on his experiences as a Black Christian and how events in 2020 and 2024 affected his relationship with predominantly white evangelical spaces.

* Lisa explains how learning more about racial history—and her experience working in real estate—challenged assumptions she had carried for years.

* They examine the difference between political slogans and personal action, including what it means to describe oneself as “pro-life.”

* Both discuss how direct relationships with people in crisis can complicate beliefs that seem simple when considered only in the abstract.

* Lisa encourages listeners to examine inherited political identities, investigate claims for themselves, and consider what their convictions require in everyday life.

It is a candid conversation between two old college acquaintances about something that can be extraordinarily difficult to do: question what you have always believed and decide for yourself what should remain.

Notable Quotes

* “There is a vast difference between loving someone and trusting someone.”

* “If God has blessed you with this wealth, how are you blessing other people?”

* “My job is to love, to befriend, to minister to.”

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