What does it look like to be a faithful Christian in the public square without losing your soul in the process? In this conversation, host Rebecca Cooks sits down with Justin Giboney — attorney, ordained minister, political strategist, and co-founder of the AND Campaign — for a candid, thought-provoking dialogue on faith, politics, and moral imagination.

Drawing from his book Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around, Giboney challenges Christians to move beyond partisan tribalism, recover the bold example of the Civil Rights generation, and engage culture with truth, justice, and the transforming power of the gospel.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• How Giboney went from knocking on doors in Southwest Atlanta to running campaigns — and what he learned along the way
• What a “culture war” actually is, where it started, and why the Black church refused to be defined by it
• Why fighting against evil doesn’t automatically make you good — and what the Civil Rights generation understood that we’ve largely forgotten
• What “moral imagination” means: the ability to see not just what is, but what ought to be based on God’s character and promises
• Practical advice for Christians who feel stuck between candidates — including Giboney’s framework for values-based voting
• How to stay engaged when politics feels exhausting — and when it’s actually okay to step back
• The Shirley Chisholm story: what moral imagination looks like in action, and why it still has the power to change people

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Justin E. Giboney (JD, Vanderbilt) is the co-founder and president of the AND Campaign, a Christian civic organization that equips Christians to engage in politics with the love and truth of Jesus Christ. He is an ordained minister, attorney, and political strategist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and Christianity Today. He is the author of Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around (IVP, 2025) and co-author of Compassion (&) Conviction (IVP, 2020).

RESOURCES

• Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around by Justin Giboney — ivpress.com
• The AND Campaign — andcampaign.org

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Subscribe to The UpWords Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and visit slbf.org/studio to learn more about our work at the intersection of faith, the academy, and the marketplace.

This episode was created by the SLBF STUDIO at Upper House.

Produced by Daniel Johnson and Dave Conour

Edited by Dave Conour