When the Boy Scouts of America decided to accept gay scouts, many Christian families, some with rich histories in Scouting, became concerned. Those concerns turned to alarm as the Boy Scouts allowed gay adult leaders, and, most recently, transgender youth. Those families worked to form Trail Life USA in 2014 as a Christian alternative to Boy Scouts. I spoke with Trail Life USA CEO Mark Hancock at the group’s headquarters, Camp Aiken, in South Carolina.

Chad Lawson’s album The Chopin Variations reached No. 1 on the Billboard, iTunes, and Amazon Classical charts in 2015. His jazz recordings have developed a passionate and growing following. And his music has appeared in such television shows as The Walking Dead, Dawson’s Creek, and Vampire Diaries, as well as many television commercials and some movies. Lawson is a committed Christian who until recently played piano at a large church in Charlotte, N.C.

Until recently, former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory was known as a moderate Republican who governed from a centrist position. Then he found himself at the middle of a national controversy about transgender bathroom use that some say cost him the election. I recently spoke with McCrory at a gathering of conservative activists in Orlando, Fla., where he was a featured speaker.

R.R. “Rusty” Reno has been the editor of First Things magazine since 2011. The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Lutheran who eventually became a Catholic priest, founded the publication in the 1990s to give the Religious Right a richer theological and philosophical vocabulary. I had this conversation with Reno at the Union League Club in New York.

Emily Buchanan is the executive vice president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which works to advance pro-life policies around the nation. I spoke with her recently about the state of pro-life advocacy before and after 2016’s landmark election.  

Kristan Hawkins launched Students for Life America’s full-time operation in 2006 and has since helped grow its number of pro-life campus groups from 180 to more than 1,000 in all 50 states. I talked with her recently about the state of the pro-life movement.

A group of Charlotte, N.C.,  businessmen that included William Graham, the father of world famous evangelist Billy Graham, founded Charlotte Rescue Mission in 1938. Today, the mission runs a 120-day residential program for men and women struggling with addiction. The Christ-centered ministry accepts no funding from the government or the United Way. I talked recently with Tony Marciano, who just celebrated 20 years as the mission’s executive director.