Huckabee Guests

Happy New Year Everyone! Welcome to the first show of 2025. In the almost 7 ½ years of doing the show, it’s been an absolute joy to be part of your life by connecting you with newsmakers, musicians, magicians, comedians, acrobats, and hometown heroes from across the world.

As you know, President Trump has nominated me to become the US Ambassador to Israel so I’ll be going through the process of Senate confirmation and hopefully will be approved. But it will mean that I’ll have to give up doing this show and that makes the appointment a bittersweet proposition. It means moving to Israel and divesting myself of a plate-full of activities and business interests. It will involve moving away from my children and grandchildren and having limited times to see them for the next few years. If I stay in the position for the full-term some of them will be almost grown by the time of our return. That makes this tough to contemplate, but I move forward believing that God has opened this door and is calling me to join the prophet Isaiah in saying, “Here am I Lord, send me.”

As we start preparing and presenting the final episodes of the Huckabee Show, we do so with gratitude for your faithful viewership that’s made us the most watched show on the network and a show that pioneered new standards for a variety show from a wholesome, family-friendly perspective. 

We launched in the fall of 2017 in this beautiful, remodeled theater. Even most of the network leaders figured that the show might last 3 years before I was ready to move on. But after almost 7 ½ years, the only reason this show will conclude is due to the President asking me to serve my country as Ambassador to Israel. I really had planned on continuing the show for as long as TBN wanted me and as long as I was capable of doing. 

The next few weeks will be marked by updates on how and when we will land the show safely on the runway. But be assured, we plan to save the best for the last!

It’s a new year, and we will have a new President, a new Senate and a new House. There are several new Governors across the country and there is hope and opportunities for us to actually Make America Great Again. I’m praying that’s more than a campaign slogan, but is the reality of policies that will restore our economy so that everyone has a good paying job, that the scourge of high prices for gas and groceries will get back to being affordable, that home ownership can again become doable for younger Americans, and that we see the cessation of military conflicts around the globe and a restoration of peace. I will especially hope for peace in the Middle East where I will be involved in trying to bring it. Saying the phrase “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” will take on new meaning for Janet and me as we will soon be living there and not just visiting.

I believe that the people’s voice and vote in the recent election were a mandate to get back to sanity and common sense. No more nonsense of pretending that boys can be girls or that we should allow people to storm across our borders without even having to register who they are, why they are coming, where they are going or if they have a communicable disease. It was a mandate to have a government that didn’t use its power to attack, arrest and criminalize people for having a different political view or a government that would deny assistance after a natural disaster because they voted differently than taxpayer funded officials believed they should have voted. It was a mandate to restore real justice so that violent criminals aren’t put back on the streets while the victims are being kept in the hospital. 

2025 will be a year with a LOT of changes…changes for this show, for me personally, and for the country. But one thing won’t change—that God loves us, has a plan for us, and will keep us in his Hand as we depend on Him!

7 ½ years; 380 shows; hundreds of guests from all over the world. We started this show with an interview with the then sitting President from the White House Donald Trump. We’ve spoken with Presidents of nations, Prime Ministers, and had a sitting Vice-President in our theater. We’ve had numerous Presidential candidates, dozens of Senators, Congressmen, and Governors come to this stage. It’s been the ride of my life and sadly, tonight we land it for the last time and taxi to the hangar for good.

As you know, President Trump has asked me to serve as Ambassador to Israel. Frankly, I wasn’t interested in getting back into government. I loved my experience as a Lt. Governor and for almost 11 years a Governor. But I’ve been blessed to be in the private sector and have been enjoying a really good and productive life. As I’ve said over the past 2 months, had President Trump asked me to babysit a bloated federal bureaucracy or oil the machinery of some massive monolithic agency, I would have politely said “no thanks.” But he called out of the blue and asked me to go to Israel as his Ambassador there. And to that I could do nothing less than the prophet Isaiah and say, “Here am I Lord, send me.” And should the Senate confirm me in the coming weeks, Janet and I will pack up and make the most impactful move of our 50 ½ years of marriage and set our faces toward Jerusalem. Now, I do hope you realize how scary it is to know your future is in the hands of the US Senate!

We have lived in 12 places over the years—the longest being the Governors Mansion in Arkansas, which by the way was the only house we were evicted from, and that being “government housing.” Our first place was half of a tiny (and I mean TINY) duplex that was barely 2 rooms and a little kitchen and we paid all of $40 a month for it. And at $40 a month it was terribly overpriced! We’ve owned some wonderful homes and have ended up living better than we ever dreamed. God has been beyond good to us. But we never imagined we would be pulling up stakes and moving to Israel. God does have a great sense of humor!

My first trip to Israel was almost 52 years ago. I was still a teenager—a month shy of my 18th birthday. It was the beginning of a deep love for the country and the people there and like a magnet I was drawn to go repeatedly. I’ve taken tens of thousands of people there over the years. But my next journey there won’t be a TOUR, but a TASK for which I urge you to pray that God will give favor and grace to accomplish.

This show has been beyond wonderful to be part of. You only saw the main faces of the show, Keith Bilbrey, Tre Corley, and me. What you didn’t see were the dozens of people behind the scenes who really do the heavy lifting of making the show something special…something very bold for a Christian network. Matt and Laurie Crouch who lead TBN believed in us and gave us the resources to put a show on each week that equaled or exceeded the production quality of ANYTHING on television. That was not as much my doing as it was the highly skilled, top of the heap people behind the cameras, designing the lighting, operating state of the art sound both in the theater and for broadcast, the incredible team of producers, production assistants, people running the control room and those working backstage to make every guest feel at home and comfortable. And our audience-experience team made every guest who came to watch in person feel a part of the show. We’ve had almost 64,000 people come to our show in person…from all 50 states and numerous foreign countries. If Covid hadn’t forced us to suspend audiences totally for 14 weeks and have limited audiences in the transition, we would have had over 76,000 people in attendance. And 70% of our audience was from out of town or out of state. Our show has had impact on hotels, restaurants, and retail businesses here in our home of Hendersonville.

We’ve had some of the greatest musical legends performing on our stage. We’ve had acrobats, many magicians, and some novelty acts that had us worried! We helped you laugh with some of the best comedians in show business and always kept it wholesome and family friendly.

But tonight we unsaddle the horse after we take our final ride.

Thanks to our incredible team who made it work. For TBN for investing in a show that we could all be proud of. To our many on-air show guests who brought their stories, their experiences, and their expertise to our stage. And to our audience at home for helping us be the number one show on the network, as well as our weekly studio audience who came to see how we made the sausage. Most of all, thanks be to God who we trust was glorified by what we did and how we did it.

I won’t say “goodbye” but rather, “goodnight…we will see you again somewhere, somehow, someway.” Maybe in Israel, maybe back here in the US, or maybe, just as the hymn says, “When We All Get to Heaven.” Thanks for the memories!

Since being named runner-up on season 20 of ABC’s American Idol, HunterGirl’s authenticity, unwavering tenacity and heart of gold have positioned her as Country’s next start, earning praise she’d only dreamed of—like Idol judge and Country icon Luke Bryan praised her as the “new Miranda Lambert” and his “favorite female Country voice.”  Moreover, American Songwriter celebrated that “her crooning vocals… made her one to watch in the Country scene,” People Magazine applauded her “incredible voice,” and CMT her “soaring vocals and superstar potential,” while Billboard solidified her inevitable superstar status, noting she “has wowed the County music community since she stepped onto the American Idol stage.  Skyrocketing to No. 1 on iTunes All-Genre and Country charts with her earnest and deeply personal original track “Red Bird,” she’s performed on Live with Kelly & Ryan, appeared on Good Morning America, and was named a 2023 Artist to Watch by Music Mayhem.