For a quarter of a century, John Kasich has championed ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.
Though probably best-known for his time in politics—18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, a two-term governor of Ohio, and runs for the presidency in 2000 and 2016—Kasich is also the author of several books which share a common theme: the power of the individual and of faith to shape change in America.
In his 1998 book “Courage Is Contagious,” for example, Kasich introduced readers to everyday Americans who were giving their time, talent, and treasure to help others. By its title alone, his 2019 book “It’s Up to Us: Ten Little Ways We Can Bring About Big Change” summed up the Kasich approach to confronting and solving many of our country’s problems.
His latest book is “Heaven Help Us: How Faith Communities Inspire Hope, Strengthen Neighborhoods, and Build the Future.”
Here, Kasich zooms in on 15 Americans, all of whom are making a difference in the lives of others and whose efforts were vastly enhanced with the support of churches, synagogues, or mosques.
According to Kasich, anyone can make a difference. (Courtesy of John Kasich)
Lisa Liberatore, the mother of an autistic son, is an example: With her church, she helped found work programs and housing for other autistic young people. Bob Freeman’s vision of religious ecumenism led to the Tri-Faith Center, a campus featuring a mosque, a synagogue, and a church along with an interfaith worship center.
A brief conversation with Mother Teresa turned Hal Donaldson’s life around, and with the help of churches, he founded Convoy of Hope, which brings food to the poor and to victims of natural disasters.
Recently, Kasich spoke with American Essence and revealed more about his faith and his advocacy for institutional religion in today’s America. Few politicians have been so forthright and clear about faith, religion, and the importance of the individual as the former governor was in this interview.
On Why He Wrote ‘Heaven Help Us’
You know, I was talking to some friends today, and they didn’t understand what this book is about. And I said, “Well, if you care about what we can do about the homeless, about poverty, about autism, then you want to read the book, because this is an action plan.” It’s a playbook for how you solve a lot of these problems at a time when the country is divided, a way in [which] we can build from the bottom up, and start to rebuild a stronger America.
“Heaven Help Us,” Kasich’s newest book, presents faith and faith communities as important platforms for societal change. (Courtesy of John Kasich)
On God and Objective Truth
Faith in God, faith in a higher power, carries with it responsibilities. We live in a country now where the truth is being defined subjectively rather than objectively, and when you don’t have objective truth, then people can pursue their own aims, their own efforts, without regard to a moral compass, what our responsibilities are to ourselves, to our families, to others. This creates a chaotic environment when truth is subjective and not objective, because then we have a hard time, as a society, agreeing on anything—what’s appropriate and what’s not appropriate. I think that in a free society, we have to govern ourselves, and I think we best govern ourselves when we have an objective reality and an objective definition of truth, of what is and what doesn’t change throughout the ages.On Faith
I have a lot of friends who are theologians—and some brilliant theologians—and they say that faith is a gift, that faith first comes from God, and God sent you a message. Then the question gets to be, do you hear the message? And secondly, are you open to the message? I have a guy I know, and I keep telling him to listen hard for the Lord. And he says, “Well, lately I haven’t been listening very well, and I’m going to get back to it.” It’s not like you just will yourself into faith. It’s not like lifting weights, you know, if you can just work harder, you’ll have more faith. I think faith is a gift, and I think it comes from God contacting you directly. And so, if people get that faith, and I pray that they do, they understand who God is. In the end, no matter what it is, all things work to the best for those who love God. Then, you have a sense of a sort of security that you don’t have when you don’t have that faith. You begin to know in your mind that there’s somebody pulling for you.
As a former representative and governor of Ohio, Kasich has long been invested in America’s future. (Courtesy of John Kasich)
The great golfer, Scottie Scheffler, being interviewed at the British Open, started to talk about things that I think a lot of the reporters didn’t understand. He said, “I work as hard as I can. I have great exhilaration when I win, but then five minutes later, it’s like, OK, where are we going to dinner? You know, you get up to the summit and you find out you’re still empty.” And he was talking about a relationship with the Almighty. Sometimes people can hear that, and other times they can’t. I thought it was a really important message from him.
On Religion, Trouble, and Hard Times
I wrote “Heaven Help Us” because I wanted to say that our faith institutions offer a platform. They offer material support, psychological support, people support—building a team.Do you go to church? If you don’t go, then you should find one and talk to the minister, whoever’s in charge, and say, “Here’s my issue. Will you help?” If they’re not interested, find another one. In the beginning, you’re going to have to carry a lot of the load. You’ll be a little frustrated. But as time goes on, they’ll begin helping you, and you’ll begin to have success. That’s the beauty of working through the platform of church communities. It gives you a chance. As the song goes, “It don’t come easy,” but it’s not that hard to find a kind person who’s involved in a faith institution and tell them what your problem is and see if they’ll help.
(Courtesy of John Kasich)
On the Power of One
You can’t think: “I’m going to go out and change the universe.” But the funny thing is, you can change the universe by doing a little thing. Never underestimate how small acts bring change. I’ve seen it happen in my lifetime. Just being kind can make a big difference. Don’t be thinking that you don’t have any power, and don’t think that what you do doesn’t matter. I think it’s important for people to put themselves in other people’s shoes and to think about what their lives are like when our lives are blessed and good and positive. It’s not enough to just carry on without looking around.
So, let’s help people. It’s a combination of the federal government, the state government, and the local government combined with charity. That’s what Convoy of Hope [was] doing down in Texas [during the July 2025 flooding]. They [were] doing their job, and they [were] there with FEMA and everybody else, and that’s good. It’s a combination that can bring about a beautiful success.
It’s really about respecting people and treating them with great dignity, which is what we need in this country, instead of being in some verbal fight. Everybody deserves to be respected, and everyone’s made in the image of God.
This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
