PODCASTS

Tag: culture
Super Bowl Sunday – A Faith-Based Vantage Point – Paul Asay – 2/09/24

Super Bowl Sunday – A Faith-Based Vantage Point – Paul Asay – 2/09/24

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With 70 percent of American TV households plugged in, the Super Bowl draws millions of eyeballs, adjusts peoples social schedules, and dominates public discussion throughout an early February weekend. It consistently is #1-watched TV show of the year. (Plus all that doesn’t even include the people who listen on the radio, watch through streaming, or just look up the Super Bowl ads on the internet!)

Family Life News talked with movie & television reviewer Paul Asay about how the Super Bowl broadcast has become such a huge event. We especially wanted a faith-based angle on the hype, from this editor of the Christian media site Plugged In.

Paul Asay gives his take on how massive the Super Bowl has become, including its role as one of the few broadcasts which remind us of a “monolithic culture…where people would all watch the same sitcoms and same adventure shows.” There are lessons from the Big Game weekend for Christian individuals and households, as well as for churches.

Another Family Life Interview about the Super Bowl, its commercials, and its hype aired Thursday (February 7).  Hear commentary from Robert Thompson, the well-respected Television & Culture professor at Syracuse University. That conversation is available separately on the Family Life news podcasts page.
Making Sense of the Super Bowl Hype – Robert Thompson – 2/08/24

Making Sense of the Super Bowl Hype – Robert Thompson – 2/08/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:55 — 13.6MB)

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It annually is the biggest American television program of the year.  (Not even counting the global audience.)

It’s commercials are anticipated, reviewed, over-analyzed, and cost $7,000,000 for 30 seconds.

Even even non-football-fans get drawn into the hype.

Businesses and churches and groups adjust their schedules to avoid conflicting with one of the nation’s hugest non-holiday holidays.

The Super Bowl has come to have a massive influence on American society. For perspectives on how the game became so big, Family Life’s Greg Gillispie talks with Robert Thompson, an expert of television and its effects on culture. Among the topics:

  • How the calendar and the NFL’s creativity have moved Super Bowl Sunday to such a national festival day
  • What is it that makes Super Bowl commercials such a topic of conversation
  • Why those advertisers see enough value to make it worth paying so much to buy the ad slot and produce a “film-festival-worthy” commercial
  • How the Super Bowl has become one of the few “shared experiences” Americans have, in our fractured media landscape

 

Robert Thompson is director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.  He teaches courses on the impact of media and has written five books and edited an ongoing series about television and society.

 

 

Also from Family Life’s News Podcasts:  Paul Asay of “Plugged In” offers his insights on Super Bowls — including a Christian angle on the widespread popularity of the Super Bowl as a national event, how we need a few shared experiences across a wide swath of the culture, and how Christian messages like “HeGetsUs” can share the Gospel with millions in a single broadcast. Listen for that additional interview here.
Issues in Education – 2/05/24

Issues in Education – 2/05/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:13 — 8.5MB)

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Feds have delayed FAFSA forms, for college-bound students

Paying parents to get their children to go to school

Changing Columbus Day and Veterans Day on some schools’ calendars

 

Education consultant Dr. Ralph Kerr discusses the weighty issues in education.  He’s founder and president of the Teaching and Learning Institute which exists to get Christians involved in their local public schools.

Christian Culture, Pop Culture, and navigating the world where Taylor Swift is “everywhere” – 1/29/24

Christian Culture, Pop Culture, and navigating the world where Taylor Swift is “everywhere” – 1/29/24

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Keeping Pop Culture in check,

Spiritual truths, amid Taylor Swift’s popularity,

And helping children and teens to prioritize their faith, even using lessons from celebrities.

We have an exclusive interview with Paul Asay of the PLUGGED IN entertainment reviews, a Family Life Interview from the January 29 Noon Report.

Paul Asay is the supervising editor of PLUGGED IN, which offers family-friendly reviews of movies, television, streamed programs, social media, music, video games, and other entertainment content. An outreach of Focus on the Family, PLUGGED IN provides short reviews (with an eye and ear toward Christian parents and their children), expanded conversations about media and culture, and blog posts to help mindful parents guide their children’s choices — and insightful household discussions about the media surrounding us.

PLUGGED IN also regularly features their recommendations on the best entertainment options for young audiences.

 

 

 

 

PA & NY – Capital Connection – Year in Review 2023

PA & NY – Capital Connection – Year in Review 2023

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:34 — 14.5MB)

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The Year-End edition of Family Life’s “Capital Connection”

Family Life news anchor Bob Price brings together our primary political/cultural commentators for our annual year-end roundtable. The “Capital Connection” crew evaluates the top five news stories from 2023 in New York State and Pennsylvania.

Listen to their recap of the biggest news and the long-lasting issues which developed across the past 12 months.

 

Jason McGuire is executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedom, a grassroots organization which is active in influencing the state’s elected leaders. [Online: AlbanyUpdate.com]

Michael Geer is president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which holds a strong presence at the state capitol in Harrisburg and sponsors local pro-family events. [Online: PAFamily.org]

 

 

 

Dr. Wayne Lewis on the Rise of Antisemitism – 12/07/23

Dr. Wayne Lewis on the Rise of Antisemitism – 12/07/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:45 — 7.9MB)

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 Houghton University President Dr. Wayne Lewis discusses the recent rise of hate-speech directed at Jewish-Americans on U-S college campuses.

This special Family Life Interview aired in the Noon Report on Thursday, December 7, the same week that several major university presidents testified on Capitol Hill about the climate and safety of students amid the growing number of demonstrations related to the war between Hamas and Isreal.

 

Trustees at Houghton University recently renewed the calling of Dr. Wayne Lewis, Jr.  as president for an extended term through 2028.

Issues in Education – Dr. Ralph Kerr – 11/13/23

Issues in Education – Dr. Ralph Kerr – 11/13/23

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Family Life’s “Issues in Education”

Dr. Ralph Kerr, a longtime school administrator and the founder of the Teaching and Learning Institute talks about key issues happening now among classrooms, school boards, and communities. These conversations are important for parents, extended families and taxpayers.

This week:

  • The “Migrant Crisis” goes to school
  • College Courses on Anti-Semitism
  • What’s happening with the shortage of Milk Cartons?

Ralph Kerr founded the Teaching and Learning Institute, an advocacy organization which encourages people of faith to be actively involved in their local schools and school boards. TLI is based in Houghton, New York. Bob Price is your host for our weekly Monday feature.

Inside Out – Biblical Worldview – Barna Research – 11/01/23

Inside Out – Biblical Worldview – Barna Research – 11/01/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:34 — 22.8MB)

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We develop our way of looking at the world—our worldview—before we turn 13.

Remarkably, new research finds that fewer than one in ten parents think through how to guide their children spiritually during those critical years.  

Dr. George Barna directs the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University and includes these findings in his new book Raising Spiritual Champions: Nurturing Your Child’s Heart, Mind and Soul. “Everybody has a worldview. You need a worldview to get through the day,” Barna says. “So children are going to develop a worldview whether their parents are involved in it or not. That is a vacuum that has to be filled.” 

If parents don’t work toward developing their children’s spiritual life, other worldviews will fill that void. “Without their parents being there to help guide them, they’re just doing the best they can to make sense of it all.” Barna offers ways to help parents to live out their roles as disciple-makers.  “The first of those is to recognize that God gave them these children to raise up to be disciples,” he says.  So it’s important to be intentional and not outsource this critical part of parenting.  

“They have to have not only a commitment, but a plan to take in these children during those formative 12 years, and do everything they can to lead them down the right path.” That begins by knowing what beliefs you as a parent want your children to embrace.  “Why? Because we do what we believe. In essence, your worldview is based on your beliefs, that then gets translated into behavior,” he says.  

“The only way that you can be Christlike is to think like Jesus so that you can live like Jesus.” 

Children see when stated beliefs are not reflected in behavior.  “Kids don’t trust their parents anymore because their parents say one thing and do another. You want to get to your kids? Model the beliefs that you’re trying to teach them. When they see you live it out, then they’re going to say, ‘Okay, I see it. It works. My parents believe it. I’m going to run with it.’” 

Underlying all of this, Dr. George Barna recommends that Christian parents bear in mind the context of all of their parenting.  “Parenting is a vital battle in the spiritual war in which we live,” he says. “We have to be aware of the nature of that battle if we’re going to fight it well.” 

Follow-up links for more information and inspiration:

Inside Out – Finding Unity, We are Agents of Grace – 08/23/23

Inside Out – Finding Unity, We are Agents of Grace – 08/23/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:45 — 18.9MB)

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Bridging divides — and loving as Jesus loved — amid this era of conflict, in the church and in the culture:

“Strive actively for peace”

Conflict over presidential politics and pandemic precautions revealed the substantial divisions between Christians that we live with today. “The divisions that we’re seeing in the American church—the conversations—are not different than the ones that are happening in the world. Every institution is going through this,” says pastor and author Daniel Darling. “But as Christians we have an opportunity to model something different. That Jesus said that the world would know that we are His by the way we love each other.”  

Darling writes about which things should divide us — and which things should not — in his new book Agents of Grace.  

“I think part of that is understanding the things that we need to contend for, right?” he asks. “Paul says to Timothy ‘fight the good fight.’ And then there are other things that are important but not ultimate, right? He also tells Timothy, later in 2 Timothy, to avoid stupid and foolish questions.” We should be able to live in unity with believers who differ with us on the less important choices that are part of living as a Christian. If there’s going to be division, it should only be to defend what’s essential to the Gospel.   

“I think we have that upside down a little bit,” Darling says, “and we’ve succumbed to the sort of divisiveness of the spirit of the age.” 

So how do we learn to bridge divides and love as Jesus loved? One way, Darling suggests, is to choose not to assume bad motives on the part of believers we disagree with. Another way is to faithfully hold on to our friends, even when we disagree with them.  “These are hard and tumultuous times, and the more that we hang on to our friendships, the more that we love our brothers and sisters, the more we can do together. I think the Enemy—Satan—really wants to divide Christians and get us distracted so that we can’t fulfill the mission of God,” Darling says. 

That said, Darling sees many reasons to hold onto hope for the Church.  “God is active and alive today. We should ask ourselves, ‘What is God up to? What is God doing? What is He about to do in the world? And how do we join Him?’” 

Learn more about Daniel Darling here and here. 

Feature: Marketing Messages vs. Consumer Power – 08/15/23

Feature: Marketing Messages vs. Consumer Power – 08/15/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:31 — 9.0MB)

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Advertisers have often “pushed the envelope” to gather attention, promote causes, and seek market share.

Recently, several major corporations have adopted policies in their stores and in their marketing that resulted in consumer push-back. For example, Bud Light lost a major portion of its revenue so far in 2023, after an online promotional campaign which featured a “transgender influencer.” Many consumers stopped buying from that company.  (By the way, our guest today says that after Bud Light reversed course and focused on traditional advertising, some of their new customers who liked the Dylan Mulvaney promotion also boycotted the brewer because they had backtracked.)

Dr. Rich Kocur teaches management and marketing at Grove City College, a Christian university in Grove City, Pennsylvania. The professor offers us history into “cause campaigns”, some behind-the-scenes insights into how advertising shapes its message, and the impact of two-way communication online. He says social media makes it easier for consumers to complain and to band together. Listen for this expanded conversation on how corporate advertisers are pushing limits, and how their customers often are pushing back.

  • For further information: Dr. Kocur also discusses this issue in this online article for the Institute for Faith and Freedom. Read about his insights on advertising and consumer research, as well as his own professional experience with marketing dilemmas which companies can face.

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