PODCASTS

Tag: #FAMILYLIFENEWS
Staycation – Elk Country – Bonus Content

Staycation – Elk Country – Bonus Content

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Staycation – Elk Country – Bonus Content

 

Pennsylvania Elk Country Educator Ben Porkolab is featured on this week’s Family Life “Staycation Destinations”.

You can hear that primary feature here from FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts.

 

He also wanted to add some advice for those who go to the Elk Country Visitors Center, any of the nearby national forest or state park areas, or some other place in these 11 counties in north central Pennsylvania.

Tap the podcast player on this page for this bonus content with Porkolab’s recommendations to enjoy watching the elk, but keeping you and your family safe, if you get “up close and personal” around one of these majestic animals.

 

 

Also, the website for the Elk Country Visitors Center has a full library of images and videos of the elk in Elk County and beyond … like this one:

 
Churches and Political Actions – Kim Roberts – 8/29/24

Churches and Political Actions – Kim Roberts – 8/29/24

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Churches and Political Actions

A Family Life Interview with Kim Roberts

Many churches and denominations can be labeled as supportive of one side of the political spectrum or the other. Others avoid politics at all costs.

Part of the reason congregations avoid actions and speech related to electoral politics is fear of risking their non-profit status. However, federal law and IRS regulations do not silence Christian entities which want to promote voting and motivate their people into political action.

Family Life News asked reporter Kim Roberts to detail her research into what is and isn’t allowed when churches and campaigns overlap. Christian individuals can always be active with promoting or opposing a candidate, but when it comes to 501(c)3 organizations, they have to stay non-partisan about candidates. Yet churches and other religious ministries are free to speak out on public issues that weigh on the ballot box. There are no IRS consequences for churches to hold candidate forums, carry out voter registration or get-out-the-vote efforts, or offer rides to the polls. In fact, as you will hear in this conversation, the Church throughout history has been vibrant and vocal in the political and social issues around them.

Kim Roberts, a reporter for the Christian journalism organization Ministry Watch, also discusses how local, state and national candidates reach out to churches, in order to influence their members to vote a certain way. Also, political and culture-fight organizations are finding ways to motivate people of faith to elect certain candidates or stand for particular political issues.

Kim Roberts, MinistryWatch.com

Kim Robert’s detailed article “Church and Politics: What’s Allowed?” is available from www.MinistryWatch.com.  She also has other reporting on many faith-based events and issues.

Among the resources for congregations and church leaders — and other groups — she mentions in this podcast:

  • An IRS document, detailing the distinctions for 501(c)3 organizations on partisan politicking (not allowed) and lobbying (allowed)
  • Election guides for congregational planning from the NAACP and the Alliance Defending Freedom
  • Turning Point USA’s TPFaith efforts to motivate political and cultural action by conservative and mid-spectrum Christians
  • Black Church PAC’s plans to carry out a massive voter mobilization effort this fall
  • A political science professor’s observation that it is extremely rare that the IRS revokes a church’s charitable status, even if they carry out activities that lean solidly toward one candidate or one political party
Inside Out – Loving the Christian Nationalists – 8/28/24

Inside Out – Loving the Christian Nationalists – 8/28/24

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“Loving Christian Nationalists”

The “Inside Out” Podcast from Family Life News

What are the best ways to love our Christian nationalist friends? Martha talks with pastor Caleb E. Campbell about the topic Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor

 

Christian nationalism promises both security at a time when many Americans feel insecure and powerless. But Phoenix Pastor Caleb E. Campbell points out that only Jesus Christ holds real power and offers true security. That means that people who follow the crucified and risen Christ have good news to share with their Christian nationalist friends.

“The means of American Christian Nationalism are in direct conflict with the teachings of Scripture which call us to love our neighbor as our self, to take up our cross, not the sword, to practice the fruit of the Spirit and First Corinthians 13 love,” Campbell says. “And the fruit of that is that we bear witness to the Kingdom of God not as culture warriors, but as ambassadors to the Kingdom.”

“What they claim that they want is a righteous country. They want a place where justice rules. Those are good ends. But the means by which they’re arguing we should pursue those ends is not a cross-centered posture, but a sword-centered posture,” he adds.

This doesn’t make Christian nationalists the enemy, Campbell says. This makes Christian nationalists the mission field. “We are to set the table of hospitality, study the culture, and show the inconsistencies of their currently-held convictions.”

But we must go on mission knowing that loving, listening, and talking with Christian nationalist friends may not change their minds and hearts. “We can’t change anybody. Only God can do that. So my job is not to bear the responsibility of changing someone. Rather, my invitation is to be faithful to Jesus in the conversations that I’m invited into, or that I invite others into.”

Campbell reminds us that at the core of the Christian faith is this hope: change is possible.

“I firmly believe that there are people that the Spirit of the living God will use our words, our relationship or our hospitality to bring about the fruit of repentance in their life,” he says. “The frustrating part is, sometimes it’s going to take a long time, and oftentimes I won’t be there to see it,” Campbell says. “And so I’m going to entrust that to God’s hands not mine.”

Caleb E. Campbell is the author of the new book Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor.

 
Hometown Heroes – Tim Kolpien – Elmira Impact – 8/27/24

Hometown Heroes – Tim Kolpien – Elmira Impact – 8/27/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:43 — 9.2MB)

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“Hometown Heroes” on Family Life

A hockey team which is making an impact in Elmira is seeking host families for its players.

Hear about the mission of the Elmira Impact teams from Tim Kolpien.

Family Life’s Bob Price asks him about the types of players who use the Impact as a path toward higher callings and future advancement in their sport.

 

 

For more information:

  • The Elmira Impact website
  • The program’s mission
  • The search for “Billet Families” who welcome a player into their homes
  • For churches and mission agencies who could use a little help on a special project, these players also carry out community service. You can contact the team with suggestions and requests to have these young men help.

 

“Hometown Heroes” on Family Life profiles individuals and programs in New York and Pennsylvania actively making a difference in their communities. Listen each Tuesday during the Noon Report and the 5 O’Clock Report, then find the current and previous podcast versions at www.FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts.
Elections: Christian voter turnout falls short at the ballot box – 8/27/24

Elections: Christian voter turnout falls short at the ballot box – 8/27/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:44 — 9.3MB)

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Elections: Christian voter turnout falls short at the ballot box

One public opinion poll says one-third of Christian voters stay home on election day and don’t cast ballots.

A Christian social advocate says people of faith who choose not to practice what he calls their “Biblical Citizenship” are instead handing over their influence to other groups who do not share the same values.

Executive Director Jason McGuire of the New York Family Foundation says other constituencies have voter turnout that tops 90 percent for every election.

 

This week (8/27/2024) Family Life News is airing (and podcasting) a series of extended interviews giving a deeper dive into this year’s elections, beyond the individual candidates and campaigns.

In this conversation about Christians’ roles to shape government, McGuire also talks about:

  • Biblical mandates for faithful interaction with voting, campaigns and social action
  • Why some Christians believe they should avoid all of politics and partisanship
  • How Christians should consider an entire ballot and its consequences, not just the presidential choices
  • What a proposed Constitutional amendment in New York State could mean for Christ-centered citizens, people who hold traditional values, and all of their neighbors too
  • An effort to increase Christian turnout for early voting and on November 5 locally and in all 50 states, and how to sign up for non-partisan e-mail reminders

 

PA as a swing state, and the narrow slice of undecided voters – 8/26/24

PA as a swing state, and the narrow slice of undecided voters – 8/26/24

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PA as a swing state, and a narrow slice of undecided voters – 8/26/2024

 

In this special Family Life Interview, political scientist Mark Caleb Smith analyzes how the two major political parties will need to focus on about 5% of eligible voters, and to push huge turnout among their own base voters — in order to win the presidential race, seats on Capitol Hill, and other November races.

Dr. Smith also gives his insights into Pennsylvania’s role as perhaps the most-signficant among a handful of “swing” states in this election battle, and why Gov. Josh Shapiro was not the running mate on the Democratic ticket.

 

 

Dr. Mark Caleb Smith is dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Cedarville University, where he is also professor of political science.

Cedarville is a Christian university in southwestern Ohio.

 

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