PODCASTS

Tag: #FAMILYLIFENEWS

Christian Athletes in Public Schools – A Family Life Interview – 10/10/23

Christian Athletes in Public Schools – A Family Life Interview – 10/10/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:16 — 12.7MB)

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Starting with an event in Rochester on Wednesday, October 11, many local “huddles” of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in New York and Pennsylvania — and across the nation — will hold a public rally called “Fields of Faith”. These annual spiritual outreaches happen under the lights of a high school football field or at a college soccer stadium.

In this special Family Life feature, you will hear from two Pennsylvania high school seniors preview their “Fields of Faith” events, but also give a broader view of how FCA spreads the gospel on their campuses. There is also discussion of how today’s generation of teens are finding that the Good News of Jesus provides answers and perspectives to the unique needs and internal hungers of young people in the 2020s.

Our guests are Jack Anderson, an FCA leader at Plum High School, and Abbie Johns, who is on the leadership team of FCA at Kiski Area High School.

Greg Gillispie also talks with Tim Florian, a FCA regional staff person in western Pennsylvania. In that part of this conversation, Florian says that (despite what some listeners might presume) many public schools are very welcoming and supportive of a Christian student group which is active — and life-changing — among their students.

Go to fieldsoffaith.com to find a map and schedule of the Fields of Faith rallies in our two states and elsewhere. (Most happen in October, but there are also several November events.) Go to FCA.org for more about the ministry of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Issues in Education – e-Buses for Schools, Textbook Transparency? – 10/09/23

Issues in Education – e-Buses for Schools, Textbook Transparency? – 10/09/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:51 — 8.0MB)

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“Issues in Education” on Family Life

Most Mondays at Noon, we bring you a conversation with education watchdog Ralph Kerr, with an eye toward the issues and debates happening surrounding public schools in Pennsylvania and New York. This feature also is available for listening, subscribing, or downloading from www.FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts 24/7.

 

Here is some of what we have for you in this week’s episode:

  • Controversial curriculum…Is New York State “mandating” or merely “recommending” DEI and CRT curriculum for local school districts?
  • Transparency in education…Will parents really check into all those online textbooks?
  • Rollin’ Out Electric Buses…How many e-buses can you buy with $100,000,000 in taxpayer money?

 

Dr. Ralph Kerr is a regular contributor to Family Life News. He founded and heads the Teaching and Learning Institute. It’s website is WhyRun.org, named as such with a goal to encourage concerned citizens to become candidates for their local school board.

Capital Connection – Migrants & Jobs, the March for Life, and more – 10/06/23

Capital Connection – Migrants & Jobs, the March for Life, and more – 10/06/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:24 — 14.3MB)

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Pennsylvania’s upcoming “March For Life”, New York’s policies for border-crossing migrants and work permits, and the tangled rollout of a legalized marijuana marketplace in the Empire State.

Jason McGuire and Michael Geer are fighting to protect the rights of Christians in the public square.  This week’s “Capital Connection” feature explores what’s happening this week at the state capitals in Harrisburg and Albany

Autumn Leaves – a Fall Foliage Tour of PA & NY – 10/06/23

Autumn Leaves – a Fall Foliage Tour of PA & NY – 10/06/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:39 — 14.6MB)

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Many New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians (plus guests to the two states) spend an afternoon, a weekend, or a week — out in nature and enjoying the divine design of autumn’s leaf colors.

Certified Arborist Jerrod Webber and Natural Resources Specialist Ryan Reed gives you a forecast on the best views in our two states this month. They also explain how wet/dry weather, wildfire smoke, and the temperatures of the week you go touring all affect the abundance and the beauty of your leaf watching.

Pennsylvania’s weekly Fall Leaves Forecast

New York State Department of Forestry

Faith Under Fire – “Incurable Faith” when you face an “incurable” disease – 10/05/23

Faith Under Fire – “Incurable Faith” when you face an “incurable” disease – 10/05/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:52 — 10.8MB)

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A very personalized take on this week’s “Faith Under Fire“. Rather than national and cultural issues we often cover here, today we offer insights and inspiration on how Christians can maintain their faith — while fighting life-threatening diseases, chronic conditions, and/or long-term stays in hospital or rehab center.

Our guest has a personal story full of such challenges. Christian writer Andrea Herzer tells us about her 20 years of serious diseases, chronic pain, dozens of treatments, and more. Even through these hardships — including eight years unable to walk — she saw how the Lord offered her such confidence and blessings. To use her experiences and discoveries as encouragement for others, she has written a Biblical devotional book with the appropriate title: “Incurable Faith“. Her message to people who are suffering is simply this — even when you have a season when your vitality feels like it is fading, your faith can still be flourishing.

In her devotional writings, she recognizes that some patients (and some of their caregivers) are not up for much reading or in-depth spiritual reflection. Based on her first-hand journey through this series of so-called “incurable” diseases, she offers a three-part menu of readings — short and simple spiritual thoughts, more extended devotions, and longer detailed writings to guide someone through their current challenge (be that medical or something else).

In this interview with Greg Gillispie, Herzer speaks her wisdom to three audiences:

  • the people personally going through a long battle
  • the caregivers, who also can feel exhausted as that process continues for themselves and the loved one
  • friends, neighbors, co-workers, and fellow church members — who may rush in with prayer and casseroles and support immediately after a crisis or diagnosis, but may not know what to say or do as the situation stretches across months (or even years).

Through all this, Herzer has found that long medical circumstances are an opportunity to draw closer to God, and to even more fully realize the presence and the power of the Lord.

 

For further information:

 

Inside Out – Avoid “sketchy views” about God – 10/04/23

Inside Out – Avoid “sketchy views” about God – 10/04/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:40 — 13.3MB)

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If our understanding of who God is and how He works in the world doesn’t have a foundation in the Bible, it’s possible that we hold “sketchy views.”

A great many things work to pull us away from Jesus Christ. That’s not news. “The Scripture teaches us that the world, the flesh, and the devil are all going to be agents of temptation for us,” says Dr. Daniel DeWitt. The pull away from Christ can feel stronger if we’ve based our view of who God is on something other than Scripture. 

“I think that often Christian young people will make their experience in the world the chief authority by which they think about God,” he says. “And I’m reminded of a line from a Christian rap artist who said, ‘God made you in His image, and He didn’t ask you to return the favor.’” He believes that the way we think about God is the most important thing about us. DeWitt says we develop poor theology, or what he calls “sketchy views,” if our faith is unexamined or unfounded. We also have “sketchy views” if our beliefs are true but neglect love, or if they contradict the Bible. 

“We need to test everything by Scripture. And that means even the teachings of people we really might appreciate or enjoy. We always want to come back to Scripture as our ultimate authority.” 

We all know people who are deconstructing their faith–pulling it apart and examining what they’ve believed. DeWitt says the process may help them jettison aspects of the faith that were not actually based on what God says about Himself in Scripture.  “If they’re deconstructing an unfounded faith or an unbiblical faith, the deconstruction could be helpful to the degree that the goal is, in the end, to construct something new, and more reliable,” he says. “My prayer would be for young people that they’re working through these issues because, Lord willing, this is God’s way of refining what they truly do believe. And if on the back end there’s no belief at all, may the Gospel be demonstrated as the power of God to save them.” 

 

Dr. Daniel DeWitt is a senior fellow at Missouri’s Southwest Baptist University and leads the Center for Worldview and Culture. His newest book is Sketchy Views: A Beginner’s Guide to Making Sense of God.Learn more about Dr. Daniel DeWitt and his writings here and here. 

Human Trafficking – A Family Life special feature – 10/03/23

Human Trafficking – A Family Life special feature – 10/03/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:49 — 12.1MB)

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You might think that slavery in America ended a century and a half ago. Advocates for runaways, kidnapped individuals and desperate people say that slavery is alive and active even now, in the form of human trafficking.

Family Life interviewed two New Yorkers involved with A21 Ministries to address human trafficking — prevention, rescuing, and follow-up. Mary Gillis is coordinating awareness in the Corning area. She says there are more people trapped in the slavery of trafficking around the world now than in the slavery of any other era.

Lawrence Morey has an adult daughter who is doing ten months of training in Nepal with A21 to fight for the girls and boys and women and men caught up in the violence and abuse.He speaks passionately about the heart-wrenching realities of human trafficking.

A21 this month sponsors multiple dozens of “Walks for Freedom” throughout the USA to raise awareness — not only about the massive problem, but also promoting the effective solutions. Other parallel walks also happen this month in many other nations.

Saturday, October 14, will see five Walks for Freedom in New York (including Corning and Binghamton), plus three in Pennsylvania (including Lewisburg). There is also a virtual version of the Walk For Freedom in which you can participate from anywhere.

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