PODCASTS

Tag: #greggillispie
Staycation – Elk Country Visitors Center – 8/30/24

Staycation – Elk Country Visitors Center – 8/30/24

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It’s “Staycation Destinations” on Family Life

Keystone Elk Country Visitors Center – the PA Wilds

North Central Pennsylvania is gearing up for a massive influx of tourism, as we move past Labor Day Weekend.

The Elk Country Visitors Center at Benezette, Pennsylvania, sees 400,000 guests annually. Add in the people who go elk watching each fall in the public lands without stopping by the visitors center, and you’ll know why this interaction with nature’s unique wildlife is such a big deal.

Ben Porkolab is the Conservation Education Coordinator for the Keystone Elk Country Alliance. In this Family Life News Feature, he offers our listeners a radio tour of the Pennsylvania Wilds, one of only two regions in the U.S. where Elk are this numerous.

You will hear about the Pennsylvania elk herd, plus what makes these huge animals so unique. He talks about why Elk County and the surrounding regions captures the imaginations of so many people. It draws crowds from through the local area and throughout the world. (Porkolab gives the example of one couple who came half way around the world, with three specific tourism goals.)

Porkolab also gives insights into how this kind of Wildlife Tourism is so significant to the region.

 

Check out the Elk Country website for full details, recommendations for your visit, and live cameras and recorded videos to “take you there” (even if you can’t visit in person).

In addition to this Staycation podcast, we also have web-only BONUS CONTENT with elk viewing and elk-viewing safety tips for you and your family. Check it out as well.

 

 

Staycation Destinations is a weekly summer feature presented by Family Life News. Even as we arrive at the end of Summer 2024, your radio travels don’t have to end. All of Greg Gillispie’s features are available from your “Family Life News” podcast feed or through the NEWS tab at www.FamilyLife.org. You can visit — or revisit — these unique places in New York State and Pennsylvania by listening to or downloading our audio.You can also scroll through our Staycation archives from previous summers.

You can also share these interviews with friends and family, or choose to subscribe to receive notifications each time your favorite Family Life podcast posts a new episode. Find all our podcasts on our website or through the Family Life Now mobile app.

 

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

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

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:51 — 14.9MB)

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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

Newspodcasts
Keeping Christian Colleges open, vibrant, and valued – Faith Under Fire – 8/08/24

Keeping Christian Colleges open, vibrant, and valued – Faith Under Fire – 8/08/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:43 — 16.1MB)

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Many Christian colleges — like their secular counterparts — are facing financial and enrollment pressures which threaten their futures.

Christian journalist Warren Smith, today’s guest on Family Life’s “Faith Under Fire”, analyzes the issues which have led to numerous faith-based schools retrenching, with some forced to merge or close their doors. He says decisions need to be made — by college administrators, by families with college-bound students, and by churches and denominations. If there is value to higher education with a Christian centering, there are ways to make that more feasible.

In addition to identifying problems with tuition costs and college debts, Smith has some success stories too:  Christian universities which have “doubled down” on their unique identities, and some who have focused on degrees which reward graduates with high salaries and numerous career opportunities.

Warren Smith is president of MinistryWatch.com, a Christian news organization which covers national and global ministry organizations, transparency for Christian donors, and religious news across the spectrum. Ministry Watch has done extended coverage on Christian higher education, inspiring trends, and college closures (such as the recent one at Clarks Summit University in the Family Life listening area).

“Faith Under Fire” with Greg Gillispie is a Thursday news feature on the Family Life radio network, on the air and through our live streams. Expanded versions of those interviews are also available from our website and many podcast feed apps. Search for “Family Life News”.
“Doing Church” in the Aftermath of an Assassination Attempt – 7/25/24

“Doing Church” in the Aftermath of an Assassination Attempt – 7/25/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:11 — 14.0MB)

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“Doing Church” — “Being Church” — in the Aftermath of an Assassination Attempt

A Family Life Interview

For much of the nation, so much has happened in a two-week period, that the news-cycle has moved on from the assassination attempt in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

However, for the people of that immediate region an hour north of Pittsburgh, the trauma and the questions that started a mere two Saturdays ago will continue for quite some time.

Local churches there are responding — and will, into the long term.

Our Greg Gillispie talked with regional pastor Tom Harmon, asking about Christians’ local response, to an internationally-famous incident. Theirs is among many local congregations of multiple traditions and denominations reaching out in faithful responses in the aftermath of this shooting.

 

The Rev. Dr. Tom Harmon is executive presbyter for Beaver-Butler Presbytery, a network of 60 congregations in western Pennsylvania.

The organization to which Dr. Harmon refers is “Search for Common Ground”. The USA component of this worldwide movement released a public statement regarding the shooting of Donald Trump and three attendees at the Butler rally. The organization’s website is www.SFCG.org

Family Life News seeks to bring a Christian Worldview to what’s happening in New York, Pennsylvania, across the country, and around the world with 12 daily newscasts, special features, podcasts, and extended interviews like this one.
Movie Critics and Audiences love “Sight”

Movie Critics and Audiences love “Sight”

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:11 — 8.5MB)

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Movie Critics and Audiences love “Sight”

Another successful, meaningful real-life story … from faith-based movie producer Angel Studios

Family Life News takes you behind the scenes — and into this adventure — with a special interview.

 

You will hear highlights from this movie — and from Angel Studios’ Chief Distribution Officer Jared Geesey who tells us about the impact and the opportunities for inspirational and uplifting films, even for the larger general movie-going/movie-watching audience.

 

The film’s trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12873300/

The real-life stories, of the doctor, of the patient: Angel Studios

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.

 

 

 

 

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