PODCASTS

Tag: #hometownheroes

An Interactive Good Friday Experience – Hometown Heroes – 3/19/24

An Interactive Good Friday Experience – Hometown Heroes – 3/19/24

A Tonawanda Church invites the surrounding communities to experience first-hand what Jesus experienced on the original Good Friday.

Their interactive Good Friday experience takes place on Good Friday, March 29. Guests can drop in for as long or as little as they like, anytime between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. First Trinity Lutheran Church is at 1570 Niagara Falls Boulevard in the northern Buffalo suburb.

Carolyn Doster is one of the coordinators. She tells our “Hometown Heroes” interviewer Mark Webster about what families and individuals will discover as they “Journey Through Good Friday”. The Biblical story comes alive with an all-five-senses self-paced visit. It is family friendly, plus has advice for parents of very young children about two of the 16 scenes which may be too stark or need parental context. The First Trinity website offers a preview (plus information for people who are unable to attend in person).

https://printerval.com/au/good-friday-wish-classic-t-shirt-p77564

Rural Cancer Screening – Hometown Heroes – 3/12/24

Rural Cancer Screening – Hometown Heroes – 3/12/24

Hometown Heroes” from Family Life

Hannah Farley does outreach to encourage people who are 45 and older to get checked for early signs of cancer.

In this Family Life News interview, she says some residents of rural areas have a bias which prevents them from wanting to get cancer screening.  Farley finds though that it is productive to reinterpret the question as a “stewardship of your body” and to encourage you to ponder how the people around you rely on your presence — “you are a gift to your family”.

In this week’s edition of “Hometown Heroes”, you will hear about success stories through this program across its three decades. The CSP team can help individuals get screened, even if they don’t have current health insurance or feel there are other barriers.

Farley is the Community Outreach Manager for the Cancer Screening Program in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

 

Hometown Heroes – Hannah Farley – 3/12/24

Hometown Heroes – Hannah Farley – 3/12/24

Hannah Farley is the Community Outreach Manager for the University of Rochester Cancer Services Program of the Finger Lakes Region.

For more information on available services, visit their website.

Family Life’s “Hometown Heroes” interviews intriguing people from throughout Pennsylvania and New York who carry out inspirational, life-changing work. Tap the Hometown Heroes icon for more of these features.

 

Hometown Heroes – Dan Sorber in Cuba – 3/05/24

Hometown Heroes – Dan Sorber in Cuba – 3/05/24

Syracuse-based missionary Dan Sorber just left for Cuba.

Before his departure, he talked with Family Life News about faith, Christian freedom, and today’s realities in a Communist nation.

Sorber sees the changes that have opened up across his 15 previous visits to Cuba. When government officials and the general population face desperation and economic disaster, those hardships actually open up more evangelistic opportunities. He tells us that real revival is underway there, in ways he has not seen in any other place.

Sorber and his team see one of their most urgent priorities for each of their mission visits is to support and encourage the local Cuban pastors.

Click the podcast player to discover more about what Christians in Cuba face every day, and about how Americans can pray for and support the Cuban people who do and who don’t consider themselves people of faith.

For more about Dan Sorber’s involvement in Christian evangelization in Cuba, go to the Mission Landing Cuba website or watch this video from his church, The Gathering Place in Syracuse.

Family Life’s “Hometown Heroes” interviews intriguing people from throughout Pennsylvania and New York who carry out inspirational, life-changing work. Tap the Hometown Heroes icon for more of these features.

Hometown Heroes – Bill Matteson – 2/27/24

Hometown Heroes – Bill Matteson – 2/27/24

Family Life’s “Hometown Heroes” Feature

COPE is “Children of Opioid Parents and Empowerment”.

The program in Chautauqua County, New York, offers of full year of services to children and teens who lost a parent to an opioid overdose.

Bill Matteson is the executive director of the COPE Foundation 19. He knows this tragedy personally. One of his sons died at age 29 due to heroin laced with fentanyl, leaving three children without their father. Matteson offers his family’s story as an encouragement — and a caution — to other families.

In this conversation, he also tells us about how the COPE program became a positive step his pastor promised could come from the disaster, as well as the ways COPE reaches out to guide other children who have faced something similar. It is open as well to children who This effort also includes counseling sessions with a Christian agency.

 

 

 

Hometown Heroes” is hosted by Family Life’s Mark Webster. He talks with individuals throughout Pennsylvania and New York who are transforming lives and answering real human needs in their local communities.

This feature airs during the Family Life Noon Report on Tuesdays, and is available on our News Podcasts website and through most podcast sources. You are invited to subscribe to this feature — and to share this interview with anyone who may find it helpful for their circumstance, or for a congregation looking to create a similar outreach.

Hometown Heroes – “Night to Shine” – 2/20/24

Hometown Heroes – “Night to Shine” – 2/20/24

 

It’s Family Life’s “Hometown Heroes

Celebrate the congregations and volunteers in our listening area who created a magical, memorable evening for hundreds of special guests

 

The Night to Shine has become a global movement across the past decade, and numerous local churches are plugged in — many of them since the early days when the Tim Tebow Foundation launched a prom-styled festival for special-needs individuals.

In this edition of “Hometown Heroes”, we hear about the local area’s Night to Shine events held February 9, 2024. Representatives of three of these congregations tell us what happens, who is served, the significant responses of the families and the local community, and how this one night spurs churches to be attentive to special needs ministries throughout the year.

Our radio news feature offers highlights and stories. For each of these three congregations, we also will be posting expanded interviews with web-only bonus content.  

  • Hometown Heroes” feature — highlights from all three congregations, as aired on the Family Life Noon Report  [click the podcast player above to listen]
    • Bethel Life Church, Greenville PA:  bonus content with Pastor Kent Bell [web]
    • Auburn Alliance Church, Auburn NY:  bonus content with Event Coordinator Chad Mitchell  [web]
    • Sunbury Bible Church, Northumberland PA:  bonus content with Pastor Preston Atkinson [web]

Other congregations whose leaders and volunteers also deserve “Hero” status are other churches in the Family Life listening area. These also sponsored a Night to Shine this month:

    • Our Lady Of Peace, Erie PA [web]
    • New Life Baptist, New Wilmington PA [web]
    • LCBC, Dickson City PA Campus [web]
    • Epic Church-Buffalo: Williamsville NY [web]
    • Cross Creek Church, Elmyra NY [web]
    • Catalyst Church, Altoona PA [web]
    • Calvary Church, Boalsburg PA [web]

The Night to Shine movement began ten years ago (2014) as an outreach of the Tim Tebow Foundation. The Heisman trophy winner for the Florida Gators, former NFL quarterback and sports broadcaster started his foundation to fight for what they call the “MVP” — the Most Vulnerable People.

Tebow (himself growing up as a missionary kid) has been at the forefront of multiple forms of international Christian ministry.

Find out about the Foundation and watch the national/international Night to Shine video.

 

Hometown Heroes” is one of our Tuesday news features on our Noon Report and 5 O’Clock Report.

 

A fun P.S….  Tim Tebow (who became famous for waiting for a uniquely Christian marriage partner, despite his famous “eligible bachelor” status) met his future wife at his 2018 NTS, where Demi-Lynn was attending with her special-needs sister.)

Hometown Heroes – “Night to Shine” – Sunbury – 2/20/24

Hometown Heroes – “Night to Shine” – Sunbury – 2/20/24

Preston Atkinson is pastor of the Sunbury Bible Church in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.

Hear more about the Night to Shine events in New York and Pennsylvania on the Family Life “Hometown Heroes” news feature.

Hometown Heroes – “Night to Shine” – Auburn Alliance – 2/20/24

Hometown Heroes – “Night to Shine” – Auburn Alliance – 2/20/24

Chad Mitchell is a member of the Auburn Alliance Church in Auburn, New York.

Hear more about the Night to Shine events in Pennsylvania and New York on the Family Life “Hometown Heroes” news feature.

Hometown Heroes – House of Hope – Pastor Angelique – 2/13/24

Hometown Heroes – House of Hope – Pastor Angelique – 2/13/24

“We want them to know from the second they walk in that this is a place where they will receive healing and acceptance and value.”

It’s “Hometown Heroes” on Family Life

The House of Hope in Williamsport PA exists to help women overcome dependency, barriers, and challenges — so they will move from a state of homelessness to thriving in the community through the transforming power of Jesus Christ. The six-month residential program is an outreach of the Sojourner Truth Ministries there.

Pastor Angelique Labadie-Cihanowyz is the executive director, and she tells us about some of the paths which led these women to desperate or challenging life circumstances, and how the love of Jesus Christ is demonstrated to those who find shelter and solace at the House of Hope.

 

Sojourner Truth Ministries is named for the former slave who became an outspoken advocate for women’s rights, temperance and abolition of slavery. STM in Williamsport operates the House of Hope, prepares hot lunches six days a week, and have provided an after-school program for children. Find out more from their website, where you can watch their “House Tour” and “Cardboard Stories” videos.

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