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NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, May 6th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: I’m Mary Reichard.

PAUL BUTLER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: And I’m Paul Butler! We’re all here today to kick off our new donor drive for this spring.

Did I phrase that right? I don’t mean this is a donor drive that is new.

I mean, new-hyphen-donor drive. In other words, if you’ve never given before to support our efforts here at WORLD, we’re talking to you about making this month the month you get involved with us for the first time.

BROWN: Right, maybe a good friend of yours told you about The World and Everything in It and you’ve been listening for awhile—every day you hear the intro to the program, what we call the “preroll”—that starts with a variation of this: “The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like me.” And you, no doubt, hear us refer to ourselves as “listener-supported” WORLD Radio.

EICHER: Yes, and it means exactly that. Namely, that faithful listeners who value the program and include WORLD in their giving, they are the ones who make The World and Everything in It possible. Listener support powers all of our journalism here at WORLD.

REICHARD: And listener support allows us to tackle exciting new projects like our Lawless podcast, for example. Long-form journalistic storytelling. Your support helped start WORLD Watch—10 minutes of daily TV news for students. It’s the fuel we need to power The Sift, breaking news online and in your email inbox.

BUTLER: Right, when you support WORLD, you’re supporting the next generation of Christian journalists. Several of us even now are preparing to head up to Sioux Center, Iowa, to the campus of Dordt College, for our annual World Journalism Institute college course. That’s two weeks of intensive, hands-on training by WORLD staff with a competitive paid internship program and more first-hand experience in our newsroom.

BROWN: The journalism and the journalism training that we do here at WORLD all flows from your generosity. We cannot do what we do without you. And that means we need to come to you a few times a year, for a few minutes a day, to remind you of the need and to ask whether we’ve earned your support.

EICHER: And if we have, we’re asking you to visit WNG.org/donate and make a gift of any amount. That’s WNG.org/donate.

Now, let me emphasize if you’re already one of the more than ten-thousand people who’ve given in the past—our June Giving Drive is still a few weeks away. This month, we’re calling on you if you’ve never given before to WORLD.

We’re so pleased to know that about 250,000 people listen to this program each month, and the number just keeps growing.

So far more listen than give financial support. And we understand that. If you give, you understand that, too. You give because you want more listeners and readers and viewers getting their news from WORLD, but it’s such an encouragement each year to see hundreds, even thousands of brand-new supporters coming online and helping to carry the load and expand the work.

So if you’ve been a longtime listener, please consider this month becoming “longtime listener, first-time donor” at WNG.org/donate. It’s safe and secure and tax deductible. WORLD is a recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. It all goes to supporting and expanding biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

REICHARD: Paul mentioned WJI, World Journalism Institute. Interesting to think of that. You know, I was working as an attorney when I learned about WJI Mid-Career. Always wanted to do journalism but never really knew how. One of our senior writers at WORLD Janie B. Cheaney encouraged me and I applied to WJI. Went through the program where I recall you Nick, talking about the long hours, I said something about vacation and you just laughed. Ha! And now after eleven years, ah, I understand why you laughed!

But seriously I love this work and while the hours are long, I experience joy by taking legal stories and breaking them down in a way that’s understandable to non-lawyers.

Despite the problems with our legal system, it’s important that Christians understand and appreciate how it works.

And that comes right back to our supporters. In fact, Season Three of the Legal Docket podcast is almost here. None of it possible without financial support.

So thank you if you’ve given a gift. I also encourage you if you haven’t ever done so, would you consider doing so now? Just go to WNG.org/donate.

EICHER: May is our New Donor Drive—thank you, team, and thank you, listener for considering supporting our work here at WORLD. WNG.org/donate.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.