Listener Feedback

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, August 27th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Listener Feedback.

But let’s begin with a few corrections. First, during our anniversary coverage, we told you the name of the program came from two passages of Scripture. We were right about that part, but…

AUDIO: In talking about Mars Hill you mention Peter speaking on Mars Hill in book of Acts. So it was Paul and I think you know that but just thought I'd bring that to your attention …

Thanks to listener Duncan Holmes of Fredericksburg, Texas, we did know that. Paul was the speaker—not Peter—it was Paul who referred to the God who made the world and everything in it. We can only chalk that one up to the oral equivalent of a typo.

BROWN: And on our August 17th program, we said the U.S. military was using C-130 cargo planes to airlift Americans out of Afghanistan. Those aircraft are actually C-17s.

EICHER: OK, moving on now to the piece that generated the most feedback this month—not even close. That was Whitney Williams’s commentary about worshipping God in nature. Most listeners who emailed or called us did so in vigorous disagreement. We’ll let listener Melvyn Michaelian summarize the views of most.

MICHAELIAN: Whitney, your suggestion about taking time off from attending worship services at church on Sunday is a wonderful idea but should be practiced on Monday through Saturday. Sunday is the Lord’s day and Hebrews 10:25 warns us not to neglect meeting together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another. That is what we should be doing with our children. Thank you.

BROWN: Listener Jana Murray had this to say.

MURRAY: I enjoy Whitney Williams’ transparent and inspiring commentary. Our family is also outdoorsy. WE love to leave the comforts of home and be inspired by God’s majesty shown in his creation. We probably annoy our camping neighbors by singing God’s praise around our fire. But when Sunday morning comes, we wipe off the first layer of dirt and find a local church. The building may be run down and the worship is often different than what we’re used to. When our children were little, we attended a service where the sanctuary was decorated with balloons. One of our six kids leaned over and said, I think this is a party, not a church. We once attended a church camping trip where we attended a wonderful time of outdoor worship on a Sunday morning. My concern about Williams’ commentary is that people would use it as an excuse to skip church. So, while I get the draw to go exploring on a Sunday morning, I think we miss something when we forego assembling together. There’s nothing mystically spiritual in a building. We learned from COVID and the first century church that worship can happen outdoors, online, or in catacombs. Gathering together is God’s command and our joy.

EICHER: Well said, and for our part, let me just say this one’s on us. We should have done a much better job in editing and refining this commentary to reflect WORLD's commitment to the regular gathering together as believers. We missed an opportunity to reinforce that. Our lack of clarity might have led you to doubt our orthodoxy on this matter. So thank you for writing in with your thoughtful critiques and concerns. We appreciate the time you took to share your feedback with us. You have our commitment as a team always to strive to do better.

BROWN: Moving on now to some of our other coverage. First, Sarah Schweinsberg’s story from last week about vaccine mandates.

BRADEN: Hi guys, it’s Kathleen Braden here in Beckwith, Ontario, Canada. I wanted to thank you so much for the piece you did on Kaitlyn and the coerced medical interventions at many post-secondary educational institutes. I have a very similar experience here in Canada. My oldest son is being held back from attending in-person classes at our university here. It’s very discouraging after 12 years of homeschooling to see his education stagnate like this. I wanted to thank you so much for providing what was a sober and thoughtful piece on some of the ramifications of these types of governmental mandates. Please keep it up! We sure love your podcast. God bless.

BROWN: Next, comments on commentary.

BERNATH: Good morning, this is Richard Bernath. And I just wanted to say thank you to Kim Henderson for bringing back wonderful memories from childhood—long summer days and racing up and down the street on my StingRay bicycle with all my friends. You all are a joy, and I really am thankful for all the uplifting stories besides balanced news. Thank you!

NICHOL: Hi, my name is Tracy Nichol. I listen from Quakertown Pennsylvania. I'm a homeschooling mom of six kids eleven and under, and so your podcast is really my way of keeping up with what's going on in the world, but not become burdened and discouraged by it. I also wanted to particularly comment on Steve West’s piece about his wife and her jigsaw puzzles. My particular hobby is crochet, and I never really thought about the fact that the creation mandate really speaks to that, that when I take just balls of yarn and a pattern and a hook and put it together into some kind of a craft that I am in a way making a creation just as God did. So thank you so much and keep up the great work.

BROWN: We also heard from several who have appreciated our coverage of what’s happening in Afghanistan.

BOWKER: Hi, my name is Meghan. I live in Alaska. I’d like to thank Emily Whitten for her story regarding prayer for the situation in Afghanistan. She interviewed a man who represents Open Doors. She also asked him to pray at the end of the story, and of course that made perfect sense. And it was really sweet to stop and take a few moments to pray with him, because of course, to pray is the very most important thing that we can do.

EICHER: Before we go, we have an important announcement to make. We have a winner in WORLD’s 2021 Hope Awards for Effective Compassion. Safe Harbor Free Clinic in Stanwood, Washington, won the $10,000 first prize. Our other finalists will each receive $2,000—to help further their work—all of them in California. They are Christian Encounter in Grass Valley; Westside Ministries in Turlock; and East County Transitional Living Center in El Cajon.

BROWN: WORLD reporters visited each of these ministries earlier this year. We’ll place a link to our special episode about their work in today’s transcript. Thanks to all who voted and by voting helped select this year’s winner.

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.