Listener Feedback

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, November 26th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Today is what they call Black Friday, the kickoff for the Christmas gift-giving season and the day when retailers step up with their best offers—a great day for bargain hunters. And WORLD will not disappoint: we’ve told you the last few days about a special deal on subscriptions to WORLD Watch—our lowest-ever price, $20 for six months, our Black Friday offer is available right now at worldwatch.news.

EICHER: One other great offer, too: Maybe you’d like to give a gift of WORLD Magazine, you have friends, family, your pastor, so we’re making it really easy to take care of three people on your list. Just like that: three gift subscriptions to WORLD Magazine for just $99. Take advantage today. Wng.org/blackfriday

BROWN: Now that we’ve got our Christmas shopping taken care of, let’s say good morning to executive producer Paul Butler. Morning, boss.

BUTLER: Good morning, I’ve got a good collection of listener feedback for November.

EICHER: If you don’t mind, I’ll get us going, because the correction is mine, my mistake on the Monday Moneybeat.

I made a reference to the big spending bill the House passed and I was wrong about it by a factor of 2. I said it was a $4 trillion tax-and-spend bill, relying on a faulty memory and failing to double check. Totally my fault, no excuse. Thanks to my friend Erik Hoekstra, the president of Dordt University, for gently letting me know via text message later that morning!

BUTLER: Alright, well, our first call today comes from listener David Bahn.

BAHN: I really enjoyed the piece that Julie Spencer did on the table for the Williamson family in Eldorado, Arkansas. But I especially enjoyed the pictures. Thanks for posting those photos as well. What a great story. And, thanks for all you do at WORLD. I listen to you every day.

You’re welcome, David. We heard from a few other listeners who wanted to talk about their tables—one person wrote that HE can seat 24 guests around HIS! Regardless of how many chairs fit around your table, we hope that you all find some time this weekend to fellowship with family or friends around one.

Next, a call from the far north.

GEBEL: My name is Jered Gebel, I’m a float plane pilot in South East Alaska. I really appreciated the couple of stories you’ve done now from Oshkosh. I have yet to make my pilgrimage there, but someday hopefully.

Your most recent story about technology and missions aviation was great. I follow missions aviation fairly closely, yet was unaware of some of the ways tech is helping them. I learned how to fly at LeTourneau University and Zach Soles who you interviewed was a classmate of mine. Many of my classmates are now missions aviation pilots, and while God didn’t call me to that field, He’s enabled me to help support them financially over the years while working up here in Alaska. Glad y’all have highlighted the work MAF, JAARS, Ethnos and I-TEC are doing to further the gospel. Keep up the good work.

Jered sent us a photo he took in his plane, while listening to the program. What an incredible view!

Next, we have listener Rick Porter, who called for the first time after hearing the special episode featuring Emily Whitten’s interview with Mindy Belz.

PORTER: I was struck by Emily’s thoughtful questions that elicited so much from Mindy’s life lessons: from lunch with Afghan women, with respect to her as a mother of four from Afghan men, and sadness that so many in the United States, including in our government, continue to fall for the false apologies of the Taliban. What especially struck me was Emily’s prayer at the end of the interview, that she cued us into at the beginning of the interview. It’s been a real privilege to be on the receiving end of the wisdom of Mindy Belz for decades. And thank you Emily for your thorough interview that brought that wisdom to light.

EICHER: We have time for one more call today. This one from Celina Asberg. She emailed us this audio recording after the most-recent Ask the Editor segment. Celina started by saying she’s also had concerns about the way Christians disagree with one another. She offered our team some encouragement, and then she shared some thoughts for you.

ASBERG: And to my fellow listeners, I encourage us to examine our hearts to see if we only honor opinions we already agree with. Doing so implicitly sets up our own understanding as the standard of truth. We should not be so prideful to assume that anyone who disagrees with us is absolutely wrong. Second, I join my voice with editor Paul Butler to encourage the type of feedback that is constructive, not destructive. We live in contentious times, where Christians who have similar principles of obedience to God, compassion for others, and living as salt and light in our hostile world, may disagree on facts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, the wisdom of supporting various politicians or policies, and even an appropriate level of engagement with culture, among many other concerns. WORLD is faithful to Biblical inerrancy, steadfast to maintain God-honoring views of sexuality, trustworthy to declare the value of unborn life, and sincere in weekly reminders to gather with other Christians at church. WORLD does not and will not reject these central truths. On the issues that are not central, like vaccines, masks, homeschooling, healthcare, policing, effective compassion, and the like, I encourage us to remember that though we may disagree fiercely about facts and judgement calls, we share a salvation that rests on Christ.

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.