Listener Feedback: October 2025

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Friday, October 31st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Time now for Listener Feedback.

We start with this feedback from Lyle Hall. He’s a regular listener who benefits from our international coverage every week on World Tour, though he found the October 15th coverage of El Salvador not up to par.

LYLE HALL: The political and social challenges within El Salvador are complex, and there are many competing viewpoints that are important to understand. Unfortunately, the recent report by Carlos Paez provided a one -sided view of one issue facing the country. The initial basis for the story was a single fact from a university study that stated more than half of Salvadorans fear expressing political views. However, the story ignored additional facts in that same study that showed very strong public support for Bukele and his government's policies. The story also leveled multiple accusations against the government, but there was not even a mention of trying to get a response from a government spokesperson…I hope that future reporting on El Salvador will provide a more balanced perspective that will enable your listeners to more fully understand the issues from a broad range of opinions and facts. Thanks for all you do at WORLD News to bring biblically objective journalism to us all.

EICHER: In defense of Carlos, that’s on us as editors. Our view is that when we accept a story, the buck stops with us, and we didn’t insist on the balance that we ordinarily would. So I agree with Mr. Hall. We need to do better by our reporters and by our listeners—and we will.

MAST: Next, Jennifer from Richmond, Virginia, commenting on our October 16th story on restorative reproductive medicine. She wanted to share a different personal experience.:

JENNIFER: Both of my boys were conceived with the aid of a reproduction specialist down in Louisiana. And at no point was I told initially or anywhere in that three to four year process that IVF was the best or only option for me. The team that I worked with worked tirelessly along with my husband and myself to perform a multitude of tests to try to get to the root cause of why the infertility was occurring. And eventually, we were able to have both of our sons through a procedure called an IUI. I certainly have a lot of the same concerns about IVF that y'all talked about today. I just wanted to provide a counterbalance of experience that a lot of parents may not be only presented with that option. Thanks for all the hard work, guys, we love listening to you and we're going to continue listening to you. Have a great morning.

Jennifer, thank you. That’s a great reminder that couples’ experiences really do vary widely. And we’re so glad your story had a happy ending!

EICHER: Pastor Jeff Moser from Boise, Idaho, also got in touch. He was encouraged by David Bahnsen’s not shying away from making a tough call.

JEFF MOSER: …during a recent Monday Moneybeat segment, David Bahnsen commented on the use of presidential pardons, citing the inappropriate and inordinate use of them for self-benefiting reasons in recent administrations. I just want to say thank you for your commitment to truth-telling and gracious refusal to skirt over the sort of actions that run counter to the humble and righteous living that God intends for us. In fact, it's almost a direct quote from Isaiah 5, verse 23, a passage my wife and I read this week: “woe to those who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of his right.” Keep up the good work.

MAST: Another regular listener, Mary Norton, also had a comment about our Monday lineup:

MARY NORTON: I love Mondays. What could be better than learning about two subjects I know so little about in the world? The Supreme Court and economics. So to have Mary, Jenny, and Steve telling us about nine cases before the Supreme Court this term was amazing. Thanks Nick for moderating the discussion. What a great way to start the week.

EICHER: As they say at Chick-fil-a, my pleasure! Seriously, we’ve got a great and smart legal team and all the team members are a genuine pleasure to work with.

A couple days later, Kim Henderson’s story out of Mississippi struck a chord with Beverly Jacobson.

BEVERLY: It is difficult to leave our kiddos who have these complex needs, and I appreciate how she shared that story, and it's close to my heart, and it's something that a lot of people need to know about. I think the church can really come alongside families like this and show them the love of Christ because it is it's hard. So thank you, Kim, for all you do. I appreciate your reporting.

MAST: And finally, one more listener—Amy Fields—called after our World Tour story on the growing church in Mongolia.

AMY FIELDS: I just wanted to call in and say how much I appreciated the story this morning about the growth of the church in Mongolia. In around 1983 I saw in Operation World that there were just several known believers in Mongolia. And this was what really inspired me to consider going into missions and since then my husband and I have served in West Africa. And earlier this year we dedicated the New Testament in a new language. So it was a huge encouragement to me to hear that in that same time period the church has gone from a few known believers in that country to over 100,000. I am thanking God for that.

That’s this month’s Listener Feedback. Thanks to everyone who called in and sent us emails this month. We appreciate your constructive feedback even if we don’t have time to highlight it all each month.

EICHER: Just a quick reminder before we wrap up. Today is the application deadline for our upcoming WJI midcareer course. The scholarship-funded training will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, January 4th to January 10th. The course features instruction in boots-on-the-ground reporting, and the opportunity to learn from WORLD reporters and editors.

MAST: For more information or to submit the online application, visit wji.world. That’s wji.world.

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.