The World and Everything in It: August 4, 2023

The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. Hi, I'm Trey and me and my wife Lydia often listen to the world together early in the morning. Today just so happens to be her birthday. And so I want to wish her a happy birthday on her favorite podcast. I love you hun and I hope you enjoy today's program.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

A potentially challenging season for pro lifers in Wisconsin, the abortion ban in Texas and a First Amendment victory in Illinois!

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: That’s all ahead on Culture Friday with John Stonestreet.

Plus, two movies about teenagers with superpowers.

SUPERFLY: Let me guess. Fifteen years ago, right? Some sludge was pumped in the sewer, and y’all came from that.

RAPHAEL: We prefer the term “ooze,” but yeah.

BUTLER: Also, Ask the Editor for August.

And Whitney Williams on spiritual lessons learned during embryo adoption.

BROWN: It’s Friday, August 4th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

BUTLER: And I’m Paul Butler. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

Trump latest » Donald Trump told a magistrate judge on Thursday that he is not guilty … of trying to overturn the 2020 election.

And former president told reporters outside a Washington D.C. courthouse:

TRUMP: This is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America.

His plea came two days after Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith announced the latest indictment against Trump.

It charges him with four felony counts, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

He’s scheduled to appear in the same court later this month … when a judge will set a tentative trial date.

Hunter latest » Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn reacted Thursday:

BLACKBURN: Attorney General Garland can no longer say there is one standard of Justice. There are clearly two standards of justice.

She said the Justice Department has gone after Trump while protecting President Biden.

Her remarks came after Republicans released a transcript Thursday of their closed-door interview with Hunter Biden’s friend and former business partner, Devon Archer … who served with Hunter on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

He testified that people would be intimidated to mess with Burisma with the Biden name attached to the company … and that the Biden “brand” was critical to Burisma’s survival. 

Archer testified that to his knowledge, Joe Biden was never directly involved in Burisma business dealings. But his testimony does seem to refute the president’s prior claims that he was entirely disconnected from his son’s business activities

Blinken Security Council » Secretary of State Tony Blinken addressed leaders on the UN Security Council Thursday … and challenged them to send a clear message to Moscow:

BLINKEN: Enough. Enough using the Black Sea as blackmail.

Russia recently pulled out of a grain deal that allowed Ukraine to safely export grain around the world. Many impoverished nations have relied on those shipments to stave off hunger.

Blinken said the Kremlin is using the world’s most vulnerable people as leverage in its “unconscionable war.”

And after the meeting, the secretary added:

BLINKEN: We are the largest contributor by far to the World Food Program, 50% of its budget every single year. And today, I was able to announce another $360 million dollars in assistance.

Blinken also seemed to take an implicit jab at China for not contributing more.

IRS paperless » Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says by 2025 … the IRS will offer an entirely paperless experience.

She announced the initiative yesterday, saying the change will save about $40 million a year in document storage costs.

Yellen: It will enable taxpayers to see their documents securely access their data and save time and money. And it will allow reports of the IRS to rely on these digital copies to provide faster refunds…and deliver a more seamless and responsive customer service experience.

The shift will also cut office paper correspondence in half and digitize all tax records.

But Yellen said citizens will always have the option of submitting their taxes on paper.

Two sailors » Two U-S sailors have been arrested on espionage charges… after they allegedly provided sensitive military information to China.

U-S attorney Martin Estrada:

ESTRADA - The scheme alleged here is just one more example of the People's Republic of China's ongoing and brazen campaign to target US officials with access to sensitive military secrets.

The suspects allegedly provided China information on military exercises, operations, and technical material … in exchange for cash bribes.

Kherson church shelled » Russian shelling has damaged an 18th-century church in the Ukrainian city of Kherson.

MOS (Ukrainian): [In and under]

One witness said smoke began rising from the historic church in the early morning hours.

Until last year the church held the remains of Prince Grigory Potemkin … an 18th-century Russian military commander who advised Catherine the Great to expand the Russian empire into what is now southern Ukraine.

A Russian missile destroyed a historic cathedral in the city of Odesa last month.

Russian attacks have damaged or destroyed dozens of cultural monuments across the country since the start of the war.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet.

Plus, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen.

This is The World and Everything in It.

BUTLER: It’s the 4th day of August 2023.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Paul Butler.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. It’s Culture Friday.

Joining us now is John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint Podcast. John, good morning.

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: John, for the first time in 15 years, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has a liberal majority. That’s worth noting because the court is expected to consider a challenge to the state’s pro-life law.

This week the court swore in Judge Janet Protasiewicz for a ten year term.

In her remarks she used the word impartial…impartiality twice. I mention that because the office she holds is technically non-partisan, yet her campaign was financed by Democrats, pro-abortion groups and other liberal figures. That doesn’t have an impartial ring to it. What do you think?

STONESTREET: Well, it doesn't. But I think it's important that we wait and see how exactly this particular judge rules. I mean, that's the only way to really figure out if someone is actually committed to the law or committed to a particular take on the law. You know, I think this is one of the things that we can continue to hear, for example, about the Supreme Court being so quote, unquote, partisan, even though if you actually do the numbers, the United States Supreme Court, actually it was just kind of in the same trend line is courts before it in terms of how many things that how many cases they ruled on unanimously, how many cases were wrote on it with an eight to one majority in other words that weren't divided down party lines. And yet, all we've heard is that the Supreme Court is illegitimate, illegitimate, illegitimate, because they're so political, and they're so partisan, and they're so partial, even though the facts don't point to that. And one of the reasons I think you see the court kind of in line here is because of what a conservative judicial philosophy is that you know, that there's actually a law and that law is something that we are to interpret, we are under that law, we do not make the law, it's not the the judges job is not to, you know, push a nation closer and closer towards some sort of kind of utopian future of the, you know, perfect justice or something like like that. In contrast, a progressive vision of the law was really, I think, basically articulated most clearly, recently, or at least in recent decades by Sonya Sotomayor, in a speech that she gave before she became a Supreme Court justice, the one that came up during her confirmation hearings, and what she said, “To judge is an exercise of power.” Look, there's a world of difference between thinking that judging is an exercise of interpretation and to judge is an exercise of power. There's a world of difference between assuming that the future of a society heading towards justice depends on you, and that you are a lawmaker in the role of judge versus one that says you are to not evaluate what a particular law is, that's, you know, another branch of government's job, but yours is to actually interpret what was done in light of that law. And that's what's so fascinating and all these claims of impartiality. So what I want to do is give this particular justice, you know, the benefit of the doubt and say, How are you actually going to rule. But the idea that somehow we are impartial in our perspective, that's just not true. We come with a lens, we come with a worldview, a vision of reality, and that will tend to play itself out and the decisions we make and for judges that those are decisions that affect everybody else.

BROWN: As we talk about what could be a challenging season for pro-lifers in Wisconsin, I want to turn your attention to another pro-life story that’s being shared and posted on a number of different platforms, yours included. It’s the story of two teenagers, their unwanted pregnancy, the abortion ban in Texas and their twin daughters, now two years old. The headline says, “An abortion ban made them teen parents.”

Is it really that simple?

STONESTREET: I just, you just see these headlines and you think, wow, I don't even know what to say. This is pretty basic biology. What makes people teen parents is when teenagers have sex and unprotected and they end up getting pregnant. This is not bigotry. It's biology. It's not rocket science, either. Laws don't make people pregnant. They just don't. I mean, I'm tempted to just kind of leave it at this complete level of snark. But what was so challenging here is that essentially, the Washington Post who printed this article, follow this young couple who basically are married because of risky sexual behavior. Even in the article, by the way, as I read it, they were like, well, they met at a state skate park and hung out. And three weeks later, she turned up pregnant as if there's not another, you know, detail there that, you know, is actually applicable and maybe matters, it was bizarre, honestly. But it goes on to basically suggest that had abortion been legal, that would have been a better decision. So imagine these two little girls. Now to the young man, the only thing by the way, according to the article that is making this young man resemble an adult in any sort of real way in terms of getting a job and doing something other than just sit around and play video games all day, and by the way, that's the the article itself is the fact that he's a dad, this is actually making him a better person. But the immaturity is so thorough between both of them, and the bad decision that they made, and suddenly, basically the the article just kind of implies that they should have had an abortion. So imagine these two little girls, you know, growing up and reading this article one day, I mean, it's just it's just horrific. It's just awful, awful stuff right now that we have now entered a time I mean, it's just so far beyond the safe, legal, and rare rhetoric of the 90s to abortion is a is a good and when it's restricted, it's a bad, and that includes for the child who would have been killed anyway. It was it was just a stunning article. And it just got horrific once you got past the headline, which was just a patently ridiculous thing to say. I mean, let me just repeat it for everyone, you know, keeping score at home an abortion ban made them teen parents.

BUTLER: John, I’d like to step in here and get your take on a very different story…a First Amendment victory in my home state of Illinois. Maggie DeJong (Dee-Young) was an arts therapy student at Southern Illinois University.

She sued the college last year when three students complained that DeJong’s religious and political viewpoints, often posted on her social media account, constituted harassment and discrimination. And the school went along with it.

With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, she sued the college and walked away with an $80,000 settlement.

What do you think will be the effect of this decision on First Amendment rights for other Christian college students?

STONESTREET: Look, the religious freedom rights of students have been so thoroughly protected by the courts, including the Supreme Court, that anyone who feels like they've been unfairly discriminated against should immediately come forward. And it will be good for everyone. Look, you will probably will probably win if the track record says anything and and the fact of the matter is they're still bureaucrats who run these various departments at these institutions, including public institutions, that just for some reason, haven't gotten the memo. You know, the way you told the story, Paul, was it was a little bit truncated. In other words, it wasn't just these three students complained, but then the university turned around and systemically harassed her. They actually put out a restraining order so that if Maggie walked into a coffee shop, and these other students were there, she had to leave and that was even off campus. They held a community meeting, and she was the topic of how to actually and I mean, they basically, based on these complaints held her up as someone who was doing grave harm to these other students, they that I actually just recently sat down with Maggie at an event and and heard this story firsthand. And I, my you know, look, it's my job to pay attention to these things. And my job was on the floor, that these folks at Southern Illinois University believed that they could get away with this, and just patently mistreat a student, because that she had viewpoints. And it wasn't like, you know, she was going around, threatening anyone or challenging anyone’s safety or anything like that. And what made this even harder was her vision for using this arts therapy degree to help others was so, so so clear, and was so promising. And thank the Lord, she's actually landed, I think, in a wonderful situation, and her courage now has paid off. And I don't just mean financially with an $80,000 settlement. But I mean, it has clarified her vision and it's clarified her calling. And I guess I just continued to look around and see, you know, three high school girls that stood up on the athletic question out of Connecticut and, and a young master student, graduate level student here, standing up and I just compare that to so many Christians who are just who just don't want to not even stand but stand with those who stand and right now the people that are showing us what courage is, or the Maggie DeJongs of the world, and I'm grateful for them and good for her. It's an amazing story. And you need to go to ADF's website and just read the details of what these folks at Southern Illinois University tried to do to me, you just will be shocked. And you will just be amazed that she could get up and go back. I mean, imagine just going everyday to school where everyone hates you and talks about you out loud in front of I mean, it was just it was like the college administrator version of Mean Girls, it was just insane what they did to her and good for her for standing up. And again, thanks to ADF for being there for her.

BUTLER: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast … thanks, John!

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

BROWN: Today is Friday, August 4th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

BUTLER: And I’m Paul Butler.

Today we take a look at two new animated movies about teenage superheroes, one in theaters and one on streaming. Here’s arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino.

COLLIN GARBARINO: In 1983, comics creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird wondered what it would look like for the slowest animal to take on a job that required quickness. This absurd thought experiment gave birth to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Almost overnight, those heroes in a halfshell became cultural icons.

This week, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem arrived in theaters, rebooting the 40-year-old franchise and continuing its legacy of reveling in the absurd.

LEONARDO: Master Splinter has given us a very important mission for tonight. The target is across the street. We must use stealth and cunning to infiltrate the human world and retrieve … Go-Gurt.

ALL: Gooo-guuurrrttt.

MICHELANGELO: Okay, Batman.

The four mutant turtles, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael live in the sewer with an old rat named Splinter who acts as their adoptive father. Splinter taught his turtle sons martial arts using scavenged videotapes because he fears the world above.

LEONARDO: Don’t let any humans see you, because why?

ALL: Humans are the demon scum of the earth, avoid them, don’t say “hi,” they lust to murder that which is different from them to interact with them is to die.

LEONARDO: Hey, I know that’s objectively prejudiced but that’s what Dad taught us.

But Leo, Mickey, Donnie, and Raph aren’t so sure that all humans are evil. Life outside the sewer looks kind of fun.

MICHELANGELO: I think humans seem kind of cool to be honest. Beyonce.

RAPHAEL: Drake! That guy’s the goat of all humans.

LEONARDO: I’d love to have a champagne brunch with Tom Brady.

MICHELANGELO: Guy Fieri seems like a fun hang, and I’ve always wanted to go to Flavortown.

The brothers think that if they can prove they’re heroes, humans will accept them, so they set off to defeat a villain who goes by the name Superfly. They’re shocked to discover Superfly is actually a giant mutated fly. They thought they were the only mutants.

SUPERFLY: Let me guess. Fifteen years ago, right? Some sludge was pumped in the sewer, and y’all came from that.

RAPHAEL: We prefer the term “ooze,” but yeah.

LEONARDO: It’s like more… It’s just nicer.

RAPHAEL: It rolls off the tongue better, yeah.

ALL: Ooze.

LEONARDO: It’s nice, right?

Mutant Mayhem is family friendly, but the script by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg pushes the boundaries of good tastes. The movie’s rated PG for some martial arts action, mild language, and gross-out humor.

The voice acting is delightful. The movie has real teenagers play the turtles. Jackie Chan and Ice Cube are fun as Master Splinter and Superfly. But the best part of the movie is the animation. It’s fresh and kinetic, with an off-kilter style that’s reminiscent of quick notebook sketches and sidewalk chalk. Visually it pays homage to the grittiness of Eastman and Laird’s earliest comics, while embracing the sillier aspects of the turtles’ legacy.

The Ninja Turtles are animals who take on aspects of humanity through radioactive ooze. Our other feature is about human teenagers who get the superpowers of animals from magical gemstones.

Miraculous: Ladybug and Cat Noir, the Movie recently debuted on Netflix. This feature film is based on the popular French TV series with the similar name Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. The movie isn’t a continuation or a reboot. It’s sort of like an abridgment of the five-season series.

ADRIEN: Your dad has a bakery? That’s so cool!

MARINETTE: Yeah, waking up to the smell of fresh croissants every morning.

ADRIEN: Your dad sounds awesome.

Marinette and Adrien are two Parisian teenagers who each find a miraculous gemstone that has a magical animal living inside. These tiny creatures grant superpowers to the teens.

TIKKI: I’m a tiny genie, except I don’t grant wishes, but together we’ll do the most dangerous stunts, risk our lives, and save the world!

Marinette gets the powers of the lucky ladybug, and Adrien gains the destructive potential of a black cat. But neither knows the other’s secret identity.

LADYBUG: Who even are you?

CAT NOIR: Name’s Cat Noir.

LADYBUG: Do I know you?

CAT NOIR: I’m the new hero in town. Here, to save the world.

LADYBUG: Ha! With what? Furballs?

The two heroes battle monsters spawned by human grief and anger. The movie has plenty of action, but just like the series, the real attraction comes from the teenage romance. Marinette is in love with Adrien. But Adrien isn’t interested because he’s in love with Ladybug. It’s sort of like Clark who loves Lois who loves Superman, except this time both characters have secret identities.

Miraculous: The Movie juices up the story with improved animation and some Disney-style musical numbers.

[Marinette singing]

The Ninja Turtles movie surpasses the franchise’s other adaptations, but this Miraculous movie feels rushed. The TV series has got a lot of heart that this hour-and-45-minute feature fails to capture. It looks like the race for the best animal-human superheroes will be won by the tortoise—err—turtles.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

BROWN: Next up on The World and Everything in It: Ask the Editor…Paul, what do you have for us?

PAUL BUTLER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Well Myrna, two comments today: one about street-level journalism and the other regarding the faith of our sources. Our first email today comes from 5th grade school teacher Kathryn Lewis. This is what she writes:

WORLD’s recent cover story on American exceptionalism strays from the organization’s ethos of street level journalism. I subscribe to WORLD because it uniquely reports on actual current events happening here and all around the world, not because I’m looking for a history lesson. WORLD does better when it reports on real events happening in real time.

We’ve had a few similar observations over the last year since our recent magazine redesign. Some readers wonder if we are straying from our mission of street level, Biblically directed reporting. For this one, I thought I’d invite Lynn Vincent to respond. She’s the executive producer of WORLD Magazine and we serve together on the Editorial Council.

LYNN VINCENT: Thanks Paul. First, a little history: I worked full-time for WORLD Magazine from 1998 to 2009 before rejoining WORLD in 2022 as the magazine's executive editor. I have received every issue since 1998. From 2009 to 2022 I was primarily a subscriber. The problem is, I live in California. Besides other … well … problems associated with living in California, one is the incredibly slow mail—especially post-pandemic. You may have noticed that in your area as well.

In today’s fast-moving, instant-everything news environment, this presents a challenge for a magazine that arrives in your mailbox every two weeks. So when I became editor, I asked myself, how can we provide our subscribers with a rich, value-added reading experience that feels fresh even if it takes a little time for them to receive their copy?

What we decided to do was embrace the fact that while WORLD radio and digital are more suited to breaking and daily news, WORLD magazine is uniquely suited to bring you in-depth reporting and analysis, profiles, and longer-form journalism from a Biblical worldview.

In fact, I believe that WORLD Magazine now provides our members with deeply reported — as well as under- or unreported stories—that are unavailable anywhere else. We are doubling down on street-level, Biblically directed reporting in four ways:

- We've refreshed our approach to the opening story in our Dispatches department. That story is now the last item reported and written before the magazine goes to press. This is to ensure we bring fresh reportage from a Christian worldview to a story that’s in the news.

- We've added four pages of U.S. and global news briefs. These briefs focus on delivering underreported or unreported news in America and around the world.

- And we've returned to reporting news in our Notebook section at the back of each issue…covering “beats” like sports, technology, science, religion, and education.

- Our 18-page features section focuses on in-depth reporting, presented with beautiful photography and informative graphics. We’re also excited to include occasional cover essays by Christian thinkers who are experts in their fields. Like columnist Cal Thomas on the fall of journalism. Molecular biochemist Michael Behe on how advances in the field of microscopy are also advancing the Biblical view of origins. And Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon on the left’s attack on the art of satire.

So, for daily and weekly news coverage, continue listening to The World and Everything In It — or visit WORLD Digital at WNG.org. And for in-depth reporting and long-form journalism, as well as Biblically directed coverage of news around the globe, subscribe to WORLD Magazine.

And now, you can even get six issues free! Just visit WNG.org/trial. That’s WNG.org/trial.

Thanks. I’m Lynn Vincent.

PB: For our second question today…one that came in a few days ago from listener Victor Chen. He writes:

I often wonder how many guests on the WORLD podcast are non-believers? And are any people hostile that the podcast is Christian and refuse to be on the program?

Well Victor, I don’t have an exact number for you…but here are three things about our process. First, for any news story that has clear Biblical teaching—or a crucial Christian worldview connection—we primarily look for Christian sources to address and analyze those issues. In addition to expertise in their field, we try to find believers with a shared conviction regarding the foundational nature of God’s revelation in the scriptures. That doesn’t mean we agree theologically on every point, but we believe that they have Spirit-led insights that can help fellow Christians understand and interpret the news better than non-believing sources.

Second, there are a lot of news stories that are purely informational. Stories without obvious Biblical worldview ramifications. For these stories we feel comfortable casting a broader net. We may find an expert who can help us understand economics, government policy, or technology who doesn’t share our faith—though we often look for believers first…but we don’t restrict it.

Third, there are some occasions where we actively seek out guests who we fundamentally disagree with. Either to better understand their position…or because there is some shared ground on an issue…like our recent interview with Erin Friday on protecting kids from transgender ideology.

Finally, to your last question...there are times when we approach possible sources or experts who decline to participate when they discover our Christian commitments. But it’s amazing to me how many non-believers are actually intrigued by our approach. While some get nasty, I’ve also had experts graciously decline an interview and then go on to suggest a Christian colleague or source they know.

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:18: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” Let’s face it, many people have had bad experiences with reporters. And bad experiences with Christians. So it’s not surprising that it’s sometimes hard to get non-believers to trust us. But I believe our commitment to the truth, plus our track record for respecting people who disagree with us, often earns us access to those who may not usually be open to talking to a Christian news organization.

And that’s this month’s Ask the Editor. I’m Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is August 4th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

MYRNA BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown.

When a woman goes through in-vitro fertilization trying to become pregnant, she often has embryos left over. Worst-case scenario, they may be frozen indefinitely or eventually discarded. And that makes IVF a problematic process–something WORLD has reported on before.

BUTLER: Still, sometimes embryos are adopted by another loving family…and when that happens, many lives can be changed for good. Commentator Whitney Williams has seen that firsthand.

WHITNEY WILLIAMS, COMMENTATOR: Nine years ago, a woman called me from Portales, New Mexico to question whether or not I was fit to be a mother. And more specifically, was I fit to be the mother of her biological children?

She and her husband had struggled with infertility. They sought help from IVF, birthed three children from it and now had more embryos frozen than they felt they could parent. My husband and I, on the other hand, desired more children. But we found out via our firstborn that we both carried a harsh genetic disorder. It seemed like a match made in heaven–these little lives needed a mother to carry them, and a home and a family to nurture and love them, and I longed to be pregnant and give birth again, because to be honest, my first go around was a disaster.

I got, what, maybe ten minutes with my newborn baby before he was whisked away for transport to a nearby children’s hospital, my husband by his side? Sorrow and fear loomed over any bit of joy I could eeek out. I wanted a do-over, and this phone call was my chance! But was I good enough to meet this couple’s standards? And how does one prove that to a stranger?

As I gripped my phone, I paced up and down our cracked, uneven driveway, breath quick, heart racing. I had a choice to make–Do I make my husband and myself sound amazing to this lady or do I tell the truth?

I chose the latter. It’s God who’s amazing, not us, I told this woman in other words. So amazing was His grace, I explained, that He chose to scoop us up into His loving arms when we were dead and stinking in the bottom of a pit of our own transgressions. And honestly, we still close our eyes to our good God and stumble into that pit sometimes, but He keeps scoopin’.

It’s been ten years, but I remember her saying something along the lines of, “OK. I’ll talk to my husband and get back to you.” The girl was inscrutable.

But…God made a way. And after several miscarriages of those embryos, my husband and I got to experience the miracle of birth once again, this time with heaps of unmarred joy and gratefulness. Today, our twins are six years old, and their biological mom–the one I met on the phone that day–is so much more than that. She’s my friend, my sister in Christ, and she and her family consistently shower God’s love upon us.

I’ll never be able to thank her and her husband enough for choosing life for their remaining frozen embryos and for choosing us to be their parents. The fact that they deemed us worthy when we were far from it makes us want to be the best parents we possibly can be, not because we feel like we need to continue to earn their approval, but more because we see what a gift we’ve been given.

And being chosen like that, well, it changes you.

I’m Whitney Williams.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week:

Mary Reichard, Nick Eicher, David Bahnsen, Leo Briceno, Emily Whitten, Daniel Darling, Jenny Lind Schmitt, Kim Henderson, Jerry Bowyer, Lillian Hamman, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, Collin Garbarino, Lynn Vincent, and Whitney Williams.

Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Lauren Canterberry, Christina Grube, and Josh Schumacher.

Plus, breaking news interns Tobin Jacobson, Johanna Huebscher, and Jeremy Abegg-Guzman.

And thanks to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early … Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Our producer is Harrison Watters. Our production team includes Kristen Flavin, Benj Eicher, and Bekah McCallum.

Anna Johansen Brown is features editor, and Paul Butler is executive producer.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Psalmist writes: For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; you take me out of the net they have hidden for me. For you are my refuge.

Psalm 31 verses 3 and 4

Be intentional this weekend! Plan to worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ in church. And Lord willing, we will meet you right back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

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.