The World and Everything in It: January 31, 2025

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Families are reeling after the crash of the American Airlines flight from Wichita to Washington. Many gathered in Wichita for a prayer vigil. We were there.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, John Stonestreet is back for Culture Friday. And WORLD’s music critic is back, Arsenio Orteza.

And later, a fond farewell to one of the guys who stays up late to get the program to you early … Johnny Franklin … a WORLD Radio founding father!

JOHNNY: Now I'm kind of a Bilbo Baggins…but when Nick said, you know, look at it as an adventure, something just struck me. I thought let's go ahead and try and see what happens…

BROWN: It’s Friday, January 31st. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Aircraft collision investigation » Investigators in the nation’s capital are still working to assemble the puzzle pieces in the wake of a deadly mid-air collision near Reagan National airport.

Officials say it appears that the US Army helicopter flew into the path of the American Airlines jet as it was in the process of landing. But how or why that happened is not yet clear.

National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman:

INMAN:  We don't know what we know just yet. We do not know enough facts to be able to rule in or out human factor, mechanical factors. That is part of the NTSB investigative process.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth described the crew of the helicopter as reasonably experienced …

HEGSETH: On a routine annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission. The military does dangerous things. It does routine things on a regular basis. Tragically, last night a mistake was made.

He suggested the helicopter was not flying at the proper elevation to avoid the flight path of incoming planes.

The NTSB has pledged to release a preliminary report within 30 days. And Hegseth said the Pentagon is also conducting a thorough investigation.

The jet was carrying 64 people. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter. All are presumed dead.

Aircraft collision future changes » In the wake of the crash, President Trump announced new leadership at the Federal Aviation Administration.

TRUMP:  I'm also immediately appointing an acting commissioner to the FAA Christopher Rocheleau, a 22 year veteran of the agency. Highly respected.

And the collision will raise questions about what must be done to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Hassan Shahidi is president of the Flight Safety Foundation. He said we generally have very competent pilots and air traffic controllers across the country …

SHAHIDI: But we also need to understand what else is needed in terms of technology, in terms of modernization of the air traffic control system, in terms of additional personnel and training support that's needed.

Other experts say changes will be needed to alleviate congestion in the skies over Reagan National airport.

Tariffs on Canada, Mexico » Speaking in the Oval Office Thursday, President Trump announced that he will impose 25-percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico starting tomorrow. And the president said there are multiple reasons for that:

TRUMP:  Number one is the people that are poured into our country so horribly and so much. Number two are the drugs, fentanyl and everything else that have come into the country.

And the third reason he cited: Trade deficits with the neighboring countries.

The President said that oil imports won't be affected.

Confirmation: Kash » The U.S. Senate on Thursday continued questioning President Trump’s cabinet picks, including Kash Patel, nominee for FBI director.

Democrats on the Judiciary Committee pressed Patel about past remarks referring to January 6th rioters as political prisoners.

And Ranking Member on the Judiciary Committee. He said in Patel, President Trump has found a loyalist.

DURBIN:  Mr. Patel's loyalty includes touting conspiracy theories and threatened efforts at President Trump's enemies.

But Patel pushed back, saying remove political weaponization from the FBI.

PATEL:  I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards. There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI should I be confirmed as the FBI director.

Confirmation: Gabbard » And in another contentious hearing, members of the Senate Intelligence grilled Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

Critics of the former Democratic congressman and military combat veteran have accused her of voicing sympathies - or perhaps even loyalties to America’s enemies. Some senators brought up her past remarks about Russia and others.

And Republican Congresswoman Susan Collins asked Gabbard:

COLLINS:  Have you ever knowingly met with any members, leaders, or affiliates of Hezbollah? 

GABBARD: No. And it is an absurd accusation.

As many as a half-dozen Republicans may have concerns about confirming Gabbard.

And Sen. Collins is a major swing vote on Gabbard. Opposition from her could block Gabbard's nomination from ever hitting the floor.

SOUND: [Tears of joy]

Gaza hostage release » Tears of joy as 20-year-old Agam Berger was reunited with her family after being held hostage by Hamas for more than 15 months.

Berger was one of eight hostages released Thursday as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the terror group.

But that deal appeared to be in jeopardy yesterday.

SOUND: [Chaotic crowds]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took issue with crowds of thousands of Palestinians who swarmed the hostages during the release.

SOUND: [Speaking Hebrew]

Netanyahu briefly threatened to cancel the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisons Israel agreed to set free as part of the deal. But in the end…

SOUND: [Prisoners released]

...those prisoners were delivered to the West Bank city of Ramallah, arriving aboard Red Cross buses.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: weeping with those who weep. A community responds to the Washington, D.C. plane crash. Plus, Culture Friday with John Stonestreet.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday the 31st of January.

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

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

A military helicopter crashed into American Airlines flight 5342 over Washington Wednesday night. A fireball was visible and the doomed aircraft dropped into the Potomac River along with 60 passengers.

Some of them were returning from a figure skating competition in Wichita last week.

BROWN: Yesterday afternoon, faith leaders and community members gathered for a news conference and prayer vigil.

News Editor Lynde Langdon lives in Wichita and she has the story.

LYNDE LANGDON: Just a week ago, people from around the world watched U.S. Figure skating championships held in Wichita, Kansas. Hosting this event was a big deal for our city in here in flyover country, here’s Wichita resident Jeanette Grantstein.

JEANETTE GRANTSTEIN: I've been a long time ice skating fan, and I'm so excited to hear that they were going to be in Wichita. I knew I had to be there, so I attended three of the sessions.

Now, the world is watching Wichita for a different reason.

GRANTSTEIN: Some of them would go to the Olympics. And then last night to hear that they were on the plane, some of them were on the plane, it just brought it home how fragile life is and how we have to take every day, just live every day to its fullest.

This might be a mid-sized city, but Wichita feels like a small town. People make small talk with strangers at the gas pump and spend Friday nights at high school football games. National news events are interesting but seem far away. Michelle Vann has lived in Wichita for 34 years.

MICHELLE VANN: It’s one thing for it to be out there and for it to be people that came from Wichita, but they weren’t really Wichitans … But then when you start to realize, oh I know this one. I know this one. It becomes a different thing.

AUDIO: We need you, Lord. We need you, Lord, right now. We need you, Lord. we need you Lord right now we lift our hands and bow our knees and worship at your throne we need you Lord.

Within hours of hearing about the crash, Mayor Lily Wu announced a prayer service at city hall for Thursday at noon. Before the service, leaders with the Greater Wichita Ministerial League laid hands on Mayor Wu and prayed for her. I talked with one of those leaders, Pamela Hughes-Mason, after the prayer service.

LANGDON: Can you tell me a little bit about what you were praying for her?

PAMELA HUGHES-MASON: Just for strength, for wisdom, for guidance, and also speaking to her heart because this is a very challenging space at this time. We are all grieving as a community…just letting her know we’re praying for her and praying with her.

Hundreds of people packed a meeting room at city hall for the service on Thursday. I counted at least 20 news cameras focused on the city’s pastors as they prayed for the 60 passengers, four crew members, and three soldiers who died in the crash. Ben Staley of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church was one of the pastors who spoke at the service.

BEN STALEY: Do you know the world is watching Wichita, Kansas? Let us be a light of hope, showing the love of Christ in ways that draw us to one another.

Staley offered this prayer:

STALEY: Today Lord we seek you…We pray that you would remind us of the assurance that you never leave us nor forsake us. Never is never and you were with those in those flights flying into Washington, DC, you were with them there and you were with them in the cold waters of the Potomac and your angels watching over them, never is never. You never leave us nor forsake us

I’ve lived in Wichita for more than a decade while working for WORLD, and have flown the same American Airlines route to Washington. I’m always glad to return home to Kansas, where life is just gentler. I’m proud of my city for putting its faith on display in a time of great sorrow, and I hope that our prayers will encourage others to turn to God.

MASON: And everyone with a loud voice will cry out in agreement, amen.

CROWD: Amen!

MASON: It is done.

CROWD: It is done.

MASON: Amen!

CROWD: Amen!

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lynde Langdon, in Wichita, Kansas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: our weekly conversation with John Stonestreet on Culture Friday … morning, John.

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning!

NICK EICHER, HOST: John, I’d like to begin with a consequential executive order by the president this week. This one’s aimed at protecting people under the age of 19 from chemical or surgical transgender procedures. The order frames up the procedures as “chemical and surgical mutilation.” It does several things with the federal agencies. I’ll rattle off a few:

It directs federal agencies to withdraw from guidelines by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health … this is W-PATH. It also mandates a review of medical literature on treatment for gender dysphoria. HHS is tasked with defunding institutions that carry out these procedures, adjusting Medicare and Medicaid policies, and withdrawing previous HHS guidance on so-called gender-affirming care.

In addition to HHS, the Pentagon has a role. DOD is ordered to exclude these procedures from the military healthcare program TRICARE. The Justice Department is given a to-do list as well. 

This is thorough, detailed. So … considering the idea of law as moral teacher and as protecting people from harm … do you see this as getting it done … or do you think it’s more of a conversation shaper? (I ask you either/or questions on purpose, because I know you like them.)

STONESTREET: Yeah, the answer is yes. It was a stunning order, my favorite so far, I guess you could say it. But there's a number of things that need to be said. 

The first is: At some level, there needs to be recognition of a number of people who started warning people about this at such incredible personal cost. Top of that list has to be Abigail Shrier, mainly because it wasn't her faith that motivated her to do this. She was following the evidence. She was willing to say it out loud and risk her career. 

There were others. There were people who just took stands on things like pronouns in college classrooms. 

There were people like Ryan Anderson, who put his sizable intellect to paper before anyone else did. He saw how big of an issue that this was going to be.

And you have to note it because they were doing this at a time when it wasn't clear who was going to be “on the right or the wrong side of history”—when that phrase still held sway.

That might be the second thing that I want to talk about. 

It's just that myth, that emotionally manipulative talking point about being on the right or wrong side of history, that needs to go into the dustbin of history immediately. Particularly for Christians. 

Christians shouldn't pay one bit of attention for a split second about what somebody—particularly from a godless secular perspective—says is on the right or the wrong side of history. Or that the science is settled, or anything like that.

The idea that we got to a point—including many Christians, and including many Christian parents and way too many Christian pastors—where we were literally thinking, “Well, maybe we got this one wrong. Maybe there's something here. Maybe this is like race.” Or all the other ways this was manipulated into the system. 

It's over.

There's a lot of people that need to be thanked and there's a lot of people that should be ashamed.

EICHER: I’m going to nominate the media for the latter category, John, but what do you think?

STONESTREET: Yeah, the executive order and the headlines on this executive order carry the whole story.

NBC News, “Trump bans gender-affirming care.” I just want to let NBC News know: It’s not 2022 anymore.

People don't use those phrases anymore—around the world. Let’s say you want to keep up with what's happening in Europe, these enlightened countries we want to be like, they bailed on this a lot sooner than we did.

And the title of the executive order—essentially of protecting children against harm and mutilation—I mean, think about the difference in what this one thing is being called. On one side of the aisle, it's called “care.” The other side of the aisle, it's called “mutilation.” 

That brings up life and death by executive order. 

There's a whole lot more that needs to be done between now and the next administration. We talked about this a few weeks ago about the executive orders. Specifically, I’m thinking of the one that said that the government was going to recognize people as being only male and female. The challenging part of that is: Can you imagine every four years going back and forth about whether what we're talking about is “mutilation” or “health-care”? 

This is the sort of dizziness that reveals how vast and wide a worldview gap can be. How consequential it can be when it is applied to things like government policy and federal law and executive mandates. 

That leads to the next thing, which is not only is there work for Congress to do absolutely in backing this up, but there's also work for everyday people to do. We’ve got to figure this out—the state wasn't responsible for this—this absolute explosion among middle school, and adolescent, preadolescent females. They didn't get there overnight. 

There has been a cultural devolution that has led to the greatest identity crisis of a particular demographic that we have seen in our lifetimes. I can't figure out for the life of me anything that comes close. And the consequences reached such an extent as to divide the world that dramatically—between calling the same exact thing on one hand “mutilation,” and the same exact thing on the other hand, “care.”

So we have to do the upstream work to do, particularly families and churches to help young people deal with whatever is creating this identity crisis.

BROWN: Young people are not only dealing with an identity crisis, John, apparently they don’t know their history, either. On Monday of this week was the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. But I read a story pointing out that an alarming number of young people in this country think the Holocaust is a myth. How does the culture perpetuate a false and dangerous narrative like this?

STONESTREET: Listen, secularism is, broadly speaking, particularly corrupting when it comes to cultural memory—because history then becomes a tale told only by the winners.

There's nothing true that we can access. You also have to understand, too, that secularism quickly turned into progressivism, which is an ignorance or a dismissal of the past anyway. So that is a really alarming reality that you pointed out, the increasing number of young people that deny that the Holocaust happened. It’s one of the most historically verifiable events ever. Think of the things that we don't question from the past before photography, before mass communication. Yet young people doubt it. 

But this is the same group of young people that don't know history at all. 

My guess is there's at least some sort of related factor to another story that broke this week, which is the nation's report card on education. Yes, it's always worse than we thought it was. One of the most alarming outcomes was that the vast majority of young people can't understand a word on a page. 

As one professor told me this week, “My students were surprised that I expected them to understand what they read.” Now, you add that to the complete revamping of the educational system—away from facts, away from meaning—and then apply that to history. Then everything is how you feel, and of course, how Americans feel by and large duped. We’re skeptical. We're cynical. 

I don't know if you saw this, but guess what? The CIA finally admitted that the lab leak theory of the COVID virus is the most likely one. But everybody was called a conspiracy theorist for ever bringing this up. How do you know what up and down is if all you have to go on in this culture is just being a consumer of mass media in all of its various forms?

That's young people. So look, if they're this confused about something as historically verifiable and as historically meaningful, they got it honest. 

They got it honest from a broken, hollow, educational system and a vision of both knowledge and of truth, including historical truth, that just permeates everything.

BROWN: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks, John!

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, January 31st. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: some of the best music from 2024.

The music business is fragmenting and subdividing … at the same time that making and disseminating music is getting easier. Because of that, more acts than ever are releasing music to the world, but finding them is getting harder. So we’ll tell you about some albums that deserve special attention—whether for the depth of their lyrics, the quality of their performances—or both.

EICHER: Today, we welcome back to our program WORLD’s longtime music critic who’s been around here as long as I have. He goes all the way back to the early days, back when we were weekend-only and had written for WORLD long before that. Here is Arsenio Orteza!

MUSIC: [“(I’m Gonna Get over This) Some Day” by T Bone Burnett]

ARSENIO ORTEZA: Consider, for instance, The Other Side. It’s the latest album by legendary producer and singer-songwriter T Bone Burnett. Burnett’s fans were expecting a different recording altogether. They were anticipating the final installment of his foreboding and forbiddingly avant-garde Invisible Light trilogy.

Instead, with The Other Side, they got a dozen country-folk songs that found Burnett cleansing his musical and philosophical palates. Burnett had gone back to basics before–38 years ago, in fact, with the album T Bone Burnett. But this time the basics that he went back to had mainly to do with the melodies and instrumentation—his lyrics, clearly articulated though they are, will keep metaphor unpackers busy for weeks. But the lyrics of “(I’m Gonna Get over This) Some Day” are straightforward–and should be magnetized to the refrigerators of everyone struggling with letting bygones go by.

MUSIC: [“Whoever You Turn Out to Be” by Luke Combs]

Perhaps the most emotionally direct album of 2024 was Father & Sons by country star Luke Combs. Combs is one of several co-writers on most of the songs, so it’s hard to say where the abundance of insight about being a loving father or a grateful son comes from. But there is an abundance. And if you’ve ever tried to be a loving father or a grateful son, the album’s relentless emotional bulls’-eyes will at some point have you dabbing your eyes.

On the explicitly Christian front, Charlie Peacock celebrated the 40th anniversary of his Exit Records debut with Every Kind of Uh-oh, a wise, bold, and challenging album that ranks with his best. The nearly omnipresent steel guitars provide the atmosphere, but it’s Peacock’s lyrics and hooks that make the musicianship more than ornamentation.

MUSIC: [“The Only Remedy” by Charlie Peacock]

Contemporary-Christian-music radio probably won’t play “The Only Remedy” because it contains a crudity, but Americana radio might. And actually, it should. The song could pass for Paul Simon at his peak.

MUSIC: [“Life Is” by Jessica Pratt]

Perhaps the sweetest album with no particular socio-cultural messaging was Here in the Pitch, the fourth long player by the singer-songwriter Jessica Pratt.

Pratt used to confine herself to acoustic-guitar-only instrumentation and melodies that hearkened back to the days when coffee houses were the locus of intimate female musical expression. Today, with Here in the Pitch, Pratt has gone in a different direction. She uses percussion, mellotrons, and a keyboard, a bossa nova rhythm, and a Burt Bacharach chord change here or there. But she doesn’t sound like a sellout. Rather, she sounds as if she’s hearkening back to ’60s girl-pop with an ear toward doing it better than anyone thought possible at the time.

Perhaps the year’s most pleasant surprise was Sea Songs by the operatic baritone Bryn Terfel. We don’t need opera singers doing pop tunes. But when the pop is as old as this album’s folk songs and shanties, that’s a different matter, particularly with fiddle, bagpipes, accordion, and whistle augmenting the acoustic guitar and double bass.

MUSIC: [“Bold Riley” by Bryn Terfel]

As you might expect from a collection that includes “Drunken Sailor” and “The Wellerman,” a mood of hearty joy predominates. But on more than one track, there’s elegiac heartbreak aplenty.

And finally, in keeping with the voting shifts that delivered the White House to Donald Trump for the second time, there’s Ensoulment by the British pop group The The. Matt Johnson, who has led the band for decades, probably doesn’t want the following revelation shouted from the rooftops, but his latest songs make clear that he has been red-pilled—preferring truth over the status quo.

LYRICS: Truth stands on the gallows. / Liеs sit on the throne. /Something in thе shadows / communicates by code. / The  unthinkable is now thinkable. / The poison, it's drinkable. / So get with the program. Get in sync. / You'd better self-censor for wrongthink.

And that’s just the first song. In the next one, he laments that the “London [he] knew is gone,” citing free-speech issues, among others. But he doesn’t let the U.S. off the hook either: The song “Kissing the Ring of POTUS” implies that the U.S. has become little more than a hypocritical, power-wielding caricature of its better self. Johnson speaks more than he sings, amid sounds and melodies that in underplaying their hand increase their grip. “I’m just trying, in a way, to sort of capture the zeitgeist,” he told American Songwriter. He has.

I’m Arsenio Orteza.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, January 31st. 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.

Before we continue, just a quick reminder…starting February 11th we’re hosting a handful of virtual focus groups by Zoom. Slots are filling up fast, but it’s not too late to participate.

We’d love to talk with you about our program and the other products WORLD produces. Each session will last 45-minutes to an hour. And whether you’re a long-time, every day listener…or a new listener who only checks in with us occasionally, we’d love for you to participate…To sign-up, visit: wng.org/focusgroups. That’s wng.org/focus groups.

EICHER: Finally today, saying goodbye…

Johnny Franklin has been a crucial part of our team since 2012...you haven’t heard much of him on the air…but nearly everything that makes it on air is in part due to his steady hand and gifted ear.

Here’s WORLD’s Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER: Most nights our technical producer Johnny Franklin starts putting the daily program together shortly after dinner:

SOUND: [JOHNNY WORKING AT THE COMPUTER]

With very little fanfare, last night marked the end of an era. After nearly 13 years of staying up late, Johnny Franklin can now go to bed at a decent hour. He’s officially “retired.”

JOHNNY FRANKLIN: There's a lot of things that my wife and I want to do, but I really do see it as just a transition. I'm no longer going to be working full time at a particular job. I'll continue to work part time anywhere I have my computer and internet...

So what’s the first thing Johnny’s going to do in his retirement? Well, turns out it’s working all next week for us part-time so Carl can take some time off. So perhaps “retirement” isn’t quite the right word.

JOHNNY: This whole idea of retiring to me is… it's almost kind of like a foreign a foreign idea. The Bible speaks of retirement once, and that was the priest of the temple at a certain age had to retire from being priests of the temple. Other than that, nowhere does God say stop being productive at a certain age and go to Florida and sit on the beach for the rest of your life.

In college, Johnny started as an engineering student, but then a friend suggested he might be better suited for something else. So he switched his major to communications and never looked back.

SOUND: [CASSETTE TAPE FROM AFRICA]

His first audio job out of college was with Campus Crusade for Christ, he and his wife Sherry went to Zaire—now known as the Congo—and Johnny recorded and edited training materials.

JOHNNY: I think, is where the real love of language really kicked in, as I had had the scripts and I could follow along … I could follow where they were.

It was during this time that Johnny began to develop the skills that would be so helpful in working with our scrappy reporters scattered around the world.

JOHNNY: I had a small lavalier mic taped to about a three foot stick, and used it as a wand, and whoever was speaking, I would put the mic over them so I could record them clearly.

Johnny left Campus Crusade after a few years and started at Focus on the Family. He says it wasn’t very glamorous.

JOHNNY: Our department did everything except the broadcast, which meant we did promos. You know, “Next time on Focus on the Family…” and my main job was finding 10 to 15 second excerpts of programs that could be plugged into the promo…

But then Johnny joined Larry Burkett and what would eventually become known as Crown Financial Ministries:

JOHNNY: When I came on, it changed to How to Manage your Money: a daily, three’ish minute program, and then eventually went with live couple years later, went with the live Money Matters call-in program.

SOUND: [CALL IN PROGRAM AUDIO]

Johnny worked at Crown for 25 years. During that time he began occasionally helping us produce our program when it first began as a weekly program.

SOUND: [THANKS TO JOHNNY]

Then one day Nick Eicher approached Johnny with the opportunity to join WORLD full time when we launched the daily program:

JOHNNY: I was reluctant. … And Nick said, Johnny, look at this as an adventure. Now, I'm kind of a Bilbo Baggins person, you know, just just leave me in my hole in the, you know, built into the earth, my little hobbit house. But something just struck me that, you know, I need to stick my neck out. I thought, why not trust the Lord? Step out and, you know, let's get a try and see what happens.

Johnny found his niche:

JOHNNY: One of the things in my personality is I love taking things that are rough but have real potential, and fixing the problems and ending up with something that really is a benefit.

When Johnny is doing that part of his job well, you don’t really notice it. He says it’s kinda like the sound guy at church, when you’re doing it well, no one thinks about your role.

But there’s another part of his job, that many listeners have noticed, and we get frequently get feedback like this:

LISTENER: And kudos to the guys for the great music they chose…

JOHNNY: The other thing I really enjoy is finding the right music. And, you know, finding music that fits the mood of the story, something that adds to the story, something that possibly clues the listener in about what they're about to hear…

Johnny says bumper music is like the frame around a piece of amazing artwork.

JOHNNY: Yeah, a frame is supposed to draw your attention to the painting, not to the frame. And if I have done my job right, it causes people to listen to the story and say, “Wow, what a story.” … And my goal is to really make the hard work that the reporters have done jump out and communicate well.

During a recent podcast meeting with our staff we announced Johnny’s retirement to everyone. Host Mary Reichard said out loud, the thing many of us were thinking:

MARY: And just so everybody is aware, Johnny has all kinds of material by which he could blackmail each and every one of us.

PAUL: How do you think he's retiring so comfortably?

JOHNNY: I’m getting monthly income from four or five people…

But seriously, Kent Covington perhaps said it best…

KENT: He's the last person in the world who you will ever, you would ever hear, say anything negative about anyone. Just as Christ-like and kind hearted and genuine, and, you know, grounded a person as you'll ever meet and and a very good producer, very steady, very, you know, just faithful. It's a great word for him.

Johnny Franklin’s faithfulness, his love for the savior, his true affection for our team, and his high view of our audience makes his work special.

JOHNNY: Something that I've seen in my life is God has really placed me in places that I almost had nothing to do with, in really, really meaningful opportunities where I could use what I do to really benefit God's people … And just grateful to God for bringing these opportunities to me and allowing me to work with some great people and doing things that I trust have made a big difference in the lives of a lot of God's people.

For all of us at WORLD Johnny, we’re grateful too…

I’m Paul Butler.

EICHER: Wow, I don’t measure up as a Gandalf … but I could not be happier to have had Johnny along for this terrific adventure. And it will continue to be so … because I expect a new post-retirement adventure for Johnny in a teaching-training role as we develop our next generation here at WORLD. Johnny has so much to give, so much wisdom and skill and I want our young staff to be able to tap into that. So, Johnny, I hope you are indeed quite ready for another adventure … you are not the same hobbit who left the shire. God bless you, brother. We haven’t seen the last of each other.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Before we go, another goodbye. Our executive editor for WORLD Digital Mickey McLean is going into retirement to care for his wife. Mickey also has been a great blessing to me personally and my family. And he’s made a big difference here at WORLD. You wouldn’t have heard his voice, but you benefited from his work. Good manager and all-around good guy. The Lord’s blessings to you, too, sir!

Well, it’s time to say thanks to the rest of the team who helped out this week …

Jenny Rough, David Bahnsen, Caleb Welde, Leah Savas, Travis Kircher, Hunter Baker, Carolina Lumetta, Onize Oduah, Brad Littlejohn, Mary Reichard, Mary Muncy, Lindsay Mast, Cal Thomas, and John Stonestreet, and Arsenio Orteza.

A new voice this week, Patrick Henry College journalism student Clay Ramirez.

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

And a big thanks to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early: Johnny Franklin, Carl Peetz, and Benj Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Harrison Watters is Washington producer, senior producer Kristen Flavin is features editor, Paul Butler executive producer, and Les Sillars editor-in-chief.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

Jesus said: “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” —Mark 7:20-23

Remember, it’s important to worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ in church on the Lord’s Day! Gathering together as the Scripture says to do.

And, Lord willing, we’ll 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.