The World and Everything in It: June 9, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. Hi! I'm Caris Bailey, and I live with my husband Luke in Costa Mesa, California. We'll be welcoming another Bailey boy this August and now our baby can hear almost everything I can, including Uncle Caleb's stories.  We hope you enjoy today's podcast.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! Today on Culture Friday: the national report card: not good. And women’s college softball: a team playing for God’s glory and playing so well, win or lose.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Right, we’ll hear them and talk with John Stonestreet.

Also, WORLD arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino will tell us about the newest Transformers movie to roll out in theaters.

OPTIMUS PRIME: You brought a human here?
NOAH: I’m a nobody. I ain’t even see nothing. I’m not even seeing anything right now.

And a roundup of listening options for summer road trips.

BROWN: It’s Friday, June 8th. 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, Anna Johansen Brown with today’s news.

TRUMP: Very sadly, we’re a nation in decline, and yet they go after a popular president, a president that got more votes than any sitting president in the history of our country, by far.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump indictment » Former President Donald Trump announcing he will face a second historic indictment, this time related to how he handled classified documents on leaving the White House.

The Justice Department has not disclosed the exact charges against Trump.

They stem from a special counsel investigation into whether the former president broke the law by taking hundreds of classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The FBI raided the property in August.

TRUMP: I’m an innocent man. We will prove that again. Seven years of proving it and here we go again. Very unfair, but that’s the way it is.

In April, prosecutors in Manhattan charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in a case over hush money payments made to former mistresses. He also denies any wrongdoing in that case.

SMITH: It’s hard to like cough and breathe sometimes, so, yeah, I have never seen that before, I gotta keep a mask on. It’s bad, I ain’t gonna lie. It need to clear up.

Wildfire smoke » In New York City, the air looks better today, but it still has dangerous levels of pollutants from Canadian wildfires.

Smoke from fires in the eastern region of Quebec continues to blanket the northeastern U-S.

Officials in some states have urged residents to avoid going outside if possible.

Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole:

BETTIGOLE: Fine particles can penetrate deeply into fragile lung tissue, causing symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, and wheezing.

The smoke forced airports to delay at least 600 flights on Thursday.

Meteorologists forecast rain and storms this weekend which could dissipate the smoke.

Meanwhile, hundreds of American firefighters are on their way to Canada to help battle the raging wildfires across the country.

Ukraine script » President Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Biden:  Our unwavering support for the people of Ukraine, who are defending themselves against the most brutal aggression we've seen in a long time at the hands of Russia and Putin. 

The meeting comes as NATO looks for its next leader. Analysts have said the next secretary general could be a leader of one of the group’s member states, maybe U.K. Defense Minister Ben Wallace. 

Biden: We're going to have to get a consensus within NATO to see that happen. They have a candidate who's a very qualified individual.

Ukraine wants to become a member of the military alliance. Current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said all member countries have agreed Ukraine may join after its war with Russia ends.

SCOTUS Alabama voting » Alabama will have to redraw its congressional map by order of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court on Thursday overturned the state’s district boundaries, saying they discriminated against black voters.

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries:

HAKEEM JEFFRIES- The Voting Rights Act is the law of the land and it is illegal to engage in race-based gerrymandering.

More than a quarter of the people in the state are black … but only one of the state’s seven districts leaned Democratic after the new lines were drawn … and it contained the majority of the state’s African American voters.

The court said the map should include two majority-black districts.

The justices affirmed a lower court ruling that said the original map was likely in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

JEFFRIES: We can at least draw some comfort from the fact that the 1965 Voting Rights Act remains alive.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s liberal justices in the majority opinion.

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented saying the Voting Rights Act does not require lawmakers to redraw Congressional Districts to make them proportional based on race, and if it did, the Constitution would not allow it.

Holloway case » The prime suspect in the unsolved disappearance of an American high school student in U.S. custody. WORLD’s Paul Butler has more.

PAUL BUTLER: Joran van der Sloot was extradited from Peru yesterday. He is the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. student Natalee Holloway.

Holloway went missing on a senior trip to Aruba. She was last seen with van der Sloot.

Prosecutors say he later tried to sell false information about the location of Holloway’s body. He was in prison in Peru for the murder of a local woman.

For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

Pat Robertson obit » Broadcaster and evangelist Pat Robertson died Thursday at the age of 93.

Robertson brought Christian teaching and commentary into homes around the world for decades … as founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and host of The 700 Club.

He built CBN from a bankrupt TV station and turned it into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

ROBERTSON: I didn’t have the money the day we were supposed to go on the air. And I opened the Bible and my eyes fell on the Psalm that said, “The salvation of the Lord is at hand,” and I thought, it’s coming.

Robertson later founded Regent University, as well as the political group Christian Coalition and the legal organization American Center for Law and Justice.

In 1988, he sought the Republican nomination for president—but lost out to former President George H.W. Bush.

I'm Anna Johansen Brown. Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, soundtracks for your next family road trip.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s the 9th day of June 2023.

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. 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: Good morning.

EICHER: Well, John, let's begin with the National Assessment for Education Progress. That's the Nation's Report Card, and the findings were that the nation is going to have to be grounded, I think. US history and civics scores dropped for eighth graders, only 13% performed at or above what the National Center for Education Statistics considers to be proficient. John, what is your assessment of the National Assessment?

STONESTREET: Well, my assessment of the National Assessment is thus: It is absolutely clear that the real problem here is the failure of the so called “educational experts’” to read polls and surveys and actually understand the data outside of their preconceived ideas. The headlines on this were talking about some huge drop in knowledge of civics. As soon as I saw that I realized, because we’ve been talking about this for at least seven or eight or nine years. Os Guinness has been writing for 10 years about how if we don’t have a shared understanding of civics, we don’t have much of a future as a nation. And in particular I think this probably has to do with online learning and parental interference in education.

In other words, the drop in knowledge of civics is because suddenly during COVID parents started to hear what their kids were actually being taught—which for the record wasn’t civics—and that they’re now to blame for this. And then you go back and realize that, as you said, in 2018 only 15% were proficient. And now that figure has dropped to 13%.

I think this crisis goes before COVID and the related parental involvement in teaching and school boards teaching CRT and woke transgender ideology. The problem is that educational leaders in America are developing systems that aren’t really about education at all. The reason that the civics scores are in such dreadful state has everything to do with what we think is true about reality, and whether we think historical knowledge is even possible. And both of those understandings have been completely undermined by postmodern ideals about truth, and about history and about human nature. That is, if this isn’t all COVID’s fault.

BROWN: I want to talk about the history part, John, let's continue this train of thought. So Fort Bragg, the nation's largest military base has been re-designated. You know what that means? It is no longer Fort Bragg. It is now called Fort Liberty.

EICHER: Well, liberty is a good thing, right?

BROWN: Well, yeah, yeah. But it's Fort Bragg. It's been Fort Bragg forever. It's Fort Bragg. Well, nine other name changes are in the works mandated by Congress to wipe away Confederate leaders. American history, okay. Braxton Bragg was a Confederate General during the Civil War. So to me, Well, I don't I just I want to know what you think, this kind of treatment of American history...that can't be helpful in the classroom?

STONESTREET: Well that begs the question: What’s happening in the classroom? Are we pretending that the way that the procession of history is somehow reliant on predetermined good guys and bad guys with this long arc of moral progress, so that every cause that we’re told in the classroom to believe in is part of this arc? In other words, if this is a part of that movement, then we’ve got a real problem.

I think that when it comes to statues and monuments, that history is why those monuments were put up in the first place. There’s more than a few examples in big southern cities of Confederate monuments that were really set up to intimidate former slaves and to remind everyone, "I don’t care who won the war, this is how we do things down here." Part of the history is understanding that, and that understanding is not a retelling of history in and of itself. So to correct that is okay.

The problem is that so often these cancellations—which sometimes are appropriate, though I don’t know what I think because I’m all about liberty—probably leave a whole lot of people who spent time at Fort Bragg unhappy about that. Fort Bragg was an identity for them that had nothing to do with who General Bragg was; it actually had to do with their own stories in the military. The problem with cancellation comes when it’s the only strategy, going without any other education and rooted in pretending that certain parts of history either didn’t exist, or in framing it such that we today are the good guys and they in the past are the bad guys meaning our thoughts on this are going to be somehow on a higher moral plane. You can’t do history if you don’t get the Fall, what we call the second chapter of the redemptive narrative. And what oftentimes happens is this: Just remove these things, pretend we’re the good guys of history, and then move on as if that settles the problem.

That doesn’t solve the problem. You need to actually go back and emphasize that, in history, you can have great people with allegiance to wrong causes. Most causes are mixed causes to begin with. Every single person is made in the image of God and is deeply fallen from sin.

You see that reflected in the leaders of the Confederacy, who were, at the end of the day, fighting to prop up something that was sinful and terrible. And yet, for some of them, the causes were different. They’re all still part of the American story.

It’s that kind of complication that is part of the human condition. And that’s really, I think, what the fundamental problem is with critical theory is: That it just oversimplifies everything and pretends that some group of people—usually it’s us—somehow has a morally superior perspective on things, and that we would have never done that. So I don’t know what the whole plan is here for the military in these specific circumstances. If this isn’t accompanied with a whole lot of other education and acknowledgement, it’s not going to be enough. It’s not going to solve the problem that they think it’s going to solve.

BROWN: John, you are often not very hopeful about the trends in the culture. And believe me, I get it. So I want to play something that struck me as positive and and I want to see what you think about it. During the Women's College World Series, three University of Oklahoma players were interviewed by an ESPN reporter about how they stay grounded. Well, you know how, how they stay joyful amid all the pressures of competing in a World Series. And the responses really drove a lot of interest online. You know what? Let's just listen to an extended bit of this, because I found it impressive.

INTERVIEWER: How do you keep the joy for so long when anxiety seems like a thing that can very easily set in? 

GRACE LYONS: Well, the only way that you can have a joy that doesn't fade away is from the Lord and any other type of joy is actually happiness that comes from circumstances and outcomes. Thankfully, we've had a lot of success this year. But if it was the other way around, joy from the Lord is the only thing that can keep you embracing those memories, moment, friendships. That's really the only answer to that, because there's no other way that softball can bring you that because of how much failure comes in it. And just how much of a roller coaster the game can be.

JAYDA COLEMAN: 1,000% agree with Grace Lyons. I went through that my freshman year. I was so happy that we went to college world series, but I didn't feel joy. I didn't know what to do. The next day, I didn't know what to do for that following week, I didn't feel filled. And I had to find Christ in that. And I think that is what makes our team so strong is that we're not afraid to lose, because it's not the end of the world because our life is in Christ. And that's all that matters.

ALYSSA BRITO: Yeah. I think a huge thing that we've really just latched on to is eyes up. And you guys see us doing this and pointing out but we're really like fixing our eyes on Christ. And that's something we're likely we're saying you can't find a fulfillment and an outcome, whether it's good or bad. And I think that's why we're so steady in what we do and our love for each other and our love for the game. Because we know this game is giving us the opportunity to glorify God. And I just think once we figured that out, and that was our purpose, and everyone was all in with that. It's really changed so much for us. And I mean, I know myself, I've seen so much of a growth in myself with once I turned to Jesus, and I realized how he had changed my outlook on life, not just softball, but understanding how much I have to live for. And that's living to exemplify the kingdom. And I think that brings so much freedom. We have an eternity of joy with our father. And I'm so excited about that. And yes, I live in the moment, but I know this isn't my home. And no matter what my sisters in Christ will be there with me in the end, when we're with our king.

BROWN: Just let---all three of them one after the other.

STONESTREET: And the coach.

BROWN: And the coach. Yeah, that's true. So, John, so here's my question, John, hopeful, are you hopeful?

STONESTREET: I want to go back to your initial question, which says I’m not a very hopeful person. I am a very hopeful person, because as Chuck Colson would say, Christ is risen from the dead and because that is true despair is now a sin. To be hopeful doesn’t mean to be naively optimistic that cultural trends are going to improve. You’re hopeful about the whole story, not this particular chapter of the story.

I saw that video this week, and I was blown away. And I was like, what’s happening? This is the Oklahoma University softball team. Did they ask, did they go to Asbury and catch the revival there? I mean, what’s happening?

And it wasn’t just one player speaking on this, the whole team’s culture is reflected as “we don’t look at ourselves; we look up, and we look up because of the joy of the Lord. And whether we win or lose, it’s not about that. We do our best to glorify Him.”

They were doing an interview like you would see at the end of a Christian sports movie. That’s what it kind of looked like, where they’re just all in. And so I thought, “somebody needs to check on this place and see what has happened there.” It needs to be stated how they have actually been courageous. Where are the police officers telling us that you’re not allowed to do that sort of thing on ESPN, or at a state school like Oklahoma University.

The thing about this story is apparently they got into a little bit of trouble for how they celebrated. And they’re ready to crack down on sports celebrations. I mean, that’s been an interesting headline this year between the women’s Final Four and this, but when asked, that word “joy” kept coming up. And one of the things that was so striking, stunning to me is how strange that word sounds. This month, all we hear about this pride, pride, pride, pride, pride. Then when these ladies were interviewed, they immediately pointed outside of themselves not inside of themselves. There wasn’t “we worked so hard, this is what we deserve” or “we just want it more than everybody else” or any of the typical interview things. It was just like, we don’t do this for us. We do this for others, we do it for each other, we do it for our coach, and we do it for the Lord. And that’s where real joy comes from.

One of them even talked about having won in years past and not having joy. And now here they’re in the middle of it, and whether they win or not, they do have joy. There’s just so much of our culture right now that can be put into a category of “are you looking inward and defining all reality inside yourself?” My response is: “Are you looking outside yourself? For what’s true and fixed and real?” And when you see it, one leads to pride which, ironically, tragically, is one of the seven deadly sins. And the other leads to joy, which is infectious, and which brings them pleasure and God pleasure. I thought it was remarkable. Now I want to know if there’s some connection to Asbury. Those are the things I keep thinking about.

EICHER: All right. John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center, and he is host of the Breakpoint Podcast. Great to talk with you, John. We'll see you next week.

STONESTREET: Thanks so much.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, June 9th. 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. Up next on The World and Everything in It: Movies for the weekend. Here’s arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino.

OPTIMUS PRIME: Calling all Autobots. Roll out!

COLLIN GARBARINO: This weekend, the latest installment of the Transformers franchise rolls into theaters. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the seventh film in the 16-year-old series of movies featuring robots in disguise. But it’s the second chronologically—a follow up to the 2018 prequel Bumblebee.

The year is 1994, and Noah Diaz, played by Anthony Ramos, is a desperate down- on-his-luck veteran. Noah gets talked into stealing a sports car to make money to pay his sick brother’s medical bills, but the Porsche he steals is more than meets the eye.

MIRAGE: Whoo hoo hoo! That felt good. That felt good. I’ve been cooped up forever, dude. This is probably a lot for you, huh?

Noah’s new Autobot friend is named Mirage, and he’s voiced by comedian Pete Davidson. Mirage introduces Noah to the rest of the Transformers.

MIRAGE: Oh, great. The gang’s here.
NOAH: There are more like you?

But since this is a prequel, their leader Optimus Prime hasn’t yet learned to trust humans.

OPTIMUS PRIME: You brought a human here?
NOAH: I’m a nobody. I ain’t even see nothing. I’m not even seeing anything right now.

The bad guys in this movie are Terrorcons. Three evil transformers who attempt to summon their world-devouring master, Unicron, to Earth.

To stop Unicron, the Autobots must team up with the Maximals, robots that transform into animals instead of vehicles. Don’t worry, the movie doesn’t even attempt to explain why alien robots look like giant apes and cheetahs and birds.

OPTIMUS PRIME: Stand down!
[Primal roars.]
I won’t ask a second time.

Rise of the Beasts is rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and language. Neither Bumblebee nor this movie have the sensuality of the early Transformer movies, but Mirage does make some crude comments. The language pushes the boundaries of the PG-13 rating.

’90s kids will smile at some of the movie’s references. And transformer fans will probably enjoy Rise of the Beasts. The movie returns to some of the source material from the comic books.

But as a sequel to Bumblebee, which was actually pretty good, Rise of the Beasts is a disappointment. The filmmakers took the elements of Bumblebee and dialed everything up to 11. And in the process they lost the charm.

The storyline is basically the same. Humans and good robots must team up to keep bad robots from sending a beacon into outer space that will summon death and destruction to Earth. But this time, instead of a sweet story about one girl and one Autobot, fighting against three Decepticons, we get a somewhat sassy story about two humans, six Autobots, and four Maximals fighting against three Terrorcons. You never really feel like the odds are against the good guys.

I won’t blame you if you decide to skip Transformers this weekend and queue up something new on streaming.

MUSIC: ["Avatar 2"theme]

This week, Avatar: The Way of Water landed on Disney+ and Max.

At 3 hours and 12 minutes, the movie is punishingly long. If you decide to watch, I recommend splitting it up over two or three nights. The storyline isn’t compelling enough to watch straight through. It’s mostly the same eco-worship we see in the original Avatar, only this time with more water.

TSIREYA: The sea gives. And the sea takes. Water connects all things. 

I can’t say much positive about the story or worldview, but the special effects are incredible. It puts to shame the underwater scenes in both Wakanda Forever and new The Little Mermaid.

If you’re interested in something different from sci-fi action extravaganza, maybe check out Creed III which you can stream on Prime Video starting today. It’s the ninth film in the 47-year-old Rocky franchise. This is the first one without Sylvester Stallone in the role of Rocky Balboa, but it’s got all the beats of a Rocky movie.

TRAINER: You got to block out everything and be in the moment. Not the past. Not the future. Right now.

In this movie, boxing champion Donnie Creed must confront his childhood friend Damian. Damian has just gotten out of prison, and he’s consumed with jealousy over Donnie’s success. Boxing movies aren’t for everyone, but I liked that Creed III doesn’t portray masculinity as a problem to be solved. Rather it’s a gift to be channeled.

You can find my full reviews of both Avatar 2 and Creed III on our website: wng.org.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

BROWN: If you're interested in getting more reviews and entertainment news delivered to your inbox, you can subscribe to Collin’s weekly Muse newsletter at wng.org/newsletters.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday, June 9th. 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. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Summer soundtracks.

For many families, summer means road-trips. And a great way to pass the miles is by turning on the radio.

But turning to just any radio station might not be an option if there are little ears on board. Never fear! WORLD reviewers Emily Whitten and Bekah McCallum have some recommendations for what to play next.

COCO MOON: I think highly of Hawaii. I got a cheap flight and a plan. So heads up, Nancy. Don’t get antsy while I’m working on my tan.

EMILY WHITTEN, REVIEWER: That’s Adam Young, the creator behind Owl City. This March, he released an album called Coco Moon. If you like catchy, electronic pop, this upbeat album might just hit the spot.

COCO MOON: Cause when I need a vacation, I need some Vitamin Sea. Aloha, let the good times roll, when I walk on the beach, when I get kinda salty I need some Vitamin Sea. 

Young often tells stories with his music–in Adam, Check Please, he celebrates the joy of his first job. In another called Field Notes, his Christian faith is on display as he retells Jesus’ parable of a hidden treasure in a field.

COCO MOON: It’s a fable you see and the moral is this, your heart’s with your treasure wherever it is. And trust me when you dig a treasure will be revealed. And you never know what could be buried in the middle of a field. 

Renee Driver teaches music to elementary students. She thinks that kids as old as middle school would enjoy the nuance here.

RENEE DRIVER: I love the art of storytelling. And I was really captivated by that. And I thought: This guy has a very pleasant voice. To me, personally, reminds me a little bit of Andrew Peterson as far as the vocals.

One caution–some parents may not like the focus on tattoos in “Learn How to Surf”. The album is clean language-wise, though Young does mention hell in “Field Notes” and “The Tornado”. One final caution–“The Meadowlark” is an allegory about soldiers who choose not to fight each other. Parents may need to explain it’s meant for families–not real soldiers, otherwise it might seem to promote pacifism.

Next up–A lot of families may be aware of Disney’s new film version of The Little Mermaid. If you’d like your kids to take a deeper dive on that story, one option is a new audiobook of Hans Christian Anderson’s classic version. It’s narrated here by Leigh-Anne Pinnock.

AUDIOBOOK: The little mermaid set out from her garden to a forbidden stretch of water to where the sea witch dwelt. None of the princesses had ever dared swim in this direction before.

This version uses some creative license, but the plot resembles the original Anderson version. Which means it’s definitely different from what most kids are used to.

In this version, when Ariel falls in love with a handsome prince, she trades her voice to get an immortal soul like a human. Parents should also know that some parts get slightly spooky. The mermaids here are a bit like the sirens in ancient Greek myths:

AUDIOBOOK: Do you hear that? That is the sound of her five sisters linked arm in arm. and what I’m about to tell you might not sound very nice.

Other concerns–Ariel isn’t wearing any clothes when she comes out of the ocean–her hair does provide some covering. And instead of singing into a shell, her tongue is cut out by the evil witch.

Still, benefits for older kids are many. The original story has a richer vocabulary and weightier moral.

AUDIOBOOK: Would I do it again? No. I’m much wiser now. To be truly loved, you must be known. Enchanting someone with looks or talent isn’t enough.

Plus, there are fun sound effects and original melodies throughout. The story takes under an hour, so–as long as you prepare your kids that this isn’t Disney–Pinnock’s version can be a great way to deepen their appreciation of a classic tale.

PODCAST 5.5: Well, enough of the nonsense, let’s get on with the nonsense. Welcome back to Withywindle, a whimsical interactive show for kids who love stories, words, and groan worthy jokes.

That’s David Kern, one of the hosts of the Withywindle podcast for families. It often features kids’ book authors and illustrators. The hosts don’t take themselves too seriously, though. They answer questions from young listeners, rate favorite foods on a segment called “snack time,” and tell goofy jokes.

PODCAST: Hey Graeme. Hey David. I have a joke for you. Okay. Are you ready? Mhm. What kind of shoes do ninjas wear? I don’t know. Sneakers.

But when it’s time to chat with guests, conversations can be thought-provoking. Author John Erickson offered this advice for aspiring creators:

PODCAST 5.7: Stories should bring light, not darkness. And if you have no light in your life, don’t write, or write in a journal and keep it in a dark closet. Don’t inflict it on anyone else. If you don’t have anything beautiful to say, don’t say anything. Go watch birds and maybe they can teach you something.

We hope these audio options will teach your family something! But we also hope they might help you make some fun memories this summer, too.

I’m Emily Whitten.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week: Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Emily Whitten, Whitney Williams, Onize Ohikere, Leah Savas, Addie Offereins, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, and Collin Garbarino.

And three new voices on the program: WORLD Commentator Daniel Darling, and WJI graduates Alex Carmenaty and Alessandra Gugliotti.

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

And because you have an early morning routine, we have a late-night crew to polish the program. Thanks to Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Our producer is Harrison Watters with production assistance from Kristen Flavin, Benjamin Eicher, Lillian Hamman, and Bekah McCallum. 

Paul Butler is our 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 Bible says: And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

1 Kings Chapter 8 verses 10 and 11

Make sure you’re in the house of the Lord this weekend and brothers and sisters, let’s worship Him!

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.