The World and Everything in It - October 1, 2021

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Welcome to a special edition of our program! Today, we’re recording live near Minneapolis, Minnesota.

On the program today for Culture Friday, our all-new WORLD Opinions team will talk about the new product, and the lineup for Day One.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, an Erwin Brothers documentary on the origins of contemporary Christian music. Sharon Dierberger has a review.

And your listener feedback.

BROWN: It’s Friday, October 1st. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher.

BROWN: Now the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Congress passes stopgap funding bill to avert shutdown » Lawmakers passed a bill on Thursday to head off a looming partial government shutdown.

AUDIO: On this vote, the yeas are 254. The nays are 175. The motion is adopted.

The House vote heard there. The Senate passed it 65 to 35. It will fund the government through Dec. 3rd.

Government funding would have expired at midnight. The stopgap measure will buy lawmakers more time to craft the spending measures that will fund federal agencies and programs.

But there’s still plenty of drama on Capitol Hill surrounding raising the debt ceiling and trillions of dollars in proposed spending. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki…

PSAKI: We need to do more to rebuild our roads and railways and bridges, that we need to cut costs for the American people. We need to address the climate crisis.

But progressives in the House are holding up a vote on a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Some Democrats say they won’t back it unless the Senate also approves President Biden’s massive $3.5 trillion spending bill.

But centrist Democrat Joe Manchin said Thursday that he won’t support anything more than a $1.5 trillion bill.

MANCHIN: I’m willing to sit down and work through that $1.5 to get our priorities, and they can come back and do later and they can run on the rest of it later. I think there’s many ways to get to where they want to.

Without his vote in the evenly divided Senate, Democrats cannot pass the president’s spending bill.

Supply chain leaders warn of major shortages » Trade and groups are warning that the global transport system and supply chain could collapse unless governments around the world take action. WORLD’s Sarah Schweinsberg has more.

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: The International Chamber of Shipping sent an open letter to the United Nations on Wednesday demanding changes to transport worker conditions.

A worker shortage and constantly changing requirements have strained the global supply chain for more than a year. Ports shut down because of the pandemic, and many crew members have had to stay on shore leave due to travel restrictions.

They have also had to get multiple vaccines for the coronavirus since requirements vary from country to country. Truck drivers also face complex quarantine and testing requirements across the world, which delays deliveries.

The challenges have caused burnout among shipping workers, many of whom have quit or are threatening to.

Companies usually start stocking up in October for the rush of holiday shopping, but the International Chamber of Shipping said the supply chain is maxed out trying to deliver overdue orders.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

Unemployment claims rise for third straight week » The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for the third straight week. Some analysts say it could be another sign that the delta variant is weighing down the job market.

The Labor Department said claims rose unexpectedly by 11,000 last week to 362,000. And the four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, rose for the first time in seven weeks.

Since topping 900,000 in early January, applications had fallen fairly steadily as the economy bounced back from last year's shutdowns. But they've been rising along with coronavirus infections.

Restaurants and bars cut nearly 42,000 jobs last month, the first drop this year. But hiring is expected to pick up this month.

Ecuador declares emergency after prison massacre » Ecuador's president has declared a state of emergency in the prison system following the worst outbreak of violence in the nation’s history. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: A bloody battle between gang members in a coastal lockup killed at least 116 people and injured 80. Officials said at least five of the dead were beheaded.

President Guillermo Lasso decreed a state of emergency Wednesday, which will give the government powers that include deploying police and soldiers inside prisons. The order came a day after bloodshed at a penitentiary in Guayaquil that officials blamed on gangs linked to international drug cartels.

At a news conference, Lasso was visibly moved by the carnage. He said it’s “regrettable that the prisons are being turned into territories for power disputes by criminal gangs.”

Images circulating on social media showed dozens of bodies in the prison’s Pavilions and scenes that looked like battlefields. The inmates were well armed with firearms, knives and bombs.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

96-year-old former Nazi Camp worker caught after skipping trial » A 96-year-old woman is in a German court this week facing 11,000 counts of accessory to murder more than 7 decades after she worked at a Nazi prison camp.

Authorities arrested her after she skipped the planned start of her trial. She reportedly left her home near Hamburg in a taxi on Thursday morning, a few hours before proceedings were due to start.

The defendant once worked as the secretary for the SS commander of the Stutthof concentration camp.

Prosecutors argue that the woman was part of the apparatus that helped the Nazis’ Stutthof camp function during World War II.

Despite her advanced age, the German woman was to be tried in juvenile court because she was under 21 at the time of the alleged crimes. German media identified her as Irmgard Furchner.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: WORLD Opinions makes its debut.

Plus, listener feedback live from Minnesota.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday, October 1st, 2021. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It.

I’m Myrna Brown.

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

A warm welcome to those watching the broadcast live. We’re close to Minneapolis—in Plymouth, Minnesota—at the Free Lutheran Bible College.

It’s our first live event in well over a year! Welcome to you.

BROWN: Well, it’s Culture Friday. And we’re happy to say hello to two of our newest team members, Albert Mohler and Andrew Walker—respectively the editor and managing editor of the all-new WORLD Opinions, debuting today at WNG.org.

EICHER: Gentlemen, welcome aboard. 

Transcript will be available later

NICK EICHER, HOST: Now, we need to wait for definitive word on this from our in-house economist David Bahnsen, but here are a couple of economic indicators that may have gotten by even him.

Number one: supply-chain problems plaguing The Dollar Store.

The Wall Street Journal once marveled at the business model …

AUDIO: It’s a retailer that can make a lotta money selling very cheap goods to a relatively small number of people.

Well, now those very cheap goods aren’t so cheap.

And now Dollar Tree stores—where everything goes for a dollar—is offering those very cheap goods for a buck-25 or a buck-50.

You know, Dollar and a Half Tree just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Economic indicator number two: the housing market. It’s really a hot market.

So hot that a real-estate listing in a town just north of Boston—Melrose, Massachusetts—it’s a bit of a fixer-upper, but it’s going for $400,000.

So what, right? Well, here’s the kicker.

In August, the house caught fire.

The front is totally charred to the roofline, the front windows boarded up because the blaze blew them out, firefighters had to rip down walls and ceilings to put out the fire.

The listing says: “House is in need of a complete renovation or potential tear down and rebuild. Buyer to do due diligence. House being sold as is.”

400K. That’s a hot housing market.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, October 1st. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio!

I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Jesus music.

It was the soundtrack to a spiritual revival that swept the nation 50 years ago. And it set the stage for the wide variety of Christian music we have today.

A new documentary in theaters today tells the story of that musical revolution and the artists who capitalized on it.

Here’s reviewer Sharon Dierberger.

MUSIC: [Friends]

SHARON DIERBERGER, REVIEWER: These days we can download and listen to an enormous range of Christian music nearly anytime, anywhere, and think nothing of it.

But a new documentary from the Erwin brothers reminds us contemporary Christian music hasn’t been around all that long. The Jesus Music traces its emergence during the counterculture revolution of the late 60s and early 70s and follows it into the present.

The film features some of CCM’s biggest stars, including singer-songwriter Michael W. Smith.

SMITH: I think music is the most powerful and universal language in the world. And somehow it comes out of the radio, or the satellite radio, or a CD, or the computer, and you go, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. Great song. That song changed my life.’ And you can do all of that in three and a half minutes.

The Jesus music movement took off in 1969 at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck Smith, 42 years old and balding, invited disillusioned young people to come to church barefoot and wearing jeans. Pretty radical. But scores of hippies started believing in Christ, tired of pursuing decadent lifestyles that left them empty.

Greg Laurie was one of them. He’s now pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship. But back then, he was a southern California surfer.

LAURIE: We took drugs to discover. We were trying to find answers. And our heroes, like the Beatles, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin…They were kind of leading us.

Many of the hippies were musicians. They started expressing their new faith through the same kind of music they used to play but with transformed hearts and attitudes. Chuck Smith invited Tommy Coomes, Chuck Gerard, and their group, Love Song, to play one of their faith-inspired tunes in church.

Here’s Coomes, who eventually became creative director at Maranatha! Music:

COOMES: We had two great loves that kind of bound us together. It was the love of making music and this really driving urge to find out who God was and to find something better that what we’d seen.

Soon, guitars and drums rocked the hymn-and-choir church world, and the music spread across the country.

The styles changed and grew—from Jesus music to contemporary Christian music—to the worship music many churches include in services today.

Not everyone was a fan at first. Some said the rock-and-roll melodies and rhythms came straight from the devil. But at Explo ’72 in Dallas, Jesus music crescendoed when several hundred thousand people came to hear the hand-clapping tunes and … Billy Graham.

GRAHAM: True faith—must be applied to the social problems of our world. Today, Christian young people ought to be involved in the problems of poverty, ecology, war, racial tension, and all the other problems of our generation. This is a Christian happening. It’s a demonstration of the love of God by tens of thousands of young people to the world, that’s saying to the world, ‘God loves you,’ It’s the Jesus Revolution that’s going on in this country.

And Graham’s approval was equally revolutionary for the movement’s new soundtrack. Here’s Chuck Gerard:

GERARD: Billy Graham gets up, speaks, and all of sudden they open their minds to this idea that if this music, that was born out of rebellion, maybe this could be incorporated into something the Holy Spirit can use, and it was sort of an affirmation. It was a seal of approval. If Billy will get up and speak after hippies sing, maybe it’s ok to have drums. Maybe it’s ok to have guitars.

The film, rated PG-13 for some drug talk and thematic elements, also addresses problems in the industry. Ego, the pressures of fame, and extra marital affairs. Certain older singers seem better able to examine issues and regrets—and also God’s forgiveness and redemption. Amy Grant talks about her divorce and personal failings. Russ Taff discusses his alcoholism and recovery. DC Talk members open up about intergroup tensions. Toby Mac admits where he struggles.

Singer-songwriter Bill Gaither shares something he told Jerry Falwell.

GAITHER: I said, Jerry, if you’re waiting for me to get a roomful of unflawed artists, it’s not gonna happen. These are human beings, who have been gifted in a special kind of a way. And they’re trying to work through in these earthly bodies, and sometimes they make mistakes.

The film showcases many artists and groups. So many, in fact, it easily could have been two documentaries. But the lineup included several noticeable omissions: multiple Dove Award winner Steve Green and BJ Thomas, who had the first Christian album to go platinum.

And I wish the filmmakers had pressed artists more about how financial aspects of this now multi-billion dollar industry potentially muddy their motivations. Steve Taylor with Squint Records touches on it only briefly.

TAYLOR: When Christian music first started out, it really was about artists just wanting to minister to people through their music. When money gets involved, it’s really hard to keep that focus.

Not every musical style here will please everybody. But this modern timeline of music is absorbing and encouraging. And when the songs praise the ultimate Creator of music, whether it’s with tambourines, or pianos, or guitars, it’s hard not to crank up the volume and sing along.

LYRICS: I’m coming back to the heart of worship. And it’s all about You. It’s all about You, Jesus. I’m sorry Lord, for the thing I’ve made it. It’s all about You, Jesus.

I’m Sharon Dierberger.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, October 1st. 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.

Next up: your listener feedback. Managing Editor Leigh Jones and WORLD Watch reporter Hannah Harris are in the audience and ready to help us pass the mic around.

Transcript will be available later

NICK EICHER, HOST: Time now to thank the team of people who helped put together this week’s programs.

Mary Reichard, Kent Covington, Katie Gaultney, Kristen Flavin, Anna Johansen Brown, Josh Schumacher, Steve West, Onize Ohikere, Amy Lewis, Joel Belz, Sarah Schweinsberg, Cal Thomas, and Sharon Dierberger.

And a special thanks to our hosts here at Free Lutheran Bible College.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz are our audio engineers who stay up late to get the program to you early! Leigh Jones is managing editor. Paul Butler is executive producer, and Marvin Olasky is editor in chief.

Blessed is the man
​​Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
​​Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

​​But his delight is in the law of the LORD. ​​And in His law he meditates day and night.

May your heart be open and ready to hear from God’s word this weekend as you gather together with His people.

Lord willing, we’ll meet you 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.