Family Life News - Special Features
Special conversations from Family Life News with lawmakers, community leaders, and experts covering a broad range of topics and inspiring stories to encourage you.
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Alex Nsengimana - "Operation Christmas Child" - 11/04/25
Alex Nsengimana grew up in circumstances most of us can't image - a survivor of the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s.
One of the first bright spots in his young life was receiving a shoebox from "Operation Christmas Child."
Here, he shares his moving story to Family Life's Mark Webster.
To learn more, click here:
Texas Flooding Miracle Stories
100 billion gallons of rain fell on July 4th in Kerr County, Texas, causing the Guadalupe River to rise dozens of feet in an hour. The county recieved more rain in one night than it does in a year. More than 100 are dead and hundreds have been rescued.
Family Life's Sarah Harnisch went on a tour of miracles with a trio of Texans. Dianna McCracken survived the wall of water heading directly for her. Samantha Johnson, her daughter, has been aiding in relief efforts. Grief and Trauma Counselor Nancy Sheridan explains how to have faith in the darkness.
Learn more about relief efforts here: https://kingsransomfoundation.org/
And here: https://www.familylife.org/resources/relief-efforts/
FCA's Mike Blanc: Ministry amid the downsides of NIL cash and cars for college sports
Cash and valuable prizes have changed college sports ministry
Mike Blanc, director of pro and elite sports ministries for FCA
A Family Life Special News Feature
Now that the brackets are set for the NCAA women's and men's basketball tournaments, we explore a new era for college sports.
Court rulings now say that "amateur" players across all college sports can earn payments for use of their "name, image, and likeness". While these athletes can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and for a few prime stars, one or more millions -- a leader in the national Fellowship of Christian Athletes says there is a downside for many of these young students.
Mike Blanc, a former Pittsburgh Steeler and now FCA's director for pro and elite sports, says the "NIL" era has opened new and important opportunities for Christian ministry. He tells us that the big payoffs result in big pressure. Someone who is given so much money to play his or her sport also carries the expectation that they must perform at a level that is worth that investment. That, Blanc says, flies in the face of the individual's value as measured through the Lord's grace.
This is our second interview with Mike Blanc, who is also is a veteran of sports ministry for the University of Miami. You can hear our first conversation with him -- about how more bigtime coaches and athletes are being bold in talking about and demonstrating their faith. These public figures in turn can inspire teammates, fans, and school-age athletes to be open with sharing their faith. Find that podcast on www.FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts as our 3/03/2025 Special Feature.
FLN Podcasts: A "Lover's Quarrel" with the evangelical church - Warren Smith - 03/06/25
A "Lover's Quarrel" with Evangelicals
Family Life News talks with Warren Smith of MinistryWatch.com
Christian journalist Warren Smith has a "lover's quarrel" with the evangelical church.
He says many congregations and denominations are inwardly-focused on their problems, and fail to live up to a biblical mandate to be "salt and light" into their surrounding culture:
Smith writes a response to others who point to how, for some people, the Christian faith has been "deconstructed" during the current era. His call is for individual Christians, congregations, denominations and faith networks to reclaim the identity which Jesus Christ gave to it. He encourages a reflection on how people of faith measure success. He is concerned that many pockets of the church "measure the wrong things", saying that the size of membership and budgets and programs has replaced the measurement of faithfulness, community, love, long-suffering, joy and other Fruit of the Spirit.
This can be an important conversation for you and your household, and might be a discussion starter for leadership groups in your church.
Warren Smith is the president of the national Christian news website "Ministry Watch".
Their website, MinistryWatch.com, has an excerpt from the book we discussed in this interview (in text and audio formats), plus news about the church and its people, trends in the culture, and insights for donors to large Christian organizations.
He and his team also provide weekly podcasts related to the latest developments and trends in the church and in the culture.
Family Life: Special Feature: Pro athletes inspire young players to be bold about their faith
Faith on the Field, the Court, the Diamond
Prominent athletes are sharing their Christian priorities in interviews, on social media, and in the public images
We heard it in the post-game interviews from the winning coach and quarterback at this year's Super Bowl. Those very public statements of faith circled the globe in the biggest media event of the year.
Are these public stances of Christians who are sports stars in a new era? And, how to the "big league" athletes being unashamed of their faith influencing the athletes elsewhere in pro leagues, colleges and local high schools?
Family Life offers a special interview with a former Pittsburgh Steeler who talks about evangelism from national and local athletes -- and the rest of us. Mike Blanc played collegiate and professional football, with Auburn, the Chargers, and the Steelers. After his playing days, Blanc became the chaplain for University of Miami's athletics.
He now directs outreach with pro and elite athletes as a national leader in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
This is our first of two interview with the FCA's Mike Blanc.
In our followup conversation, he talks about the new opportunities for ministry among top college athletes, in the new "NIL" era -- when students can make money (often lots of it) by licensing their Name, Image, and Likeness.
Listen, share or download it from FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts . Find the 3/17/2025 Special Feature.
For more information, online videos and resources:
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes website is FCA.org
Search "FCA" or "FCA_" to find the official FCA social media feeds
You can subscribe to or read their online newsletter and devotional e-publications
Find (or create) a local "huddle" at your middle school or high school
Mike Blanc's biography
A separate ministry, Sports Spectrum, also explores the connections between sports and faith.