Inside Out - Family Life News

#InsideOut

In a world of competing messages, how do we distinguish God’s voice? Book author, former pastor, and freelance writer Ezra Byer shares with Martha the three filters he uses to discern if what he’s hearing is coming from God. He and his wife Janan are the founders of The MondayChristian.com, which uses the tag line Turning Sunday Belief Into Monday Action.

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When it comes to financial confidence, we’ve got a gender gap: women, on the whole, feel less certain about money matters. Today’s Inside Out guest believes that our general sense of confidence grows when we know that we are valued by God, and that confidence can lead to financial confidence and financial wisdom. We need the right budgeting tools, of course, but Bethany Frymire says we make strides in stewarding God’s good gifts when we first know that we are of great worth. Frymire is a financial advisor and author of Women of Worth: a Faith-Based Guide to Financial Wisdom.

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Reports of a surge of interest in the Gospel circulated immediately after the September 2025 murder of Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk. But a January 2026 study from the Cultural Research Center shows that this increased interest in Jesus Christ has not translated into more people living with a biblical worldview.

“We’ve heard about Bible sales, church attendance, even discussions about spiritual matters having an uptick in those months right after that assassination,” says Dr. Adam Rasmussen. “But any increased interest in the Christian faith spurred by Kirk’s assassination has not produced positive growth when it comes to biblical worldview.”

Rasmussen is Dean of Arts & Humanities at Arizona Christian University and Cultural Research Fellow with its Cultural Research Center, founded in 2019 by George Barna.

“Although 12 percent of American adults had a biblical worldview in 1994, that number was halved to just six percent by 2020. It dropped to four percent in 2023, and it remains stuck at four percent right now in 2026,” he says. “So there has been no measurable difference.”

Developing a Christian worldview often happens in community with others, and mature Christians have a role to play.

“We all have to ask the question: how much Christ is in my Christianity? How much of the Bible—how biblical—am I in my beliefs and behaviors?” he says. “I don’t know about you, but I need help with that.”

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Abortions in the United States had been increasing for four years when the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022. Even with states adding abortion regulations in the years since the Dobbs decision, abortions continue to increase.   

The Gospel Coalition’s senior writer and the faith-and-work editor Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra joins Inside Out to talk about some of the reasons behind the increase. Her January 22, 2026 TGC article is titled, "How to Fight for Life when Abortions are Invisible."

“Certainly, we should keep fighting legally--for legal restrictions on abortion--and there are some things you can do,” Zylstra says. “But this is proof that as long as there is sin in the human heart, babies are not safe in the womb. The safest way to protect a child in the womb is to change hearts, and of course only the Gospel can do that. Only Jesus can change your heart.”

You can also listen to Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra’s previous Inside Out conversation by looking for Family Life’s Inside Out April 19, 2023 podcast “Girls & Social Media.”

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When we disagree with people, Inside Out guest Patrick Payton says that as followers of Jesus we must disagree in ways that honor the image of God in the other person. Our culture encourages us to react with outrage, but Payton says that if we believe that God loved the world enough to send his Son, we need to ask ourselves, “am I more broken for their lost condition than I am angry for their political position?”

Patrick Payton is a former mayor of Midland, Texas, and the retired founding pastor of Midland’s Stonegate Fellowship. He currently leads The Payton Group consulting firm and is the author of the 2026 book The Middle: How the Quiet Majority Can Mend a Divided Nation.

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Biblical counselor Kathryn Weber joins Inside Out to talk about how anxiety, long-term, can actually hurt us physically as well as emotionally. But followers of Jesus Christ can move toward quieting our souls by paying attention to what we feed our imaginations. Weber is the author of the 2025 Gospel Coalition article “How a Redeemed Imagination Frees Us from Anxiety’s Power.”

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The world has changed since Christianity Today published author and speaker Jen Pollock Michel’s January 2020 article, “Love Your Neighbor in the New Year: Answer Their Emails and Texts.” Listen to what she’s thinking in 2026 about how we can be good neighbors in a digital world.

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#InsideOut

It’s the new year. And even if you don’t make resolutions, many of us find January a great time to start fresh, grow in a new direction, or add energy to what we say we prioritize.

To commemorate this start to the new year, Pastor Dave Stone joins me on Family Life’s Inside Out. We talk about moving into the new year with gratitude, even when difficulties from the past remain our companions past December 31. Dave Stone has over thirty years of pastoral experience and currently serves a congregation in Phoenix, AZ. He is a member of the Focus on the Family Board of Directors and hosts Focus’s podcast Pastor to Pastor.

Inside Out/Blog

TOPIC: Gifts that Point to the Giver

Broadcast/podcast date: December 17, 2025

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Elmhurst, IL, pastor and writer Brandon Cooper believes that what and how we give at Christmas can point children to the very “giver of good gifts” we celebrate.

Because we want Christmas to be God-focused, “the question we want to be asking ourselves as parents is how exactly are we training our kids? Are we training them to love gifts or are we training them to love the giver of the gifts?” Cooper says. “And are we training them to love especially the greatest gift ever given, Jesus himself?”

Brandon Cooper is the author of the 2024 Gospel Coalition article “Give Your Kids Lasting Joy for Christmas.”

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#InsideOut

We want mass shootings to end. So what stands in the way of the American Church taking the lead in a conversation about guns and gun deaths?

Gospel Coalition writer, podcaster, and Canadian Pastor Paul Carter believes that the conversation is difficult for Americans because, unlike in other countries, gun ownership is  woven into American identity. And the conversation about guns and gun deaths may be additionally hard, Carter suggests, because some American Christians seem to place the authority of the US Constitution on the same level as Scripture. That means conversations about Constitutionally protected rights run into conflict with Jesus’ call to love our enemies and turn the other cheek. 

But when American Christians engage with believers from other countries, Carter believes, we can benefit from hearing fully Christian, but often very different, perspectives on the importance of gun ownership.

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#InsideOut

As more people appear to be “cutting off” their parents when the relationship grows difficult, Martha Manikas-Foster talks with Vancouver, Washington counseling director—and Rochester native—Dr. Beth Claes about how Christians might negotiate dysfunctional relationships while still honoring their faither and mother.

Claes is counseling director for Vancouver, Washington’s New Heights Church, and author of the Gospel Coalition article "Before You Cut Off Your Parents: 3 Principles to Consider."

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Inside Out/Summary

In this Family Life Inside Out conversation, evangelist and Christian apologist Abdu Murray and host Martha Manikas-Foster discuss reasons for mass shootings, ways Christians can reach across divides, and benefits of both prayer and good thoughts in the wake of tragedy. Murray is the founder of the organization Embrace the Truth  and author of numerous books including Grand Central  Question, More Than a White Man’s Religion, and Saving Truth.

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Inside Out/Blog

TOPIC: Shootings: The Value of Thoughts and Prayers

Air Date: November 5, 2025

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A lot’s been said about the “thoughts and prayers” reaction to school shootings and mass violence in America.

In this Family Life Inside Out conversation, evangelist and Christian apologist Abdu Murray and host Martha Manikas-Foster discuss reasons for mass shootings, ways Christians can reach across divides, and benefits of both prayer and good thoughts in the wake of tragedy. Murray is the founder of the organization Embrace the Truth  and author of numerous books including Grand Central  Question, More Than a White Man’s Religion, and Saving Truth.

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God can and does use strangers and even enemies to teach us, says professor and pastor Dr. AJ Swoboda, and he encourages us to grow as believers who are teachable. Swoboda’s new book is titled A Teachable Spirit: The Virtue of Learning from Strangers, Enemies, and Absolutely Anyone.

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Inside Out/Blog

TOPIC: Learning from Enemies

Broadcast date: October 22, 2025

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God can and does use strangers and even enemies to teach us, says professor and pastor Dr. A.J. Swoboda, who encourages us to grow as believers who are teachable.

“The question is: why would we want to learn from our enemies?” Swoboda asks in this Inside Out podcast. “Because Jesus loves to use surprising people to form us into His image.”

Swoboda is a former campus staff worker and current pastor, professor, and urban farmer. His new book is titled A Teachable Spirit: The Virtue of Learning from Strangers, Enemies, and Absolutely Anyone.

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On this edition of Family Life’s Inside Out, Martha Manikas-Foster talks with author Michelle Van Loon who suggests that it’s time to downsize the Evangelical Church so that it more closely resembles the Body Jesus called it to be. 

Van Loon’s newest book is titled Downsizing: Letting Go of Evangelicalism’s Nonessentials.

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Inside Out/Blog

TOPIC: Time to Downsize the Church?

Broadcast date: October 1, 2025

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Nothing--nothing--is strong enough to defeat God’s Church. Jesus said so. But what parts of how we “do church” are essential, and what parts have we added on, burdening, burning out, or  hurting brothers and sisters with things that are not essential to Jesus’ call on His people in the world?

On this edition of Inside Out, Manikas-Foster talks with author Michelle Van Loon, who suggests it’s time to downsize so that the Evangelical Church again resembles the Body Jesus called it to be. 

Michelle Van Loon’s newest book is titled Downsizing: Letting Go of Evangelicalism’s Nonessentials.

On this edition of Inside Out, Martha Manikas Foster talks with author Michelle Van Loon who suggests that it's time to downsize the evangelical church so it more closely resembles the Body Jesus called it to be.

When we’re lonely, we not only feel terrible, but our health suffers. Loneliness has been connected with a greater risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. In 2023 the former Surgeon General of the United States compared the health impact of loneliness to the physical impact of smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.

We spoke with Glenn Lutjens (Lutch-ens), a licensed family therapist and 29-year veteran on the Focus on the Family counseling team.

Church scandals and political infighting are rocking the American Church. Theologian, pastor, musician, and author Glenn Packiam believes we can find unity and correction the same way the early church did—by using the Nicene Creed as a guide. Packiam’s new book is What’s a Christian, Anyway? Finding Our Way in an Age of Confusion and Corruption.

One way to look at how the US influences other countries is to look at how it uses power—both hard power and soft power.

“We can attempt to use military power to get countries to do what we want, or we can also use economic power to get countries to do what we want,” says Dr. Peter Meilaender. “So things like tariffs or sanctions would be thought of usually as hard power.”

Meilaender says that when a country uses good will to influence another country, that can be called “soft power.” Meilaender is a professor of political science at western New York’s Houghton University, where he is also Dean of Religion, Humanities, and Global Studies.

“All the forms of development aid that we might engage in—whether that is health clinics or education for women, building wells, delivering food, assisting with famine relief, refugee services—all of those things could be forms of economic soft power,” he says.

For decades the US helped people and maintained influence through the relief and development work of the United States Agency for International Development. As the Trump administration’s decision to downsize USAID goes through the courts, many are watching for the effect on American influence in the world. Christians, specifically, may also be watching, as many “soft power” initiatives dovetail with Jesus’ call to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and care for the stranger in the land.

“When we think in particular about development initiatives, those are pretty clearly ways in which we are doing good in the world,” Meilaender says. “And it also happens to win us some good will. And that’s of course a nice side benefit. But it certainly is kind of fulfilling that commandment to feed the hungry, clothe the needy, etc.”

While soft power can come in the form of economic relief, American culture and values have also contributed to American soft power in the world.

“And in particular we would talk about values such as democracy, human rights, liberty, equality—these are things that have a lot of appeal around the world, and people associate them with the United States, or at least have associated them with the United States, and that has been a source of influence for us, also.”

The fate of USAID is expected to have a direct impact on famine relief, refugee education, and disease containment—and also on the way people around the world view the US. 

“I don’t think that we should underestimate the way in which this does harm the image of the United States around the world,” Meilaender says. “A country that many people across the globe have looked to for so long as a kind of beacon of ideals for humanity, when it appears to be only interested in sort of doing things where there’s something clearly in it for itself, I think that changes the way people look at us.”

Hear more from Houghton University’s Dr. Peter Meilaender in this podcast.

A special news feature from Family Life focusing on how God changes us from the inside, out. Americans feel detached and Isolated. Florida pastor Doug Hankins believes we have a neighborliness problem.  On this edition of Inside Out, Hankins talks with Martha about Jesus' call to be good neighbors, the topic of the Gospel Coalition article "Benefits of Being a Good Neighbor". 

The number of ways we receive news has multiplied, and it can be difficult to know what's true.  But there are ways to sift through the stories - and the sources - to get closer to a balanced view of what's happening in the world.

"The one thing having many different sources has done, is it gives us lots of different voices, and different points of view, and sometimes points of view that you haven't heard before," award-winning news reporter Bob Smietana told me in this recorded conversation from 2020.  "So that's good.  It just means it's a lot more work for all of us."

I was ready to air my conversation with Bob in March 2020 when Covid interrupted Inside Out and sent me in a new direction when I returned to the office months later.  But now, in 2025, with legacy news agencies losing access to the presidential administration and articles crafted by Artificial Intelligence making it harder to tell the true from the false, it's time to pull the conversation out of the archive.  Bob Smieta, my guest, is a national reporter for Religion News Service as well as a former editor.  His writing has appeared in numerous periodicals including USA Today and The Washington Post.

In our 15 minute podcast, you'll hear Bob's suggestions for how we can vet news sources so that we can learn what's happening in the world.