CrossCurrent Podcasts

Join us for RAR's Summer Adventure. 

One of the very best ways to travel with your children is through books.

Physically travelling as a family isn’t always possible for a variety of reasons, but by reading with our kids, we give them the gift of windows into unfamiliar worlds. Stories develop empathy and invite us to engage with another’s experiences in ways that can even go deeper than visiting a place in real life. 

Today, RAR’s Creative Director (and my eldest daughter) Audrey is with me to talk about the power of books to take us places, even when we’re not able to go far from home ourselves. 

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• How stories help us engage with creativity, community, and our Creator
• How books can give us deeper connections to the places we do travel
• How reading–and especially reading aloud!–cultivates curiosity and wonder

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read-Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/books-take-us-places

God had His hand on Sarah Zagorski through every step of her life. She shares her amazing story of surviving an attempted abortion by her mother, who then ended up saving her life! You’ll hear about her journey in and out of foster care, being adopted into a Christian home, and how the Adventures in Odyssey Audio radio drama helped lead her to Christ. It’s an incredible story of redemption, with many surprising twists and turns.

Receive a copy of Choose Life and an audio download of "From Abortion Survivor to Pro‑Life Advocate: A Redemption Story" for your donation of any amount!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

How Martin Luther and centuries of Church thinkers inspired the Bill of Rights. 

__________

Start Truth Rising: The Study for free today at colsoncenter.org/study.

Whispers in the Pews: Evangelical Uniformity in a Divided America (NYU Press, 2026) reveals how mundane social interactions in an evangelical church silence difference and reinforce right-wing conformity Small talk, whether enjoyed or despised, is often thought of as trivial and largely useless. In certain situations, however, it can be surprisingly powerful. Whispers in the Pews offers a bottom-up explanation of Christian nationalism, revealing how cultural homogeneity within evangelical church communities is upheld by an active, manufactured effort to dodge reflective engagement with topics that could stir up diverging points of view. Whispers in the Pews exposes how small talk is utilized to construct an appearance of social and political sameness in evangelical church communities. Based on an ethnography of a church that appeals to students, working class residents, and racial minorities alike in a politically divided Southern college town, McDowell showcases how churchgoers avoid consequential issues that could expose disagreements on border control, electoral politics, race and gender. By confining themselves to blander topics, the church, which prides itself on inclusivity, positions itself as welcoming to all. But by creating an environment in which certain topics are discouraged from discussion, a façade is developed in which everyone is assumed to believe the same things, and any sort of debate is silenced. Whispers in the Pews shows that the presumption that everyone is of the same mind makes it difficult for churchgoers to articulate or contemplate progressive views, and by extension, advances the idea that differences of opinion are un-Christian, and therefore un-American.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

God had His hand on Sarah Zagorski through every step of her life. She shares her amazing story of surviving an attempted abortion by her mother, who then ended up saving her life! You’ll hear about her journey in and out of foster care, being adopted into a Christian home, and how the Adventures in Odyssey Audio radio drama helped lead her to Christ. It’s an incredible story of redemption, with many surprising twists and turns.

Receive a copy of Choose Life and an audio download of "From Abortion Survivor to Pro‑Life Advocate: A Redemption Story" for your donation of any amount!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

A Tennessee bill and a grass-roots effort bring light to a darkened June. 

__________

Join us in praying for our country by visiting joinadf.com/breakpoint.