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.

Current hurdles for Christian ministries which resettle legal refugees

The Inside Out podcast with Martha Manikas-Foster 

Government funding for refugee resettlement in the US has stopped for at least 90 days. This leaves America’s often faith-based resettlement agencies like World Relief scrambling to make up for the money the government contributes as a partner in the resettlement process.

Why would refugee agencies have expenses during President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause in resettlement? The federal government and resettlement agencies work together over 90 days to acclimate new arrivals, and many refugees were still in that window when the funds were frozen. During those three months the agencies find housing and job opportunities for the new arrivals, and connect them with medical, educational, and community resources.

The agencies are on their own to support this work during the funding freeze.

Today on this Inside Out podcast Martha's guest is author and speaker Matthew Soerens. He talks about what makes a refugee different from some other immigrants (our government vets them before they set foot on American soil), and Jesus’ call on His Church to minister to the vulnerable (“whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’ Matthew 25:40).

Soerens is the Vice President of Advocacy & Policy for the Christian humanitarian organization World Relief, an arm of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of the nation’s refugee resettlement agencies. Soerens is also National Coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table. He is co-author of the books “Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis,” “Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate,” and “Inalienable: How Marginalized Kingdom Voices Can Help Save the American Church.”

Connect with World Relief at www.WorldRelief.org

Browse through books by Matthew Soerens from your local library or bookseller.

Single at Valentine's Day

The Inside Out podcast with Martha Manikas-Foster

Author, radio host, and podcaster Lisa Anderson joins Inside Out to talk about how single people can reframe the way they look at Valentine’s Day, and what their friends can do to make it more enjoyable. 

“I say, don’t let Valentine’s Day hit you like the flu,” Anderson says. “Yeah, sure, it’s made to be a romantic holiday, but who says? I think it’s very helpful for us to say instead, ‘Wow, what can I do with this day? What does it look like for me to celebrate what God has given me and the relationships I do have?’”

Why not download the Family Life "Inside Out" podcast and share it with friends?

Lisa Anderson is the Director of Focus on the Family’s Young Adults and Boundless ministry. Learn more about her from her biography page.

The mission at "Boundless" is to recognize that life is a journey. "The young adult years are full of possibilities and choices that shape who we will become — it’s a season of adulthood that feels boundless. The Boundless community exists to help encourage confidence and joy, as you navigate the path with biblical wisdom and intention." 

Connect with Focus on the Family’s Boundless ministry at www.Boundless.org.

Hear, share or download all the archived episodes of Inside Out from www.FamilyLife.org

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#www.familylife.org/newspodcasts 

Refugee Agencies Scramble to Fill the Gap

A special edition of the Inside Out podcast with Martha Manikas-Foster 

Government funding for refugee resettlement in the US has stopped for at least 90 days. This leaves America’s often faith-based resettlement agencies like World Relief scrambling to make up for the money the government contributes as a partner in the resettlement process.

Why would refugee agencies have expenses during President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause in resettlement? The federal government and resettlement agencies work together over 90 days to acclimate new arrivals, and many refugees were still in that window when the funds were frozen. During those three months the agencies find housing and job opportunities for the new arrivals, and connect them with medical, educational, and community resources.

The agencies are on their own to support this work during the funding freeze.

Today on this Inside Out podcast my guest is author and speaker Matthew Soerens. He talks about what makes a refugee different from some other immigrants (our government vets them before they set foot on American soil), and Jesus’ call on His Church to minister to the vulnerable (“whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’ Matthew 25:40).

Soerens is the Vice President of Advocacy & Policy for the Christian humanitarian organization World Relief, an arm of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of the nation’s refugee resettlement agencies. Soerens is also National Coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table. He is co-author of the books “Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis,” “Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate,” and “Inalienable: How Marginalized Kingdom Voices Can Help Save the American Church.”

Connect with World Relief at www.WorldRelief.org

Find books by Matthew Soerens here.

Inside Out: The Ethics of Sports Gambling

A Family Life Wednesday News Feature

Pastor and professor Dr. RaShan Frost joins Inside Out to talk about sports gambling’s many dangers. A former Auburn football player and coach, Dr. Frost now serves as a senior fellow and director of research for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Unfortunately, we don’t speak as a church about gambling or the dangers of gambling anymore, and there are several problems,” says Dr. RaShan Frost. “The moral dangers, the spiritual dangers, the financial---and I would also add relational as well.”

A pastor and professor, Frost was a tight end and defensive tackle at Auburn and later a coach. For this Inside Out podcast on sports gambling, he leans on his love for Jesus and his expertise as senior fellow and director of research for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Here’s the danger that we really need to talk about: there’s actually an increase of male to female inter-partner violence,” he says. “There’s actually an 11 percent increase. So, you’re finding that Super Bowl weekend, because of bets and things like that and sports betting, there’s going to be an increase in domestic violence.”

Gambling thrives on making money the singular focus, and Frost points out that this is both idolatry and covetousness.

“So you got the inter-partner violence. You got family violence,” he says. “Also, we see that those who engage in sports gambling also binge drink at disproportionate levels than those who don’t participate in sports betting. We’re seeing physical and emotional health problems, and that’s not even talking about the financial strain. So we’re talking about covetousness, we’re talking about greed, we’re talking about discontent. All of these things are precipitating these other effects. It’s bad not only for the individual, but for families and communities as well. There’s an increase in bankruptcy rates, debt collections, debt consolidation loans, auto loan delinquencies. All of this is happening, and it goes back to the passage where Jesus says, ‘What profits a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?’.  Is it worth it?”

Be sure not to miss any Inside Out podcasts by subscribing to the Inside Out original podcast at Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or Familylife.org.

Archives of Martha Manikas-Foster's interviews are available at www.FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts.

Christmas All Year

An "Inside Out" podcast from Family Life News 

If you’re feeling the post-Christmas blues, this may encourage you: Christmas is too important to put away when we pack up the Nativity set. Journalist Lauren Dunn joins Martha for this Inside Out conversation inspired by Dunn’s “Boundless” article titled “Feeling the Post-Christmas Blues?”

Now that it’s a month after Christmas, maybe you’re feeling that January let-down that comes after all those weeks of store decorations, twinkling lights, and snowman inflatables in all the neighbors’ yards.

 If so, be encouraged: we actually don’t have to put away Christmas when we pack up the Nativity set.

 “There is so much build up, and then we wake up the next day and it’s over. At least we think it’s over,” says journalist Lauren Dunn. “But it’s really not. Because when we think about what we celebrate at Christmas--how God chose to enter our world, become one of us to save us from the sin that we could never save ourselves from--that’s still true in January. It’s still important in every month of the year.”

 Dunn is the author of a 2021 Focus on the Family “Boundless” article titled “Feeling the Post-Christmas Blues?” She recommends that we continue to focus on the great gift of Jesus well after December. “This can be a great time to go through some of that Advent material or readings that maybe we didn’t have time for in December when we planned to go through it,” she says. “We can just really continue steeping ourselves in those truths of Christmas even as we’re flipping the calendar pages.”

Some who feel low in January will benefit from the help of a counselor. Others, feeling the impact of less sunshine, will feel better by getting outside, exercising, and being with friends. 

“I think it’s also important in this grayer time of year just to have that mindset shift of reminding ourselves that Jesus came for this, too,” Dunn assures us. “He didn’t just come for the big celebrations and the festivities and the special days—I mean, He’s with us in those. But He came for real life. The daily grind.”

He came to be with us in our “every day.”

“Jesus came and lived with us. Day in, day out. He became flesh and dwelt among us," she says. "And even when He returned to heaven, He sent us the Holy Spirit. And so really, we can always, always celebrate that.”

Hear Martha Manikas-Foster's conversation with Lauren Dunn during this Inside Out podcast. And why not subscribe to this original podcast at either Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or FamilyLife.org?

Read Lauren Dunn’s orginal article that inspired this conversation from the website of Boundless, an online community of young adults. 

Read more of her writing:

Listen, share or download additional episodes of Martha's "Inside Out" from www.FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts.

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