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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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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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