There are many films and documentaries about World War II and the grim reality of the Holocaust of the six million Jewish lives taken at the hands of Nazi's, and the subsequent allied victory that brought it all to an end. Or did it?  The documentary "Among Neighbors," shows the lingering effects of the cruelty of the Third Reich, when even six months after the end of the war, as Jewish survivors of the death camps returned to their homes  and villages, they found that life could never be the same with the neighbors with whom they once enjoyed a blissful co-existence.

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TED Talks are 18-minute videos of influential speakers. So, here's a question: What would Jesus say if he gave a Ted Talk? Turns out, He already did some two-thousand years ago, and it's probably one of the most, if not the most, influential and profound speeches of all time. It's called the Sermon on the Mount, found in the book of Matthew. Many people may not know its name, but they know many of the golden nuggets of Jesus's core teachings that come from it, like The Lord's Prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven..." and the Beatitudes like "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." Lauren revisits a conversation with Dr. Robert Jeffress, Senior Pastor at First Baptist Dallas, on the philosophies and Divine guidance of the Sermon on the Mount in his book, "Eighteen Minutes with Jesus: Straight Talk from the Savior about the Things that Matter Most." 

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No matter what your professed faith is, it has to be lived through relationships. It's unavoidable. Faith without interaction with other image bearers will inevitably be weak. But it's in the most intimate and close relationships that we are tested and tried to our very limits. Best-selling Christian author Lysa TerKeurst bares her soul in her books, bringing to light our greatest wants and needs. She's been frank and open about her divorce from the man who just a few years ago, she renewed vows with after the union of two decades went sour. On this episode of the Lighthouse Faith podcast, Lauren revisits her conversation with Lysa on her book, "Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are." Love is complicated. It's the one lesson any spouse or parent learns, oftentimes, the hard way. But it can also bring us closer to understanding who we are, while strengthening and loving who we are meant to be.

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The start of a New Year often brings a desire to renew your faith, and The Rosary in Year podcast is the perfect way to get started. It's a ten-to-fifteen-minute devotion hosted by a Franciscan monk to help people to draw closer to Jesus Christ. On this episode of the Lighthouse Faith podcast, Lauren revisits a conversation with The Rosary In A Year podcast host, Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who talks about the spiritual hunger in the world that's making more and more people turn away from the unsatisfying pursuits of worldly wealth and draw closer to the God who made them. 

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When the white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday evening, Fr. Roger Landry, like millions around the world, waited to see who among the 133 cardinals had just become the 267th successor to St. Peter. He knew to listen for the Latin version of the Cardinal's birth name in order to translate to a media outlet. He knew there were only four Cardinals with the first name Robert. But he was listening for "Petrus," but instead, he heard Robertus... And was shocked! This is the drama that unfolded in St. Peter's Square as tens of thousands packed into the piazza and the Via della Consilienza, cheered as the Basilica's bells peeled with joy, knowing Habemus Papem, "We have a Pope!" On this episode of the Lighthouse Faith podcast, Lauren reflects on her journey to Rome, Italy, covering the momentous event when the first American-born pope had just been elected. Fr. Landry, the National Director of Pontifical Mission Societies USA, discusses the moment that captivated the world.

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More than two thousand years ago, God broke through the barrier separating sinful humanity from a Holy God and took on human flesh in the form of a tiny baby. Christianity says all of human history had been building to that monumental event that separated time. Why did God, the creator of the universe, decide to enter our world, not as an avenging angel, but as a vulnerable and innocent baby? It's because of love. On this episode of the Lighthouse Faith podcast, Lauren revisits a conversation with best-selling author Pastor Max Lucado to talk about the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas, says Lucado, "begins what Easter celebrates." The two highest holy days of the Christian calendar are eternally linked. While Christmas has become much more commercialized with shopping and Santa taking center stage, it hasn't changed the reality that the peace and joy we talk about on Christmas cards and ad slogans flow only from this one event, the birth of Jesus: "For God so loved the world!"

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In 1996 Bishop W.C. Martin and his wife Donna Martin, from the small town of Possum Trot, Texas, adopted four children out of foster care. They inspired their entire congregation of Bennett Chappell Missionary Baptist Church to adopt every available child in the county's foster care system. Twenty-two families adopted all 77 children. Many of those children were some of the hardest to place, victims of sexual and physical abuse, neglect, trauma, and unsafe living situations. Their story inspired the movie, "Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot." 

On this encore episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Lauren revisits her conversation with the Martins to discuss the film and how God's plans and purpose for our lives is far greater than we good ever imagine. The Martins highlight the role adoption and foster care played in their lives and ministry, affirming that answering the call of Jesus to look after the orphans, the least of these, is true religion.

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Musician and Pastor Tauren Wells has a passion for teaching people about the joys of knowing and serving Jesus Christ. On this encore episode of Lighthouse Faith, Tauren highlights his new book Joy Bomb: Unleash Jesus's Explosive Joy for an Extraordinary Life, affirming that true joy is "rooted in God's unchanging character and boundless love for us." The book explores the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, revealing how happiness comes not from external things but from a changed heart, a heart that's growing in closeness to Jesus. 

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Today marks the beginning of the Advent season, the time leading up to Christmas and the joy of Jesus' birth. Christmas and the joy of Jesus' birth. Woven through the Bible's Old Testament are hundreds of prophecies that tell of a Messiah who will be born sometime in the future. Many of the prophecies, like those in Isaiah, were written centuries before the birth of Jesus. Cumulatively, they predict the conditions of the birth, the location of the birth, who he will be born to, what he is coming to do, and so much more. Jesus fulfills every one of those prophecies. On this episode of the Lighthouse Faith podcast, Lauren revisits her conversation with Evangelist Anne Graham Lotz and investigative filmmaker Tim Mahoney delve into the prophecies of the Old Testament and the archeological evidence that shows that the core tenets of Christianity are grounded in the historical record.

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Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, Lauren revisits her conversation with Author and Historian, Dr. Jerry Newcombe, on the faith-steeped history of the holiday and the Pilgrims who landed in the New World. Fleeing from Europe to the New World in search of religious freedom in 1620, the Pilgrims initially intended to settle in northern Virginia, near Jamestown, where an established community already existed. But their ship was blown off course and landed instead at Plymouth, Massachusetts. And because they were in unsettled territory, the Pilgrims (before disembarking the Mayflower) created a document that became the prototype for America's Declaration of Independence and Constitution. 

Lauren and Dr. Newcombe discuss the very first Thanksgiving, as the Pilgrims sat down with the Indians to share a meal, which was always about giving thanks to an Almighty God, through whose Providence they were brought to a new land. 

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