Podcasts about Village

Fluent Fiction - Serbian: Spring Festival Sparks Love in Serbian Village Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/sr/episode/2026-03-08-07-38-19-sr Story Transcript:Sr: Јутро на сеоској фарми било је пуно живота.En: The morning on the village farm was full of life.Sr: Људи су вредно радили, припремајући се за велики пролећни фестивал.En: People were working hard, preparing for the big spring festival.Sr: Фарма је била поред малог села у Србији, а мирис свеже земље испуњавао је ваздух.En: The farm was next to a small village in Serbia, and the scent of fresh earth filled the air.Sr: Јелена је дошла из града да би радом на фарми нашла мало мира.En: Jelena had come from the city to find some peace by working on the farm.Sr: Волео је природу и животиње.En: She loved nature and animals.Sr: Милан је био ту одувек.En: Milan had always been there.Sr: Одрастао је уз фарму.En: He grew up with the farm.Sr: Волео је спокој и једноставност сеоског живота.En: He loved the tranquility and simplicity of village life.Sr: Фарма је била пуна активности.En: The farm was full of activity.Sr: Мештани су се окупљали у штали да заједно раде на припремама.En: The villagers gathered in the barn to work together on the preparations.Sr: Јелена и Милан су се ту упознали.En: Jelena and Milan met there.Sr: Обоје су волели да помажу и брзо су нашли заједнички језик.En: They both loved to help and quickly found common ground.Sr: „Баш волим мирис земље овде“, рекла је Јелена једног дана док су радили у штали.En: "I really love the smell of the earth here," said Jelena one day while they were working in the barn.Sr: „И ја. Овде сам одмалена и никада нисам пожелео да одем“, одговори Милан, гледајући је са осмехом.En: "So do I. I've been here since I was a child and never wanted to leave," replied Milan, looking at her with a smile.Sr: Дани су пролазили, а Милан је почео да осећа нешто посебно према Јелени.En: Days passed, and Milan began to feel something special for Jelena.Sr: Њена енергија и радост привукли су га.En: Her energy and joy attracted him.Sr: Јелена је уживала у разговорима са Миланом, али је често мислила о граду и обавезама које је тамо чекала.En: Jelena enjoyed the conversations with Milan, but often thought about the city and the obligations waiting for her there.Sr: Припреме за фестивал су трајале недељама.En: The preparations for the festival lasted for weeks.Sr: Како се фестивал приближавао, тако су и осећања између Јелене и Милана.En: As the festival approached, so did the feelings between Jelena and Milan.Sr: Међутим, Јелена је имала своје страхове.En: However, Jelena had her fears.Sr: Шта ако мора да се врати у град?En: What if she had to return to the city?Sr: На Међународни дан жена, село је било богато бојама и осмехом.En: On International Women's Day, the village was rich with colors and smiles.Sr: На фестивалу се играло и певало.En: People were dancing and singing at the festival.Sr: Била је то прилика да Јелена присуствује нечему што никада није доживела у граду.En: It was an opportunity for Jelena to experience something she had never had in the city.Sr: Током вечери, док су лампионе украшавали небо, Јелена је окуражила срце.En: During the evening, as lanterns adorned the sky, Jelena plucked up the courage.Sr: Пришла је Милану и рекла: „Фарма и ти значите ми пуно. Не желим да се вратим у град. Желим да останем.“En: She approached Milan and said, "The farm and you mean a lot to me. I don't want to go back to the city. I want to stay."Sr: Милан се осмехнуо, радостан од њених речи.En: Milan smiled, happy at her words.Sr: „И ја сам ово дуго желео да ти кажем. Драго ми је што остајеш.“En: "I've wanted to tell you this for a long time. I'm glad you're staying."Sr: Под звездама, уз светлост фестивала, поделили су први пољубац.En: Under the stars, with the festival lights, they shared their first kiss.Sr: Јелена је одлучила да остане дуже на фарми, спремна да види куда их веза може одвести.En: Jelena decided to stay longer on the farm, ready to see where their relationship could lead them.Sr: Тако су Јелена и Милан почели нову причу, грлећи нове могућности и корачајући заједно у будућност бутни и испуњени надом.En: Thus, Jelena and Milan began a new story, embracing new possibilities and stepping together into a future that was vibrant and filled with hope. Vocabulary Words:preparing: припремајућиvillage: сеоскојscent: мирисtranquility: спокојsimplicity: једноставностgathered: окупљалиcommon ground: заједнички језикobligations: обавезамаapproached: приближаваоfestival: фестивалfears: страховеcourage: окуражилаrelationship: везаembracing: грлећиstepping: корачајућиvibrant: бутниactivity: активностиfilled: испуњаваоearth: земљеgathering: окупљалиlanterns: лампионеadorned: украшавалиjoy: радостspecial: посебноcolors: бојамаsmiles: осмехомconversation: разговоримаmean: значитеstay: остатиfuture: будућност

#ThisMorning | Building the first #dementia #village in the U.S. | Lynne Sexten, Agrace | #Tunein: broadcastretirementnetwork.com #Aging, #Finance, #Lifestyle, #Privacy, #Retirement, #wellness

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Originally Aired: March 5th, 2023 (Season 11, Episode 10) Our story tonight is called Catnap and it's a story about Marmalade the cat and Crumb the dog as they find ways to play through the winter. It's also about a spark of something sweet that begins to grow between friends, a pup cup enjoyed on a heated patio, and a suitcase ready to be packed. Subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium channel.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The first month is on us. 

Our stories tonight lead you through the vernal season, from the drizzly cool days of March, the on-again/off-again sunlight of April, and into the blossom filled environ of May. There will be long walks in the fresh air, seeds planted and flower beds raked, sweet treats from the bakery, trips to the cottage and the cabin, and of course, some lilacs and gentle larceny. Subscribe to our ⁠⁠Premium channel.⁠⁠ The first month is on us. 

Fluent Fiction - Korean: Bridging Worlds: Tradition Meets Innovation in Bukchon Village Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/ko/episode/2026-03-05-23-34-02-ko Story Transcript:Ko: 서울의 북촌 한옥마을은 겨울 끝자락의 차분한 모습이었다.En: The Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul had a calm appearance at the tail end of winter.Ko: 날씨는 쌀쌀했지만, 전통 한옥 사이로 흘러나오는 따뜻한 차향이 방문자들을 끌어당겼다.En: Although the weather was chilly, the warm scent of tea wafting through the traditional hanok drew visitors in.Ko: 서진은 대학 수업이 끝난 후 북촌으로 향했다.En: Seojin headed to Bukchon after her university classes were over.Ko: 그녀는 한국 전통 문화에 깊은 관심을 가지고 있었고, 논문을 준비하기 위해 진짜 경험이 필요했다.En: She had a deep interest in traditional Korean culture and needed a genuine experience to prepare her thesis.Ko: 오늘은 운이 좋게도 차례로 참석할 수 있었다.En: Fortunately, she had the chance to participate in a tea ceremony today.Ko: 다른 쪽에서는 민준이 테이블에 세팅된 자기 작품을 유심히 바라보았다.En: On the other side, Minjun was intently gazing at his ceramic works set up on the table.Ko: 그는 가족의 도자기 유산을 지켜내야 한다는 중압감과 현대적인 아이디어를 찾고 싶은 마음 사이에서 갈등하고 있었다.En: He was conflicted between the pressure to preserve his family's ceramic heritage and his desire to find modern ideas.Ko: 이곳에서 새로운 영감을 얻을 수 있기를 그는 바랐다.En: He hoped to gain new inspiration from this place.Ko: 조용한 차례가 시작되었다.En: The quiet tea ceremony began.Ko: 차 달임은 섬세하고 평화로웠다.En: The brewing of tea was delicate and peaceful.Ko: 서진은 차주에게 문화에 대해 몇 가지 질문을 던지기도 하고, 자신의 생각도 공유하며 적극적으로 대화에 참여했다.En: Seojin actively engaged in the conversation by asking the tea master some questions about the culture and sharing her own thoughts.Ko: 그녀는 전통을 배우면서도, 어떻게 현대 사회와 연결할 수 있을지를 고민했다.En: While learning about tradition, she pondered how it could connect with modern society.Ko: 그때, 민준은 깊은 고민 끝에 자신의 현대적인 도자기 작품을 테이블 중앙에 놓았다.En: At that moment, Minjun carefully placed his contemporary ceramic piece in the center of the table after much contemplation.Ko: 참여자들 사이에서 갑작스러운 정적이 흘렀다.En: A sudden silence passed among the participants.Ko: 이어 전통과 혁신에 대한 열띤 토론이 시작되었다.En: Then, a heated debate about tradition and innovation commenced.Ko: 어떤 이들은 전통의 보존을 주장했고, 다른 이들은 혁신을 맞이할 준비가 되어 있었다.En: Some advocated for the preservation of tradition, while others were ready to embrace innovation.Ko: 서진은 조심스럽게 중재를 시작했다.En: Seojin cautiously began to mediate.Ko: "전통과 혁신은 함께할 수 있어요.En: "Tradition and innovation can coexist.Ko: 두 가지 다 우리의 문화니까요.En: Both are part of our culture," she said.Ko: " 그녀의 말에 참여자들은 생각에 잠겼다.En: Her words made the participants ponder.Ko: 그녀의 의견은 새로운 시각을 제공했고, 사람들은 고개를 끄덕이기 시작했다.En: Her opinion provided a new perspective, and people began to nod in agreement.Ko: 민준은 처음에는 긴장했지만, 이제는 마음이 편안해졌다.En: Initially, Minjun was nervous, but he now felt at ease.Ko: 그는 자신의 작품이 인정받았다는 사실에 안도했다.En: He was relieved that his work was recognized.Ko: 이제 그는 전통 기법과 현대적 요소를 조화롭게 섞을 새로운 방향을 찾은 것 같았다.En: Now, it seemed he had found a new direction to harmoniously blend traditional techniques with modern elements.Ko: 차례가 끝날 무렵, 서진은 얻은 것들이 크다고 느꼈다.En: By the end of the tea ceremony, Seojin felt that she had gained much.Ko: 그녀는 자신감을 얻었고, 민준은 새로운 예술적 길을 발견했다.En: She had gained confidence, and Minjun had discovered a new artistic path.Ko: 북촌의 한옥들은 변함없이 그 자리에 있었고, 그곳에서의 만남은 두 사람에게 잊지 못할 경험이 되었다.En: The hanoks in Bukchon remained unchanged, and the encounter there became an unforgettable experience for both of them. Vocabulary Words:calm: 차분한chilly: 쌀쌀한wafting: 흘러나오는genuine: 진짜ceramic: 도자기heritage: 유산inspiration: 영감brewing: 달임delicate: 섬세한contemplation: 고민commence: 시작하다advocated: 주장하다mediate: 중재하다perspective: 시각nervous: 긴장한relieved: 안도된harmoniously: 조화롭게blend: 섞다scent: 향ceremony: 차례intently: 유심히conflicted: 갈등하는pondered: 고민하다engaged: 참여하다contemporary: 현대적인sudden: 갑작스러운coexist: 함께하다unforgettable: 잊지 못할encounter: 만남unchanged: 변함없이

Kiten am Arsch der Heide in Ägypten hört sich Käse an? Hamata als einer der südlichsten Kitespots in Ägypten begeistert mit wärmeren Temperaturen und stärkeren Winden, als oben im Norden. JA SIA JA HAMATA!

Rachel Stewart talks to poet Anne Wiseman about Crovie's past and its fragile future.

If Disneyland is the Happiest Place on Earth, then Fantasyland is in Marty Sklar's words, "The Happiest Kingdom of Them All". He goes on to say that "Here in the 'happiest kingdom of them all,' you can journey with Snow White through the dark forest to the diamond mine of the Seven Dwarfs; flee the clutches of Mr. Smee and Captain Hook with Peter Pan; and race with Mr. Toad on his wild auto ride through the streets of old London Town. Dumbo, the elephant with aerodynamic ears, will take you on a flight high above Fantasyland, while the haughty Caterpillar of Alice in Wonderland carries you down the Rabbit Hole into the ...Tulgey Wood. In colorful Dutch canal boats or the Casey Jr. Circus train, you'll journey through Storybook Land to see the homes of the Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio's Village, and Cinderella's Castle." Join us as we see those inspirational nuggets that are found throughout the sprawling grounds of Fantasyland, From Sleeping Beauty Castle to the majestic and might Matterhorn Mountain. We'll check out some fantastic details few see, and we'll hear some stories you may not have heard before--many of which truly are the inspiration for the joy found at Disneyland. Join us during Disneyland's 70th Anniversary for Fantasyland--The Happiest Kingdom of Them All. And stay tuned at the end, I will give you a peak at a new offering available to those who Wish Upon a Star! ___________________________________________________ Disney Insights YouTube Page--Check it out and subscribe. DisneyInsights.com--So many resources at our home site. Be sure to subscribe to receive notice of upcoming podcasts. Disney Insights Facebook Page--Come join and interact in conversation with others. My newest book, A Century of Powerful Disney Insights, Volume I 1923-1973, The Walt & Roy Disney Years is available!  Also, check out my two of my other books, The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney and Disney, Leadership and You.  Also, for those examining other business benchmarks beyond Disney, check out Lead with Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand Into World-Class Excellence. _______________________________________________________ Check out Zanolla Travel to book your next vacation! David & Leah Zanolla ZanollaTravel.com Owner/Agents (309) 863-5469 _________________________________________________________ Performance Journeys This podcast and post is provided by J. Jeff Kober and Performance Journeys, which celebrates more than 20 years as a training and development group bringing best in business ideas through books, keynotes, workshops, seminars and online tools to help you take your organization to the next level. Want a Keynote Speaker? More than just nice stories, I offer proven insight and solutions having worked in the trench. Need Consulting? I've worked for decades across the public, private and non-profit arena.  Need Support? We offer so many classroom, online, and other resources to help you improve your customer service delivery, leadership excellence, and employee engagement. Contact us today, and let us help you on your Performance Journey!

Marc Cox opens Hour 4 covering the latest military developments, including Secretary Warpete Hegseth and General Kane's briefing on recent troop actions and honoring fallen service members. He then transitions to a deep dive into U.S. strategic successes in Iran, highlighting the first submarine torpedo sinking of an enemy ship since WWII. The hour continues with Tom Scorfino discussing the grand opening of Apache Village RV in O'Fallon, emphasizing family camping and local business growth. Finally, Taylor Riggs breaks down economic trends, including job growth, data center developments, and the impact of rising fuel prices amid global geopolitical shifts. Hashtags: #MilitaryUpdates #IranCrisis #ApacheVillageRV #TomScorfino #FamilyCamping #TaylorRiggs #EconomicTrends #JobGrowth #FuelPrices #MarcCox #MarcCoxShow #Geopolitics

How do we uphold God's family? What takeaways did you have from 1 Thessalonians? Join the Village Staff for Village Midweek!

In this episode of Beyond Rockets, Clark Dunn sits down with Vania, founder and creator of ShopMOSS, a jewelry and apparel boutique located in the Village of Providence in Huntsville.Vania shares her journey from moving to the U.S. from Rome at age 12 to building a creative brand deeply rooted in her Italian heritage. After earning a degree in graphic design and spending a decade in photography, she picked up clay on a whim in 2018 and began sculpting statement earrings that quickly gained traction online. What started as a small creative experiment grew through pop-ups, community support, and years of consistency before becoming a brick-and-mortar storefront.Now six months into her retail space, Vania reflects on the leap from online to in-person retail, building a team, navigating her first holiday season, and creating a shopping experience centered on self-expression through ShopMOSS's signature charm bar. She also shares what she wishes she knew before opening and what's next for the brand.This is a conversation about creativity, culture, community, and the courage to build something tangible in Huntsville.https://shopmosshandmade.comhttps://www.instagram.com/shopmoss/

Give us about fifteen minutes daily, and we will give you all the local news, sports, weather, and events you can handle.   SPONSORS: Many thanks to our sponsors… Annapolis Subaru, the SPCA of Anne Arundel County, MacMedics, Covington Alsina, and Hospice of the Chesapeake, Today... Police are searching for a suspect after a handgun assault in Glen Burnie, and detectives also arrested a 55-year-old Severn man in an Internet Crimes Against Children investigation tied to alleged online solicitation of a minor. We've also got a new podcast episode on The Village at Providence Point with leaders and future residents, a new Historic Annapolis exhibit marking 50 years of women at the Naval Academy, and a preview of the Bay Bridge Boat Show returning to Kent Narrows with boats, sea trials, training, and seminars—catch it all in this morning's DNB. Daily Newsletter Subscription Link: https://forms.aweber.com/form/87/493412887.htm The Eye On Annapolis Daily News Brief is produced every Monday through Friday at 6:00 am and available wherever you get your podcasts and also on our social media platforms--All Annapolis and Eye On Annapolis (FB) and @eyeonannapolis (TW) NOTE: For hearing-impaired subscribers, a full transcript is available on Eye On Annapolis.

On this episode, Donna and Sam sat down with Hitha Healing House Founder and Executive Director, Kayana Sessoms and Executive Director of Brilliant Detroit, Tarsha Gale to discuss how their partnership is helping Detroit moms and their families.In February, Brilliant Detroit unveiled a new partnership with Hitha Healing House that will allow the nonprofit to continue its programming, including its signature maternal wellness program, Nurturing Roots via Brilliant Detroit's Central Hub following a December fire that rendered Hitha Healing House's programming space unusable. The Hitha Healing House provides holistic maternal wellness services grounded in cultural healing traditions and trauma informed care.Through the partnership, Hitha Healing House's Nurturing Roots program will offer mothers up to ten paid wellness sessions following birth, including nutrition counseling, massage therapy, lactation support, chiropractic care and emotional wellness services at Brilliant Detroit.To learn more about the partnership between Hitha Healing House and Brilliant Detroit, click here. Detroit By The Numbers with Alex B. Hill:$500 million Property assessment valuation announced by the Sheffield administration. Read more on Detroitography!254,700 occurrences of eBird observations within the City of Detroit boundaries (including Belle Isle). From the eBird Observation Dataset.23% - Jobs in City pay 23% more than state average (UM RSQE - research seminar in quantitative economics)6,500 Respondents to the Detroit Rise Higher community survey from Mayor Mary Sheffield, if you haven't yet check it out and provide your input.Support the showFollow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

In this episode of Between Two White Coats, Dr. Michelle Plaster and Nurse Practitioner Amber Foster tackle an important—but often overlooked—topic: the areas of healthcare your primary care provider doesn't cover. As comprehensive as primary care is, one doctor can't do it all. That's why building your personal health team matters.Today, they break down the importance of regularly seeing:

Cynthia Lee shares her rich family history, cherished memories of growing up in Grayslake, and decades of dedicated community service. From her roots in local organizations to her roles as Village Clerk and volunteer, Cynthia's stories highlight Grayslake's small-town charm and enduring spirit. She discusses her love of gardening, collecting, and supporting her grandchildren's hockey adventures, all while reflecting on the town's growth and traditions. Discovering Grayslake: Lessons in Community, Heritage, and Service from Cynthia Lee Grayslake, Illinois, is more than just a dot on the map—it's a living tapestry of family, tradition, and community spirit. In a recent episode of the "Discovering Grayslake" podcast, lifelong resident Cynthia Lee shared her remarkable story, offering listeners a heartfelt glimpse into the town's past and present. Cynthia's journey is a masterclass in the value of deep roots, civic engagement, and the enduring power of small-town connections. Whether you're a Grayslake native, a newcomer, or someone seeking inspiration for community involvement, Cynthia's insights provide a roadmap for building a meaningful life in any hometown. Let's dive into the key themes and actionable lessons from her interview. Table of Contents The Power of Family Heritage Embracing Community Service Preserving Local History Building Traditions and Giving Back Staying Engaged and Lifelong Learning Celebrating Hobbies and Personal Passions Showcasing Your Hometown Final Thoughts: The Heart of Grayslake 1. The Power of Family Heritage  Cynthia's story begins with her deep family roots in Grayslake and the surrounding area. Her ancestors, George and Sarah Reichenbach, settled in Deerfield in the 1860s, and her family has been intertwined with Grayslake's growth ever since. Actionable Advice: Document Your Family History:** Cynthia's family has preserved love letters, recipes, and even created a family website. Start by interviewing older relatives, digitizing photos, and recording family stories. Share Traditions:** Cynthia keeps her grandmother's tulip-shaped Christmas cookie tradition alive. Pass down recipes, crafts, or holiday rituals to younger generations. Connect with Local Historical Societies:** These organizations can help you trace your roots and contribute to the broader story of your town. Expert Insight:   Family heritage isn't just about nostalgia—it's a foundation for community identity. By honoring your roots, you help preserve the unique character of your hometown. 2. Embracing Community Service  Cynthia's life is a testament to the impact of civic engagement. Inspired by her father—a volunteer fire chief for 48 years—she has served as Grayslake's Village Clerk for over two decades and volunteered with numerous local organizations. Actionable Advice: Start Small, Stay Consistent:** Cynthia began volunteering on the library board and gradually expanded her involvement. Choose one cause that resonates with you and commit to regular participation. Leverage Your Skills:** Cynthia's background in HR and billing made her an asset in administrative roles. Identify your strengths and offer them to local nonprofits, schools, or clubs. Mentor the Next Generation:** Cynthia's family tradition of service continues with her children and grandchildren. Encourage young people to volunteer alongside you. Expert Insight:   Long-term community service builds trust, leadership skills, and a sense of belonging. Even small contributions—like helping at a pancake breakfast—can have a ripple effect. 3. Preserving Local History  As a board member and treasurer of the Grayslake Historical Society, Cynthia played a key role in documenting and sharing the town's story, including helping publish "The Portrait of Grayslake." Actionable Advice: Support Local Museums and Societies:** Attend events, donate artifacts, or volunteer your time. Record Oral Histories:** Interview longtime residents and preserve their stories for future generations. Promote Community Publications:** Help create or distribute books, newsletters, or digital archives about your town. Expert Insight:   Preserving history isn't just about the past—it's about giving your community a sense of continuity and pride. 4. Building Traditions and Giving Back  Cynthia's involvement with the Lions Club, Exchange Club, and Colts football team highlights the importance of local traditions and service projects. Actionable Advice: Participate in Local Fundraisers:** Events like the Lions Club pancake breakfast not only raise money but also strengthen community bonds. Support Youth Activities:** Volunteer for local sports teams, scout troops, or after-school programs. Champion New Initiatives:** Cynthia helped launch a children's sight and hearing screening program. Look for unmet needs in your community and help fill the gap. Expert Insight:   Traditions create shared memories and a sense of belonging. By supporting or starting community events, you help weave the social fabric of your town. 5. Staying Engaged and Lifelong Learning  Even after retiring from a 33-year career in HR and billing, Cynthia remained active—working part-time, volunteering, and staying informed about local happenings. Actionable Advice: Stay Curious:** Attend town meetings, read local news, and ask questions about changes in your community. Keep Learning:** Take up new hobbies, join clubs, or enroll in adult education classes. Share Your Knowledge:** Cynthia's willingness to provide notes and context for her interview is a reminder to pass on what you know. Expert Insight:   Active engagement keeps you mentally sharp and socially connected, no matter your age. 6. Celebrating Hobbies and Personal Passions  Cynthia's love of gardening, canning, collecting clocks, keys, and glass shoes, and following her grandkids' hockey games, shows the value of personal interests. Actionable Advice: Cultivate a Garden:** Whether it's flowers or raspberries, gardening connects you to the land and provides joy (and sometimes delicious jam!). Share Your Hobbies:** Give away homemade goods, display your collections, or teach others your craft. Embrace Technology:** Cynthia learned to stream her grandkids' hockey games online—proof that it's never too late to pick up new tech skills. Expert Insight:   Personal passions enrich your life and can become a bridge to connect with others in your community. 7. Showcasing Your Hometown  When welcoming newcomers or visitors, Cynthia recommends a tour of Grayslake's library, fire department, schools, and downtown churches—highlighting the town's charm and community spirit. Actionable Advice: Be an Ambassador:** Offer to show new residents around, share your favorite local spots, and introduce them to community events. Support Local Businesses:** Frequent the shops, restaurants, and markets that give your town its unique flavor. Celebrate Local Landmarks:** Take pride in your town's history and help preserve its character. Expert Insight:   A welcoming attitude and local knowledge can turn visitors into lifelong residents and advocates for your community. 8. Final Thoughts: The Heart of Grayslake  Cynthia Lee's story is a reminder that the heart of any town is its people. Her lifelong commitment to Grayslake—through family, service, and tradition—offers a blueprint for building a vibrant, resilient community. Key Takeaways: Honor your roots and share your family's story. Get involved—start small, but stay consistent. Preserve and celebrate your town's history. Build and support local traditions. Stay engaged, keep learning, and share your passions. Welcome newcomers and showcase what makes your hometown special. Whether you're in Grayslake or any other community, Cynthia's example shows that a life of service, curiosity, and connection is the true secret to loving where you live. Are you inspired by Cynthia's story? Share your own community involvement tips or favorite Grayslake memories in the comments below! And don't forget to subscribe to "Discovering Grayslake" for more hometown stories and insights. Written with a professional yet friendly, hometown touch—because every great community starts with neighbors who care.

Step into the vibrant heart of the Lowcountry's newest cultural hub with Keely Enright, Executive Director and Producer of The Village Repertory Co. In this episode, host Brian Cleary explores The Venue MTP, a 9,000-square-foot arts sanctuary at East Cooper Plaza filling the long-awaited need for adult performing arts in Mount Pleasant. From its expansive main stage and intimate black box theater to dedicated classroom and gallery spaces, discover how this all-ages center serves as the permanent home for the award-winning Village Rep as they celebrate a landmark 25th anniversary season. Listen in for lots of great details about how things run at The Venue MTP, what can be found there, as well as The Village Repertory Co's history and types of performances you can expect, and what's running now in the beginning of March. For ticketing and show information check out VillageRep.com and TheVenueMTP.com. 

  Click here to book a reservation at the HSV RV Park. The Hot Springs Village RV Park is a private park for members and sponsored guests. In a serene rural setting between Lake Pineda and Lake Coronado, the park features 21 sites: 12 pull-through (Sites 1-12) and 9 back-in (Sites 13-21). The HSV RV Park offers full-service hook-ups with water, sewer, and 30/50-amp service at each site, along with grills, fire rings, and picnic tables. Concrete picnic slabs are available on Sites 13-21. There are no bathrooms or showers onsite so all RVs must be self-contained. Registered RV Park users may use the showers at the Coronado Fitness Center. The Fitness Center is located only one mile away from the RV Park and can be accessed by a nature trail.   • Join Our Free Email Newsletter • Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel (click that bell icon, too) • Join Our Facebook Group • Support Our Sponsors (Click on the images below to visit their websites.) __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________

ഹലോ ഗയ്‌സ്! FNSA SPOT-ന്റെ പുതിയൊരു എപ്പിസോഡിലേക്ക് എല്ലാവർക്കും സ്വാഗതം! ഞാൻ നിങ്ങളുടെ സ്വന്തം fnsa. ഇന്ന് നമ്മൾ സംസാരിക്കാൻ പോകുന്നത് വലിയ സിസ്റ്റങ്ങളുടെയും സ്ക്രീനുകളുടെയും മുന്നിലിരിക്കുന്ന ഇന്നത്തെ തലമുറയ്ക്ക് അത്ര പരിചിതമല്ലാത്ത, എന്നാൽ നമ്മുടെയൊക്കെ മനസ്സിൽ ഇപ്പോഴും മങ്ങാതെ കിടക്കുന്ന ആ പഴയ നാട്ടിൻപുറത്തെ കളികളെക്കുറിച്ചാണ്.

We're taking over the Outspoken feed to ensure you don't miss episode two of our new podcast baby, The Mums' Group. On today’s episode, we’re asking the big question: does 'the village' actually exist in 2026? We dive into influencer Ruby Tuesday Matthews’ bold idea of creating a modern-day mother’s commune. Then, would you outsource your baby’s name? Some couples are reportedly paying up to $10k to professional baby namers to find the perfect name. And finally, since when were grow suits considered pyjamas? This episode of The Mums’ Group has been made possible thanks to our launch partner, Mini + Me, and their incredible Mama Bites. Mama Bites are available at miniandme.co and join Mini + Me’s trusted range of pregnancy and postpartum support products. Please hit follow wherever you listen, so you don't miss out on The Mums' Group's weekly episode drops. Plus, it's the best way to support the show. The Mums' Group is a podcast from Outspoken Media. Follow The Mums' Group on: Watch episodes on YouTube Join our Facebook Community Follow us on Instagram Follow us on TikTok Follow Kate, Amy and Sophie on Instagram. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Le 16h de Radio Campus Tours reçoit Perrine et Aline, deux étudiantes de l’IAE de Tours, pour présenter le Village de la consommation éco-responsable, un projet universitaire déployé sur le campus des Deux Lions. Conçu comme un espace de sensibilisation ludique et ouvert à tous, ce village vise à déconstruire les préjugés sur l’écologie, notamment l’idée […] L'article Sortez! – projet Popup et village éco-responsable est apparu en premier sur Radio Campus Tours - 99.5 FM.

Our story tonight is called Paczki Day at the Bakery, and it's a story about a bustling morning in a shop downtown. It's also about rose hip jam and powdered sugar, wax paper and yearly traditions that have lasted for as long as anyone can remember, a line stretching down the sidewalk, generous tendencies among neighbors and the people who exist in every community, making days smoother and sweeter. Subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠Premium channel.⁠⁠⁠ The first month is on us. 

Leila returns to share her incredible second twin birth story - a Christmas Day birth that began at home and culminated in a powerful breech water birth at hospital. As the founder of Village for Mama and mother to five children (including two sets of DCDA fraternal twins), Leila takes us through her unexpected pregnancy discovery at 21 weeks, her journey of informed choice-making, and the profound difference that building your village can make during pregnancy and postpartum.From dancing with a glass of non-alcoholic bubbles on Christmas morning to birthing her daughter Elka at home and then transferring to hospital for a footling breech birth of baby Finn in the birth pool, Leila's story is one of trust, intuition, and the incredible power of water birth for twins. She also shares invaluable insights about postpartum planning, the reality of caring for five children, and how she honoured her final 40-day lying-in period.Today's episode is brought to you by iLTutto iL Tutto is known for beautifully designed nursery furniture that combines comfort, functionality and timeless style. They've just introduced a brand-new Soft Tweed fabric in two gorgeous colours, designed to complement their much-loved Teddy Fleece and Corduroy Frankie and Louie recliners.You can enjoy 20% off iL Tutto's range for a limited time. Simply visit iltutto.com.au and use the code ABS20 at checkout. This offer ends 25 March 2026. Conditions apply. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I want to be free of this pain."70mm goes BACK TO JAKKU with JJ Abrams's STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. We also talk about about new show theme music from Tim McEwan of THE MIDNIGHT, Netflix saying no thanks to Warner Brothers, Proto watching WILLOW and EMPIRE OF THE DARK, Danny watching THE VILLAGE and K POP DEMON HUNTERS, and slim watching 48 HOURS. In the uncut portion of the episode we discuss the TITAN sub documentary, chicken updates, and Danny needing to go to sleep.Chapters:(00:00:00) Introductions (00:05:24) What we watched(00:22:22) Episode VII(01:34:42) Voicemails(01:48:57) Next weekSupport the 70mm Patreon to join our VHS Village Discord and access exclusive episodes in the 70mm Vault which includes over 70 movies! Signing up for the Patreon also get your own membership card, member-only discounts on merch, and the ability to vote on future episodes!Don't forget you can visit our website to shop our storefront to buy prints and merch, follow us on Letterboxd, email the show, and much more.70mm is a ⁠TAPEDECK⁠ podcast, along with our friends at ⁠BAT & SPIDER⁠,  ⁠The Letterboxd Show⁠, Austin Danger Pod, ⁠Escape Hatch⁠, ⁠Will Run For...⁠, ⁠Lost Light⁠, ⁠The Movie Mixtape⁠, and ⁠Twin Vipers⁠.(Gone but not forgotten; ⁠Cinenauts⁠ + ⁠FILM HAGS⁠.) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Book of Common Prayer | Matthew 11:28-30 | Aspiring by Christopher Galovan | Young Ladies of the Village by Gustave Courbet | Find more at www.ryanbush.org

The Village at Providence Point is taking shape in Annapolis, and the people behind it — and the people preparing to call it home — are already feeling the momentum. In this episode, we sat down with Cyndi Walters, president of National Lutheran Communities & Services (NLCS), and Chill Hotchkiss, NLCS director of sales, to talk about how The Village at Providence Point moved from vision to reality. Walters walks through the long road to get here — planning, approvals, legal challenges, and what it takes to bring a project of this size and scope to the finish line.  Hotchkiss gives a closer look at the property itself, the lifestyle being built, and what prospective residents are looking for as they consider their next chapter. He also explains how he develops relationships to ensure a pre-built community! And then we hear from three future residents who are ready to make the move: Phil, Ilse, and Carol. Phil and Ilse are married and will be moving in together, and Carol will be moving in independently. They share their personal "why," what drew them to Providence Point, and the parts of this transition that feel exciting — from community and convenience to peace of mind. They also offer fascinating insights into their lives and what they're looking forward to most once the doors open. Is The Village at Providence Point for you? Have a listen. LINKS: The Village at Providence Point (Website) The Village at Providence Point (Facebook) The Village at Providence Point (X)

A sermon in our series, Ecclesiastes: Chasing the Wind.The Village Church is a community formed by the gospel and sent on God's mission to make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus. We gather in the heart of downtown Hamilton, Ohio, with the hope that God might be made known in every part of His city through every part of our lives.For more information about The Village, visit us online at myvillagechurch.com.

The Context of White Supremacy hosts the weekly Compensatory Call-In 02/28/26. We encourage non-white listeners to dial in with their codified concepts, new terms, observations, research findings, workplace problems or triumphs, and/or suggestions on how best to Replace White Supremacy With Justice ASAP. This weekly broadcast examines current events from across the globe to learn what's happening in all areas of people activity. We cultivate Counter-Racist Media Literacy by scrutinizing journalists' word choices and using logic to deconstruct what is reported as "news." We'll use these sessions to hone our use of terms as tools to reveal truth, neutralize Racists/White people. #ANTIBLACKNESS Gus thinks we may have survived one more Black History Month. Despite a few bomb threats in Ohio and mild episodes of Racial Terrorism, February was generally quiet on the plantation in the US. Although, State Senator and pastor Michael Jones's Village of Faith Ministries church in Virginia was racially terrorized. Former Pres. Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before the House Oversight Committee about disgraced Racist Suspect Jeffrey Epstein. Condolences for and memories of the late Jesse Jackson Sr. continue to stream in. White and non-white people around the world continue to cite a myriad of ways that Jackson attempted to counter-racism. The Switzerland-based company Novartis settled a lawsuit with the family of Henrietta Lacks for decades of profiteering from her stolen genetic material. Across the pond in London, privileged black male actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were verbally assaulted while presenting an award at the BAFTA Films Awards Ceremony. The Racist eruption was captured on the BBC broadcast. #EndStageWhiteSupremacy INVEST in The COWS – http://paypal.me/TheCOWS Cash App: https://cash.app/$TheCOWS CALL IN NUMBER: 720.716.7300 CODE 564943#

Joshua Solowey | 03.01.26 | ethoschurch.org

On this segment of Copper Country Today, host Todd VanDyke welcomes Laurium Village Manager Ian Lewis with an update, one year after a fire destroyed the village's public works garage.Copper Country Today airs throughout Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula Sunday mornings at 7:00 on WOLV 97.7 FM, 8:00 on WCCY 99.3 FM and 1400 AM, 9:00 on WHKB 102.3 FM, and 10:00 on WHBS 96.3 FM. The program is sponsored by the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation. Copyright © 2026, ListenUpRadio, Houghton, MI.

St. Michael's by-the-Sea is an Episcopal Church located in the coastal Village of Carlsbad, California. As far as churches go, it's kind of a beachy version of the ancient Christian Faith, and is rooted in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. Whether you're in town for a week at the beach or a local pilgrim on a spiritual journey, you are welcome here! www.stmichaelsbythesea.org

Food insecurity is an ongoing problem, especially with recent changes to SNAP benefits and the economy. Mark Wainwright founded It Takes a Village to Feed One Child in 2017 to provide meals to families in need. They've since partnered with many local organizations to expand on the types of holistic enrichment they can offer, from education to financial literacy. Racquel Williams talks with Mark and Dr. Corinne Green, Executive Director of one of their partner organizations, Mighty Writers. Then, on Shara in the City, Shara Dae Howard returns to The Colored Girls Museum as they celebrate 10 years of honoring Black history and culture in their own unique, theatrical way.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Most development histories focus on large-scale projects and multi-year plans. But how would we understand development differently if we chose a different starting point? In Village Work: Development and Rural Statecraft in Twentieth-Century Ghana (Ohio UP, 2021), Alice Wiemers exchanges the center for the periphery. Writing outwards from Kpasenpke, a village in northern Ghana, Wiemers shows how the daily labor of rural people, local officials and family networks have all shaped a practice of rural statecraft centered on developmentalism. By insisting on the specificity of the hinterland and interchangeability of its so-called “developers”, Village Work proposes a new framework for approaching Ghana's twentieth century. Elisa Prosperetti is a Visiting Assistant Professor in African history at Mount Holyoke College. Her research focuses on the connected histories of education and development in postcolonial West Africa. Contact her at: www.elisaprosperetti.net. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Join us as we navigate through village news, and talk about the shift in success for the boys basketball program here at Danville!

MY GLACIER VILLAGE KATHY COZD, CRYSTAL PURVIS TRT: 11:31 AGEWISE PROGRAM/DOWNSIZING-RIGHTSIZING

Send a textDoes it really "take a village" to raise a child? In this episode of the OZ Media's MotivateMe313 podcast, we dive deep into the concept of Global Educational Excellence and how true learning goes far beyond the classroom walls.We explore how schools can become the heartbeat of community development, moving from isolated institutions to hubs of growth, equity, and partnership. Whether you are an educator, a parent, or a community leader, this conversation challenges the status quo of modern schooling.We discuss the shift toward "whole-child" education, why academic rigor isn't enough without social-emotional learning, and how we can break down the structural barriers that keep communities and schools apart.Our guests are the Principals of Schools at Global Educational Excellence:  Mr. Mohammed Alsanai, Mr. Mohanad Jadallah and Ms. Raihan Akhter.In This Episode, We Cover:Defining Excellence: Why test scores are a bad metric for true community success.The "Whole Child": Balancing academic standards with empathy, resilience, and character building.Community Co-Design: Moving from simply informing parents to actively building the curriculum with them.Equity & Inclusion: Addressing the poverty and healthcare gaps that affect learning before the bell even rings.Future-Proofing: Practical steps we can take today to integrate schools and neighborhoods.CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Intro: Does the "Village" Still Exist? 2:15 - What is Global Educational Excellence? 8:30 - The Danger of Focusing Only on Academics 15:45 - How to Build Real Community Partnerships 24:10 - Overcoming Barriers: Equity and Inclusion 32:00 - The Future of Education & Community Development 40:15 - Final Thoughts & Actionable StepsConnect with OZ Media:Website: Ozmedia313.comSubscribe for more episodes!Follow us on social media:- Instagram: @motivateme313 or @ozmedia313- Website: ozmedia313.com- Facebook: ozmedia313-TikTok: @ozmedia313-Apple Podcast: ozmedia-Spotify Podcast: ozmediaThis show was sponsored by:-The Family Doc https://thefamilydocmi.com/-Juice Box Juiceboxblend.com-Holy Bowly http://www.myholybowly.com-Wingfellas thewingfellas.com-Hanley International Academy https://www.hanleyacademy.com-Malek Al-Kabob malekalkabob.com-Bayt Al Mocha https://baytalmocha.com/-Chill Box https://www.chillboxstore.com/-Royal Kabob https://www.royalkabob.com/-GEE Preparatory Academy https://www.gee-edu.com/schools/geepreparatory/index#GlobalEducation #CommunityDevelopment #EducationalExcellence #WholeChildEducation #EdTech #FutureOfLearning #OZMedia

  Want to follow along on Google Maps? Click here. We’ll leave the Cortez Pavilion and make a loop around the northside of Lakes DeSoto and Cortez to show you a bit of the Village, along with a lake community on the west side. Look for more drives throughout the Village to get a sense of the variety of neighborhoods within Hot Springs Village. Enjoy the ride. Note: For editing purposes, the video’s speed isn’t always in real time.   • Join Our Free Email Newsletter • Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel (click that bell icon, too) • Join Our Facebook Group • Support Our Sponsors (Click on the images below to visit their websites.) __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________

This week my new series re-watch reaches Doctor Who Flux: Village of the Angels, a stand out classic of the Jodie Whittaker era.   You may wish to contribute to the show's running costs, it's Patreon is here https://www.patreon.com/tdrury or buy me a coffee here https://ko-fi.com/timdrury   The show is also on Facebook please join the group for exclusive behind the scenes insights and of course also discuss and feedback on the show https://www.facebook.com/groups/187162411486307/   If you want to send me comments or feedback you can email them to tdrury2003@yahoo.co.uk or contact me on twitter where I'm @tdrury or send me a friend request and your comments to facebook where I'm Tim Drury and look like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdrury/3711029536/in/set-72157621161239599/ in case you were wondering.

Originally Aired: February 14, 2022 (Season 9, Episode 7) Our story tonight is called Supper Club, and it's a story about adventures in cooking and friendship. It's also about less being more, a bubbling pandowdy, and the patience it takes to carefully fold a dumpling. Subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠Premium channel.⁠⁠⁠ The first month is on us. 

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by Lou Pizzichillo, Lead Pastor of Community Church on Long Island. Community Church launched in January 2020—just ten weeks before the world shut down—then relaunched after 52 weeks online. Now averaging around 1,200 people across Thursday and Sunday services, Community is known as “a church for people who don't go to church.” In a region where skepticism toward organized religion runs deep, Lou and his team are building trust by creating space for honest questions, lived-out faith, and tangible community impact. Is your church serving in a skeptical environment? Are you trying to reach people who already think they know—and don't like—what church is about? Lou shares practical wisdom on posture, transparency, and earning trust one decision at a time. Starting where people really are. // On Long Island, while some residents may identify culturally with faith traditions, most see church as judgmental, hypocritical, or irrelevant to everyday life. Lou quickly realized that the biggest obstacle wasn't apathy—it was reputation. Rather than fighting skepticism, Community Church chose to acknowledge it. The church repeatedly communicates three cultural values: You can belong before you believe. You have permission to be in progress. And there's no pretending. These aren't slogans—they shape how the church operates. Permission to be in progress. // One of the most resonant phrases at Community is “permission to be in progress.” Many people assume that following Jesus requires instant agreement with every doctrine and behavior expectation. Instead, Community encourages people to wrestle honestly with the claims of Christ first. Secondary issues and sanctification come later. This posture doesn't mean watering down truth—it means sequencing it wisely. By focusing on who Jesus says he is, rather than debating every peripheral topic, the church keeps the main thing central. No pretending—and real transparency. // Transparency builds credibility in skeptical contexts. Stories of real life—parenting mistakes, marriage tensions, leadership missteps—often resonate more than polished success stories. At the same time, Lou draws a boundary between “scars and wounds.” He shares what he has processed, not what he is still unraveling. This authenticity signals that faith isn't about perfection but transformation. For many in the congregation, seeing a pastor admit imperfection dismantles years of distrust toward church leaders. Becoming an asset to the community. // Community Church doesn't just talk about loving Babylon—it demonstrates it. Early on, Lou realized trust would not come through marketing but through partnership. Before launch, the church created “12 Days of Christmas,” giving away gifts purchased from local businesses. In year one, stores hesitated to participate; by year seven, businesses were reaching out to collaborate. What began as skepticism has shifted to partnership because trust was earned gradually. Serving instead of competing. // A defining moment came during the annual Argyle Fair, a 30,000-person event held across the street from the church—on a Sunday. Rather than fight the inconvenience, Community canceled services and mobilized volunteers to serve the fair, providing parking and manpower. When the event was rescheduled due to rain, the church canceled services a second week to honor its commitment. Lou describes this as a defining cultural moment: demonstrating that service isn't convenient—it's convictional. Earning trust through inconvenience. // Lou recounts being called to the mayor's office days after launch to address parking concerns. Instead of pushing back, the church chose to rent additional parking space—even when legally unnecessary—to honor neighbors' concerns. In another instance, Community canceled a planned Christmas light show after Village neighbors expressed concern about traffic. Though disappointing internally, the decision earned significant community goodwill. Lou believes canceling the event built more trust than hosting it would have. Posture over persecution. // Lou cautions leaders against defaulting to a persecution narrative when facing resistance. Most pushback, he says, comes from practical concerns—not hostility toward Jesus. By listening humbly and responding thoughtfully, churches can win trust among the large percentage of community members who are neither strongly for nor against them. To learn more about Community Church, visit communitychurch.net or follow @communitychurch.li on social media. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: TouchPoint As your church reaches more people, one of the biggest challenges is making sure no one slips through the cracks along the way.TouchPoint Church Management Software is an all-in-one ecosystem built for churches that want to elevate discipleship by providing clear data, strong engagement tools, and dependable workflows that scale as you grow. TouchPoint is trusted by some of the fastest-growing and largest churches in the country because it helps teams stay aligned, understand who they're reaching, and make confident ministry decisions week after week. If you've been wondering whether your current system can carry your next season of growth, it may be time to explore what TouchPoint can do for you. You can evaluate TouchPoint during a free, no-pressure one-hour demo at TouchPointSoftware.com/demo. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, thanks so much for listening in, tuning in into today’s episode. I’m really looking forward to today’s conversation. We’re talking with a leader leading a prevailing church in frankly a part of the country that is not known for tons of prevailing churches. And so it’s an opportunity for all of us to lean in and to learn.Rich Birch — Super excited to have Lou Pizzichillo with us from Community Church. They’re in Babylon, New York on Long Island. They’re known as a church for people who don’t go to church. They’re big on being real, bringing real questions, struggles, hangups, doubts, disappointments, and failures. Lou, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here today.Lou Pizzichillo — Thanks so much. Yeah, it’s a privilege to be here.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s an honor that you would take some time to be with us today. Why don’t you kind of tell us a bit of the Community story, kind of give us a flavor of the church, help us kind of imagine if we were to arrive this weekend, what what would we experience?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So we have an interesting history. We launched in January of 2020. And so we were open for 10 weeks.Rich Birch — Great time.Lou Pizzichillo — I know it was perfect. And then we closed down for 52 weeks, and we relaunched. But because of that, what’s been really cool is, you know, when you’re launching a church, the launch team is a big deal. And to launch twice, we’ve had really like two two launch teams. And so team culture has always been a real big part of our church.Lou Pizzichillo — But yeah, we like to say that we’re a church for people who don’t go to church. and So we try to keep things pretty casual. We try not to assume that there’s any interest or experience with the people who are showing up on a Sunday. And yeah.Rich Birch — Nice. Give us a sense of, so like size and like your, you know, the ministry style, that sort of thing. Like what would you help us kind of place what the, what the church is like if I was to arrive, arrive on a weekend?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, we’re a pretty contemporary attractional church. We’ve got services on Thursday night and on Sunday morning. So we say the weekend starts on Thursday. Rich Birch — Love it. Lou Pizzichillo — We call Thursday night thurch, which is… Rich Birch — Oh, that’s funny. Thurch. Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, it was a joke at first, but then it kind of like, I don’t know, just kind of gained a life of its own.Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — So yeah, so the church over the course of the weekend, right now we’re at about 1,200. And it’s exciting. There are a lot of new people. And things are constantly change changing. Change is that really the only constant for us.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, that’s so good. Well, you’re on Long Island, and I can say as somebody who I ministered for years in New Jersey, I’m from Canada, I I get that people don’t wake up on Long Island on Sunday morning and think, hey, I should go to church today. Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, yeah.Rich Birch — You’re serving a community that is is more unchurched than other parts of the country, which is a challenge for planting. So help us understand, you know, help us just kind of get into the mindset or the um perspective of people who are outside of the church. What do they view on, you know, Christianity? Tell us, give us a sense of of kind of what you’ve learned, you know, planting in that kind of context.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So one thing that was really helpful right off the bat was somebody mentioned to me, they were like, you know, I’m not a gym person. And so when a new gym opens up in town, I don’t even really notice it.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And they’re like, I think it’s the same thing for church people.Rich Birch — Right. Lou Pizzichillo — It’s like, if you’re not a church person, then you don’t really notice when churches are doing things. And so that’s like, really, it’s a big reason why we’re so vocal about saying it we’re a church for people who don’t go to church, you know?Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — Um, and yeah, from there, honestly, we found that the biggest obstacle with people here is the existing reputation of church, of what church is like and what church people are like.Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — This church is seen as very judgmental, hypocritical, fake, exclusive, impractical, you know, it’s something you just do to kind of check the boxes and then you go on with your life. I’ve spoken to even a lot of, um, like devout Catholics here who have, have said like, they don’t, they do their church thing because, because it’s what they think that they’re supposed to do, but they’re, what they are doing in church does not translate to everyday life.Lou Pizzichillo — And so church is seen as kind of an impractical thing. And, that’s kind of the starting point for a lot of people who we’re trying to connect with.Rich Birch — Yeah, I’ve heard it said in other contexts, it’s like, not that people don’t know the church. It’s like, it’s what they know that they don’t like.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, yeah.Rich Birch — It’s like, they have a sense of, you know, that that reputation. Are there any, maybe even stories or engagement you know conversations or engagements you’ve had with folks that have kind of brought that reputation to the fore. That obviously has led you to say, hey, we’re going position ourselves as a church where people don’t go into churches. Was there something that kind of influenced that as you were having, you know, even in these early years as you’ve been kind of get the ball rolling?Lou Pizzichillo — A big part of it honestly is a lot of my extended family. Like they’re, most of them are not church people. You know, they have a lot of respect for God. Like most people on Long Island, uh, especially, you know, most kind of nominal Catholics, like they would say they’re Italian or Irish. They say, oh, of course, Jesus is my savior. You know, like they, they know the right things to say, but in terms of what it actually means on a regular basis, it’s like kind of a totally different thing. So, so yeah, I mean, that’s kind of, kind of where we’re starting.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, people have criticisms about the church and they have criticisms of of their experience with the church. How do you discern between criticisms that maybe you either need to be challenged, like, hey, that’s actually just not true, or like, oh, that’s a critique that is actually fair, and we’re going to try to steer in a different direction, ah you know, than that. Help us think about those, you know, when we think about skepticism towards the church.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, I think, honestly, the best thing for us has just been to have a posture of listening.Rich Birch — That’s good.Lou Pizzichillo — Because even even if their claims aren’t valid, a lot of their experiences are. And so, you know, they’re like, there’s somebody who’s been going to the church for a while now, and somebody that was very close to them has like a pretty intense story of church hurt, like real damage. And so to know that he’s walking in with all of this baggage and that there are a lot of other people walking in with that baggage that don’t let you know that they have that baggage… Rich Birch — Right. Lou Pizzichillo — …just kind of giving them the space to, to be hurt and for it to be real. That’s been huge for us just having that kind of posture of humility. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. So that obviously has led to the way you’ve developed either the way you talk about ministry or the values that are underlining, you know, the ministry.Rich Birch — What has been important for helping communicate or articulate to people like, hey, this is a place that you can show up, you know, before you, you know, you’ve kind of bought it all. It’s like, Hey, you there’s a place to explore that sort of thing. Help us think through how do you communicate and then how do those, whether they’re phrases or yeah that sort of thing, how does that translate then into the values of how you actually operate?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So big thing is for us, it’s training the team, like getting those values into the team and helping them to understand what that looks like in a concrete way. So we say, like a lot of churches say, you can belong before you believe. And the the illustration I give almost every single time, I’m like, if somebody walks in with a church, with a shirt that says, I hate God, we are glad that person is here, right? Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — Like we’re not assuming that they are walking in with interest or experience. And they might have a story that’s a lot more complicated than we know. So um so yes, we try to celebrate that.Lou Pizzichillo — When somebody walks in and they’re very open about their beliefs and their views not lining up with us, that’s something that we celebrate, right? Like because these are the people that we want here.Lou Pizzichillo — The other value that’s been really helpful for us is to say that people have permission to be in progress. And that has to do with their actions, the choices that they make, but also the things that they believe. And so you can be on board with some of our beliefs and not be on board with all of our beliefs. And we’re okay with that, right?Lou Pizzichillo — Like rather than just saying, okay, I accept all of it at one time. And now I completely agree that everything in the Bible is true. And, you know, I endorse it. Like we just kind of give people space to say, okay, like let’s maybe let’s start with the claims of Jesus, like right to this guy really rise from the dead. And now let’s look at what he says about things like the Old Testament, you know?Lou Pizzichillo — And so that’s that’s been a huge thing. We go back to that over and over and over again. It started as kind of like a main point in a sermon where I was like, you’ve got permission to be in progress. And so many people repeated it back to me that I was like, okay, this needs to be woven into our culture because it needs to be articulated…Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — …or people just assume, okay, if I’m going to say I believe, I got to say I believe it all. And there’s no room for disagreement.Lou Pizzichillo — And then from there, we say like, you got you can belong before you believe, you got permission to be in progress. And if both of those things are actually true for us as a church, then we can also say like our third value is no pretending.Lou Pizzichillo — Like you don’t have to pretend to be on board with certain things if you’re not there yet. And I think if we create an environment where people can be real and dialogue and be open about the things that they’re, you know, that they disagree with, I think that’s where there’s real hope for ultimately ending in a place of alignment.Rich Birch — Yeah, permission to be in progress to me feels very like a very Jesus value It feels like, oh, that to me, that’s like when I read the New Testament, that feels like the way he oriented himself to the people around him, right? There were clearly people that were like the rich young ruler came to him and was like, you know, asked a pointed question. Jesus gave a clear answer, and he didn’t, you know, Jesus didn’t, even though he said harsh words to or clear words, I would say, all was it always done in an environment of trying to say, hey, we I want you to be a part of this conversation. I’m really trying to be on the same side of the table. How do I bring you along?Rich Birch — Can you, like, let’s double click on permission to be in progress. Talk us through what that looks like. Because I think, I think so many churches draw very strong lines on like, you got to believe these 15 things to be a part here. Even if we wouldn’t explicitly set that say that, it’s like implicit in our cultures.Rich Birch — How does your culture look different when you say, hey, you’ve got permission to be in progress? What would be some of the things that might stand out to us as like, that’s a little bit different than how maybe some other churches handle this?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So we have like we have values, but then we also just have sayings, right? Like it it is too hard for me to define what the most important values are. Like I get too obsessed with the wording and how we’re going to phrase things. And so in our our conference room, we have a big whiteboard and we write down little sayings. We actually write them in permanent marker on the whiteboard, which is wasteful, but at least we have something to reference.Lou Pizzichillo — So when somebody says something and we’re like, hey, that’s a culture thing, it gets written on the board. One of the things that came up that’s really helped us with this idea of permission to be in progress is that the goal is to get people to Jesus and everything else is secondary. Everything else comes after that.Rich Birch — That's good. Yep, that’s good.Lou Pizzichillo — And so I’m not going to like get into it with someone over a secondary issue or really something that’s an issue of sanctification, when we believe sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, right? Maybe your view on that will change after you understand who Jesus is and begin to follow him.Lou Pizzichillo — And so in a lot of ways, I feel like when we when we get too into the issues, we’re putting the cart before the horse, right? Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — And so we’re trying to bring people to Jesus and show him show them what he’s like. And ah that that has been clarifying when it comes to permission to be in progress.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. And I think in heavily church context, when we kind of assume, oh, basically everyone here has some level of faith, those secondary issues can become like a really big deal. It’s like we spend a lot of time talking about those things.Rich Birch — But when the majority of people we’re interacting with you know, they haven’t, they haven’t really, really wrestled with what they think about Jesus and the difference he can make in this life. And we got to keep that, that really clear. Rich Birch — So no pretending is an interesting value as a communicator. How do you live that out in the way you show transparency? There’s this interesting thing years ago, I had one of the ah preacher that I love or communicator. I just think the world of, you know, he talked about how there’s this tension when we’re, communicating that, you know, we’re we’re trying to be transparent, but up into a point and how, where is that point? And how do we do that in a way that’s not, that brings people along? So ah what what does that look like for you even as a as ah as a leader to say, hey, it’s not my job to pretend. I’m going to just be honest and transparent, authentic to where we are? Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. Well, I mean, I can definitely say that every time I tell a story that has me screwing up, it is it is the thing that people come to tell me about. Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — Like, oh, thank you so much for telling me about you know the way you spoke to your kids… Rich Birch — Yes. Lou Pizzichillo — …or the thing that you said to your wife. Or it is just by far the thing that people love to hear. And that’s been encouraging. Now, I have had people like throw it back at me and that that comes with the territory. But I think that the stories of how that’s been helpful for people um like dramatically outweigh the people that are going to you know weaponize that stuff against you.Lou Pizzichillo — Something else I heard, um I think Brene Brown said this in one of her books. She said she doesn’t share things she hasn’t processed through yet.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And that for me is a really helpful thing. Like If I’m in the middle of something and just in the thick of it, it’s not the time for me to like bring that to the congregation. I think that could be really unhealthy for a lot of reasons.Lou Pizzichillo — So that’s, that’s kind of something that, and it doesn’t mean I can’t share something that just happened. You know sometimes I’ll explain an issue that just happened with my kids. That’s different than something I’m still processing and haven’t resolved yet.Rich Birch — Right. I think she said it’s the difference between scars and wounds, right? You can talk about your scars. That’s like, that’s an area that has, has had some level of healing to it versus an open wound, right? Like this is a part that’s, that’s still gaping.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah.Rich Birch — And, uh, you know, we don’t necessarily want to to share that. And that, you know, uh, that is a change. So I’m, you know, I’m of a certain age, been in this game a long time. And I remember when we first started, when I first started, that generation that came before me, people wanted like the superhuman religious leader. They wanted the like pastor to be, to have their stuff a hundred percent sewed up. Like, don’t tell me that you’re a real human. They didn’t want that.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah.Rich Birch — You know, and that has completely reversed.Rich Birch — People are like, no no, like you said, we, we need to be transparent, open, authentic. People know that we’re not perfect. Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. Rich Birch — They know that we don’t have it all together. Lou Pizzichillo — Right.Rich Birch — And when we try to hide that, when we try to, in your language, pretend that actually is repulsive, it pushes them away. Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah.Rich Birch — One of the things that stood out to me just by reputation, kind of seeing your church is it appears that you guys have a conviction around getting out and serving the community, actually making a difference in the community. You know, it strikes me as very ah a very James-approach, faith in action – it’s it should make a difference in our community. What how do talk to me about what that looks like for Community. How does that, even your name, Community, you know, Church, reflects that. Talk talk to talk to me about what that looks like.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, so we’re pretty clear. Like we we tell people we want to be an asset to the community. We want people to be glad we’re here, whether they attend our church or not. And so that started really early. Actually, before we launched, we did this thing called the 12 Days of Christmas where, so our church is in a village, right? So there are a lot of local businesses around us. What we did is during the 12 days leading up to Christmas, we went to shops and we gave away gifts from those shops. There was a different shop every day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. So we planned this out ahead of time. But we would post on social media and be like, Hey, today the, you know, the shop is Bunger surf shop. The first 25 people there are going to get beanies from Bunger surf shop.Lou Pizzichillo — And we paid for them. We sent the, Bunger agreed to hand them out. And people went to go get them. And what was, so it was a win, win, win, really. Like the people who participated got free beanies, the surf shop are like all the different shops in the village. They got people to go, they got traffic to their business, right?Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah.Lou Pizzichillo — Because people went in then bought other stuff. And it helped us communicate that we we say we want something for you, not from you, right? We want to be an asset to the community. And so it helped us communicate that message. And the response to that has been great.Lou Pizzichillo — Now, what’s interesting, if this doesn’t tell you something about the church’s reputation, on year one, before we launched, it was very hard to get 12 shops to agree to do this with us. Like they were like, you’re a church? I’m sorry. No, we’re not doing it.Rich Birch — Forget it. Yeah.Lou Pizzichillo — Now it’s year seven. Right now we’re in the middle of our our seventh year and there are shops lining up to do it. There are shops reaching out to us, asking us to collaborate.Rich Birch — Wow.Lou Pizzichillo — They’re helping to pay for the stuff. So it’s actually in some ways getting a little bit cheaper.Rich Birch — Huh.Lou Pizzichillo — And it’s just cool. It’s shown like this posture of partnership with what’s going on… Rich Birch — Yes. Lou Pizzichillo — …rather than, okay, there are the shops and then there’s the church. Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — And yeah, we actually have a someone on staff now who first heard about the church on year one during the 12 days of Christmas. She started coming to the church. she eventually got baptized and now she’s on staff. And it’s just like, it has been so, so cool.Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that. That’s what a cool, you know, even just a cool tactic, kind of an expression of that. Is there other ways, other kind of activities like that, that you’re engaged with throughout the year that would could illustrate this idea of being for the community, being an asset to the community? What would be another example of that that that’s happened?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So there is this fair that happens right across the street from the church. It’s called the Argyle Fair. It’s it’s around a lake. There are about 30,000 people that come to this fair. And the fair is on a Sunday during church.Lou Pizzichillo — The first year that we were here and had services during that Sunday, it was a mess. There were people you know like parking all over the place. It was hard to have services. Traffic was crazy. And we left church and my wife and I walked to the fair and just felt like something didn’t feel right. Like there’s some, here’s something everybody’s doing and we’re fighting against it.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — So we went to the people who ran the fair and we were like, is there any way we can help? Like, is there, what do you guys need? And right away she was like, we need volunteers and we need parking. And as a church, we are uniquely equipped with volunteers and parking. Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo —And so really it was there, like that almost right away, we were like, okay, next year, ah we’re going to be on board with what you’re doing.Rich Birch — Wow. Wow.Lou Pizzichillo — And so we decided to cancel services. And in the weeks leading up to that, we teach about the importance of serving the community. It’s kind of like the grand finale to whatever, you know…Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — …outreach series or message is being given.Rich Birch — Yeah.Lou Pizzichillo — And um yeah, so we teach on that. And then we’re like, hey, you know, two weeks from now, we’re not going to have services. Instead, we’re going to go out instead of staying in here talking about serving, we’re going to go out there and serve. And, you know, we’ve said like… Rich Birch — Love that. Lou Pizzichillo — …yeah, what’s what’s happening out there is not more spiritual than what’s happening in here. It’s a different way to express and grow in our faith. So we did that. And the response has just been unbelievable. Like the community has loved it. The the fair has had the help that they need. The people in our church have loved it. But this year we actually it got rained out on the first week. And so they postponed it to the next week.Rich Birch — Oh, wow.Lou Pizzichillo — And that made it tough for us because now we were like, okay, are we going to cancel church two weeks in a row? Rich Birch — Right. Lou Pizzichillo — And we had a meeting about it and like looked at our values, looked at what we were talking about. We were like, you know what, this is actually an opportunity for us to really double down and say, we’re not doing this out of convenience. We’re doing this because it’s a value. And so I called up the guy who was running the fair and he was like, I get it. If you can’t do it, I get it. And it felt, it was, it was amazing to be able to say on the phone, like, Hey, we’re with you, uh, no matter what. So, uh, so we did and it was, it was awesome.Rich Birch — That’s incredible. Like ah that, again, that what a vivid example, because I think there’s a lot of church leaders, if we’re honest, we’ve been engaged in the conversation that’s literally on the opposite side of that, where we’re like, man, how do we, these people, they’re, you know, they’re cramping our style or whatever. It’s like we naturally default towards that rather than to serve. Rich Birch — Take us back early in the discussions because I think a lot of us have not done a good job in building trust bridges in our communities. And you know trust isn’t built with just you know, one conversation. It takes time, right? It takes, like you said, those those first 12 days of Christmas, you couldn’t get anybody. And now here’s seven years later. We want we want to get to the seven years later part really quickly.Rich Birch — But ah those early conversations, how are you handling yourself, interacting with the like other people, you know, approaching them, having those conversations. What did you learn in the early dialogue that could help us if we’re trying to build, you know, deeper community trust in a place that just is so skeptical of that we’re coming with, just looking to take from our people.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. I mean, you have to be willing to be inconvenienced. I think that’s been a big part of it.Lou Pizzichillo — On week one, so we we launched literally on the first day and launch day was bigger than we thought it was going to be. And on that Monday, I was called to the mayor’s office, the mayor of the village.Lou Pizzichillo — And I was like, okay, thought I was going to go have a conversation. And when I got there, it was the it was him, it was the head of code enforcement and the fire chief all in a room waiting for me Rich Birch — Oh, gosh. Lou Pizzichillo — And they had pictures of cars parked all over the street. And I I realized there, like, there was a real concern about what this church was going to be in the community.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so from there, we’ve just been looking for opportunities to earn trust. The neighbors have made it very clear that they don’t like cars parking on the street. And so we, we began paying for a lot so that we could take the cars off of the street. We don’t have to, they can legally park in the street, but we rent the lot. We told the owner of the property why we’re doing it. And he got on board with what we’re doing. We’re now in a place, kind of a long story, but we now don’t have to pay for that lot.Rich Birch — Wow.Lou Pizzichillo — We also, like the trust has been earned one decision at a time. We were going to do this big thing in the parking lot. We did a parking lot renovation that took the whole summer. After the summer, we were like, hey, in our new parking lot, let’s put on a Christmas show. We’ll run it throughout two weeks in December.Lou Pizzichillo — We had an animator who goes to the church. He like had this great idea for a show. He’s like, we’ll project it on the building. People will drive in. We’ll run it multiple times a night, do it for a few weeks throughout December. We were calling it Christmas in Lights.Lou Pizzichillo — So we put this whole plan together. He’s making the thing. We start advertising it and the village comes to us and they’re like, you’re in violation of the code. You can’t do this. And and they’re giving us all these reasons that I felt like didn’t really hold that much weight, you know.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — But in thinking about it, I do understand the inconvenience it would have been. We just had a major parking lot renovation. There were huge trucks making tons of noise for months. Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And now that’s finally over. And we’re going to ask the village to deal with the traffic of a show happening every single night, you know, for a few weeks in December.Rich Birch — Right Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so I went to the mayor and I was like, hey, ah it’s a new mayor at this point. But I just sat down with her and I was like, hey, listen, if you have concerns about this, I want you to feel the freedom to just come to me and say, this is a lot for the neighbors. Like, what do you think about pulling this in?Lou Pizzichillo —And it was cool. It was an opportunity for the two of us to kind of bond, like there was some trust earned there and we canceled the show. We decided not to do it. And I released a video explaining why we weren’t doing it.Rich Birch — Wow.Lou Pizzichillo — And the amazing thing is that I think canceling the show accomplished more than we would have accomplished if we actually did the show.Rich Birch — Interesting.Lou Pizzichillo — Like it earned, it was so well received when people found out that we weren’t going to do it. They were like, and even the people that attend the church, they were like, I want to be part of a church that supports their community like this.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so it went really well, and it was a lot less work, and so it was it was kind of a win all around. Rich Birch — What did the animators say? I feel but feel bad for that person who started doing that work. Did they understand. Obviously, they’re bummed or concerned.Lou Pizzichillo — He was bummed out, but he’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and so he he totally got it. And he’s on board with what we’re trying to do, and when he knew the reason why, he was totally, totally supportive of it.Rich Birch — Interesting. So where have you seen churches kind of get this wrong as we’ve tried to engage with the community? Maybe a common a pothole that we fall into or a way that we stub our toes, you know, a thing maybe you’ve you’ve you’ve seen that we just, we you know, kind of consistently make the same mistake.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. You know, one of my mentors told me a while ago, he was like, when you’re thinking about the church in the community, he’s like, there’s a small percentage of people that are for you. He said, there’s, there’s also a small percentage of people that are anti-church and they always will be, and you’re not going to change their minds.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And he’s like, but then there’s this large percentage that’s just kind of going to go one way or the other. And he’s like, that’s the percentage that you really have to be intentional about connecting with.Rich Birch — Right. Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so I think, you know, it is very easy to tell the story like, hey, they don’t want us to do our Christmas show. This is persecution… Rich Birch — Yes. Lou Pizzichillo — …you know, and we got to fight and suffer for the name of Jesus. And ah we’ve just found that that’s not always the case. Rich Birch — Right. Lou Pizzichillo — You know, it’s people that don’t want to be inconvenienced and they may love church, but there’s there’s all this stuff going in the community. Maybe they maybe they have you know other reasons why. So i think I think it’s just the posture.Lou Pizzichillo — Like a lot of, most people, most people aren’t unreasonable. And I think if we give them the chance to really articulate what’s going on, I’ve been surprised at how understandable a lot of the feelings have been, a lot of the resistance to church comes from real stories, real experiences.Rich Birch — Right, right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so, yeah, I think it’s the you know the whole like persecution thing or suffering or that is real and people do really experience that. But a lot of times I think we’re a little too quick to say, oh, this is what that is when really it may not be.Rich Birch — Well, and it it’s, ah in some ways, it’s like a low form of, well, it’s a leadership shortcut for sure to like demonize, to like, oh, there, those people are come out to get us. You know, any leader that’s led before realizes, oh, that’s like a that’s a tool that actually works. People respond to that, but, but we don’t want to do that. Like that isn’t, these are the people we’re trying to love and care. These are people we’re trying to see point towards Jesus. They’re not our enemies.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. Yeah.Rich Birch — They’re not, you know, they’re, they’re not, they might just not like parking, like you at the end of the day.Lou Pizzichillo — Right. Right.Rich Birch — And so let’s not, let’s not get over-revved, ah you know, on that. And unfortunately there are, I know, you know, way too many churches that have got themselves on the wrong side of this. And it’s very hard to backwards engineer out of that. Once you go down that road of like, we’re going to try to go negative with our community. That just isn’t, it’s just, it’s, it’s very difficult to to step back from that.Rich Birch — If you think about a church leader that’s listening in today and they’re, they’re saying, Hey, They’re thinking we want to do a better job being trusted more locally, trusted by local leaders, trusted by other you know businesses in town, that sort of thing. What would be a couple first steps you think they could take? A couple things where they could start to try to build that kind of trust with the community around them?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. You know, I think I’m a big believer in praying for those opportunities. And also just giving things a second look, you know. When you’re in a situation that may seem like a challenge or something that may seem like it’s getting in the way, to just stop and think, okay, is, is there an opportunity here to build trust with the community?Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.Lou Pizzichillo — Because we, and when we say the community, we’re not just talking about this nebulous, you know, idea of Babylon village. There are people there.Rich Birch — Right. Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And if those people see this church as trustworthy, they may come here, you know, when their relationships are falling apart or when they’re looking for answers.Rich Birch — Yep.Lou Pizzichillo — Um, and so it’s really just been… We have great people here who have bought into what we’re doing, who have really helped us to see like, this is an opportunity to win with the community. And yeah, you gotta, you have to look outside the box and, and also be willing to, there, there are moments like with Church Has Left the Building—with the fair—and with the Christmas and light show, there are moments where they’ll see, okay, do you really care? Do you really care?Rich Birch — Yes. Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — Like are how how much will you inconvenience yourself? And I mean, the payoff from that has just been huge, even though it’s been an inconvenience and our giving goes down that week and it throws off the series and we got to restructure the calendar.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — It has gone, there’s there’s never been a time where we’ve regretted it.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s good. And, you know, there’s no doubt one of the things I think we can in our our little world of kind of church leadership, I think we can forget often that people in the communities that we’re serving, they really don’t have any frame of reference for a church of 1,200 people. Like they that that isn’t people’s normal perception of what a church is. Like a church is 25 people or 50 people in a room somewhere super small.Rich Birch — And, and their perception can be, they just don’t, they just don’t have any idea. What is that? What’s that look like? And some of that can skew negative because it’s busy and blah, blah, blah, all those things. And so we’ve, we, we have to take it on ourselves when our church gets to the size that you’re at or larger to try to help them understand and see though this is like really positive for the community and actually point towards that.Lou Pizzichillo — Yes.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s good.Lou Pizzichillo — Yes. And, and like along those lines, ah it’s also perceived as a source of power, right? Like if, if there, if you have 1500 people that all believe the same thing and you’re trying to run a village or a community, there is this, this sense of like, okay, well, are they going to be for us or against us? Like, are all these people going to be anti-village?Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so there is like that, that instinct to kind of protect from this group of people that make, make things really hard for us. But over time, as they begin to see like all these people are, are behind us, they’re here to support us and they want to make this place better.Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — It’s, it really is a beautiful thing. And we’re not there yet as a church, but we’re getting there. And, uh, we’ve just seen a lot of, lot of positive signs and, uh, Yeah, think it’s paid off.Rich Birch — So good, Lou. That’s, that’s great. Just as we wrap up today’s conversation, any kind of final words you’d have to, ah you know, to leaders that are listening in thinking about these issues today?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. I mean, I think I would just say it’s worth it. It's it’s messy. It does make things difficult. It can be inconvenient. And when you have people who don’t go to church coming to church and you give them permission to be in progress, you get a lot of hairy situations. And we have a lot of conversations where we’re trying to figure out which way to go.Rich Birch — Yeah, 100%.Lou Pizzichillo — But it’s in those conversations that we cant kind of stop and remind ourselves like, Hey, we’re, we’re glad that these people are here and we’re glad that these are the problems that we’re having. And, the end of the day, this is what we feel like it’s all about. So.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s so good. I just want to encourage you as you’re leading, you’re doing a great job and and it’s been fun to get a chance to get a little window into what’s going on at Community. Want to encourage you and your your team, just you’re doing the right thing. If people want to track with the church or with you online, where do we want to send them to connect with you guys?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, so communitychurch.net is our website. On Instagram, we’re communitychurchli, we’re @communitychurchli, and we try to keep that handle throughout all the platforms. So YouTube, same thing. But yeah, that’s it.Rich Birch — Great. Thanks for for being here today, Lou.Lou Pizzichillo — Thanks for having me, Rich. It’s an honor to be here, and I love what you guys are doing for the church.

Hi love.Have you ever felt like no one listens…until you lose it?You ask calmly.You explain clearly.You regulate yourself.And nothing changes.But the moment you explode? Suddenly, everyone's paying attention.In this premium Behind the Mic episode, Tiffini, Joy, and I unpack the dynamic that hit a nerve in the office this morning:Why do some systems only respond to anger?We talk about:– The pattern of suppressing anger to be the “good girl” – The breaking point where suppression turns into explosion – Why some partners (and kids) only respond when you're dysregulated – Internal Family Systems (IFS) and the war between your Manager and Firefighter parts – The Anacardium pattern: “Everybody breaks.” – How codependency is rooted in the refusal to feel – Why leaning in feels scarier than leaning out – The guilt that comes when you stop over-functioning – Parenting from regulation instead of control – And how to break generational suppression before it reaches your daughter's Saturn returnWe also explore a powerful truth:Codependency isn't just “doing too much.”It's: “I don't want to feel. And I don't want you to feel.”And when feelings are suppressed long enough, rage becomes the only available language.This episode is raw.We talk about screaming fights.Throwing clothes in the yard.Village parenting.Undoing 20 years of over-functioning.And what it looks like to assume goodwill instead of defending.If you've ever thought: “They only hear me when I'm angry,”This conversation will help you understand why.And more importantly, how to stop needing to break to be seen.Welcome to Panel Rant Thursday.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyCoachDawnInstagram: (@dawnwiggins)Instagram: (@coachtiffini)On the Web: https://www.mycoachdawn.comA podcast exploring the journey of life after divorce, delving into topics like divorce grief, loneliness, anxiety, manifesting, the impact of different attachment styles and codependency, setting healthy boundaries, energy healing with homeopathy, managing the nervous system during divorce depression, understanding the stages of divorce grief, and using the Law of Attraction and EMDR therapy in the process of building your confidence, forgiveness and letting go.Support the show✨Join the Cocoon Community - your people are waiting! ✨ Stress-Less Flower Essence

At a public hearing hosted by the Southampton Village Board on February 12, residents and some board members voiced opposition to a proposal that would extend the terms of office for the mayor and trustees from two to four years. The proposal would be subject to a mandatory referendum. It was recommended by the village's Planning Commission, which argued that longer terms would save the village money due to less frequent elections while providing elected officials more time to build institutional knowledge and oversee projects from start to finish. But those who spoke out against the proposal largely disagreed. They expressed support for keeping the current two-year terms in place and questioned the need for the change. This week, the editors are joined by news reporter Dan Stark to talk about the pros, the cons and possible motives behind the proposal.

Our story tonight is called The Ducks in the Middle, and it's a story about a walk over snowy fields on a mid-winter day. It's also about a collection of old watches in the back of the closet, stepping into a ray of sunshine and how it feels to have a friend watching out for you. Subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium channel.⁠⁠⁠⁠ The first month is on us. 

Have you ever found yourself asking, “Where is my village?” Where are the people who are supposed to help? Where are the friends who show up? Where is the support everyone talks about? Maybe motherhood feels lonelier than you expected. Maybe you thought community would just happen. Maybe you're tired of doing everything on your own and wondering what went wrong. In today's episode, we talk about the question so many women are quietly carrying: Where is the village? But instead of staying in frustration, we look at this from a different lens — one that brings back hope, agency, and direction. We talk about: • Why modern life makes real community harder than ever • How technology and busyness create the illusion of connection • Why loneliness isn't a personal failure • The lie that “the system is broken so there's nothing I can do” • What it actually takes to build lasting relationships This episode will help you: • Stop feeling powerless about your lack of support • Understand why deep friendships take time • See the difference between acquaintances and true community • Learn why village doesn't magically appear — it's built • Take the first step toward creating the support you long for If you've been feeling isolated, disappointed, or like you missed out on something everyone else seems to have — this conversation will gently challenge you and encourage you at the same time. You are not broken for wanting a village. But the village won't appear without intention. And when you begin taking small, faithful steps toward people, God can build something far more beautiful than you imagined. love, Brittany    Ready to become a peaceful wife and Mama? Sign Up for the Pain to Peace Academy HERE. Come say hi and join the Morning Mama Facebook Group! I would love to hear your story and know your name.    ALL THE LINKS FOR ALL THE THINGS! Morning Mama Website Pain to Peace Academy Morning Mama Facebook Group Follow Us on Instagram Find a Restoration Therapist Come say hi by emailing hello@morningmamapodcast.com

Originally Aired: February 3, 2025 (Season 15, Episode 10) Our story tonight is called Little Harmonies, and it's a story about small bits of ordinary magic that happen everyday. It's also about new specials at the coffee shop, tulip bulbs, and a dog met at the mailbox. Notes jotted down in a journal, and the feeling that you've tuned into a special frequency that you might have missed before. Subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium channel.⁠⁠⁠⁠ The first month is on us. 

As a child in rural Kenya, conservationist Seif Hamisi fell asleep to the sound of lions outside his village. Today, the lions are gone, mirroring a continent-wide trend: African wildlife populations have plummeted in recent decades, despite billions spent to protect nature. Drawing on examples of successful conservation efforts from the grasslands of South Africa to the woodlands of Kenya, he shows how we've been attempting to solve the wrong problem — and makes the case that conservation works best when it makes economic sense.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.