Today on The Morning Thing, we highlighted Fall! We shared some of the best fall festivities from Knox, Richland, and Ashland counties. All of these are great for spending time with the family!
Not only are these fun ideas, but the list shares specific events that you and your family can attend this fall!
To view the full list click HERE!
WNZR’s Eric Brown speaks with Stacey Keyser with Flying Horse Farms. Stacey talks about the camp located near Mount Gilead and is a medical specialty camp. They serve kids with chronic and serious illnesses that can’t go to traditional camp settings.
Click HERE to hear the full interview
She talks about how the camps has grown in 15 years and has served over 10,000 campers including having family camps in both the spring and fall.
Stacey says camp is not just good medicine for kids and families to heal and grow, but it is great medicine. She says camp gives these kids a sense of belonging and just focus on being a kid.
She says this past summer marked the most camp sessions in the camp history including adding more opportunities for family camps.
Stacey says 1/3rd of campers experience camp for the first time at Flying Horse Farms and she talks about being a part of these kids “firsts.” She said they see as many tears from parents as they do from the campers.
She says that trust is a huge part of making the kids and families trust the staff.
She said they have campers from 15 different states due in part because camp is COST FREE thanks to donors of the farms.
Stacey says that demand exceeded availability this year and explains who their new rolling admissions works and how it allows more campers to attend camp.
She says that family camp welcomed 19 families this summer. She says when a child experiences an illness, the whole family is impacted. When families come together, the entire family can bond with different families, and it can grow into friendship.
Stacye says they had over 300 volunteers contributed this summer and how they build the “magic” for campers so they and their families can have fun and are the “Lifeline of what they do.
Stacey says that Flying Horse Farms recently joined the ACA’s Program quality cohort and explains how that benefits the campers and their families.
Stacey explains a unique ceremony they do at Flying Horse Farms to celebrate the campers dreams, hopes and essentially a way for you to pray for the Farms
Click HERE to find out more about Flying Horse Farms!
We are so excited to get the opportunity to share a conversation with Davide Mutendji, a member of Elevation Rhythm! Davide and his crew will be performing at Sonfest 2025 here at MVNU tomorrow and you are not going to want to miss this extremely powerful event.
Davide shares his background, gives us an insight on the songwriting process, and he talks about big upcoming news for the band!
Ethan and Davide also have a good time playing rapid fire!
For more info on Sonfest 2025 click HERE!
For this weeks Friday Favorites The Morning Thing hosts kept it simple! They shared their favorite thing that happened this past week!
Rock City Worship is coming to Sonfest 2025 at Mount Vernon Nazarene University on Saturday, September 20.
Rock City Worship is the expression of worship at Rock City Church in Columbus, Ohio. With a focus on writing songs that paint a vivid picture of who God reveals Himself to be in His Word, this group of pastors, worship leaders, and songwriters believes that the more clearly we can see God, the more completely we can worship Him.
Their sound blends passionate, modern worship with anthemic melodies and Christ-centered lyrics, aiming to lead people into authentic encounters with Jesus. Rock City Worship’s music has been shared in churches and streaming platforms across the country, encouraging believers everywhere to worship with all their hearts.
Nathan Montgomery of Rock City Worship talks with WNZR about the origin of the church and their worship team. He also talks about their approach to songwriting and creating a worship experience for anyone attending a service or a concert. Rapid Fire reveals his favorite worship songs and that he is a Star Wars fan.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation with WNZR’s Ethan Hershberger.
You can see Rock City Worship at Sonfest at 3:45pm on Saturday.
Click HERE for all the details about Sonfest 2025.
John Mark McMillan is coming to Sonfest 2025 at Mount Vernon Nazarene University on Saturday, September 20.
John Mark McMillan is something of an anomaly: an artist and Platinum-selling songwriter bending genres and defying categorization by carving out his own unique and independent path. With an ear for melody and a poet’s eye for metaphor, no topic has been off-limits. While each of his albums over the past decade have continued to explore new territory, it’s McMillan’s ability to give lyric and language to the human experience that many consider his greatest gift.
John talks with WNZR about his approach to songwriting, his history in music and how God has always part of his journey in life and music. Rapid Fire reveals the first concert he went to and his favorite movie and snack.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation with WNZR’s Ethan Hershberger.
You can see John Mark McMillan at Sonfest at 6:30pm on Saturday.
Click HERE for all the details about Sonfest 2025.
WNZR’s Marcy Rinehart spoke with Joseph Joe who is the Assistant Director of Intercultural Life about the Festival Latino, which will celebrate Latino students and Latino culture.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation!
Lola’s is catering for the event, bringing tacos, tortillas, and chips and salsa; it’s a free event and all are welcome to attend.
During the event, there will be a salsa class with alumni coming back to teach attendees which starts at 6:45pm
The annual event will be held Thursday, September 18th starting at 5pm at the Print Student Union.
Click HERE to see the MVNU Community Calendar!
The Morning Thing talked with Stephanie Lefever, Communications Manager at Sight & Sound Theatres about the exciting theatrical release of NOAH – LIVE!
Sight & Sound’s flagship production, NOAH, is setting sail for movie theaters nationwide!
Stephanie talked about this special 30th anniversary celebration and the process of taking this extraordinary production from the big stage to the big screen.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation with Stephanie and WNZR’s Marcy Rinehart.
Click HERE to find a list of show times and theaters.
Here is the Trailer:
Brook Abella is playing at Sonfest 2025 on September 20th and she talks about how she grew up in Bellefontaine.
She’s a double major in Communication and Media and Visual Art. She also has a minor in Music.
She talks about how she grew up around music, what she is looking forward to at Sonfest, and some of the opportunities she has had in the music industry so far.
Click HERE for more information about Sonfest.
Tyler Maddux is playing at Sonfest 2025 on September 20th and he talks about how he grew up in New Philadelphia.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation!
He’s a worship arts major and has a minor in youth and family ministry; he’s hoping to become a worship pastor when he graduates. He talks about how he got into music in 7th grade and around high school he decided to go all in on music.
Some of Tyler’s biggest influences in music are bands like ‘Colony house’ and ‘Sons of Steven Curtis Chapman’ and it inspires him for when he writes his music. For a long time, his style was acoustic guitar, it wasn’t until he started making his second album that he started to find his style of Rock music. He draws inspiration from his own personal life experiences to come up with his song lyrics, he also likes to write songs about the bible.
Tyler talks about what he’s excited to see at Sonfest, he’s excited to see people who are impacted by the music outside of his regular friends and family, it helps inspire him. Tyler Maddux is opening at 1:35pm at Sonfest on September 20th.
Tyler talks about his new album he released in late January, he’s really proud of it because of how it defined the sound that he like to use. You can stay connected to Tyler Maddux on Instagram, Facebook, and on TikTok. Tyler talks about the purpose behind writing his music, he likes to write about how he feels at the time of his writing; he’s getting married soon and so a lot of his music he’s writing is about how he feels about that. He’s got a few songs he’s been writing recently and a few songs at Sonfest and hopes to record and release them soon.
Tyler goes over some rapid-fire questions, his favorite worship song is ‘tear my house down’ by Chris Renzema. The first concert he ever went to was a ‘Colony house’ concert in college in his freshman year. He’s a night owl, he likes cats, he likes coffee and he normally gets a caramel ice late, his favorite snack is cheez-its and his favorite movie is called ‘about time’.
Click HERE to find out about Sonfest 2025!
Rise and Shine 