Kno Ho Co Ashland Community Action Commission hosts a Breast Cancer Awareness Month Event

DeeDee Berger, Assistant Administrator with Kno Ho Co Ashland Community Action Commission came to WNZR to talk about a special event planned for this week. They are hosting a Breast Cancer Awareness Event at the Ramser Center located at 700 Perimeter Drive on the Knox County Fairgrounds.
This Thursday 10/16/25, from 6pm – 9pm, they will provide valuable information to women, host a professional panel to answer questions, have free giveaways and a silent auction. You are invited!

Click HERE to hear our conversation with DeeDee Berger.

Click HERE to find out more about Kno Ho Co Ashland.

It’s starting to feel like Fall!

Today, on The Morning Thing, we shared some amazing fall activity ideas for families!

It is finally starting to feel like Fall here in Mount Vernon and we think that is reason to celebrate! These are ways you can take advantage of the Fall weather before it turns to winter. They may be for kids but the whole family can find stuff in this list for the whole family!

Some of our favorites:

  • Hayride
  • S’mores
  • Baking Pumpkin Seeds
  • Donuts and Cider

To view the full list click HERE!

Steele Takes Stage in Importance of Being Earnest

WNZR’s Eric Brown spoke to Abby Steele plays Cecily Cardew in the Importance of Being Earnest, she talks about how she got into theatre and a bit about the character she’ll be playing.

Click HERE to hear the Full Conversation!

Click HERE to learn more about Orange Barrel Productions!

(Pic courtesy of OBP)

One of WNZR’s Founding Fathers Helps Celebrate 39th Anniversary!

One of WNZR’s Founding Fathers, Bill Bridges who was a part of the original Mount Vernon Nazarene College Staff in 1968, stopped by to celebrate the 39th anniversary of WNZR!

Click HERE to hear the entire conversation with Bill and Station Manager, Marcy Rinehart!

Bill helped found the Speech and Communications Department. Bill says that Founders Hall wasn’t ready, so they met in October in various places throughout Mount Vernon.

Bill said that the dream of having a radio station started around 1978. He said that they interviewed Dr. Henry Smith (who was one of Marcy’s professors) and he joined the staff.

Bill said he taught a radio class before they even had a radio station. He says WMVO in Mount Vernon gave them an old sound board, so they were able to have radio classes. They would broadcast to those in the breezeway between Founders and Faculty Halls.

Bill says that he and Dr. Smith started researching what it would take to start a “real” radio station. Bill stayed until 1980 and passed the department to Dr. Smith while he returned to the ministry.

Bill says the staff at WNZR is living out his dream. He talks about what he thinks that God has done to make his dream come true. He says the current ministry of WNZR is more than just a radio station. It is a Lifeline. WNZR does more than just play good Christian music and read the news, but what kind of impact it has on the community.

Bill gives some wisdom to WNZR staff members, “Don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t be afraid to try. Don’t be afraid of failing. You never truly succeed unless you really try and take chances. He says trust God and trust your fellow workers.”

Click HERE to check out WNZR’s awesome website and learn more about our ministry!

United Way of Knox County Starts New Campaign!

WNZR’s Marcy Rinehart recently spoke with Katie Ellis, the Executive Director for United Way of Knox County.

Click HERE to hear the full conversation!

Katie is excited to kick off their 2025 Campaign and she shares some exciting details about the goal. Katie shares the mission of the United Way of Knox County and what the United Way means to her.

Katie shares some of their major partners for the 2025 campaign and the power of those partnerships. She likes how agencies can come together for a goal instead of feeling like they’re competing. Their goal for 2025 is $1.11 million to help cover all their internal programs and over 50% of the money will be redistributed to other agencies.

She talks about how they decided on their $1.11 million goal; they looked at the scope of how much they could get and how much they needed to distribute to agencies before deciding their goal. She hopes they can hit the $650,000 from the community goal by the end of the year. Their major contributors are you, the community, and local businesses who will match their employee giving. Their fundraising year doesn’t end until March 2026.

Katie breaks down the three pillars of a community: education, healthy living and financial stability; she talks a bit about those and what they are doing to help achieve that. 

She talks about the agencies and programs the campaign will help support. The campaign goes to support internal agencies and programs they host, and she highlights some of the agency’s part of the united way. The grant application period to become an agency or program of the united way opens Wednesday October 1st and is open until the 31st, interviews happen in November, and she talks a bit how you can do that. The process is largely for vetting agencies and ensuring agencies are meeting community needs and she talks a bit more about that.

Click HERE to find out more about the United Way of Knox County!

Do you want to simplify your life? Check out this blog!

Today, The Morning Thing shared some small ways to make life simpler. These tips are from The Positivity Blog. They remind us that life does NOT have to be so hard.

See the full list of 23 small ways to make life simpler HERE.

Here are some of our favorites:

1. Breathe.

When stressed, lost in a problem (or a mistake) or the past or future in your mind breathe with your belly for two minutes and just focus on the air going in and out.

These deep breaths will calm your body down and bring your mind back into the present moment again.

2. Do one thing at a time.

You’ll get better results and feel better and less stressed while doing those things.

3. Write it all down.

Use your mind for better things than remembering what to do. And the mind is often like a leaky bucket.

So write down all your great ideas, insights and thoughts before they go missing somewhere and add what you need to do to a to-do list.

4. Stop trying to do things perfectly. 

It will only get you stuck and drain your self-esteem.

Go for good enough instead and when you are there you are done. Get things all the way to done this way and then move on to the next thing.

5. Pack your bag before you go to bed.

Then you don’t have to get stressed out by that in morning and you are less likely to forget something.

6. Ask yourself simplifying questions every day.

Questions like:

  • What is the most important thing I can do right now?
  • What is one small step I can take to simplify this situation?

7. Keep everything in its place.

If everything has its own place then it is whole lot easier to keep your home reasonably ordered and decluttered from day to day.

This also helps you with your inner stillness as the outer environment affects how you feel on the inside.

8. Write shorter emails.

I tend to write emails containing only a few sentences, usually between one and five. If you focus on keeping it short and focused then you’ll probably discover that this is a good solution in most cases.

9. Ask instead of guessing.

Reading minds is hard. So, instead ask questions and communicate.

This will help you to minimize unnecessary conflicts, misunderstandings, negativity and waste of time and energy.

10. Check everything just once a day.

I check my email inboxes, blog statistics, my online earnings, Twitter and Facebook just once a day.

I combine all that checking into one small daily ritual at the end of my workday so I don’t slip and go checking it more during the day and waste my energy and attention.

Exciting news about a local ministry – TouchPointe Community Resources

The Morning Thing shared some exciting news about one of our local ministries. Jessica Reynolds joined us to share the new name and mission for TouchPointe Community Resources. Jessica serves as the Executive Director. She shared stories of how God is moving through their ministry, along with information on programs that they offer and goals for the rest of 2025.

Click HERE to hear the full conversation.

TouchPointe provides Christ-centered mentoring and practical assistance that equips neighbors to heal relationships, create thriving families, and develop employment readiness.

To find out more, go to their website – https://touchpointe.org/

Flying Horse Farms Makes Magic for Special Kids

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!

Rock City Worship comes to Sonfest 2025 at MVNU

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 comes to Sonfest 2025 at MVNU

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.

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