We got to talk with Jess Kirby who is the Developmental Director at Knox Starting Point!
She shared a little bit about their ministry and she gave all the details on their big events upcoming this weekend! The Bubble Run and Family Day, as well as An Evening with Mark Schultz are both happening this Saturday, October 4th! They are always looking for volunteers to further their mission.
To get involved click HERE.
For more information about Starting Point click HERE.
We got to talk with Abbey Ernst who is the Client Services Director at Knox Starting Point. She shared a little bit about some of their programs, their priority and goals, as well as how to get involved! We love sharing the stories of local ministries that do so much for our community.
To get involved click HERE.
For more information about Starting Point click HERE.
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!
WNZR’s Marcy Rinehart recently had a sit down with Jennifer Furay, the Executive Director for Starting point Pregnancy and Family Resource Center for a fantastic talk.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation!
Starting point has been around for 36 years, they offer family counseling, pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, STI/STD testing and treatment, they have abortion pill reversals, and they have a mobile unit starting soon. Jennifer has been the Executive Director for two years and she talks about their location on Woodlake trail.
The mobile unit was announced this summer, and she talks about what they’re going to be doing when they are ready to go themselves. Its been 15 years in the making and they’re very excited for spreading their goal of making a community where abortion is unthinkable. The most important focus for their new patients is to get an ultrasound, visualization of seeing their child brings the human element back into the picture. The mobile vehicle is nearing completion; Jennifer hopes to start on the road soon.
Jennifer talks about their fundraising events and volunteer efforts and she talks about how their volunteers are what keep them going, she sees them as partners in the fight for life.
She talks about their MVNU volunteers and their efforts as part of Cougs for KSP and she’s excited for the volunteers they have. She highlights some of the volunteers from MVNU and some of the events they have around campus. She wants the message to be heard that the students are important. She shares how you can pray for them, you can pray for them to have the energy to continue the mission and help them to do all they can.
Don’t forget this Saturday will be a jam packed day starting with Starting Point’s Bubble Run, followed by an Evening with Mark Schultz!
Click HERE to learn more about the Bubble Run!
Click HERE to learn more about “An Evening with Mark Schultz!
Click HERE to learn more about Starting Point Pregnancy and Family Resource Center!
Mount Vernon Mayor Matt Starr shared updates on the City with The Morning Thing on Friday, September 26th, 2025.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation!
Mayor Starr talks about the Mayor’s prayer breakfast that happened on September 18th, he highlights some of presentations and the success of the event. The message during the Mayor’s prayer breakfast was putting on the full Armor of God, and he highlighted how the belt holds everything together in roman armor, and the belt of Truth holds everything together for the Armor of God.
Matt Starr highlights the update the city’s efforts in Cyber Security and the Mandate for all government agencies focus on Cyber Security and helping agencies and citizens deal with ransom problems. Starr talks about the importance of two step authentication and it’s ability to prevent cyber security issues. He also talks about training that the city will be implementing for staff members in spotting and dealing with potential Cyber Security risks.
Bow hunting season for white tailed deer opens this weekend, and Matt Starr talks about what needs to happen for you to be able to legally hunt and goes over the basic rules for the season. He also talks about the importance of hunting season to help maintain the Deer population and keep them at a healthy number. Matt also highlights different courses you can take and resources to help you during hunting season.
Mayor Matt Starr talks about recent construction that has been underway, they had recent storm drain cleaning on Mansfield Road and he discusses some of the things they have done to help prevent flooding for residents on that road. The shared use path is still under construction and its still on pace to be completed by the end of the year. He also highlights the Crystal Avenue waterway and he talks about some of the issues that area has had with the well water drying up during the summer as well as illness problems for that area.
Starr talks about Electric Aggregation (diversity in the way they produce electricity) the city has been working on trying to work out a new deal as the current deal is set to expire in November (your bill will likely go up). The city has been running into is capacity and cost issues due to data centers. The council is working to find a new deal to prevent scheduled “Brownouts” for the city.
The city has been having meetings with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and he talks about how they’ve become very helpful in recent years. The recent talks have been about the water supply potentially being an issue due to recent growth, and after a study, they confirmed that the water supply is not an issue; however, the city is still looking into infrastructure to keep it that way long term. He also highlights the skill of the Ohio EPA and how well they do their jobs.
Starr talks about MORPC and their sister organization CORPO and their help to educational opportunities as well as communication with D.C. He talks about the upcoming summit on sustainability on the 30th. The summit is to help work with utilities and establish new contacts and learn from other communities, and what they can duplicate for the city of Mount Vernon. He talks about upcoming house bills the city is concerned about, mainly house bill 239 and senate bill 280 the state is proposing to increase pension for police stations. He also discusses short term rental bills upcoming, water lane bills, and upcoming bills about annexation.
Matt talks about H2Overhaul a project that has been underway for the past few years, they have been working to locate malfunctioning water meters, and the project is nearing conclusion in the spring. The city has been losing water and therefore money due to meter issues.
City council updates include changes to legislation for compensation of officials, it’s a time sensitive issue with the election coming up, the compensation changes could change retirement for select officials. Treasurers have been working hard and due to some of their efforts, they are going to be receiving a slight salary increase. He also talks about the public health contract, they have been working with Knox Public Health for a long time now and he talks about the benefits for that relationship. The contract with Knox Public Health is up for renewal here over the next month.
Starr shares the police department update, the new police station is still being worked on, they have been working closely with contractors to ensure the funds are being put to good use and the project will remain on schedule. The fire department concluded their hydrant flushing for the year and fire prevention week is coming on the second week of October and he highlights some of their efforts in the community.
Starr talks about their goals for the fall and they’re working on fixing broken water meters, he also wants to phase out the use of the old administration building now that COTC is located there. He talks about how they’re ahead of schedule on removal for the lime pile. The Johnny Appleseed Fall Festival is coming up on October 3rd, the fire department is having a fire prevention event on October 9th. He also highlights other events coming up. He asks that you pray for them as they fix the things that are broken, he asks for God’s strength and Wisdom in that process.
Click HERE to find out more about what is going on in the city of Mount Vernon.
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/
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!
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!
Rise and Shine 