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.
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’.
Mariya Tatarin is from Ukraine and received a shoebox at the age of 10 and she talks about how she felt from this, the box had hygiene items, school supplies and toys.
Mariya talks about her favorite toy when she got her shoebox growing up as well as some of her story when she grew up and the massive impact receiving the shoebox made on her life. She also talks about the book she received “the greatest story ever told” and she ended up gifting that book to her neighbors and it helped share the gospel to them.
Mariya shares more of her story and because of the shoebox, the kids around her saw that God knew who needed that shoebox and how people all over the world who do his work.
She talks about how she moved to America due to religious persecution and the how the process took a long time. Now she travels to Churches, schools and communities to share her story and get to be a real person to see the impact of Operation Christmas Child. Mariya shares how you can pray for the people of Ukraine struggling with the war, she says to pray for God to intervene and bring and end to the war.
Mariya shares a message for people packing shoeboxes, she’s very grateful and thankful for people taking their time to help pack shoeboxes; so many people who receive the shoeboxes have never even heard of the gospel and it makes a huge impact on the lives of kids. She says 11.5 million shoeboxes are packed each year and she talks about how important it is to see the people who sent the shoebox. She still keeps the picture of the family who packed the shoebox for her in her bible in hopes of meeting them.
She talks about why you should take the step to help support Operation Christmas Child and shares a message to people who haven’t ever packed one before. Its intimidating at first, but Mariya says to just start with the basics and you’ll start coming up with new things to put into your box. It makes an impact and it makes a difference.
Mariya Tatarin is sharing her story this Friday at 7pm at Gilead Friends Church, and she talks about how you can pray for her and how she wants God to speak through her to the people listening. Pray for Operation Christmas Child to have all their volunteer needs filled with people trying to share God’s love and good news.
Click HERE to learn about Operation Christmas Child.
He is excited to start the 2025-26 school year and is happy to see the students back on campus and out in the community.
He says enrollment is growing in both traditional and non-traditional students and they have added 13 new faculty members.
Dr. Castleman talks about the restructure of the university into two schools. CAPS stands for College of Arts and Professional Studies for non-traditional students. CAST which is the College of Arts and Sciences is the traditional 18–22-year-old students. They also restructured the deans and administrative roles of the staff.
Dr. Castleman talks about the 4 C’s which was a focus on the recent Faculty and Staff Awards earlier this month: conviction, conversation, care, and connection.
He explains how the 4 C’s are a centerpiece for the MVNU community.
Dr. Castleman shares a special bible verse as a focus for the university this year from Isaiah 43:19 (NIV), “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
He says that the cabinet helped determined the verse because MVNU is stepping outside the normal doom and gloom at other campuses and that God is doing something new here at MVNU and we are changing the world.
Dr. Castleman gives an update on the construction at the Chapel. He said there was an issue with carpeting over the summer and that put the project behind. He said God provided both in time and financially to help get the campaign finalized.
Dr. Castleman gives an explanation on the opening of the entrance at front of campus that had a security hut. He said that he received some feedback and believed that the entrance needed to be re-opened for several reasons.
He also gives an update with the Hunter Wright hub in downtown Mount Vernon.
Dr. Castleman gives an update on his plans are for the fall and he is planning on staying on campus this fall as some transitions take place and is getting back in the classroom.
Dr. Castleman gives some words of encouragement to the students, faculty and staff.
Dr. Castleman also explains how we can pray for the students, faculty, staff and university this fall.
Click HERE to find out more about Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
WNZR spoke to Karma Carpenter about her role as Patrick Star in the performance, she says she watched a lot of the show to play her favorite character.
This past week has been filled with its fair share of challenges and unexpected turns, but even amid turbulence, God continues to move in powerful and awe-inspiring ways.
We’ve had the incredible opportunity to highlight the work being done right here in our own backyard, shining a light on the various ministries making an impact across Knox County.
It’s a beautiful reminder that no matter what’s happening in the world around us, God’s presence remains steady—and His work continues through the faithful efforts of those serving on the ground.
WNZR’s Eric Brown spoke with Don Horn who shares his testimony about the events surrounding his wife Barbara going missing and the incredible power of prayer that led to her being found.
Don explains what led to Barbara leaving the house and other events surrounding the time went missing and getting back on the mend.
Don also talks about the amazing thing that happened while Barbara went missing and how miraculous the power of prayer is!
MTV Arts presents SpongeBob the Musical this weekend!
On the Morning Thing Monday, Marcy Rinehart spoke with Zayden Luckmeier who is 13, in 7th grade at Fredericktown Middle School, and he playing Mr. Krabs.
He talks about how he’s been preparing for the role and how he’s been preparing for the role by watching a ton of SpongeBob and he throws some lines from what he’ll be saying.
For the show, Zayden’s costume will look like for the show to try and look the best like Mr. Krabs.
Things are heating up in Bikini Bottom—literally. When the residents find out a volcano is about to blow and wipe out their underwater town, SpongeBob and his crew have no choice but to team up and try to stop it. Just when it seems like there’s no hope left, an unlikely hero steps up. Turns out, a little optimism can go a long way—even when the whole ocean’s at risk.
MTV Arts Presents SpongeBob the Musical this weekend!
On Monday, WNZR’s Marcy Rinehart spoke with wig designer, Ainsley Sweeney.
Ainsley is 15 and, a Sophomore in high school at Mt. Vernon and is the wig designer. She talks what she does as the wig designer and some of the challenges in designing wigs. She has been in theatre for a while, she reminisces about past roles and how she got interested in wig design.
Things are heating up in Bikini Bottom—literally. When the residents find out a volcano is about to blow and wipe out their underwater town, SpongeBob and his crew have no choice but to team up and try to stop it. Just when it seems like there’s no hope left, an unlikely hero steps up. Turns out, a little optimism can go a long way—even when the whole ocean’s at risk.
Rise and Shine 