As children head back to school many parents work hard at staying involved in the life of the school and having an impact in areas that can be troubling. How can you make a difference in your school?  How can you make in-roads into areas that seem closed off to change? Miriam Neff, veteran school counselor offers her help and expertise. 

Featured Guest: Miriam Neff
Host: Melinda Schmidt

It's open forum day here on Midday Connection. We're looking to you for your best back-to-school money saving tips! Maybe you're sending the kids back to school or you're going back to school yourself. How are you saving money? 

Hosts: Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt

What can change reap in our lives? Shauna Niequist knows and she says when life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. When life is bitter, say thank you and grow. Shauna joins us to talk about life at the edges, a look at what change can do in us. She says change is good, heartbreak is good, and failure is good. Not so sure? Join us for Bittersweet on this Midday Connection.

Featured Guest: Shauna Niequist
Host: Melinda Schmidt

What is one of our biggest basic fears? That underneath it all we aren’t enough. We work a lifetime to cover up and not be ourselves. On this Midday Connection Jane Rubietta concludes her series with us on encounters with Jesus. She’ll take a look at Mary Magdelene in this encounter titled "Illuminations on Becoming Yourself".

Featured Guest: Jane Rubietta
Host: Melinda Schmidt

As long as there have been children, there have been parents struggling to raise them rightly. Dr. Tim Kimmel joins us to talk about a revolutionary concept that focuses on the model and guidance provided by God the Father, the ultimate child and family expert.  He’ll focus on the limitless tenderness of God as we look at Grace-based parenting on this Midday Connection. 

Featured Guest: Tim Kimmel
Host: Melinda Schmidt

What does it really look like to rewrite your emotional script? We’ve been doing it together over the past several weeks, and on this Midday Connection Becky Harling will join us for the final chapter in our Bible study. We’ll take a look at leaving a Godly legacy and how to go about doing that in light of Matthew 5:13 & 14.

Featured Guest: Becky Harling
Hosts: Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt

Most of us would admit to being busier than we’d like to be. Gordon and Gail MacDonald join us to talk about Jesus attitude toward time and choices. Why is it we never see Jesus on the edge of burnout, or running away from everything? Jesus was never in a hurry, and we’ll take a look at why when we tackle Jesus choices and his use of time on this Midday Connection.

Featured Guests: Gordon and Gail MacDonald
Host: Anita Lustrea

We all have choices, and when our fallen nature turns us toward pain, fear, or pride, we either become reflective or reactive. Marriage and Family Therapist Ray Kane, along with Moody Bible Institute professor, Nancy Kane joins us to talk about how to take ownership of our thoughts and feelings and turn to the reflective side. 

Featured Guests: Ray and Nancy Kane
Hosts: Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt

Matthew 15:11 reads, “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean’, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’” Jane Rubietta talks about what a clean heart looks like. As we catch up with Jesus in the gospels we’ll see his interactions with the Pharisees, and how easy it is to honor God with our lips, but keep our hearts far from him. 

Featured Guest: Jane Rubietta
Host: Melinda Schmidt

As women focused on nurturing growth in others, we often neglect to listen for our own invitations from God. Janet Davis will talk about hearing God’s promise and growing toward God’s call as she walks us through Sarai’s life in Genesis 12 – 17.  We’ll take a look at God’s momentous promise to Sarai along with her calling and her faith. 

Featured Guest: Janet Davis
Hosts: Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt

What does it look like to rewrite your emotional script? Becky Harling walks us through the Beatitudes during our on air Bible study. This week it’s “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It’s all about rewriting your definition of joy on this Midday Connection.

Featured Guest: Becky Harling
Host: Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt

The language of poetry is sometimes misunderstood and often left to high school English classes. Dr. Rosalie de Rosset will join us to walk us through several poems that will help us whenever we address poetry, whether it’s John Donne or King David in the Psalms. It’s all about poetry on this Midday Connection.

Featured Guest: Rosalie de Rosset
Host: Anita Lustrea

On this ministry focus Midday Connection we want to focus in on the care of mother and child when an unplanned pregnancy occurs. We’ll talk with Angie Weszely of Caris and find out how their innovative counseling approach is focused on care of the whole woman who walks through their doors. What does it look like to be holistically pro-life to a woman who is in crisis? 

Featured Guest: Angie Weszely
Hosts: Anita Lustrea

Where do we get the idea that we must do everything by ourselves? "No rest for the weary" and all that? Jane Rubietta joins tells us about Jesus’ invitation to come alongside him and listen in on a session at the synagogue where he heals a woman who never gave up hope. It’s illuminations on hope on Midday Connection. 

Featured Guest: Jane Rubietta
Host: Melinda Schmidt

When passivity and false niceness don’t bring the abundant life Jesus promised, some Christian women try even harder to hide behind a fragile façade of pleasant perfection. Paul Coughlin and Jennifer Degler join us to give women the empowering message that there are options beyond simply being nice or mean, grounded in emulating the real Jesus Christ. 

Featured Guests: Paul Coughlin, Jennifer Degler
Host: Melinda Schmidt

Blessed are the peacemakers. That’s the beatitude we’ll look at on this Midday Connection as we continue our on air Bible study with Becky Harling. Becky says “To be a peacemaker means to be a person who forgives”. But under what circumstances? We’ll also take a look at the difference between being a peacemaker and a peacekeeper.

Featured Guest: Becky Harling
Hosts: Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt

Most of us live lives of ‘quiet desperation’ as Henry David Thoreau put it, except we’re no longer so quiet about it. When exactly did ‘all stress all the time’ replace ‘green pastures and still waters?’ Richard Swenson joins us to talk about the keys to a stable life.  What might life look like if you were able to restore balance?

Featured Guest: Richard Swenson
Host: Melinda Schmidt

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night mad, unable to get over it? Jan Silvious talk to us today about conquering the lies, disappointments and conundrums that make the next day hard. 

Featured Guest: Jan Silvious
Host: Melinda Schmidt

Have you ever had a growth chart on your wall for the height of your kids? You know, a place hidden behind a door where there are marks all up and down the wall? Jane Rubietta joins us to talk about what if we had a spiritual growth chart like that? What would it look like? Join us as we consider our own growth on this Midday Connection. 

Featured Guest: Jane Rubietta
Host: Melinda Schmidt

Andrew Peterson is a favorite at Midday Connection and his latest release, Counting Stars has just come out. He’ll bring his guitar, we’ll provide the piano and small studio audience and we’ll get our own mini concert and birds eye view into the making of this latest project. 

Featured Guest: Andrew Peterson
Hosts: Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt

Have you ever wondered if you have generational sin in your family? On this Midday Connection we continue our on air Bible Study with Becky Harling and take a look at this issue with the beatitude “Blessed are the Pure in Heart” as the backdrop. We’re going through Becky’s book Rewriting Your Emotional Script and if you haven’t joined us yet, you need to check it.  

Featured Guest: Becky Harling
Hosts: Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt

You'd probably agree that it's important to get a good night's sleep, but you might be surprised at just how important it really is! Dr. Archibald Hart joins us to talk about how getting enough sleep can help your entire family greatly.

Featured Guest: Archibald Hart
Host: Melinda Schmidt

Most Christian women live with a deep sense that they can’t seem to get things right, that if only they could be a little better, life would straighten out. Sheila Walsh joins us to talk about her own personal hardships and how life isn’t about getting things right, but about when Christ comes into our lives in a redemptive way and helps us live through our difficulties.

Featured Guest: Sheila Walsh
Host: Anita Lustrea

What enables us to live in gratitude?  Jane Rubietta says the fact that we are forgiven is the primary reason. On this Midday Connection Jane joins us to talk about the story in Luke 7 about the sinful woman who anoints Jesus feet while he’s in the Pharisees house. Do you know you’ve been forgiven much?  Then you can have a sense of radical gratitude.

Featured Guest: Jane Rubietta
Host: Melinda Schmidt

What happens when you are diagnosed with terminal cancer? How do you move forward living when you know you are dying? On this Midday Connection we talk with Walter Wangerin Jr., diagnosed just a couple of years ago with lung cancer. He’s written a series of letters for friends and family that he’s put into a book titled Letters from the Land of Cancer that will open your eyes about how to walk with someone during this stage of life.

Featured Guest: Walter Wangerin Jr.
Host: Anita Lustrea

Rewriting your emotional script is not easy work, but when you have a guide like Becky Harling walking you through the Beatitudes  it sure helps.  And, when you join together with other women doing an on air Bible study you feel a true sense of community.  We'll take a look at mercy on this Midday Connection. 

Featured Guest: Becky Harling
Hosts: Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt

Life is hard and filled with storms. I doubt any of us would dispute that, but what happens when the storms come? Dee Brestin joins us to talk about the fact that God has not hidden his face from us. We’ll hear journal entries from the days after her husband Steve passed away, and we’ll hear great hymns of the faith by Amy Shreve as we focus on the God of all Comfort on this Midday Connection.

Featured Guest: Dee Brestin
Host: Anita Lustrea

Donna VanLiere’s life got off to a rocky start. She was molested at an early age, then later faced with miscarriage and fertility struggles. She shares her personal struggles in a way that touches the heart. Always pointing people toward God, New York Times Best Selling author Donna VanLiere is authentic and calls on us to be the same.

Featured Guest: Donna VanLiere
Host: Melinda Schmidt

What needs to happen for healing to occur? On this Midday Connection Jane Rubietta joins us to talk about the story of the woman with the issue of bleeding. There are moments when we experience instantaneous healing and also times when we need to reflect on the past in order to heal and move forward in the present. 

Featured Guest: Jane Rubietta
Host: Melinda Schmidt

She wanted to die, but God had other plans. Kristen Anderson joins us to talk about what led her to feel like life was so painful the only solution was to end it all. With losses of friends and family piling up on top of a traumatic rape, her despair was overwhelming.  Join us for extraordinary hope after a fatal choice on Midday Connection.

Featured Guest: Kristen Anderson
Host: Melinda Schmidt