8.14.25 Ukraine’s missing children, the decline in marriages, and ministering on the boardwalk

Summary

Podcast Summary: The World and Everything In It Episode: August 14, 2025 – "Ukraine’s Missing Children, the Decline in Marriages, and Ministering on the Boardwalk"

Introduction "The World and Everything in It," hosted by Myrna Brown and Mary Reichardt of WORLD Radio, delves into pressing global and societal issues with in-depth reporting and expert analysis. In the August 14, 2025 episode, the hosts explore the harrowing situation of missing Ukrainian children amidst the ongoing conflict with Russia, examine the nuanced decline in marriage rates and its societal implications, and highlight the enduring mission of the Boardwalk Chapel in Wildwood, New Jersey. Additionally, the episode features a commentary on the rising crime rates in Washington, D.C.

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I. Ukraine’s Missing Children and US-Russia Relations

A. Overview of the Situation The episode opens with a distressing report on the disappearance of thousands of Ukrainian orphans since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Myrna Brown highlights the urgency for the U.S. to maintain pressure on Russia to address this humanitarian crisis.

B. President Trump's Summit with Vladimir Putin Tulsi Gabbard announces that President Trump is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. The summit aims to gauge Putin's willingness to negotiate a genuine peace initiative to end the war in Ukraine. Kal Thomas shares Trump's intentions to follow up with Ukrainian President Zelensky and European leaders post-summit (01:03).

C. The Plight of Abducted Children Benjamin Eicher provides detailed insights into the abduction crisis, revealing that between 19,000 and 35,000 Ukrainian children are missing, having been forcibly taken into Russian-controlled territories. He emphasizes Russia's systematic efforts to erase these children's identities, facilitating their appearance on Russian adoption platforms (07:21).

D. Legislative and Advocacy Efforts Chelsea Sobolic of World Relief discusses legislative actions, including the Abducted Ukrainian Children Recovery and Accountability Act introduced by Senators Chuck Grassley and Amy Klobuchar. This act seeks to support Ukraine in tracking and rehabilitating returned children (08:38).

E. Challenges in Negotiations Despite the human rights concerns, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt characterizes the upcoming talks as a listening exercise prioritizing the end of the war. However, questions arise about whether the return of the abducted children will be a non-negotiable demand in any peace agreement (11:36).

Notable Quote: Nathaniel Raymond of the Yale Humanitarian Research Laboratory states, “This is the single largest kidnapping in world history since World War II” (07:42).

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II. Decline in Marriages and Changing Divorce Rates

A. Statistical Trends Myrna Brown introduces a segment on marriage trends, noting a decline in divorce rates juxtaposed with a decrease in marriage rates. Family law attorney Tiffany Lesnick observes that divorce often follows seasonal patterns, with increases anticipated as the school year resumes (12:41).

B. Positive Aspects of Declining Divorce Rates Bob Paul from Focus on the Family presents findings from the "Marriage Health in America" report, revealing that 74% of surveyed individuals view their marriages as healthy, suggesting greater marital satisfaction among current couples (13:06).

C. Underlying Challenges Rachel Sheffield of the Heritage Foundation points out that the decline in marriage rates partly stems from fewer people choosing to marry, viewing it as an outdated institution. This trend disproportionately affects lower socioeconomic groups, leading to instability in cohabiting relationships and contributing to low birth rates (14:01).

D. Societal Implications The discussion highlights that while divorce rates are declining, this is partly because fewer people are getting married. This shift results in more children being born outside of marriage, which can lead to less stable family environments and lower overall birth rates (15:08).

Notable Quote: Rachel Sheffield explains, “Today it's becoming increasingly something that people see as an achievement that you work toward. Instead of finding someone to build a life with, you sort of build your life and then you find someone to join with you to go forward” (15:08).

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III. Ministering on the Boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey

A. Mission of Boardwalk Chapel Emma Frair reports on the longstanding mission of the Boardwalk Chapel in Wildwood, New Jersey, which has been evangelizing since the 1940s. The chapel's teams engage millions of summer visitors by distributing gospel tracts and hosting evangelistic services despite new local ordinances restricting their activities (20:40).

B. Challenges Faced Pastor Chris Bird details the recent limitations imposed on the chapel's ministry, including designated spots for evangelism to prevent congestion and ensure safety near the tram cars. These restrictions have made it difficult to accommodate the large number of volunteers and maintain their outreach efforts (22:44).

C. Adaptation and Resilience Despite the challenges, the chapel continues its mission by holding evening services and utilizing volunteer training in evangelism and apologetics. The team strategizes to remain effective within the new constraints, emphasizing the importance of reaching visitors who have ample time on the boardwalk (23:07).

Notable Quote: Cal Thomas remarks on evangelism effectiveness, “They're not rushing. And you have so many opportunities to wait for the right person, to wait for the person who's really encountered, engaged” (25:22).

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IV. Rising Crime Rates in Washington, D.C.

A. Current Crime Statistics Cal Thomas provides a stark contrast between official crime statistics and public perception in Washington, D.C. He cites data indicating that in 2024, the city's homicide rate was the fourth highest in the U.S., surpassing major cities like New York and Chicago (26:08).

B. Police and Public Discrepancy Despite D.C. Police reports claiming a decrease in violent crime, residents express skepticism, feeling that the reality on the streets is far worse. The police union alleges manipulation of crime data to present a more favorable image (27:00).

C. Government Response President Trump has deployed National Guard troops to assist local police in controlling the surge in violent crimes. However, analysts like Cal Thomas argue that without addressing underlying social issues—such as employment, family stability, and educational opportunities—the measures are merely temporary fixes (29:17).

Notable Quote: Cal Thomas emphasizes the need for systemic change, stating, “Without these, the National Guard will only be a temporary fix” (29:17).

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V. Brief Mention: US Constitution Website Glitch

In a minor segment, Myrna Brown addresses an online issue where parts of the U.S. Constitution disappeared from the Library of Congress website. David Birdsell from Kean University clarifies it was a coding glitch, and the Constitution remains unchanged (19:09).

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Conclusion This episode of "The World and Everything in It" provides a comprehensive look into significant global and societal issues. From the humanitarian crisis involving Ukrainian children to the evolving landscape of marriage and family, and the persistent challenges of crime in urban centers, the hosts deliver insightful analysis backed by expert commentary and factual reporting. The enduring mission of the Boardwalk Chapel exemplifies grassroots efforts to maintain faith-based outreach amidst regulatory changes. This episode underscores the complex interplay between policy, societal norms, and individual lives, offering listeners a nuanced understanding of contemporary issues.

Notable Final Thought: Tulsi Gabbard reflects on the broader implications of child abductions in wartime, stating, “It’s not just about the kids in this war. It’s about the kids in all wars of the future… it rips a hole in the integrity of the Geneva Convention for generations to come” (10:18).

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References:

• Cal Thomas, Tulsi Gabbard, Benjamin Eicher, Carolina Lumeta, Tiffany Lesnick, Rachel Sheffield, and other guests provide authoritative insights throughout the episode.
• Timestamps are indicated in parentheses for reference to specific segments.

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This summary captures the essence of the August 14, 2025 episode of "The World and Everything in It," providing listeners with a clear and detailed overview of the discussions and insights shared.

Transcript

[Myrna Brown]

Good morning. Thousands of Ukrainian orphans are missing. Advocates want the US to keep the pressure on Russia.

[Kent Covington]

There's a renewed conversation right now on weapons to Ukraine.

[Carolina Lumeta]

And so I'm looking for ways to publicly highlight talking about the children as well.

[Myrna Brown]

Also, new marriage data shows divorces are down, but there is trouble hiding in the numbers. And a longtime boardwalk witness faces new limits on what he can do.

[Cal Thomas]

You have so many opportunities to wait for the right person, to wait for the person who's really engaged.

[Myrna Brown]

And world commentator Cal Thomas on crime in Washington, D.C. it's Thursday, August 14th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Myrna Brown. And I'm Mary Reichert. Good morning. Time now for News with Kent Covington.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Final preparations are underway for tomorrow's meeting between President Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The White House says the president sees this as an opportunity to take the measure of Putin, to get a sense for whether he is truly ready to negotiate in good faith toward ending the war in Ukraine. Trump says after Friday's summit he will call Ukraine's president and European leaderski.

[Cal Thomas]

I'm going to call President Zelensky and then I'll call, probably in that order, the leaders. There's a very good chance that we're going to have a second meeting which will be more productive than the first, because the first is I'm going to find out where we are and what we're doing.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

That second meeting, he says, would include President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump also told reporters Wednesday that Russia will face consequences if Putin does not show any real movement toward peace.

[Cal Thomas]

Yes, they will.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Yeah, there will be consequences. Tariffs.

[Cal Thomas]

There will be. I don't have to say there will be very severe consequences.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

The summit will reportedly happen at a US Military base. The Associated Press, citing a White House official, says they'll meet at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage. Defense analyst Benjamin Jensen with the center for Strategic and International Studies says the setting makes sense for both sides. The last thing Putin and his propaganda inner circle want is pictures of Americans protesting Putin being there at a public setting. No one's getting into the military base who isn't supposed to be there. Joint Base Ammendorf Richardson was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. And planes from the base still regularly intercept Russian aircraft that stray into US Airspace. The White House says federal officers are on the streets of the nation's capital around the clock as of last night. D.C. metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith told TV station WTTG that she sees the collaboration with federal law enforcement as an opportunity, building those relationships with our federal partners.

[Myrna Brown]

But then after the surge is over, right, being able to continue those relationships. So when we, when we have opportunities where we can do small surges or, or takedowns across our city, we can count on them to be a part of that.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

The number of National Guard troops serving in a support role in Washington will also ramp up to as many as 800. President Trump on Monday declared a public safety emergency in the District of Columbia and put local police under the authority of the Department of justice for 30 days. US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard has released a newly declassified email that she says is further evidence of an organized effort within the Obama administration to push what she called the Russia hoax. World's Benjamin Eicher has details.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Gabbard Wednesday published a December 2016 email which shows then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper as the sender. The message stated that intelligence agencies might need to, quote, compromise on our normal modalities, end quote, in order to meet a January 2017 deadline for the Russia report. That report eventually asserted that Russia tried to tip the 2016 election in Donald Trump's favor. Current intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard Wednesday cited Clapper's acknowledgment that producing the report had become a, quote, team sport. Gabbard says that showed top down pressure to fall in line in service of a political deadline. Gabriel Gabbard further highlighted that then NSA chief Mike Rogers warned that his team lacked sufficient time or access to fully review the intelligence. For World I'm Benjamin Eicher.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

A group of Palestinian children and families from Gaza in need of medical care were loaded onto an Italian Air Force plane yesterday. The plane took off from an Israeli airport carrying more than 30 children and their families to receive medical treatment. In Italy, meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Palestinians who wish to leave Gaza should be allowed to do so voluntarily, and he called on other nations to take in Palestinian refugees. The prime minister also says the opportunity for a partial ceasefire deal with Hamas is behind us after the terror group repeatedly misled negotiators. Netanyahu says the only acceptable deal now is one in which Hamas releases all remaining hostages and surrenders. In New York City, the Democratic nominee for mayor, Zoran Mamdani, is not just running against several other candidates for the office. He's also looking to score points with the party's base by campaigning against President Trump. Rallying supporters in Staten Island On Wednesday, the Self proclaimed socialist took aim at the president's crackdown on illegal immigration. We are fighting to keep this city a sanctuary city. That drew this response from Trump's border czar, Tom Homan.

[Cal Thomas]

He says he wants to uphold his sanctuary city policy.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

How about upholding the law?

[Benjamin Eicher]

The law says it's a crime to.

[Cal Thomas]

Enter this country illegally.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

The latest polls show Mamdani with a comfortable lead in a five person race that includes incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, both running as independents. I'm Kent Covington. And still ahead, with thousands of Ukrainian orphans, many missing advocates want the US to keep the pressure on Moscow. And later, divorce numbers are down. But there's a catch. This is the world and everything in it.

[Myrna Brown]

It's Thursday the 14th of August. Thanks for listening to World Radio. Good morning, I'm Myrna Brown. And I'm Mary Reichardt. First up on the world and everything in it, Ukraine's missing children. On Friday, an American president will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in four years. The leaders are expected to talk about ending the war in Ukraine. And human rights advocates want President Trump to raise another urgent issue. Tens of thousands of abducted Ukrainian children still missing inside Russia. World's Carolina Lumeta reports.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, between 19,000 and 35,000 children have gone missing from Ukrainian territory now in Russian control. The exact number is hard to pin down because Russia has been systematically erasing the children's identities and now they're showing up on Russian adoption websites.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

This is the single largest kidnapping in world history since World War II.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Nathaniel Raymond is the executive director of the Yale Humanitarian Research Laboratory. The lab houses the Conflict Observatory, an underground effort to track the abducted children.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

The critical breakthrough in December is that we identified three interconnected databases run by Russia, including their Ministry of Education. And they were putting children from Ukraine up for adoption and fostering through these databases, basically ebay for orphans.

[Benjamin Eicher]

As Russia inches closer to a Trump imposed deadline to make peace with Ukraine, advocates say the return of the children needs to be central to any deal.

[Kent Covington]

There's a renewed conversation right now on weapons to Ukraine.

[Carolina Lumeta]

And so I'm looking for ways to publicly highlight talking about the children as well.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Chelsea Sobolic is the director of government relations at World Relief, a Christian nonprofit. World Relief led a coalition of faith leaders to send a letter of concern to the White House and the State Department in April.

[Carolina Lumeta]

We believe that families belong together, but.

[Kent Covington]

Then there's also a number of laws.

[Carolina Lumeta]

That govern the most vulnerable and that govern how citizens and how children are to be treated during times of war and conflict, and Russia is very actively violating those laws.

[Benjamin Eicher]

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Geneva Conventions both contain provisions on how to treat children during wartime. Typically, all adoptions are paused because there's no guarantee of appropriate oversight and paperwork in the event that an enemy recovers children during a battle and they are supposed to notify the Red Cross and send the children to a neutral third country. None of that has happened over the past three years in those cases.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Children should not be crossing borders, especially being taken by the aggressor in this case.

[Kent Covington]

So it's extraordinarily concerning.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Some of the children were forcibly sent to Russian summer camps before the war even started. In 2022, Russia changed its civil code to allow a Russian adult to renounce a child's Ukrainian citizenship even if their parents are still alive. Instead of returning home, The Yale lab found that planes in Putin's own fleet have flown children into Russia. The Yale lab also found photos of children with new names and birth dates on Russian adoption websites. Prospective parents can filter the options by physical characteristics and personality traits, like being respectful to adults.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Here's Raymond it's not just about the kids in this war. It's about the kids and all the wars of the future to prevent there from being a green light to perpetrators of abduction crimes against children in future wars. If that happens, it rips a hole in the integrity of the Geneva Convention for generations to come.

[Benjamin Eicher]

The Yale Lab's research was previously funded by a State Department grant. The Department of State canceled the contract in March and then renewed it for six weeks to allow the lab to send its findings to Europole. It continues to operate through private donations but is petitioning for renewed federal funding. In June, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota introduced the Abducted Ukrainian Children Recovery and Accountability Act. It would support Ukraine's efforts to track and rehabilitate children when and if they return home. Congressman Robert Adderholt of Alabama also told World in an office building hallway that the that the children are a top concern for the House of Representatives.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

This is totally unacceptable and that we.

[Cal Thomas]

Need to make sure the administration is.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Taking this to account when they're doing negotiations or trying to encourage negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

[Benjamin Eicher]

During a briefing on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt characterized Friday's talks with Russia as a listening exercise and said the priority for Trump is ending the war in Ukraine. I asked her about the children. Is their return a red line for the president in any deal ending the war?

[Carolina Lumeta]

I don't want to set red lines.

[Benjamin Eicher]

For the president on his behalf from this podium.

[Carolina Lumeta]

However, the president did encourage Ukraine and Russia to speak directly to one another in terms of these humanitarian issues, and that remains a concern. But it's one that Russia and Ukraine.

[Kent Covington]

Need to iron out together, which is why this president has encouraged them to speak.

[Benjamin Eicher]

In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and other Russian leaders due to child abductions. Putin and Trump will meet at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, tomorrow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not invited to attend, but Trump said he would call him immediately after the talks. Reporting for world, I'm Carolina Lumeta in Washington.

[Myrna Brown]

Coming up next on THE WORLD and everything in it, the state of the unions. Divorce rates have dropped since their peak in the 1980s, and couples marrying today have a strong chance of staying together. But behind the good news, there's a troubling twist. Here's world's Anna Johansen Brown.

[Kent Covington]

Family law attorney Tiffany Lesnick says divorce litigation follows a seasonal pattern. So when the children are out of.

[Benjamin Eicher]

School, families are taking vacations. We'll see a slowdown many times in divorce and separation.

[Kent Covington]

Once the school year kicks back into high gear, Lesnick expects to see more couples file for divorce. But overall divorce rates have been slowing down for decades. Couples just aren't separating as often as they did a generation ago. Recently, researchers noted other positive trends about marriage. In late July, FOCUS on the family published a 31 page report called Marriage Health in America. They found that the majority of couples are content in their marriages. Bob Paul is vice president of the Marriage Institute at Focus on the family.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

The surprising thing which was kind of kind of refreshing compared to all the bad news we get is that 74% of the individuals that were surveyed rated their marriage as healthy.

[Kent Covington]

Just 21% of the couples they surveyed believe their marriage is in crisis. Conventional wisdom has long held that half of marriages will end in divorce. That's likely an overestimation, though not by much. According to the Institute for family studies, roughly 40% of the couples marrying today will eventually separate. And even the apparent good news of decreasing divorce rates has a major downside.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

One of the reasons that we're seeing the divorce rate falling is that people are just not getting married. So, you know, we're looking at the state of people that are married, but fewer and fewer people are actually even bothering to get married Many, many people, young people today, are seeing marriage. The institution of marriage is sort of an out of date institution. It doesn't, it's not relevant in their minds today.

[Kent Covington]

In 1949, nearly 80% of households in the US were headed by married couples. Today, that's true. In less than half, 47% of households are headed by a married couple. Changing attitudes about the purpose of marriage have fueled that reversal.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Today it's becoming increasingly something that people see as an achievement that you work toward. Instead of finding someone to build a life with, you sort of build your life and then you find someone to join with you to go forward.

[Kent Covington]

That's why many single Americans delay marriage until their late 20s or early 30s. Many people wait to get married until after they earn advanced degrees or establish high earning careers.

[Benjamin Eicher]

It's more likely that you have college.

[Kent Covington]

Educated, higher income individuals marrying.

[Benjamin Eicher]

And so you have people who have.

[Kent Covington]

Kind of more resources, economic resources.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Yeah, it's kind of become the select.

[Kent Covington]

Institution for kind of the upper third of the country. Rachel Sheffield is a research fellow with the Heritage Foundation. She says the good news is many of these selective marriages are likely to last. But the bad news is if marriage is becoming more of an elite benchmark that isn't great for the rest of society, you're also seeing more instability in relationships for everyone else because there is less marriage. About 10% of Americans live together but aren't married. Many of those cohabiting couples never get married. And that leads to another problem. Low birth rates, married people, married couples are much more likely to have children than single women are. And so as marriage declines, the birth rate declines with it. For those cohabiting couples who do have children, Sheffield notes that cohabitation decreases stability for them. So if we, you know, we, we have the divorce rate, the official divorce.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Rate, but then we also have just.

[Kent Covington]

Relationships, kind of families that are formed outside of marriage. And, you know, there's not any official document or recognition of that to kind of count as a divorce rate. Divorce studies miss this. Unmarried couples with children splitting up aren't traceable with traditional methods, so it's hard to tell how many couples are actually separating. If current trends continue, the share of married adults is expected to drop from 46% to, to below 40% in the next 15 years. This means that divorce will likely become less common too. Attorney Tiffany Lesnick says that's a net positive, especially for children. But there's still a lot of work to do.

[Benjamin Eicher]

I mean, it just the long term damage to children's lives when their parents divorce. You know, it is devastating and I think psychologically we want to try to normalize the divorce process by saying oh, we just do like 50, 50 have equal time. Kids are resilient, they're going to be fine. You know, and that's just the way the culture is now that children are accustomed to having families with divorced parents. And I think that's an excuse.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

For.

[Kent Covington]

World I'm Anna Johansen Brown.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Additional support comes from Covenant College. Rigorous academics grounded in Reformed theology lived out in Christ centered community Covenant. Edu World from Dort University where pre med students gain knowledge through undergraduate research and hone skills through hands on simulations. Dort. Edu and from Water's edge Kingdom Investments, personal Investments that build churches 5.05% APY on a three month term watersedge.com investor.

[Myrna Brown]

Last week, the US Constitution pulled a disappearing act, at least online. The Library of Congress Constitution Annotated site lost chunks of the founding document. Here's David Birdsell Kean University Provost on Fox 5 New York.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

What was missing most probably prominently, is Article 1, Section 9, which guarantees people the right not to simply be apprehended without cause.

[Myrna Brown]

Well, it was no coup, despite some online hysterics, just a coding glitch. Internet sleuth saw it, the library fixed it and the good old US Constitution is the same. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Thursday, August 14th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Myrna Brown. And I'm Mary Reichard. Coming next on the World and everything in it. Proclaiming the Gospel Seaside the Boardwalk Chapel in Wildwood, New Jersey has been sharing Christ in the popular beach town since the 1940s, reaching the lost and training believers to share their faith. The message hasn't changed, but this year the staff are navigating new challenges. World senior writer Emma Frair traveled to Wildwood to find out more.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Watch the tram car, please. Watch the train car, please. Visitors to Wildwood, New Jersey are pestered by the sound of tram cars shuttling passengers around the boardwalk. Millions of people flock to this acclaimed boardwalk every summer, and the tram car has been in operation since 1949. As vacationers walk past endless shops selling ice cream and funnel cakes, they also regularly pass teams of four to five people wearing red T shirts that read Boardwalk Chapel. The teams are passing out gospel tracts. One of them holds a sign that reads are you going to heaven free Test. Some vacationers are curious and stop to accept a tract or take the test. Micah Foster is Serving on the boardwalk chapel staff this summer and joins the evangelism teams nearly every night of the week.

[Cal Thomas]

If someone walks up, then we'll use.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Kind of the evangelism explosion questions, which there's two questions.

[Cal Thomas]

The first is, on a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you.

[Benjamin Eicher]

That you're going to heaven?

[Cal Thomas]

And then the second is, if you were to die tonight and you were to stand before God and he said.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Why should I let you into my kingdom? What would you say?

[Cal Thomas]

And so we really are able to gauge where people are.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Pastor Chris bird is the chapel's director of evangelism. He says the staff often don't know how effective their ministry.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

I don't think we'll know until the great day all the way that God has used this ministry to minister to people. But sometimes he gives little windows to see. We've gotten in the last couple years some emails from people who said they're converted or they have a child that was converted because they talked to someone here.

[Carolina Lumeta]

But this summer, the team's work is even more challenging. After decades of freely evangelizing all over the boardwalk, the team's movements are being curtailed.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

They changed some of the local ordinances, and so right now we're limited to a couple of spots on the boardwalk.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Bird says he understands some of the reasons behind the change.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Partially, it's a safety thing because people are handing things out in the middle of the boardwalk where the tram cars are coming down. It can kind of clog up traffic, and it puts people in front of the tram car. And then, number two, they don't want businesses just basically harassing people to try to buy their products.

[Carolina Lumeta]

The chapel often sends 40 to 50 people out on the boardwalk each night. Fitting them all in the designated spots can be challenging. That's partly why Bird says the chapel is challenging the restrictions.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

But we want to do it in a way that's not unnecessarily souring relations, you know, with. With the local government, which, by and large, you know, we've had good relationships with. And for a ministry that's as visible as we are and as active as we've been, It's a testimony to God's grace that we haven't had more opposition.

[Carolina Lumeta]

While they can't hand out tracts wherever they want, the chapel is still free to put on an evangelistic service inside its shop front on the boardwalk each evening.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

So we want to fill up the chairs here in the front.

[Carolina Lumeta]

The program features short gospel messages, and.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

He was sent because of the great love of his father.

[Carolina Lumeta]

For sinners, there's evangelistic skits and there's also plenty of singing outside. Many of the people walking by pause to take a look. Normal noises from the boardwalk can sometimes interrupt the program. Watch the tram car, please. The programs are organized by the chapel staff of around 40 people. They're mostly volunteers, and throughout the summer church groups from across America travel to Wildwood to help out. Everyone gets evangelism and apologetics training, and they put their training into practice immediately. Each night after the program wraps up, they hit the boardwalk to evangelize. Two young men wear baseball caps that say Security. They often escort women and children volunteering at the chapel along the boardwalk because the evangelism continues until late in the night. One of the young men, Andrew Zo, says problems are rare, but occasionally they have to deal with people who get unruly.

[Benjamin Eicher]

Usually you don't get that much chaos, but there are times you kind of just need to escort people out, but.

[Cal Thomas]

There'S no violence required.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Foster thinks reaching people while they are on vacation represents a unique opportunity. Visitors sometimes stroll the boardwalk for hours in the evening without any fixed plans.

[Cal Thomas]

There's people walking up to the sign and taking treks and wanting to talk.

[Benjamin Eicher]

And people just have time.

[Cal Thomas]

They're not rushing. And you have so many opportunities to wait for the right person, to wait for the person who's really encountered, engaged.

[Benjamin Eicher]

And people have time, so they're willing to slow down.

[Carolina Lumeta]

Reporting for World I'm Emma Frayer in Wildwood, New Jersey.

[Myrna Brown]

Today is Thursday, August 14th. Good morning, this is the World and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio, I'm Myrna Brown. And I'm Mary Reichardt. Here's World commentator Cal Thomas on crime in D.C. and what to do about it.

[Cal Thomas]

I was born in Washington, D.C. at the end of 1942. Growing up in the suburbs, there was so little crime that when it happened, it made the front page in the city's three newspapers. Today, unless someone who works on Capitol Hill is murdered or associated with a prominent business, stories are usually buried in the Metro section. Then you could walk the streets at night and feel safe. Now you may be taking your life in your hands. President Trump has ordered National Guard troops into this city to help D.C. police control violent crime. As U.S. attorney for D.C. jeanine Pirro noted at a White House news conference Tuesday, May many teen criminals are assigned to family court where they are not being rehabilitated.

[Myrna Brown]

What you get is yoga and you get ice cream socials in family court.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Well, I'm done with yoga and ice cream socials.

[Myrna Brown]

We've got to change the law to.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Bring them into the justice system.

[Cal Thomas]

Video of store lootings are so common now, they've lost their shock value. As the saying goes, there are facts, lies and statistics. Video Democrats claim statistics show violent crime is down in D.C. at the same time, a D.C. police commander is under investigation for allegedly making changes to crime statistics in his district. The police union claims supervisors in the department manipulate crime data to make it appear violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year. The White House has issued a list comparing actual D.C. crime statistics with other cities and countries. In 2024, Washington saw a homicide rate that was the fourth highest in the country, nearly six times higher than New York City and also higher than Atlanta, Chicago and Compton, California. D.C. is currently on pace to surpass last year's crime numbers. Washington's murder rate is roughly three times higher than that of Islamabad, Pakistan, and 18 times higher than that of communist Havana, Cuba. In 2012, the homicide rate in Washington was less than half the current numbers per 100,000 residents. The number of juveniles arrested in Washington has gone up each year since 2020, many of whom have had prior arrests for violent crimes. Vehicle theft in Washington is more than three times the national average, ranking it among the most dangerous cities in the world. Carjackings increased 547% between 2018 and 2023. Last year, there were triple the number of carjackings compared to 2018. These statistics are not only troubling on their own, but they also likely understate the level of crime in Washington, as many residents don't feel safe reporting crime. Nationwide, more than half of all violent crime goes unreported. One recent WUSA9 newscast led with this.

[Myrna Brown]

Story tonight at 11.

[Carolina Lumeta]

It's becoming a tale of two cities this summer. D.C. police say the numbers show crime is down, but many people living and working in the District say those numbers don't reflect what they see and feel every day. So the question we're hearing from our neighbors is what's being done to make our communities feel safer?

[Cal Thomas]

CNN online notes, quote, extending the takeover for a longer period requires Trump to formally notify the chairs and ranking members of congressional committees handling D.C. affairs. And any control lasting more than 30 days would need congressional approval and must be passed into law, a highly improbable scenario given the current gridlock and a closely divided Congress. Unquote. Area residents know what needs to happen. In addition to swift punishment of the perpetrators, they include employed fathers in the home, a church life and school choice to free especially poor kids from failing public schools that give them nothing on which to build a life. Without these, the National Guard will only be a temporary fix. I'm Cal Thomas.

[Myrna Brown]

Tomorrow Culture Friday with John Stonestreet and the quiet brilliance of singer songwriter David Ackles. Plus wordplay with George Grant. That and more tomorrow. I'm Mary Reichert. And I'm Myrna Brown. World's Becca McCallum wrote today's story on the changing U.S. divorce rates. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible records that Satan tried to tempt Jesus in different ways, and the devil took him up and showed him the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him to you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will be all yours. And Jesus answered him, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Verses 5 through 8 of Luke, chapter 4 go now in grace and peace.