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Christian band like Weird Al
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It’s like Weird Al Yankovic with a Christian theme.
The group Apologetix will be in concert this Friday night, bringing its brand of biblical rock to Covenant Fellowship Church. The concert starts at 8:30 p.m. and tickets cost $10.
Apologetix has performed from Vermont to Utah and agreed to play in Warren County as a fundraiser for Lighthouse Ministries, which operates a men’s homeless shelter near the fairgrounds. The homeless shelter is at full capacity with 12 residents and currently has a five-man waiting list, according to organizer Nathan Smith.
Apologetix is an accomplished band with 15 CDs. Smith says he is well pleased he was able to land them for a concert.
“They are unbelievable how much they study the Bible,” said Smith. “To me you really have to be gifted to take somebody else’s words and music and change the message.”
Apologetix uses biblical verses in its music and all songs have a Christian theme.
Popular songs include “Lazy Brain,” a parody of “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne, “The Devil Went Down to Jordan,” a parody of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by Charlie Daniels, and “Bethlehemian Rhapsody,” a parody of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
The group also covers songs from Eminem, Elvis, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kid Rock, and the Eagles, to name a few others.
The concert will serve as a fundraiser for Lighthouse Ministries, which is looking to obtain money for its men’s homeless shelter, which is located at the old animal shelter. Lighthouse would like to one day open a women’s homeless shelter.
“We’d like to open a women’s shelter and also open a youth center again,” said Smith, who indicated giving money to the homeless people themselves is not necessarily the best way to help. “We have a lot of good-hearted people in this community who want to do what they can, but we’ve found that giving them cash doesn’t really accomplish much toward a long-term solution because they just go out and blow it. That’s why we try to counsel them on making smart choices and talk to them about the right ways to spend money.”
Lighthouse Ministries is working on opening batting cages near its men’s shelter. Smith says the batting cages, which would be equipped with pitching machines for slow-pitch softball, would be perfect for players wanting to warm up before a game at the adjacent fairgrounds.
Tickets for the Apologetix concert can be purchased in advance at Exchange Furniture and the Lighthouse Ministries fireworks tent at Northgate Center. They can also be purchased at the door before the concert this Friday night at 8:30 p.m.

Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community