Prayer for the Winking Pirate or Jesus Never Played the West End

Produced opening and host introduction

The produced intro music plays, the station is identified as Live from the Path on Des Moines Amplified.com, and the host introduces himself on-air as 'Ben Foost' (transcript spelling) and talk wrangler for the evening.

Fried-chicken woman at Walmart and the Renaissance fair

The hosts riff on a woman eating a fried-chicken drumstick in the Walmart parking lot, poll the room on eating fried chicken in a vehicle, and drift into Renaissance fairs, jousting, and jugglers after one host admits he keeps seeing costumed fairgoers at the quick trip.

Children's camp worship and the animal-less Adventureland circus

The hosts recap leading worship the previous night at a children's camp (teased as 'the Ben and Dan show'), then recount a family trip to the Adventureland circus, which had no animals at all, and the host's enthusiastic embrace of the juggler act.

Show title reveal, funeral story, and guest teaser

• Is prayer a polished performance or an honest conversation?

The hosts reveal the episode title, 'Jesus Never Played the West End,' preview a prayer discussion, and one host tells of attending two funerals in a week, including one where every word from the front was read from a script, which he contrasts with from-the-heart prayer. Call-in details via Skype are given.

Spirit Midwest Festival interview, part 1: overview and origin

Guests Julie Barnes and (present in studio) Al Barnes describe the Spirit Midwest Festival: Friday August 6th 5-11pm and Saturday August 7th 11am-11pm at Jordan Park Camp in West Des Moines, free admission, three stages, 40-plus bands, inflatable village, camping, and food vendors. Julie explains the festival began four years ago when her acoustic band Tim Cooper and Friends joined forces with touring band Spoken for a Grey's Lake concert.

Festival interview, part 2: booking bands, malls, and guns

The band rundown continues with talk of a mystery 45th act, failed attempts to book Needtobreathe, working as concert 'runners' for touring bands, bands hanging out at Jordan Creek Mall, the mall cops dressed like Mounties, and a tangent on concealed-carry licenses and gun ownership ('That'll be Dan Hudson at 515').

Mark and Jolene at the gas station

A story from after a show in Ames: the host meets two identical long-haired, bearded clerks named Mark and Jolene, cannot tell which one spoke to him, and pretends to have left his wallet in the car to escape. This leads into a second gas-station story about buying flowers and soda without a debit card, and Al Barnes being outed for never letting Julie wash the car.

Local Christian music scene, venues, and the donkey booth

Julie describes where Christian bands can play locally (Vaudeville Muse, House of Bricks, Connections Event Center, Smoky Row Coffee, and the new venue The Tomb), how Bash on the Farm's John Walker shared his band spreadsheet to seed the festival lineup, and the hosts joke about selling donkeys at a festival booth.

Festival evangelism, ministry speakers, and volunteer call

Julie explains the festival's evangelism angle: bands share faith from stage, speakers give 15-minute testimonies between sets (e.g. Mark from Freedom for Youth), each day ends with a gospel presentation, and she recounts a drunk man who wandered in, was welcomed, threw his beer away, and stayed. She needs about 238 volunteer man-hours with roughly 50-60 covered, and describes volunteer roles and the festival prayer tent.

Adventureland hoodlums, the Jesus rod, and the bearded woman

• Did God saddle people with odd afflictions (like a beard on a woman), or did He simply know they would have them?
• How many times a year should a parent be allowed to (jokingly) hit a misbehaving kid?

A story about the host's two-year-old being sprayed by teenagers at the Adventureland water slides, which sparks the joke proposal that adults should be allowed to hit a child three times a year, the gag 'Jesus rod' for scripture's 'beat him with a rod,' and a reflective turn on a bearded woman and what God might want her to learn from a socially awkward affliction.

Interview wrap-up: capacity, rain or shine, and the prayer booth idea

The interview winds down with the festival recap (August 6th-7th, 15,000 capacity), rain-or-shine logistics, the prayer-tent coordinator role, more donkey jokes, a drive-in prayer-booth idea, the 'Joe American' bit, and Julie's Facebook page (Jules Barnes) before a five-minute break.

Break return, chat snacks, and the pickle-sickle setup

Back from break, the hosts read the chat's snack list, note the theater popcorn popper, pitch selling pickle-juice popsicles ('pickle-sickles,' made by Pants) at the festival, and set up the pickle-sickle discussion to come.

Pickle-sickles, the man meter, and chat questions

The pickle-sickle bit lands, then the hosts unveil a mock 'man meter' to rate the vocal delivery of 'I like the delights,' which they flag as YouTube-worthy. They then solicit questions from the chat, and chat interest turns to Dan's earlier meeting with Newt Gingrich.

Dan's meeting with Newt Gingrich

• Can the church extend grace and forgiveness to a morally imperfect public figure like Newt Gingrich?

Dan, who met Newt Gingrich earlier in the day at a Des Moines Marriott event, recounts the small-group meeting: Newt's presidential feelers, and the memorable attendee Dan dubs 'Clark Kent'/'Superman,' who brought Newt's book and a self-promoting folder labeled for Newt. The hosts then discuss whether the church can extend grace and forgiveness to a morally imperfect public figure, invoking David and Bathsheba.

Prayer, part 1: barriers, formality, and the checklist

• Is praying before meals in public genuine faithfulness or just a show?

The main topic begins: misconceptions about prayer as barriers to God. One host admits his habit of insisting on praying before meals in restaurants was partly a show, and both reject the guilt-checklist model of prayer (pray before meals, pray before bed) in favor of talking to God honestly through the day.

Prayer, part 2: praying as you go and asking for things

• Is it acceptable to ask God for things in prayer?

The hosts describe keeping their walk with Christ a walk rather than a standstill: short prayers through the day ('get me out of the way'), praying for people the moment they come to mind instead of stacking a list, and one host's admission that he rarely asks God for things. They land on intimacy with God as a core value of their church: open communication, not just talking.

Prayer, part 3: the 24-7 prayer room

The hosts explain Pathway Church's twice-yearly 24-7 prayer room: a ministry-center house in Johnston staffed with someone praying every hour for two weeks, walls papered for written prayer requests. One host traces it to a spiritual crisis after campus minister Dean Troon asked him 'how are you and God,' and two books: Red Moon Rising and Cultivating a Life for God. Julie ties it to the festival's prayer tent.

Closing: the festival prayer tent and an invitation

Julie describes the festival prayer tent's inner sanctuary and texted prayer requests; the hosts close the prayer discussion with an exhortation to skeptics and seekers to just try talking to God, plug the Spirit Midwest Festival (spiritmidwest.com), and invite listeners to Pathway Church, which meets at Wallace Elementary in Johnston at 10 a.m. Sundays.