2016 Episode 18

Show open and lineup

A host opens the show from the Pathway studios in Johnston proper, explaining that the planned two-man show with just him and Boova fell through weeks ago and has recurred tonight, so the two of them will carry the program. He previews the evening: advice about things one needs to stop doing, in a loose Pope-style format.

Boova's travel-show confession

• Should the co-host stop binge-watching travel shows and fantasizing about being a world traveler?

Boova (addressed by name in the audio) confesses he has spent hours each night watching travel shows and romanticizing a world-traveler fantasy, despite hating flying, having no money for travel, and only ever leaving the country once on a paid work trip. He contrasts the four hours of travel shows he watched that night with the single Bible chapter he read, framing it as misplaced planning that distracts from pursuing God's kingdom.

Taking credit for unearned accomplishments

The conversation widens from Boova's confession into how people claim credit for things they did not earn, using the 'world traveler' identity as the exhibit: the host argues that being paid to stand in the Philippines for six weeks is like bragging about Triple-A ball for forty years, since you did not invent the plane, commission the airport, or learn the language. They extend the point to everyday work accomplishments like training classes and sales awards.

Making disciples is simple: come and see

• Why is making disciples so hard?

The hosts argue that making disciples is easy and the real gap is that believers are not pursuing Jesus themselves, so they substitute pamphlets, programs, and twelve-step methods for a relationship they could simply share. Their prescription is 'come and see': pursue Jesus faithfully, invite people along, and let the Holy Spirit do the work, requiring no special skill or charisma. Nick Harrison agrees, adding that you have to seek the kingdom first.

Relevant Magazine list introduced

The host introduces a Relevant Magazine article, '20 things every 20-something should know how to do,' noting it was only scanned rather than vetted before reading. Since neither he nor Nick is in his twenties, he warns that the list will fall mainly on Boova.

List items 1-5: breakfast through media choices

They work through the first five items: make a great breakfast (plus the oddity of inviting people over for a morning meal), argue kindly, hold a conversation with someone of any age, parallel park, and defend your media choices. The media-choices item sparks a tangent about country music, worship tunes, and whether non-Christian music needs defending.

List items 6-8: online life, strangers, standing up for yourself

Item six, limit your online life, draws confessions of compulsive social-media checking from both hosts; item seven, approach a stranger, gets dismissed in the age of GPS. Item eight, stand up for yourself, becomes a longer discussion: do not engage hecklers or trolls, since reacting hands them control over you, and distinguish true criticism worth acting on from lies not worth validating.

List items 9-10: say 'I was wrong' and brew good coffee

Item nine, learn to say 'I was wrong,' becomes a discussion of humility and dealing with reality instead of maintaining false premises and deceiving others. Item ten, brew a great cup of coffee or tea, is one neither host claims to have mastered, followed by a playful aside about hipster culture, beard oil, and whiskey tasting.

List items 11-12: tipping and maintaining a mentor

Item eleven, tip generously, gets brief agreement with a joke about leaving a phone number on the receipt. Item twelve, maintain a mentor, sparks the longest exchange: the hosts argue mentorship is simple informal presence rather than curriculum, propose the 'ten years younger, peers, ten years older' relationship model, and Nick Harrison suggests that Joseph was Jesus' mentor, prompting reflection on the role of fathers.

List items 13-16: tongue, sleep, criticism, cover letters

Item thirteen, bite your tongue: Boova admits pride is his obstacle. Item fourteen, stay well rested: Boova is four days into a no-electronics-before-bed rule. Item fifteen, respond to criticism: the hosts argue you should vet criticism by whether you trust its source and let the community help filter it. Item sixteen, write a cover letter, is dismissed — the hosts say most hiring managers never read one and a tailored resume matters more.

List items 17-20 and the wrap-up

• What are the 20 things a Christ-follower should know or do before leaving their twenties?

Item seventeen, be alone, draws agreement from a Jesus perspective but mockery of the list's wording ('loneliness is exercise for your heart'); item eighteen is skipped. Item nineteen, prioritize the important over the urgent, and item twenty, hold on to a good friend, close the list, with Nick noting that people change and you cannot keep everyone. They grade Boova's twenties performance, joke about the scores, and propose writing their own Christ-follower version of the list for the website.

Break: website promo and listener call for list ideas

A mid-show break promotes livefromthepath.org: past clips, full videos, band interviews and performances, the Secular vs Solomon games, and a Tim Timmons album review. The hosts invite listeners to submit ideas for their own '20 things a Christ-follower should know' list by email, Twitter, or Facebook.

Dear LFTP: should we tell the kids they won't inherit everything?

• Should we tell our adult children they will not inherit everything?

Dear LFTP: 'Perplexed in the South' asks whether to tell their thirty- and forty-something adult children — who cannot handle money, cannot keep jobs, and have been bailed out repeatedly — that they will not inherit everything. The hosts say yes: tell them plainly, not as manipulation or a dangling incentive, but as reality, since squandering the money would set the kids up for more failure. They read the 'secular' answer (the Boy Scout motto: be prepared), and briefly question whether two children off the rails in the same way suggests the parents contributed.

Dear LFTP: the bedwetting friend and bedwettingstore.com

• How can I persuade my friend to get help for his bedwetting without embarrassing him?

Dear LFTP: 'Concerned friend in Michigan' asks how to persuade a friend who wets the bed to get help without embarrassing him. The hosts advise a blunt, private conversation, first establishing the facts instead of presupposing the friend has done nothing. They read the 'secular' answer (talk to him privately, suggest a urologist), then spiral into an extended comedy bit browsing bedwettingstore.com, marveling at $100+ wetness-sensor alarms and protective briefs.

Sign-off

The host closes the show with the recurring sign-off: 'Be faithful in means. God will handle the ends.'