Godo Telefono - Prayer vs. Pancakes

Show open, host intro, and tonight's agenda

• When is it time to stop helping someone who keeps making bad choices — what is the biblical distinction between shaking the dust off your feet and teaching a man to fish?
• Do Christians misunderstand the poor?

A host introduces himself on-air as Ben Foust and previews the night: the IHOP pancakes-vs-prayer lawsuit, the 'when is it too much help' question (shake the dust off your feet vs teach a man to fish), a CNN belief-blog piece on Christians and the poor, and a first-week update from the Pathway 24-7 prayer room.

Flat Stanley from Eubank, Kentucky visits the studio

The hosts introduce Flat Stanley, sent by a listener named Alex from a third-grade class project in Eubank, Kentucky. One host (addressed on-air as Dan) explains the Flat Stanley story, and the hosts describe Stanley's day around Des Moines and adjust him on the video feed.

David Bush update — he declined the invitation

A host asks the co-host (addressed on-air as Mike) for an update on David Bush, whose week it is. They report that Bush was invited on the show and declined, joking that he might consider the show too lowbrow or be too busy.

Prayer vs pancakes: the IHOP trademark lawsuit

• In the IHOP trademark dispute, who wins — the House of Pancakes or the House of Prayer?
• Can a business legally call itself 'International' if it only operates in one place?

A host reads a September 16, 2010 news item: the International House of Pancakes sued the Kansas City-based International House of Prayer in federal court in California over the IHOP acronym. The hosts debate the naming, joke about acronym alternatives ('Worldwide House of Prayer'/'WHOP'), hold a vote, and declare pancakes the 3-0 winner — stressing the vote is about the acronym, not prayer itself.

Prayer-room reflections and Psalm 56 read-through, part 1

A host reads Psalm 56 aloud (verses 3-6), starting at verse 3: 'when I am afraid, I will trust in you... what can mortal man do to me?' He connects it to prayers written on the prayer-room walls, where most hurt comes from the world's opinions of us. The hosts discuss that mortal people can imprison, beat, or kill — but cannot take away faith, eternity, or a relationship with Christ — and warn against twisting half-truths of Scripture in either direction, including singling out pet sins to condemn.

Vote recap and comedy tangents: personalized Bibles, zoo cows, bugs named Martin

After a station break, a host recaps the 3-0 pancakes verdict and jokes about a 'God is pro Ben' shirt. The hosts riff on personalized Bible promise books that lift promises out of context, a trip to the Omaha Zoo where a 'milking cow' turned out to have no udder, and the host's habit of calling every household bug 'Martin' — before setting up a return to Psalm 56.

Psalm 56, part 2 — how it was found, and finishing verses 9-13

A host explains he picked up the Bible at 4:30 AM while praying, landed on Psalm 56, and found it spoke to three things on his mind, including Steve Hartkoff, a church member in the military heading to Afghanistan. He finishes reading the psalm through verse 13 ('you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling') and urges listeners to read and pray on Psalm 56 this week.

'God is pro Ben' and working as if for the Lord

The hosts land on the Psalm 56:9 takeaway 'by this I will know that God is for me' — rendered as the running joke 'God is pro Ben' — and discuss that God doesn't just rescue you, He sends you out. They apply it to work: don't coast on God's favor, do your job as if working for the Lord so coworkers notice, while the on-air 'Jesus meter' docks points for crude tangents.

'I'm on a donkey' — the Old Spice church parody video

The show plays the audio of a church video from Community Christian Church in Naperville, Illinois — an Old Spice-commercial parody for Christians ending with 'I'm on a donkey.' The hosts laugh, with one declaring the donkey ending is what sold him.

Framing the question: the person you keep helping with no results

After a website plug for livefromthepath.org, a host paints the picture of the episode's central question: the person in your life who earnestly wants to change, receives your money, time, prayer, and counsel, then does something outrageously self-destructive — year after year. He asks listeners to call in and to keep that person in mind.

Helping vs enabling: when is it too much?

The hosts work through the central question at length. Key threads: at some point endless support feeds irresponsibility and you're hurting the person, not helping; Scripture doesn't directly command a cutoff, so it becomes a prayer-and-discernment matter; Paul's 'if you don't work, you don't eat' and the Proverbs against slumber set a work expectation; the Old Testament gleaning law shows God commanded provision for the poor without interrogating them; and the answer ultimately lies in discerning the right time — there is a time to go to the mat and a time to make peace.

Welfare, charity with strings attached, and giving as worship

One host argues the government playing God with redistribution removes personal accountability and the chance to know where your money goes; the other agrees money should follow God-given passion. They warn against dragging people to Jesus through charity ('we've given you something, now you owe me') and against Christian fundraising that promises spiritual payoffs for donations. The landing: God doesn't need your money — giving is a discipline and an act of worship, and compelled giving should stay in your pocket.

The National Atheist Convention is coming to Des Moines

• How should Christians respond to the National Atheist Convention in Des Moines — protest, engage, or pray?

The hosts discuss news that the National Atheist Convention will be held in Des Moines, at a hotel that agreed to remove the Bibles from its rooms. They compare it to removing Superman comics, reflect on why people promote what they don't believe, and land on a plan: no protest signs, no yelling — instead, time the church's 24-7 prayer room and a fast to the convention and let God work. They consider inviting atheists on the program to simply ask why.

Midweek campus idea and closing the helping loop

The hosts discuss starting a midweek downtown Des Moines gathering that might draw atheists for real conversation, agree to bring Flat Stanley to the atheist convention, then return to the helping question: a pastor describes counseling someone through Romans 6 about being slaves to sin no longer, and the struggle of feeling you didn't follow up enough when someone falls again.

Confession: not loving people, and weeping in the prayer room

A host confesses that prayer-room time exposed a missing love for God's people — he judges and cuts people off — and this is what prompted the episode's helping question. The other hosts push back that he does love people in deed, pointing to a band they quickly offered a van to. He then tells of walking into the prayer room for a 2 AM shift and weeping openly for seven minutes with no explanation, and of ruining later sessions trying to recreate it.

How the 24-7 prayer room works, and an open invitation

A host explains the 24-7 prayer room: two weeks of continuous prayer in the ministry center, walls lined with paper for written prayers, symbolic stations including a shredder for confessed sins, a cross to kneel at, a silent room, and a map for praying over places. He invites anyone in the Des Moines area — no church membership required — to sign up for an hour, and encourages listeners elsewhere to pray anywhere, noting God doesn't require a posture or a 'thee' and 'thou.'

Pray immediately after you've sinned — don't hide like Adam and Eve

The hosts argue the hardest time to pray — right after deliberately defying God — is exactly when you need it most, and that 'giving God time to cool off' is foolish since He's omniscient. They trace the pattern to Adam and Eve hiding in the garden after eating the fruit: God knew and still pursued them, so hiding is the goofy move; the answer is to come back and restore the relationship at once.

Loud prayer-room singing, the chat's song request, and the deer

The chat asks a host to sing; he instead tells the story of sneaking a loud computer into the prayer room, singing so badly at 2 AM that Ben (per his telling) had to leave the building, which ruined 'Jesus Messiah' for him. The hosts joke about keyboard standards and his wife leaving mid-show, then trade deer stories — including being hit by a deer driving home from the prayer room — and address the question to the co-host named Mike.

Dan on walking into the prayer room as the church's pastor

Asked on-air how his experience differs as the pastor of the church he shepherds, Dan says the first thing he does is refuse to guess who wrote what on the walls. He spends more time now in the listening room simply asking God what He wants, describing himself in the room as 'not pastor guy' but 'just Christ follower Dan,' and admitting he often doesn't know what to do.

Close: church as God's people, signup link, and next week's topic

The hosts close by framing the church as God's people, not a building, and repost the prayer-room signup link for the Des Moines area. They joke about selling prayer kits and blank 'God is for ___' shirts, thank the chat, mention the band Syndrome of Fire's upcoming work with the Chicago Symphony, and tease next week's topic: 'Why do bad things happen to good people?'