2016 Episode 25

Show open and tonight's topic rundown

The produced intro voiceover opens the show from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. The hosts lay out the night's docket: Pope-style advice about where your focus is, a brief Pokemon Go mention, a recent megachurch pastor resignation and how attenders should process it, a movie about Polycarp, a thought experiment on reorganizing denominations by city, and prayer walking.

Biking with Ben: the 18-mile bike ride

Ben (addressed by name on air) tells the story of swapping running for biking, cruising downhill nine miles without noticing, then facing the ride home with a dying phone, no water, sore legs, and birds 'mocking' him. The hosts riff on his survival-mode thinking — sucking water from corn, drinking bugs out of his cup — and the disappointment of losing four un-tracked miles to a dead phone battery.

Pope-style advice: where your focus is

• How do you keep your identity in Christ rather than in your job?

Mike (self-identifies on air as 'Mike Foose is the Pope') delivers this week's Pope-style advice: men give their job or their kids an obsessive one-inch-square focus and then use it as license to act however they want, which is the ends justifying the means. Boova shares testimony that losing his job a month earlier exposed how much of his identity was in his title, and argues the thing that should matter is your circle of influence for Jesus. They discuss faith and work: do good work, but if you're two different people at church and at work, something is false.

Marathon-pooping tangent and the 'I work for Jesus' filter

A comedy detour on marathoners who plan to soil themselves, Dan's wish to die by falling off a cliff so nobody finds out, and Mike's story of leaving a job site rather than pooping badly before electrical work. They land on the advice's wrap: answer 'what do you do?' with 'I work for Jesus' first in your head, and watch the fine line between working for Jesus and making your work about you. A short Von Maur / salmon-shirt shopping joke follows.

A megachurch pastor resigns: how should the church respond?

• How should a church healthfully respond when its pastor resigns or falls?

The hosts discuss a recent megachurch pastor resignation (unnamed; a founder of a 20-30k church) — not the circumstances, but how attenders healthfully respond. Points: pastors are humans, not Jesus; everyone needs real accountability and power makes it harder to find; growth feeds ego; culture turns pastors into rock stars with bodyguards and then destroys them; Paul appointed elders and warned not to follow him. They extend it to ordinary cowardice: avoiding consequences for following Christ, and doubting that the gospel is actually good news people want. Close: sometimes you are the leader's accountability — ask the hard question in love.

Dear LFTP: the dating profile age lie

• What is the penalty for putting false information on a dating profile?

A host reads a listener letter: a 58-year-old man discovered 'Molly,' 60 on her profile, is really 67, and asks whether lying on a dating profile is grounds for dismissal. The hosts advise: ask her why she lied, judge whether she's a dishonest person versus embarrassed by her age, and note he filtered himself out. The secular answer is read (caveat emptor; many fudge profile details; don't be rigid and lose a good person), which one host rejects — half-truths drive him nuts; honesty saves time.

Dear LFTP: surgery recovery and the unwelcoming condo

• How should a mother respond when her son refuses to let her stay at his condo during surgery recovery?

A listener faces major surgery in Seattle, must stay ten days post-op, and her son refuses to let her and her husband stay at his empty condo while he works overseas, blaming his wife. The hosts read it as a bitter mother-in-law letter: the son agreed with the decision (blame it on the 'pansy' theory falls at her feet), there must be more to the story, and she's likely difficult without seeing it. The secular answer is read: say you're disappointed, make other arrangements, and let the son figure out his marriage himself.

Sign-off: Life 45 EP and contact info

Closing promo for last week's Life 45 clips and their EP 'Decibels,' contact email, the tagline 'be faithful to me, God will handle the end,' and sign-off from Live From The Path.