October 15 2010

Show open: hot studio and tonight's agenda

The show opens with the hosts noting the studio is unusually hot and explaining the intro music was cut to fit a packed agenda. The host runs through the night's plan: musical guest Kevin Lindgren, Mike's Advice to 10,000 (including a story about an over-rebuke), week 22 of the 50 proofs that God is imaginary series, a quiz on false end-of-the-world predictions, and Dear LFTP letters.

Kevin Lindgren in-studio interview

Kevin Lindgren is introduced as the in-studio guest, with jokes about him strutting in with an entourage (the door was locked on him) and this being his third appearance. He has moved away from the area and plays live gigs, including regular coffee-house shows in Lamoni. The hosts tease him about his whole life being on Facebook — 'dear Facebook' oversharing as therapy — and he owns it.

Letters Never Sent: the unsent-letter songwriting concept

Lindgren describes his new EP 'Letters Never Sent' — songs written as letters to people that were never sent, from before Facebook made venting public and permanent. The two songs performed tonight are letters he wrote to himself from conversations with God. The hosts trade jokes about deleting Facebook posts after they've already been seen, writing letters and burning them, and an expected track called 'Dear Direct TV' that would stink.

'Put My Faith in You' performance

Lindgren introduces 'Put My Faith in You' as a prayer from a season of feeling tugged to make changes — asking God to break down ego walls and help him put his faith in Him. He performs the song live on acoustic guitar. Afterward the hosts banter about his inability to whistle.

EP promo: Bandcamp, cover art, CD-release show

The hosts plug the EP: $5 for the six-song EP or 99 cents per track at bandcamp.kevinlindgren.com, physical copies at shows or by message, and free streaming on his Kevin Lindgren Music Facebook page. Cover art is by his videographer Michael Anthony Gruich Jr., who also shot the 'I Won't Be The One' video at the Greenwood Lounge in Des Moines. Jokes about being discovered by Quincy Jones, Clive Davis, and Kenny Rogers follow; Lindgren says he has sold about 11 copies.

Quiz: It's the End of the World as We Know It

• If Luther predicted Christ's return 300 years out — long after his own death — why pine for a return you will never see?

Ben (addressed by name in the audio) runs the multiple-choice quiz 'It's the End of the World as We Know It' on false end-times predictions. Participants — including Dan, Dan Hudson, Mike Foost, Kevin Lindgren (nicknamed 'Kevin Leningrad'), and Troy — answer under playful quiz-show handles (Milbeck's Freedmont, Dr. Cacophoni, Spangenhouser, Dusendorfer, Ralstendorfer, Felspar). Questions cover the AD 53 Thessalonians rumor, The Sun's 1997 Noah's-Ark tabloid claim, Luther's 300-year prediction, the Jehovah's Witnesses ('all of the above'), killer bees explained via a read-through of Revelation 9's locusts, and a 1991 prediction that Jesus would return at Sydney Harbor. A running bit has a participant insisting New Jersey is a city.

Dear LFTP: the office dating-gossip letter

• How can I make my coworkers stop gossiping about my dating life without causing workplace tension?
• When you need help — and don't know Jesus or didn't think of him — where do you go?

A listener letter: divorced a few years ago and not remarried, he regales married coworkers with his dating stories and has become the talk of the office, called names like 'skank'; he asks how to make it stop without workplace tension. The hosts debate whether the writer is really the man or a woman one cubicle over, then read the 'Secular' answer — the irony-laden bachelor defense ('You are not a skunk. You are a bachelor'). Their counsel: stop telling the stories (and ideally stop creating them); a host shares how he handled a similar coworker by quietly walking away during the stories until the man asked why, and argues the most effective witness is simply living a different life that points to the Savior.

End-times pamphlet art, the ascension, and Elijah's fire chariot

The hosts roast cheesy end-times pamphlet art — the floating-Jesus 'coming down' pose — and riff on how awkward the ascension must have looked in real time ('after about 10 seconds... we don't have to make eye contact anymore'). Bits follow about Elijah's fire chariot kept in a garage with mechanics polishing it, and a divine-council joke where Satan walks in on God's meeting with the angels and God asks him to renew the chariot's plates before discussing Job.

'No One But Me' performance and plugs

After a plug for the show's two YouTube channels (full episodes on thepathonline, select clips on livefromthepath), Lindgren previews his November 2 free CD-release show at the Beachwood Lounge in Des Moines' East Village with Ira Grace and the Bible Belt Prophets. He explains 'No One But Me' as a pep-talk sequel to 'Put My Faith in You' — a get-up-off-the-couch song, with four layered versions of himself on the CD recording — and performs it live. The hosts close the segment joking about Zombie Burger as a potential sponsor.

Advice to 10,000: Mike on not ignoring the truth

• If you had an audience of 10,000 who would not move on until they heard your advice, what would you say?

Mike — introduced on-air as the Advice to 10,000 giver — addresses a hypothetical crowd of 10,000: stop acting like you don't know the truth. He describes finally looking at his budget and his week honestly, finding the truth ugly — he had been ignoring it on purpose because it was best not to know. He applies it to responsibilities (life insurance, how his family would manage after he dies) and to the spiritual life: 'you know what the truth is about Jesus Christ... and you know all those times when you backed away from him because you didn't want to make somebody feel awkward.' He cites the Penn & Teller line: 'how much do you have to hate somebody to not tell them about Jesus Christ?'

The over-rebuke: grace in parenting

After the advice, Mike tells the over-rebuke story promised in the intro: that night his daughters fought at bedtime, he sternly called the older one a liar, and she wept — breaking his heart. He repents: the rebuke was true but administered without the Father's character; he has never once returned to Jesus for forgiveness and felt 'still in trouble,' so his discipline should teach without crushing. Another host answers with his own childhood lying story — sneaking a glass glass into an indoor tent, breaking it, hiding the evidence, and getting slapped by his mom with 'don't you ever lie to me again.'

Close: thanks, plugs, Petra teased

The hosts thank the chat participants and Kevin Lindgren, re-plug his Kevin Lindgren Music Facebook page, the YouTube clips, and bandcamp.kevinlindgren.com for the EP, and urge listeners to attend the Beachwood show. They tease doing 'Petra' tomorrow but keep it phantom, and sign off.