Hippo Valley PTA

Show open: six and a half years of aging

A produced voiceover opens the show ('Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper'). The hosts joke about six and a half years of aging visible on video compilations, one host's increasingly large eyebrows, and grooming habits — trimming, plucking, and stray ear and nose hair.

Tonight's lineup preview

A host previews the show: Dan is back from Zimbabwe and will share takeaways; a follow-up to last week's 'good news changes the world' healthcare discussion (deferred, with an article queued); and Dear LFTP letters, including one about a graduate deciding on a gap year.

Why Dan went to Zimbabwe: Hippo Valley Christian Mission

Dan describes connecting with Hippo Valley Christian Mission after a Facebook-group moderator's death, funding Bible-college students at $100 a month, and joining the Living Proof child-sponsorship program. He explains the trip as a scouting/verification visit with his daughter Shanna before next year's team, so the church can confirm the work is legitimate before investing more.

Language, preaching, and interpreting in Zimbabwe

Dan describes the annual Living Proof conference for teachers and pastors, preaching there without an interpreter (they knew English), and preaching through an interpreter at a rural church. He recounts meeting his interpreter Zebedi, a man he recognized from missionary conventions thirty years ago.

Bad roads, a lost tire, and vacation Bible schools

Dan recounts two-hour drives over terrible roads, a tire falling clean off in the middle of nowhere, and running Vacation Bible Schools for about 1,500 kids across two schools. He describes rural children's startled reaction to white visitors — a whole crowd stepping back when he stepped out of the car.

Worship culture: joy, singing, and training children

Dan describes Zimbabweans' grace and joy despite poverty — breaking into loud, harmonious singing with a handmade djembe at the conference, and training children from birth to sing, clap, and celebrate. The hosts contrast this with American churches where worship feels half-hearted. A comedy bit follows where Dan fires up a 'primitive chant' to no reaction.

Takeaways: sister church, budgets, and weeping in bed

• Did the Zimbabwe trip change anything about how you do ministry back home?

Asked what the trip changed for his ministry at home, Dan describes budget conversations with his family, plans to send $100-150 a month to the church he preached at as a 'sister church,' and weeping in bed while telling God he would move to Zimbabwe if asked. He concludes he needs to simplify his life and be more generous.

It's okay to be the resources guy

• Should Americans support missions with money or by going themselves?

The hosts riff on Dan's $150-a-month storage unit as a metaphor: the money could revolutionize a Zimbabwean church while being meaningless in Iowa. They argue Americans don't need to move overseas — if money is easy to get here, the right move is to procure it and distribute it to people who can use it, like funding a pastor instead of just sympathizing with starvation.

How to support: Hippo Valley and the Living Proof program

A host plugs hippovalley.org and the $20-a-month Living Proof sponsorship: funds go to evangelistic efforts in 27 mission schools and Living Proof Clubs focused on Bible learning and leadership development, with some money set aside for the child's future high-school fees. Dan adds the story of a sponsored girl kneeling before her sponsors saying 'thank you for my shoes and thank you for my uniform,' and notes the value of verifying missions with your own eyes against fraud.

Zimbabwe vs. the China/Taiwan trip

• How did the China/Taiwan trip as a younger man compare to the Zimbabwe trip?

Asked to compare trips, Dan says he went to China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in his twenties to build adoption relationships, working covertly and smuggling Bibles. He felt he had more to give in Zimbabwe as an older, more mature man; Zimbabwe felt full of joy while communist China felt beaten down and empty. He describes driving around waving at excited children.

What Dan taught on: 'Arise and shine' from Isaiah

• What did you teach on when you preached in Zimbabwe?

Dan explains he preached the conference's set theme — 'arise and shine, for your light has come' from Isaiah 61 — on being light in the world rather than trying to be light. He describes the intimidation of cross-cultural preaching, worrying whether his turkey-hunting illustration would land, and being surprised by a wild turkey walking up to him at a school.

The school chapel moment: 'Dan, it's time to eat'

Dan tells his best personal moment: with five minutes' notice he spoke to 600-800 kids at a school chapel on wisdom calling from Proverbs 1-2, having hundreds of kids shout 'Dan, it's time to eat' as an illustration of responding to a call. He told stories about his childhood, his friend, and his dog Puddles, who was hit by a car after ignoring its name being called. He learned the culture is narrative, not outline-driven.

The travel ordeal: 17-hour flights and no sleep

Dan details the brutal travel: Des Moines to Chicago to DC to Ethiopia (13.5 hours), then four hours to Harare, a six-hour pothole drive, and a 17.5-hour return flight via Dublin without deplaning. The hosts commiserate about long-haul helplessness, and Dan adds he barely slept — a bad plank bed plus seven hours of jet lag, taking a week and a half to adjust.

Next year's trip and how the VBS kids get there

Dan announces an August 14 info meeting and a return trip next July 11-21 for more Vacation Bible School work. He notes kids walked up to nine miles to school, half without shoes. A friend's story illustrates that everything that worked in 1960s America — revivals, VBS, church buses — works in Zimbabwe now, including a bush VBS that turned into an outdoor revival.

Zimbabwe's spiritual climate: denominational and pivotal

• What is the spiritual climate in Zimbabwe?

Asked about the spiritual climate, Dan says Zimbabwe is heavily denominational — Methodists, Catholics with fancy buses, churches and schools with uniforms — and assesses it as like 1970s America: lots of churchgoers but not all 'Jesus people.' He sees a pivotal moment where reaching the next generation could change the culture's trajectory.

How denominational missions can damage grassroots faith

A host recounts a missionary's book about China's Back to Jerusalem movement: after his seven-year imprisonment, returning foreign missionaries had denominationalized the grassroots church, with Pentecostals and Reformers fighting over theology while Chinese believers stopped asking 'are you a Christian?' and started asking 'what denomination are you?' Dan agrees the same risk exists in Zimbabwe.

Ultra-spiritual groups, prosperity gospel, and 'evil is motivated'

Dan describes an extreme Pentecostal vein in Zimbabwe, a screaming church overpowering their conference, and turban-wearing spiritualist groups camped along roads. A host argues evil is motivated — Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Pentecostals beat the streets while Christians won't spare a few bucks — and that prosperity gospel thrives by selling hope: Christianity promises the kingdom later, but prosperity sellers play the same hope-vein for power.

Two-minute history of Zimbabwe

Dan gives a rapid history: Britain colonized Zimbabwe, redistributed the best land to whites, and the country became Africa's breadbasket in the 1970s. After the 1980 revolution, land was seized by people who didn't know how to farm, the economy tanked, and Zimbabwe became the poorest country on the globe — no cash anywhere, the president still blaming white people who are long gone.

Money as the icing, wells, and questions for Dan

A host reflects that money in America can't buy joy, but the same dollars are a life-changing blessing in Zimbabwe — the joy of Christ does the legwork, and money is the icing. He recounts a Bill Simmons interview with a charity founder digging wells for $1,500-2,000 that transform village economies, jokes about Christians flooding Uber and Target for charity money, and invites questions for Dan at info@livefromthepath.org or on Facebook.

Healthcare topic deferred to next week

A host tells Mike they'll hold the 'good news changes the world' healthcare discussion until next week since nobody read the long article. He plans to share it, possibly contact the author Matthew Loftus for a Skype appearance, and notes the author's tie-in to debates over how the word 'socialism' is being used.

Dear LFTP: should parents push a daughter skipping college?

• Should we let our 18-year-old daughter make her own decision about skipping college, or keep pushing her into a life skill set?

The reader reads a letter from a parent whose 18-year-old daughter won't go to college and gets upset when it's discussed. The hosts argue against expensive college without passion — control what you can control, treat her as an adult, and don't pay $15-20k a year for indecision. One host recounts quitting his English-teacher path over a $6,000 student-teaching fee and still owing $30,000. Dan suspects a hidden boyfriend is the real issue. The Secular answer suggests a working gap year.

'The real world' is relative

The hosts riff on the Secular answer's 'real world' language: reality is relative — Paul Harvey had no normal job, and you can't expect someone to live a reality that isn't theirs. They argue a funded year of mission work, a political campaign, or the Peace Corps beats 'winning in the machine' of college, which employers may value less than real problem-solving experience.

Dear LFTP: comparing herself to her 'hot' sister

• What advice do you have for handling feeling unattractive and single compared to my 'hot' married sister?

The reader reads a letter from a woman with lifelong weight struggles whose younger sister 'can't gain a pound,' is married, and is the center of attention. The hosts advise her that her sister didn't contrive her looks, the comparison is emanating from her, and she should double down on who God uniquely created her to be rather than chasing who she isn't. One host jokes that Ben has lived his whole life in a sibling's shadow, then complains his brother Mike has better eyebrows. The Secular answer advises reviewing her own assets and notes marriage is a beginning, not a goal.

Sign-off

The hosts close with the show's advice disclaimer (talk to your church community first, then write info@lifeinthepath.org), plug hippovalley.org again, point listeners to lifeinthepath.org for past episodes, and sign off with 'be faithful in means, God will handle the ends.'