Hinny Penny

Show open and intro banter

The produced intro voiceover plays, then the hosts come on from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. They joke about past guests pictured on the studio wall and wonder what those guests are up to now. One host previews the night's topics: a Benny Hinn article and a conversation on spiritual disciplines.

Preview: Benny Hinn article and Billy Graham's legacy

• Did Benny Hinn genuinely walk back his prosperity-gospel teaching?

A host previews a Christian Post interview in which televangelist Benny Hinn says he may have gone too far with prosperity-gospel teaching, prompted by reflections after Billy Graham's death. The hosts discuss Graham's passing and the workplace conversations it sparked, lamenting that people remembered Graham as merely 'a good dude on his own steam' when Graham himself credited following Jesus his whole life. They frame Graham's legacy as faithfulness to Christ rather than personal goodness.

Spiritual disciplines: the Dallas Willard all-star analogy

• What spiritual practices undergird the outward Christian life, and what do we miss by neglecting them?

A host frames the episode's main question: Christians say they want to live like Jesus but rarely mirror the practices that undergirded his life. Quoting Dallas Willard's baseball analogy, he argues believers try to play the all-star game without doing the underlying training. He invites listener feedback on their own practices and notes another host — addressed on air as Dan — has recently taught on the spiritual disciplines.

Brief Dear LFTP flip-through

• A single teacher is pessimistic about having relationships with people — what advice applies?

A host briefly flips through the Dear LFTP letters and lands on one from a single teacher who sounds pessimistic about having relationships with people. He admits he has not read it closely and moves on without addressing it.

Winter Olympics riff and the Fall Olympics

The hosts riff on the Winter Olympics: moguls as a 'knee destroyer,' the bobsled as a tube on ice, and a 'purist' complaint that some events only exist because the apparatus was built for them — archery always existed, but nobody finds a naturally occurring half-pipe. They invent a 'Fall Olympics' of naturally occurring events: bocce ball, badminton, lawn darts, and pumpkin pie launch, the 'naturally occurring' criterion attributed on air to Mike. One host jokes about the Jamaican bobsled team running on dirt 'like real men,' referencing Cool Runnings.

Olympic missionaries and counting 'shared Christ'

A host reads from a Christian Post article about missionary teams doing outreach at the PyeongChang Olympics, then bristles at its claim that members 'shared Christ with more than 20,000 people' through water stations, clown attractions, and literature distribution. The hosts debate what counts as sharing Christ versus handing out water, compare it to churches counting web clicks as attendance, and warn that analytics give false impressions unless you first define what matters. The segment closes with a joke — attributed on air to Ben — that their Fall Olympics should be spiritual disciplines like competitive praying.

Benny Hinn's prosperity-gospel retraction

A host reads the Christian Post piece at length: Benny Hinn admits he and others 'went to the extreme' with prosperity teaching, says the popular version — health and wealth claimed through positive confession and seed-sowing — is not biblical, and redefines prosperity as 'no lack,' citing Elijah, Jesus, and the apostles. Hinn also claims he no longer flies private and wants to 'finish right' at 65. The hosts find the words surprisingly solid, note it took courage given his career was built on the teaching, and hope it persists. They recall confusing him with Kenneth Copeland's private-jet story from a prior episode.

Spiritual disciplines, part 1: premise and Jesus' practices

The hosts turn to the spiritual disciplines, arguing they have gotten a bad rap — partly because the Catholic church historically framed such practices as penance rather than opportunity. A host lists the practices: prayer, fasting, solitude, and feasts as celebration, noting they run through the whole Bible and marked Jesus' own life. He invites the host who recently taught on the topic to share his takeaways.

Ends and means: microwave spirituality

A host reflects on teaching the disciplines: it is an ends-and-means problem — people want spiritual maturity and connection with Christ but treat the disciplines as checklists or scheduled events. He contrasts a 'microwave' expectation of instant transformation with a slow-cooker process, using caterpillar-in-a-cocoon and infant-Christian analogies. He confesses he does not spend enough quiet time just listening to God and has never managed his goal of one or two silent days a month.

Solitude feels unnatural; laziness and overconfidence

The hosts agree solitude feels unnatural in a distracted culture — getting up at 4 a.m. or sitting in a park for four hours seems ludicrous, and the mind reaches for stimulus out of habit. One compares it to diet and exercise: six days of discipline and he feels terrific, then within two months he is back to donuts, spiritually and physically. They land on laziness and overconfidence as the two forces that zap discipline — 'I've got this now, I don't need prayer.'

Spiritual exercise: marathon training and rhythms

A host borrows Paul's 'spiritual exercise' language: nobody shows up able to run a marathon, and spiritual keenness atrophies without use. He reframes disciplines as rhythms of life — like Jesus, take time to get away, know Scripture, pray — and notes Peter was on the rooftop praying at midday when he received the vision in Acts 10. These are not works-righteousness, he argues, but the relational habits that let bold witness flow as a natural outflow rather than forced effort. He admits solitude is his own known gap.

God doesn't value efficiency; RAGBRAI

A host notes God does not seem to put much weight on efficiency, unlike modern culture — going for a run makes no utilitarian sense, yet builds capacity. His Samaritan-woman example misfires (he corrects himself: going through Samaria was actually the efficient route) and the others laugh it off. Another host offers the RAGBRAI analogy: a thousand training miles made the ride across Iowa a joy; half the miles the next year made it miserable — spiritual disciplines work the same way.

The Shema three times a day; exercise reframes 'fake it'

A host shares a lifelong goal: to say the great Shema three times a day and mean it all three times — morning conviction that 'the Lord thy God is one' rather than rote recitation. Another reframes 'fake it till you make it' as miscategorized exercise: the first runs feel fake because they are training, not because they are false. They close hoping the disciplines lift the burden of event-driven Christianity: stop leaning on taxed effort and let faithfulness flow from habit.

Dear LFTP: single mother working two to three jobs

• Has a single mother working two to three jobs made a mistake by working so much that her young son has grown distant?

A host reads a Dear LFTP letter from a 29-year-old single mother: her ex chose partying over fatherhood, custody was hard-won, she works two or three jobs, and her six-year-old has stopped calling her 'mommy.' The hosts say her feelings are real, put shame on the absent father, and advise extreme measures to reclaim time — a smaller apartment, moving in with parents, sharing expenses with another single mom — because presence outweighs provision. A host reads the 'Secular' answer advising her to research child support and firmly reassert the 'mommy' title; the hosts push back that the child is expressing displeasure at the situation and a heavy hand may misread it.

Dear LFTP: dating and communication styles

• Is there a way for both partners to be happy when dealing with difficult conversations, and what can be done to make an avoidant partner more comfortable?

A host reads a second Dear LFTP letter: the writer has seen a man for six or seven months and dated him for three, but he avoids confrontation and communicates poorly while she is very communicative. The hosts probe whether it is an actual barrier or just a style difference — some people need 24 hours to process, and quick-tongued partners mistake slowness for avoidance. They advise not overreacting when he does speak, giving the young relationship time, but treating a total refusal to engage as a red flag. The 'Secular' answer suggests the man's single history may stem from the same avoidance; the hosts agree most people struggle with uncomfortable conversations and call it normal.

Outro: off next week, musical guests in March

The hosts thank listeners, greet Noah from YouTube, and note they are off the following week per their 'very lazy schedule.' They will return in early March with musical guests and a check-in on spiritual disciplines, inviting listeners to email stories of putting the practices into practice. The show closes with the sign-off: be faithful, God will handle the ends.