People Who Don’t Know Pat Sajack

Show open and the Pat Sajak poll

• Has Boova really never heard of Pat Sajak — and is he alone?
• Do Boova's own friends know Pat Sajak, and should Boova always listen to Dan's wisdom?

Ben and Boova open the show from the Pathway studios and share the results of a Life From The Path Facebook poll: has Boova really never heard of Pat Sajak, the Wheel of Fortune host? It is 93% to 7% on 14 votes, with Boova the lone 'never heard of him.' Boova vows to re-run the poll on his personal Facebook and takes abuse from the others.

The Atlantic article intro

Ben introduces The Atlantic article 'They Tried to Start a Church Without God. For a While, It Worked' about secular congregations like Sunday Assembly and Oasis, and previews the thesis the hosts will argue against: that these groups are succeeding by imitating religion.

Hank Hanegraaff's brush with death and the word 'supernaturally'

• Should we stop using the word 'supernaturally'?
• What would you regret — leaving this earth, or missing heaven?

Ben reads a story about 'Bible Answer Man' Hank Hanegraaff surviving a brush with death during cancer treatment. Boova pushes back on the word 'supernaturally' — for God it is just how he works, even through chemotherapy. Dan muses about at what age a believer starts thinking about dying, and the hosts wonder about regretting leaving earth versus missing heaven.

Pat Sajak poll check-ins

Live poll updates as Boova's personal Facebook post accumulates votes and comments — every one of them knows who Pat Sajak is. One commenter, Josh (whose wedding Boova is officiating), confesses he looked Sajak up and recognized the face but never knew the name. Boova plans to tag Sajak on Twitter.

Reading the article: Sunday Assembly and why it stalled

• Why don't secular congregations succeed?

Ben reads through the Atlantic article: Justina Walford finds Sunday Assembly after losing her faith, the group sings pop songs and hears talks, then falls apart when the volunteer core burns out. The hosts argue the missing piece is a moral center — Kiwanis has one; this has only entertainment — and that giving to it feels like a value exchange, not faithfulness.

Sacrifice, social glue, and the Sosis study

The discussion continues: Ben argues people are wired for community but secular imitations are 'shadows' missing Jesus; Dan says anger will not sustain a movement. They cover the atheist-conference priest-and-nun costumes, church-planting failure stats, and anthropologist Richard Sosis's finding that costly sacrifice sustains religious communes but not secular ones — shared bonds need something sacred.

Article conclusion: transcendence, ritual, and innate community

The article's close: collective singing and a sense of transcendence as possible rescue tools; Ben is skeptical — without God, shared ideals are just one person's preference. Justina Walford's follow-up (tried a Southern Baptist church, could not stay) and the ex-Mormon Oasis chapter in Salt Lake City. Ben closes the article with his reflection that the innate hunger for community itself points to something real.

Boova's testimony, part 1: the hospital scare and the Daniel fast

Boova shares that the last two weeks have been rough: a hospital visit with blood sugar over 400 and a diabetic ketoacidosis scare led him to start a Daniel fast. He recounts losing his father at 18, his mother's suicide attempts through his childhood, his PTSD and depression diagnoses, and an irrational fear of failure rooted in those losses.

Boova's testimony, part 2: Gideon and running to God

Boova describes waking up in one of his worst depressive lows, ready to quit the fast, and the realization that struck him through the story of Gideon: God deliberately reduced the army to 300 so the victory would be his, not Israel's. Boova stopped fighting his addictions himself and cried out to God psalmist-style to trample his fear — 'just because your faith is failing does not mean God is.'

What does 'give it to God' actually mean?

• What does it actually mean to 'give it to God'?

The hosts wrestle with the cliché: what do you actually do when you 'give it to God' and you are still clutching your pillow in tears? Dan connects it to his experience with Overeaters Anonymous and the 'higher power' language — 'we know who the higher power is' — and they agree surrender still requires getting up and doing the work, like making the bread instead of eating six Big Macs.

Altars of remembrance and boasting in God

Boova talks about 'putting up altars' — marking today as proof that God is trustworthy — and finds new understanding in the Psalms' 'God, trample my enemies under your feet.' Citing 'some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord,' he says today's victory belongs to God's glory, not his own willpower.

Ben's altar, no Dear LFTP, and sign-off

Ben adds his own small altar: after weeks of struggling with his teaching, a two-minute prayer before speaking cleared what three weeks of thinking could not. There is no Dear LFTP this week; the show is off next week and back in August. Ben gives the complaint line, (515) 517-0085, and signs off.