John Paul Burtch

Cold open: lost first half, Ben's intro

Ben (self-identified in the recording) explains that technical difficulties destroyed the first part of the show recorded with guest John Paul Birch, and presents the surviving last ninety minutes already in progress. This establishes the package as a partial episode.

Guest interview: artistic uniqueness and musical influences

• What led to John Paul Birch's conversion to Christianity?

Guest John Paul Birch (introduced on-air as the special guest) discusses his chief goal of being uniquely himself as an artist, names his biggest influences (Korn, Slipknot, Tool, Deftones, Incubus, Jonathan Davis), and explains that one of his songs was mostly written before he became a Christian, with final touches added after.

Guest testimony: subway encounter and conversion

• What led to John Paul Birch's conversion to Christianity?

John Paul Birch tells his conversion story: after a train-wreck of romantic relationships and returning from Turkey, he saw a woman on a New York subway, turned away to avoid temptation and thought it was time to focus on his spiritual life; at that moment he overheard the word Iowa, met her, and she shared the gospel with him — notably the claim that Jesus is God and that faith itself is a gift — prompting his first prayers. Apologetics sermons from a California pastor with a doctorate in the field then gave him intellectual confidence, and after identifying as Christian he moved back to Iowa and learned the faith was a developing relationship with God, not mere belief.

Hosts and guest reflect: God uses anything

The hosts and guest react to the testimony: a host marvels that apologetics reached a new believer, noting the telltale sign of God is that He can use anything; another host riffs on Christianity's 'wild friend' Holy Spirit energy; the guest tells the tortilla-press story — an insistent urge to buy pants minutes before Target closed led him to the mall, where he ran into the men from Fernando's restaurant and bought their used tortilla press the same week. They close with the lesson that God's unpredictability should curtail human arrogance about how He works.

Teaching block: expectant prayer, waiting, and remembrance

• What does it look like to pray with expectation that God will act?

An extended discussion on praying with expectation that God is at work rather than forcing His hand; God showing up in small things (trapping a bug) to build trust for the big unanswered prayers; Habakkuk's opening complaint ('where have you been?') as honest prayer; Bob Goff's 'microwave vs. slow cooker' line; a host's mother's pile of remembrance stones; biblical memory rhythms (Israelites writing scripture on doorposts and foreheads, raising an Ebenezer, communion); and the comfort of church spires over towns. They land on remembrance as God's gift against forgetting.

Mid-show business: livestream trouble, complaint line, coffee shop story

A host warns livestream viewers about glitches and promises the backup recording; the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line number (515-517-0085) is repeated; a host tells the coffee-shop story of a woman one table away confronting someone about being too loud on a phone call, and the crew notes they picked up a new Instagram follower from the incident.

Song intro: 'Collide' and the spectrum of Christian songwriting

John Paul Birch introduces his song 'Collide': explicitly Christian but his most crowd-friendly tune, about Jesus and the cross as the peacemaking place where people give and receive forgiveness. He describes his songs as existing on a spectrum from Sunday-morning worship to songs that merely sound secular while aligning with Christianity, and his plan to record them chronologically in the order he wrote them.

Live performance: 'Collide'

John Paul Birch performs 'Collide' live in the studio (sung vocals render as a separate diarization label). Afterward the hosts react strongly to the quiet-to-loud dynamics, joke about the 'magic in the sweater' giving Mister Rogers vibes before the Corey Taylor influence kicks in, and propose a 'who wore it better' sweater selfie contest on Instagram.

Transition banter and the round-robin prompt

• Which podcasts, sermons, or preachers have most impacted your faith?

Continued sweater/Instagram banter (including a 'chest wig' bit that draws Dan closer to the microphone), the hosts skip the 'six things' segment, and a host frames the round robin: name a podcast, preacher, or sermon that genuinely impacted your faith — not just one you like, but one where God used it powerfully.

Round robin: Mark Driscoll's men-and-marriage sermon

Mike (addressed by name by the host) names Mark Driscoll's men-and-marriage sermon — the one where Driscoll yelled at men — as the teaching that beat him up at exactly the right moment and called him to account. The hosts discuss why that sermon landed: it took manhood seriously, implying a standard and a value in men worth calling up to, even as they acknowledge Driscoll's later fall and questionable integrity.

Round robin: Nathaniel on Paul Washer and Dan's socks illustration

Nathaniel (addressed by name) names Paul Washer's 'shocking youth message' — found on YouTube in his dorm room — with its log-truck illustration of claiming Christianity with no life change, followed by a message from Dan using a socks-in-the-hamper illustration ('I love my wife Cheryl, so I put them in the hamper because I love her'). The combination moved Nathaniel to pray and believe. The hosts note the shift from putting on the uniform to becoming it.

Round robin: Boova on Tim Mackie and Dave Herrick's $800

Boova (addressed as 'Bubba') names Tim Mackie's 'Exploring My Strange Bible' podcast as the teaching that wrecks his assumptions about scripture, then tells the defining story of Dave Herrick: as a 19-year-old who lied to everyone and had a manicured fake faith, Boova accepted $800 from Herrick's wallet to buy a car that day, returned with the money a week later feeling proud — and Herrick told him to give it to a charity instead, exposing the pride and showing him what it looks like to 'smell like Jesus.' He closes with the running joke about nearly fighting Herrick over a hot dog at a gas station and plugs the earlier episode 'Gone Gone Buba' for that story.

Round robin: John on Tim Keller's sermons

John Paul Birch names Tim Keller's Redeemer Presbyterian sermons (now the Gospel in Life podcast), which he listened to nearly daily his first summer as a believer, praising Keller's confidence, insight, and voice. He connects it to 'Collide': Jesus never brought truth without love or love without truth, and the song's word 'collide' captures that forceful coming-together.

Round robin: Mike on Tony Evans and stepping up at home

Mike (addressed by name by the host) names Tony Evans's 'kingdom man' teaching as what made him step up: eating dinner with his family instead of watching TV, doing the dishes, being the example his kids are watching. The moment dissolves into affectionate banter about wives who encourage video games (a gifted PS4, Skyrim) and husbands who don't deserve them.

Round robin: Dan on radio teachers, tapes, and interpretive humility

Dan (addressed by name) traces his influences: at 18 with no father figure, Focus on the Family taught him about being a husband and dad, then Chuck Swindoll on the radio, then years of cassette tapes from Bible teachers. He notes that every recent voice he dialed into (Driscoll, Perry Noble) eventually blew up, so now he prefers topical listening without deifying anyone. The discussion widens to N.T. Wright's Ask N.T. Wright podcast and Wright's daily Greek New Testament reading, and to Wright and Keller disagreeing on real issues — which the hosts take as reason for humility: scripture is bigger than any interpreter, and God is sovereign over the disagreements.

Round robin: Ben on Driscoll, Shane Wood, and the Bible Project

Ben (self-identified earlier in the episode) gives his three spans: Mark Driscoll, the first teacher he heard treat the Bible as changing everything day-to-day and preach section-by-section through books; Shane Wood of Ozark Christian College, whose online lectures gave the formally untrained host serious biblical depth and the image of scripture as a house with ever more rooms; and The Bible Project, continuing that dive. He closes the thread: let scripture breathe deeper than the culture-war fights humans wage over it.

Dear LFTP: the druid husband and Stonehenge

• My druid husband wants to sacrifice me at Stonehenge at the solstices — what should I do?

The hosts read a Dear LFTP letter from a 41-year-old woman whose 43-year-old druid husband of 23 years allegedly pulls out a big bronze knife every solstice and equinox and pressures her to come to Stonehenge so he can sacrifice her for a good harvest; she fears losing him if she refuses. After joking about druidsonly.com and whether Stonehenge is ley-lines Wicca rather than druidism, they give the real answer: get out, call the police, and note she has no covenant with the God of Abraham to keep her there — while a 'secular' answer advises her to stop leading him on with excuses and tell him plainly she will never be sacrificed.

Show business: complaint line and social plugs

The hosts restate the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line (515-517-0085, call or text), invite kudos for guest John Paul Birch, and plug the LFTP Show Instagram account where listeners can DM and find past guests.

Song intro: 'We'll Meet Again' and grandmother Sandra

John Paul Birch introduces 'We'll Meet Again,' his only released single (on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, with a YouTube music video), written start-to-finish before his conversion about hoping to meet loved ones again in this life or the next. He traces it to his first memory of his grandmother Sandra — asking her as a small child whether she would write him letters from heaven — and to his craving for childlike innocence, noting he first wrote 'I feel we'll meet again' because 'believe' felt too far.

Live performance: 'We'll Meet Again'

John Paul Birch performs 'We'll Meet Again' live in the studio: a song about letters from heaven, staying in touch across distance, and believing loved ones will meet again.

Closing: thanks, back-catalog plug, sign-off

The hosts thank John Paul Birch and invite him back anytime, restate the complaint line, plug the earlier episode 'Gone Gone Boob' for the Dave Herrick hot-dog backstory, ask listeners to share their own favorite podcasts and sermons, and close with the sign-off: 'be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.'