Thee Uncommon

Show open and docket

• What should you look for in a church?
• How should Christians think about the Iowa school-funding bill and school choice?

A host opens from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper, sets a four-part docket: guest Philip Ramsey and his Uncommon program, a Mark Driscoll Facebook quote that "said something wise," what to look for in a church, and a recently passed Iowa bill moving public-school funding. He addresses Mike and Phil by name during the banter.

Guest intro: Philip Ramsey and Uncommon Wealth Partners

The host introduces Philip as a financial advisor "but a different kind of financial advisor," with his partner Brian running Uncommon Wealth Partners. The key prior takeaway: people are missing out on life by living only to reach retirement, so structure life around what you love now — "healthy, wealthy and wise."

The Uncommon: monthly pillars and life-shaping experiences

• Who is the Uncommon program for, and who is it not for?
• Have you ever considered doing a polar plunge?

Philip explains The Uncommon — intentional experiences, community, and accountability beyond financial advice. Monthly pillars: vision (November), stewardship (December), health (January), EQ (just finished, via a quiz), relationships (next). He describes a Minneapolis trip: glassblowing, trial questions ("how has God shaped you in a trial?"), a five-minute ice bath, and "who is in your pack" dog-pack dynamics; pricier options include the Arches with rappelling and four-wheeling. It is pitched at the 40-something with responsibilities. A host shares his empty-nester Duluth weekend with his wife — "What's our next five years?" — as intentional-vision fruit. Nathaniel is addressed with a pillars question.

Physical health: cold showers, the polar plunge, bro science

The hosts talk physical health: one host turned his post-workout shower ice-cold for 30 seconds in January but never titrated past it; another jumps into whirlpools at the YMCA. They tease attending a polar plunge "tomorrow" while joking about "bro science" and sketchy internet wellness claims, with Nathaniel asked whether he has considered one.

The Driscoll phone quote: touch your wife more than your phone

A host shares the Mark Driscoll Facebook line: "you look at your phone more than you look at your wife, you listen to it more than you listen to your wife" — and it lands. A host tells the follow-up: he caught himself holding his phone more than touching his wife, so he ran inside, touched his wife's cheek, and made it a practice all day. One host jokes he touches his truck steering wheel more than his wife; Dan is addressed by name later in the segment.

Kids and phones: boundaries, flip phones, and the phone case

Philip asks whether seeing their kids get phones convicted the hosts. One host set phone boundaries from the start; the room debates ditching smartphones for flip phones or Garmins, with an extended riff on a beastly riveted phone case. One host teases another about "keeping up with the Joneses" on phones.

What to look for in a church: pray, Bible teaching, prayer time

The hosts answer the docket question. Filter one: pray about it — God may set your preferences aside. Then: faithful Bible teaching ("it's gotta be Bible") — illustrated by a house-church visit where the preacher was 90% right but justified it from the wrong passage, which "creates a risk." Next: dedicated, expansive prayer time — the hosts lament prayer becoming a token transition, and recall Sundays where the message was set aside entirely for prayer. Philip's counsel: let the Holy Spirit do the convicting and applying; not everything in Scripture is a direct life application.

Scripture and worship: prescriptive vs descriptive, sing loud

• Is everything in Scripture a direct life application?

Continuing the church question: the hosts warn against blending life-coach advice with Bible teaching and note not everything in Scripture has a one-to-one application — "prescriptive and descriptive," since you don't read the Psalms to learn to lament like David. On worship: sing loud even if you think you're terrible, because inside and outside should connect (posture in prayer, anointing with oil). Worship leaders are told hard truths: a good song is not always a good congregational song — hymns work because they are predictable, and unknowable tunes are a barrier.

Communion: the new covenant, and prepackaged wafer comedy

On communion: hosts reflect on Jesus' words — body broken, blood shed, the new covenant — and warn against the "unworthy to take it" trap, since the very sin it represents is what Jesus died for. Comedy follows: a church's prepackaged wafer-and-juice cups ("we threw those puppies away"), and the conference story where Ben ate a pat of butter thinking it was a mint while Dan watched.

Church preferences round-out: leadership and elders

The hosts round out the church question: worship style is preference — "the sheep hear the shepherd's voice." They land on plurality of leadership and doctrine as the durable non-negotiable: a healthy elder team vets the next preacher so the church stays doctrinally solid even as music style and personalities change. Plurality also keeps one leader from running unchecked.

Kids in church: respect their intellect

A host argues churches should treat kids as would-be faithful followers of Jesus — respecting their intellect and ability to understand concepts rather than watering things down with drawings. Drawing on house-church pastoring experience, he notes kids sit in the room for the most part and absorb far more than adults expect.

Iowa's school-funding bill and the school-choice debate

The hosts discuss the Iowa bill moving per-student public-school funding to families choosing elsewhere (the host's homeschooled kids' share follows them to Southeast Polk). Nuance cuts both ways: parents have real responsibility for what kids are exposed to, and choice has legitimate pull — but public schools are a public good that must take everyone, private schools can refuse admission, and fixed building costs don't shrink when students leave. The hosts worry about draining good kids out of public schools and note taxpayer money and accountability follow the students.

Teachers with agendas, the grandson question, no cookie cutter

The hosts acknowledge teachers with agendas exist but usually get rooted out, and one host's wife works in a school, so they hear both sides. They describe raising their kids in public school on purpose — "they'll be adults in the public world" — processing culture together, while admitting the now-grandfather among them feels soft about his two-year-old grandson. There is no black-and-white, cookie-cutter answer.

Outro: Philip Ramsey thanks and the Uncommon

The hosts thank Philip Ramsey "from the uncommon," point listeners to theuncommon.com and the Uncommon Wealth podcast, and give his email philip@UncommonWealth.com for questions — offering to relay even the negative feedback for him.