April 18 2011

Opening testimony: praying for atheists

The show opens mid-conversation as a host shares how anxiety over an upcoming event drove him to prayer, finding peace after a day of praying in and out at work. The hosts discuss praying for atheists — not as enemies but out of love for what God has given them — arguing that genuine prayer draws more spiritual opposition than protesting would, since the battle is spiritual. The discussion covers how atheists respond to the delivery of the message, the 'heaping of coals' on heads, and the contrast with combative approaches.

Westboro, the KKK joke, and religious defensiveness

The hosts call the Westboro Baptist Church 'a joke' and 'an abomination to the whole setup,' then run a satirical news bit about the Ku Klux Klan issuing a press release distancing itself from Westboro. The conversation turns to religious defensiveness: people who wrap their world around a belief system react violently when it is threatened, illustrated by first-century Jews who rejected Jesus. A discussion of genuine Muslims follows, arguing that hard-line Muslims hate America's vulgarity because they see it as a so-called Christian nation.

On This Rock returns: band updates and summer gigs

• What happened to Jeremy, the singer from last time?

The hosts re-engage On This Rock, who are in the studio, and note that Saved on Sunday is also in the prayer room and will swap in around 11 o'clock. A host asks after Jeremy, the singer from last time, and learns he poured concrete all day and texted 20 minutes before departure — still in the band, and the one who 'led me astray on Secular Solomon' last visit. The band lists summer plans: Spirit Midwest, Brush Arbor (a multi-denominational gathering in Missouri), a community homecoming, and the state fair; they joke about Janet Jackson closing the fair and expecting their own announcement next. The band's shirts and their scripture verse, Matthew 16:18, get a plug.

Matthew 16:18, Peter's confession, praying versus preaching

A host reads 'On this rock I will build my church' (Matthew 16:18) and argues Jesus meant Peter's confession of faith, not Peter physically — noting Peter denied Christ to a teenage girl five chapters later. The talk moves to Pentecost: 3,000 came to Christ after the upper-room prayer, and 'Paul says some plant, some water' (1 Corinthians 3:6), so the hosts' calling is prayer, not preaching — 'God's going to raise who he wants to do the speaking.' Chat-room discussion about engagement is addressed: they felt prayer was the assignment, and 'if God had it on us to walk out there,' they would have heard it.

On This Rock debuts 'Come Home'; cashew/caboy gag

In the spirit of the worship and prayer gathering, On This Rock debuts an original song, 'Come Home' — first time ever performed outside of practice, based on scripture and Proverbs ('At the gates she cries aloud'). After the performance, a host asks for a copy to sing in worship. A $58 shirt joke ('You can make the check out to Ben Foost') leads into the cashew/caboy pronunciation gag, with Gary Busey's 'called John Rich caboy' as the reference point.

Original worship performance: 'Be Lifted High' with Isaiah 6

After a show ident, the band introduces another original worship song, 'Be Lifted High,' which the writer describes as begging God to be lifted high in his life. He reads Isaiah 6 — the Lord high and exalted, seraphs with six wings crying 'holy, holy, holy' — then the band performs the song. The hosts note the song caught on at their church and praise its simple chorus.

Slash-solo gag, worship-session vision, handicap-space bit

• Is it illegal to stand in a handicap space if you're not handicapped?

After 'Be Lifted High,' the hosts joke about bringing Slash in for a 'November Rain'-style guitar solo, or hiring a long-haired 'Papa Shango' rocker with a swappable wig instead ('like Ben suggested'). They pitch live worship sessions in the prayer rooms with crowds, then riff on a long-haired rocker standing in a handicap parking space, asking whether it's illegal to stand in one if you're 'not a handy' — answered with 'if you're keeping someone from parking there.'

Break: anniversary clip package and 'It Is Well' sendoff

• Will On This Rock's worship tunes be available on CD?

A host announces a quick break and plays the one-year anniversary clip package ('only because we do not have any other clips to show you'). On This Rock's second song is introduced as the writer's personal favorite — the hymn 'It Is Well With My Soul,' described as the greatest hymn ever written, penned by a man who lost everything at the bottom of his life. The transcript goes silent from 3094s to 3440s (audio gap covering the clip package and performance); speech resumes at 3163s with a 'Live from the REMAX studios in downtown Des Moines' ident.

Absurdist comedy bits and fake listener letters

The hosts riff through absurdist non-sequiturs — origami undies, 'shady internet characters' giving kids 'a pucker on the head,' Ben Vereen, Keith Olsen, a half-naked bust mannequin in the church office, and the repeated 'Slowjack' gag. A bit follows with a character saying 'My name's Ben' who 'calls it the street Jesus,' addressing Cassie and reading a fake letter to Abby: 'Mike and Ben, they make fun of my shirt every single week. They say I look like a couch.' A host named Daniel is addressed ('It's very adult, Daniel,' 'Daniel, what did I tell you about that?').

In-studio logistics: cameras, Saved on Sunday, show schedule

A host asks Mike if he has anything going on, then directs cameras as Saved on Sunday arrives ('Did you see Saved on Sunday's here?'); Dana is in the double shot, Dan is asked about the video, and Clint gets the 'eagle eye' — 'He's got the face that'll sell a Heath bar,' prompting 'Ben hates Heath bars.' The hosts give the show schedule: live Monday nights 10 to midnight on livefromthepath.org, plus the first Sunday of the month on Praise 940 around 5 o'clock, with newsletter, podcast, and past band performances on the site.

Saved on Sunday: prayer-room worship and the Holy of Holies

Saved on Sunday is welcomed back to the studio; the hosts thank them for supporting the prayer events. Mr. Brown took a two-hour prayer slot (10 to midnight Saturday). A host describes the 'Holy of Holies' — a curtained-off corner of the prayer room with just a chair, a Bible, a table, and a lamp, its curtains taken from a closing theater. Worship reflections follow: reading the resurrection narratives with Easter coming, and the line 'The stone wasn't rolled away so Jesus could get out — it was rolled away so you could see He was not there anymore.'

Sister in the Navy, Jerusalem for Passion Week

A host shares that his sister is in the Navy, serving on the ship that fired tomahawks at Libya, and is now spending Passion Week in Israel, visiting the tomb in Jerusalem. The hosts talk about touring Israel with someone who knows the sites, like Mark Driscoll's tour, while one host confesses terrible biblical geography — mixing up Jesus of Nazareth, of Galilee, 'of somewhere' — and reads about Jesus alternating between Jewish and non-Jewish towns.

Prayer-room testimonies: prayer walls, maps room, Ohio joke

A host who 'doesn't read Russian novels' jokes that he changed Sodom and Gomorrah to Ohio in his Bible — 'God destroyed Ohio' — before testimony about the prayer room: reading strangers' prayer requests on the walls and feeling drawn to pray for people he'll never meet. Another host describes a maps room where you place a sticker on a map of Des Moines, and the weight of reading painful childhood-experience requests: 'I have nothing to say here... We better pray on this thing.'

Beacon-light testimony: 'I'm your light' and 1 John 1

A guest recounts Dan showing him around the prayer room, where Mike had hung a random flashing beacon light. Praying in the dark, he felt prompted to study it: a light with a revolving cupped mirror — and heard, 'I'm your light... You don't produce your own light, but as you revolve around me... you cast my light.' He then read 1 John 1 in the Holy of Holies: 'God is light; in him there is no darkness at all... the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.' The hosts rib him for getting 'cool things' while 'God just beats me.'

On This Rock's 'It Is Well,' vocal jokes, worship-night promo

On This Rock performed 'It Is Well,' which one host tried to sing along to until 'Ben turned my microphone down' — he jokes he has 'the singing voice of a dying badger' and a six-note range, cracking at the seventh, and attempts 'Mama little baby got shortening bread.' The band previews Friday's Rock and Worship Night, 7 to 10, at Glad's Hidings Assembly (3120 East Army Post Road, across from the YMCA by Fort Des Moines), with Saved on Sunday, By Its Right Name, and Dark Horse. The first night at Eagle Vision Church with Syndrome of Fire and Piercing Darkness packed the room, and eight people came to know God.

Rock and Worship Night details and new-band scouting

• Is there going to be food at the worship night?

The hosts promote the 'Rock and Worship Night' Facebook event: $3 cover — 'three bucks, three hours, three bands' — Saved on Sunday first, then By Its Right Name, a free-will offering with a short message, then Dark Horse, plus concessions. They discuss scaling the monthly nights to bi-monthly or weekly by finding more bands: Broken Point of View (southern Iowa) for the May tent show, Eyes Wide Open (who charged $2 back at the tomb days), and Hevel, a Des Moines Christian rock band found on Reverb Nation that hasn't responded after two messages — after finding the hosts via a Craigslist ad seeking Christian bands.

Saved on Sunday in studio: logo, website, merch, photo shoot

Saved on Sunday is formally introduced: listeners have heard them on Live from the Path before, and they've 'graciously agreed to come back in the studio' to perform and talk. The band shows a new sharp-looking logo, a website (savedonsunday.com) launching in about six weeks, and merch — T-shirts, CDs, wristbands. Their downtown photo shoot happened in pouring rain, shot by Amanda Moe (Amanda Moe Photography on Facebook), and 'made for some cool photos.'

'Do You Know Him' acoustic performance

Saved on Sunday performs their original song 'Do You Know Him' from their Revolution album — never done acoustic before, their set-closer 'jam' with guitar solos. During the song a host cues 'Go ahead Sean' for the guitar solo. The hosts praise it afterward: 'I'd like that tune to be played when I walk out of the house in the morning' and want it for the minivan commute 'so I can think I'm a little cooler than I am.'

Minivan flooring story and the Jesus Christ Superstar debate

A host tells of stacking his minivan with free laminate flooring for the ministry center, then sleeping on the three-foot stack overnight rather than drive home between meetings — 'Don't buy a van.' A Kia Optima alarm-clock story leads into Jesus Christ Superstar: the London recording's second disc is 'hit and miss,' and the apostles are portrayed as 'big Nancys' — debated with Andrew, Peter, and James and John as examples, plus Peter's denial after following 'at a distance' and getting stopped by a servant girl. The hosts joke about meeting Peter in heaven: 'I will contend that we were saved by the same grace — and then I'll shove him.'

Peter-in-heaven banter, monthly show, Hardee's chicken tenders

The Peter-shoving riff continues ('there went the Catholic viewers'; 'This show is not for me'), pivoting to the monthly Praise 940 show: 'Ben goes for broke on that monthly show — he finds the most offensive stuff that we talked about and puts it in an hour,' including a remembered 45-minute segment on an online poo tracker. The hosts plug Friday's show at the Glad Tidings Assembly with directions (on 14th, across from the Y, by Fort Des Moines Church of Christ and Gunn Pond), then rave about Hardee's chicken tenders from a Missouri road trip — 'fresh out of the fryer' — and the chicken-tender wrap.

Disciple opener invitation and Oscars seat-filler bit

A Saved on Sunday member shares that Travis McDaniel from Earlham Church of Christ called mid-service to invite the band to open for Disciple at the end of June — 'Try not to sound too like... let me check with the guys.' The hosts note Clint does promotional work for the Heath Company and Aiden is on tour with the Second Chapter. The episode closes with an Oscars seat-filler bit: sitting next to Tom Hanks for five minutes to change 'his Scientology ways' — corrected to Tom Cruise ('That's both of them'), adding John Travolta and Steven Spielberg, with a 'nano nano' gag.

'He is worthy' closer and sign-off

Saved on Sunday plays one more song to carry out the evening — 'He is worthy,' played on their last visit ('It was the ants or the spiders'). After the count-in the band performs the song through to the end of the show, and the hosts sign off: 'Thanks for listening, and have a wonderful night.'