Risky Business | Christian Risk-Taking, Community Engagement, Faith in Action

Show open and Mike's catchphrase contest

The show opens with the produced voiceover and the live start, then Mike explains the origin of his overused 'come on' affirmation — a man doing the 'come hither wave' at a sermon — and asks listeners to text alternative affirmations to the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line. Ben notes the word-catchphrase archaeology idea of running the back catalog through a repository to track catchphrase popularity.

Docket: Christians bailing out and the institution-vs-individual question

• Can institutions or countries act with a different morality than the individuals inside them?

Mike previews his frustration: professing Christians who get as far away from brokenness as possible, and parents pulling kids out of ministry contexts. Ben previews his own pondering: whether institutions and countries must act with the same morality as the individuals inside them, and whether trying to move slow institutions wastes effort individuals could just do directly.

Mike's call: stop hiding, faith without works is dead

• How do we balance protecting our children with sending them into brokenness, and are we asking God which it is?

Mike reads James's 'faith without works is dead' with finality — it is a chair you either sit in or you do not believe it exists — and recounts kids doing real ministry who get pulled out by parents, selfish inward-facing prayer, and the call for adults outfitted with the Holy Spirit to walk into brokenness instead of building bigger walls.

Ben's response: barriers, asking God, and the risk both ways

Ben pushes back gently: biblical responsibilities like protecting children are real, but the question is whether anyone asks God where to serve. Opportunity and risk are two sides of the same coin. He warns both ways — Abraham tying up Isaac, Dan's Africa example of jumping the gun, and the danger that over-protection breeds pretentious prodigal's-brother types. The key question: did you even ask?

Mike's landing: house as sanctuary, heaven's guest list

Mike lands his argument: protect kids from the weather outside, but keep the house holy as a sanctuary you strength up in so you can go back out. He imagines entering heaven with people he introduced to Jesus versus arriving alone and safe, and reframes the Laodicea lukewarm passage as being about usefulness, not salvation.

Institution versus individual: do the thing yourself

Ben's extended riff: you cannot police the world as a country, but individuals can act — serve at the border, start companies, go help. His 'Ted' story: a man mad his church would not campaign for his cause while never giving himself ('you are the church'). Systems like the DMV and elections take on a faceless flavor; a human would see the nuance in three seconds. He closes praising Dan Hudson as the person who moves the next inch immediately.

Dear LFTP: the neighbor Tim and boundaries without guilt

• How can I end the friendship with my difficult neighbor Tim without sending him into a spiral?

Mike reads a letter from a self-described clean-freak friend of a hoarding, narcissistic, government-program neighbor named Tim: how to end the friendship without sending Tim into a spiral. The hosts push back — Tim is trying, the writer sounds judgmental — and advise boundaries, not severance: decide what you can offer, be generous without letting Tim drive your life. Secular answers that friendship must be reciprocal; the hosts say reciprocity leaves no room for generosity.

Dear LFTP: the book-club crashers

• Is my partner right that we cannot stop inviting the unwanted book-club women without looking mean?

Mike reads a letter from a book-club host annoyed by two uninvited regulars who never read the books and only discuss ailments: can they be dropped without looking mean? Ben calls the letter mean and self-conscious about appearances; the hosts suggest engaging the women, recruiting the group to help, and treating it like Sunday church where only a few really participate. Secular prescribes rules and enforcement.

Dear LFTP: trapped on mom's mortgage

• How do I get off my mother's mortgage so I can refinance my own home?

Mike reads a letter from a woman co-signed on her mother's mortgage who cannot get off it and now cannot refinance her own home, with the mother accusing the husband of manipulation and acting vindictive. The hosts advise practical action: the mother should actually apply and let the mortgage company refuse, which turns a personal fight into paperwork. Secular advises a real-estate attorney.

Outro, complaint line, and catchphrase sign-off

The hosts close with the standard sign-off — be faithful to the means, God will handle the ends — plug the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line at (515) 517-0085 for feedback and catchphrase submissions, and test 'exact change' as Mike's possible new affirmation.