Candidates Wanted: Must be quick-witted, great on camera, and able to own a headline. Movie-star looks preferred. Honesty optional. Sound familiar? 

In this episode, Dan and Del trace how American leadership became a popularity contest, from the 1960 Kennedy–Nixon debate to a mostly forgotten 1913 change that removed a guardrail the founders built for exactly this problem. If you're tired of mudslinging, special interests, and "hold your nose" votes, there's good news: much of the fix is still in our hands. 

The next generation of leaders is being shaped right now in our homes, schools, churches, workplaces, and local leadership posts. And we get to help, starting with what we cheer for.

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.

Responsibility is an American word. Not borrowed, not inherited. Born here, at the same moment the country was, and for the same reason.

But a nation built on responsibility only works as long as somebody still takes it. Who will that be?

Still part of Season 1: American Future, this episode of Abundant is a bit different from our usual banter. Dan was asked to present his findings on responsibility as part of a celebration of America's 250th, recorded in front of a live church audience in south Florida. Using American voices from the past, he traces its meaning and shows its connection to our national ethos. Then he takes us somewhere unexpected: to ancient Israel and its most famous king, David. He may have lived the most American life of anyone in the Bible, with plenty of personal liberty alongside his obvious prosperity. What did he do with all that freedom? 

Dan and Del kick off this special episode together, then jump to Dan's presentation. If you've ever wondered what Dan-the-preacher sounds like in real life, for better or worse, you'll find out here.

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.

The most sought-after membership in the history of memberships? Turns out it's the one that guarantees you free speech, freedom of worship, a fair trial, the right to be left alone, and the freedom to do almost anything you want: munch chips on your sofa, or build rockets and reach for the stars.

Yes, U.S. citizenship is pretty great, but what are the dues? And if there's a fair share to pay, what is it?

As part of our season dedicated to America's Future, Dan and Del take a look at the social contract supposedly uniting us. Does it? And what is it asking of us in return? This isn't just taxes and jury duty. We're talking about showing up, telling the truth, respecting our neighbors, and putting in more than we plan to take out.

Rights and responsibilities were always meant to travel together. So have a seat (chips optional), and let's figure out what a good U.S. citizen actually does.

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.

Family isn't an obstacle to the good life — it is the good life. But family formation has fallen out of favor, and the U.S. birthrate just hit its all-time record low: 1.57 per woman. For the first time in our history, women in their late thirties are having more babies than women in their early twenties.

What's driving all this?

In this episode of Season 1: American Future, Dan and Del push past demographic doom-talk and look forward to a future filled with life, purpose, and love. Del offers hope from the therapist's chair and explains why so many of us are stuck at "not yet" when it comes to the most consequential decisions of our lives. Dan makes the case for a full house — that building a crazy, expensive, challenging family is well worth the sacrifice. And if you're one of the millions who really do want the marriage or the kids you don't yet have, pull up a chair. This conversation is for you, not about you.

Thinking of starting a family? Or growing one? You might find more joy than you expect — and you'd be doing your country a favor.

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.

When will we repay our national debt? The fact that we've stopped asking that question reveals something about us, doesn't it? And what we really think about our shared future? While we wonder if balancing our books is even possible, the meter keeps running — $40 trillion and counting.

Dan and Del dig into the math and the morality of this deep hole we've dug. What got us here, and is there any way out? Of course, this isn't just Washington's problem. We the People elected the spenders, cheered the programs, and quietly agreed not to think about the tab.

This episode is part of Season 1: American Future — and this topic matters immensely to that. We have to face this multi-trillion dollar monster someday. How about right now? Climbing out will take more than higher taxes and lower spending; it will take a transformation of national character, beginning with us, personally. So grab your calculator, roll up your sleeves, and let's get into it.

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.

You know that group of friends in every commercial — the cookout, the laughter, the people who just show up? Do you actually have that? Does anyone?

In this episode, Dan and Del ask what happened to American community — to the spirit of neighborhood that defined our national ethos. Why are we now living through a loneliness epidemic that a former surgeon general says is as destructive to your health as smoking? And what are the success factors of people who actually have the friend-filled life the ads portray?

Along the way: whether extended family is the community you inherited and never opened, why your local bowling alley might feel empty, and some practical wisdom on what you can do — starting this week.

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.

Socialism is in the news — and in some U.S. states, it's on the ballot. Is that good or bad?

In this episode, Dan and Del take an honest look at socialism: what it promises, why it keeps attracting new generations, and what happens when people try it. Thankfully, we have experiments, past and present, all across the globe that we can learn from. Even America's early Pilgrim colony, just before the first Thanksgiving, test-drove a sharing economy in their New World.

Join us for an unhurried conversation on how incentives shape behavior, how markets need mercy, and what it looks like to have enough, share enough, and reflect compassion along the way.

Plus: a live experiment unfolding in New York City right now, where government-run grocery stores are moving from campaign promise toward reality. Will that be helpful, or not so much?

And the most important question, regardless of political or economic leanings: how should people take care of each other?

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.

The loud threats are obvious — elections, wars, debt, borders. The ones that might actually take America down are quiet. So quiet, in fact, they may have already invaded your living room. 

This week, Dan and Del count down five hidden cultural threats to the American future. Along the way: an education system running on a chassis older than the Model T, the algorithm that gets sixty hours a week with your kids, the epidemic Del sees walk into his counseling office every week, and the quiet collapse nobody wants to name at the dinner table. The last threat is underneath the other four. It isn't cultural at all. It's older than the country. 

Then the turn: what to do. Not anger, not activism — four surprisingly ordinary moves you can make today, for the country and for yourself. 

No outrage, no sermons, no left-versus-right. Just an honest look at what's hollowing out — and the stubborn hope that ordinary faithfulness, multiplied, still changes history. 

Abundant, Season 1: American Future — a conversation about the life everyone's actually looking for, and what's getting in the way. New episodes weekly. Share what you're carrying: [email protected]

Share Your Thoughts with Us

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.

America just turned 250 — and we've spent the last decade fighting over one word: great. Was America ever great? Is it now?

In this premiere episode, Dan and Del go looking for a real definition. Along the way: history's graveyard of "great" powers, a victorious general who was offered a crown, and a definition of greatness so upside-down it might be the right way up. Then the hard part: grading America honestly — the remarkable credits, the real debits, and the one national ingredient that decides whether the next 250 years happen at all.

This isn't a left-versus-right episode. It's the question underneath all the shouting, and an answer older than the country itself.

American Future, Part 1. New episodes weekly. Got a story or a pushback? We read everything: [email protected]

Share Your Thoughts with Us

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.

Everybody's chasing the good life. Have you found yours?

Meet Abundant — honest conversations about the life everyone's actually looking for, and what's getting in the way. Pastor Dan Jarvis, licensed family therapist Del Fehsenfeld, and other trusted guest experts dig into the forces quietly reshaping American life, and the surprisingly ordinary ways to fight back.

Follow today to catch new episodes as they drop, and learn more at abundant.show.

Share Your Thoughts with Us

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If this show made you think, made you laugh, or made you argue with your dashboard — leave a rating ( positive would be nice! 🙂) and review. That's how new listeners find us, which helps Abundant grow.

Abundant is sponsored by Berrien.Life in Southwest Michigan, a few miles from one of the most beautiful coastlines in America. Drop in and watch a freshwater sunset with us sometime! In the meantime, learn more at abundant.show.