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Career Moves & The Bad Guy

Album: 34: In Your Wildest Dreams

Episode: 444

Lesson/Theme: Listening to the right advice/Temptation

Bible Verse: Proverbs 19:8/Proverbs 4:26-27

Characters: Bart, Connie, Whit

Writer: Marshal Younger

Sound Designer: Jonathan Crowe

Original Air Date: April 29, 2000

Last Air Date: April 29, 2000

Description:
In "Career Moves," it's another Career Day in Odyssey, and Nathaniel Graham gets the opportunity to work with Bart Rathbone. After Whit cautions Nathaniel on listening to advice, Bart begins to give Nathaniel advice, including selling at any cost. On one assignment, Nathaniel convinces a customer to buy some batteries, claiming they are the best, though he never uses them. The customer comes back later and demands a refund because the batteries were defective. Nathaniel agrees to give him a refund, which causes Bart to make Nathaniel stop working. Whit mentions to Nathaniel that it is important to discern who your advice comes from. Then, in "The Bad Guy," Nick’s old friend Vince shows up in Odyssey and Nick expects him to act like he did back in New York- big and bad! Nick is even trying to give lessons to Whit and Connie on how to act in his presence. Vince surprises Nick, however, by telling him he is a Christian and acting nicely to everyone. Nick wants to prove that Vince has not changed and tries to get Nick to sin. He plants cigarettes in Vince’s car, tries to get him to start a fire, go partying, and even get into a fight. All his efforts fail, but then a camera ends up missing at Whit’s End. Nick is overjoyed! Vince fell on his own, he says. Vince, however, comes back and returns the camera, saying how sorry he is for stealing it. Whit reprimands Nick for trying to tempt Vince and then tells him to go after Vince. Nick apologizes to Vince and it’s clear he’s learned a bit more about what it means to be a Christian.

Questions:
Why was Nathaniel so impressed with Bart's selling techniques at first? What do you think are the differences between the way Bart runs his business and the way Whit runs his? How did Nick pre-judge his friend Vince? Should he have given Vince the benefit of the doubt? Have you ever assumed something bad about another person like Nick did? How did they respond?