All Things to All People

Seth Young has a foolproof plan for sharing his faith: pretend to be whatever people want. Fake football fandom, a made-up New York childhood, a five-step formula from a book - he'll say anything to win over Nick Mulligan, and he coaches Aubrey to do the same. Aubrey refuses to lie, but her by-the-book attempts go hilariously wrong, from baffling Nick with questions about rain and his pet tree frog to cheering so loudly at his scrimmage that he begs her to stop... while Seth's plan ends under a charging linebacker named Moose. Bruised and discouraged, Aubrey asks Whit where it all went wrong, and he reminds her that people are souls to love, not projects to complete. So Aubrey drops the script and simply tells Nick that God loves him and she cares about him - and he thanks her for the kindness. Her plain honesty even reaches Seth's own mother, who has never once heard her son talk about God.

Found on Out of Control Album 40 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

0516 Bassett Hounds A grieving-support trip to Alaska turns out to be something else entirely, as Bernard discovers Wooton's family is far more - and far wealthier - than he ever imagined.

0517 It's All About Me When Connie casts Mitch as the host of a Kids' Radio advice show, the credit for its success lands in exactly the wrong place - while a mysterious "Prank Man" turns the school upside down.

0518 The Case of the Disappearing Hortons When a classmate's family vanishes overnight, a pair of kids and two elderly ex-magicians launch an investigation that leads somewhere none of them expected.

0519 The Defining Moment After a costly error in right field, a young ballplayer chases the perfect comeback moment - only to learn that redemption rarely looks the way we imagine it.

0520 The Mystery at Tin Flat A family's free getaway to a historic ghost town turns into a night of century-old secrets, pointing boots, and a mystery that tests where one boy truly belongs.

0521 Hindsight When Whit's new backward-running Room of Consequence shows Liz a frightening possible future, she must travel in reverse through time to uncover the single small choice that set it all in motion.

0522 All Things to All People An overeager teen's foolproof formula for winning converts turns every conversation into a comedy of errors, forcing Aubrey to question whether faith can be shared by following a script.

1 of 3 0523 Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? While a major life decision looms for Mitch and Connie, Whit is pulled into a baffling case of stolen identity that hits closer to home than anyone expects.

2 of 3 0524 Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? With his name off the case but his friend's name on the line, a determined young investigator keeps digging into a fraud scheme - while the biggest question of his life waits for an answer.

3 of 3 0525 Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? With a mysterious warning telling him to stop investigating, Mitch must decide whether solving the warehouse fraud is worth the risk - while Connie weighs an answer that could change both their lives.

0526 Seeing Red When pride threatens three very different relationships in Odyssey, everyone insists the other person should apologize first.

0527 Black Clouds A stormy detour strands Connie and Joanne at a lonely roadside diner, where a runaway girl is convinced she carries bad luck wherever she goes.

0528 The Taming of the Two When two pompous rival actors seize control of a small-town Shakespeare festival, two young friends must decide whether winning is worth more than their partnership.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 2 more roles

2 supporting roles

Seth Young Robin Knight Cherry Young Deborah Marlowe

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Bob Hoose Writer · Director · Producer Bob Luttrell Sound Designer · Producer Marshal Younger Producer Paul McCusker Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 4 min

At auditions for a Whit’s End play, Seth Young questions Aubrey about every conversation she has with people who are not Christians. When she chats with Sheila about shoes, Seth sees a missed opportunity to speak about God. He has come not mainly to act but to make Nick Mulligan his next evangelism project.

Seth offers to teach Aubrey how to share her faith. He believes Christians should join a person’s interests and speak the person’s language, even if that requires pretending. With Nick, Seth claims a New York background and an interest in football that he does not actually possess. Aubrey objects that a false relationship cannot produce an honest commitment to Christ. Seth calls the lies small and insists he will say or become anything if it brings someone to God.

His method comes from a book that reduces witnessing to the letters in the name Jesus: join a target group, evaluate its beliefs, satisfy spiritual questions, unite the person with Christian faith, and support the decision. Seth also demonstrates the approach at home by adopting his mother’s unusual health interests and behaving like the carefree son he thinks she wants. He hopes eventually to persuade her to believe, but he never speaks honestly with her about his own faith.

Aubrey wants to become better at telling others about Jesus but refuses to lie. Following the book as closely as she can, she recruits Liz to help her join Nick’s supposed group at a batting cage. Neither girl understands baseball well enough to hold the planned conversation, and their complicated signals only make the encounter more awkward. Nick leaves them to practice.

During the evaluation step, Aubrey suddenly asks Nick whether rain falls on good and bad people alike. Nick takes the question literally and discusses whether they are indoors or near an open window. When she tries to satisfy spiritual questions by asking what will happen if his new barking tree frog dies, Nick thinks she wants to flush the pet down a toilet and is horrified.

For the next step, Aubrey and Liz offer Nick a Christian novel. He connects it to a news report about believers waiting on a restaurant roof while dressed as food and spends the conversation laughing at them. The girls retreat before they can explain the book.

They finally attend Nick’s football scrimmage to demonstrate support. Their loud cheering embarrasses him in front of the other players, and he asks them to stop or leave. Seth decides to rescue the project by joining the game, though he has learned its rules only from reading the night before. The plan ends when an enormous player known as Moose charges him and leaves his whole body injured.

Discouraged, Aubrey tells Whit that she truly wants to share Jesus but always says the wrong thing. Whit does not dismiss her desire or Seth’s motives, yet he reminds her that people are souls in need of God’s love, not assignments to complete with a quick formula. Readiness and knowledge matter, but the heart behind the words matters more than a perfect technique.

Whit asks what Aubrey’s father said on the night she chose to follow Jesus. She realizes that Ben did not persuade her with a formula. His faith appeared in the person he genuinely was. Whit encourages Aubrey to be herself, show people Jesus honestly, and explain faith in ways that connect with their real lives.

When Nick later guesses that Aubrey’s strange attention means she has a crush on him, she stops trying to manufacture a smooth transition. She simply tells him that she loves God, that God loves him, and that she cares about him. Nick does not want a longer conversation, but he appreciates her kindness. Whit reminds Aubrey that a person may take only a small step rather than immediately make a life-changing decision; the result belongs to God.

Aubrey then visits Seth’s mother, who worries that her beliefs about energy and health make others think she is foolish. Aubrey honestly says she is a Christian. Mrs. Young is surprised and asks what believing in God is like, because Seth has always acted too carefree to discuss anything spiritual with her. Aubrey describes needing God’s direction and knowing Him as a friend who understands and loves her. Her unplanned honesty gives Mrs. Young something serious to consider.

Seth still wants to continue working on Nick as a project and assumes he will know when his mother is ready. Aubrey urges him to recognize that Nick is a person, not a task, and that his mother may already be more ready than he thinks. The best next step for Seth is the simplest lesson in Whit’s counsel: stop hiding behind a carefully designed personality and try being himself.