WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:29.700 All right, you got beta show episode 22. I'm Jeff with the church digital podcast. Once again, it's powered by stadia church planting and I'm excited about this episode. I love this episode. We are going old school here with this episode. We've got Greg Atkinson coming in to the show. Now, Greg is a good friend and it's been very influential in my ministry career as I was doing church online as a digital pastor and then as I was heading into the church digital 00:00:29.700 --> 00:00:59.040 and eventually in the stadium. So Greg's a friend. Greg is also one of the top names right now when it comes towards first impressions. He's very active in consulting and helping churches literally around the country. He has been resourcing and equipping churches and first impressions and guest services for years. By the way, you can check out the first impressions conference as just one of the many things that this guy's doing to help resource churches. And part of that resourcing gets him 00:00:59.400 --> 00:01:23.260 evaluating physical services and also digital services. And so literally Greg's a secret shopper in the physical space as well as through like church online services. So I just wanted to ask Greg, hey, Greg, as a secret shopper, man, what are you looking for? What works? What doesn't work? What advice do you have? And so we really, I don't want to call it a controversial episode, 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:36.700 but a lot of the things that we're going to do. But a lot of the things that we touch on are very basic questions that there's not a solid answer for. Is it better to pre-record or is it better to go live? How long do you really think that sermon needs to be? 00:01:37.100 --> 00:01:50.820 Should we do campus specific announcements for online or should the broadcast campus just, you know, do their announcements and have that be online? Look, we can argue this stuff all day long, but I really wanted to go to the guy who's out there resourcing churches, 00:01:50.820 --> 00:02:00.580 the guy who's out there connecting with churches and ask them some of these basic, simple questions when it comes to how we're doing our church online services. 00:02:01.100 --> 00:02:09.580 So if you're looking for practical insight, if you're looking for essential directions on how to take some next steps, I would love for you to check out this episode 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:18.640 with Greg Atkinson, First Impressions Conference, as well as many other things around the country, and myself, Jeff, with the Church Digital and Stadia Church Planning 00:02:18.640 --> 00:02:24.960 in a conversation that I am simply calling Secret Shopper Tips for Church Online. 00:02:25.440 --> 00:02:26.780 Okay, everybody, here you go. 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:42.060 You have posted on your blog before screenshots from my blog where I was taking screenshots of Church Online experience and just sharing about it, just trying to encourage people. 00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:55.100 I didn't know it would take 12 years later, a pandemic, to get us all online, but I was talking about it in 2008, so it's been a journey. 00:02:55.800 --> 00:03:01.020 Man, that's been a minute, though, 2008, look at how much ministry has changed. 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:13.840 Look at how, I mean, even COVID aside, 2008 to 2020 February, a lot has changed in ministry life, and then that's fast-forwarded even more in this COVID season. 00:03:14.720 --> 00:03:23.740 Just today, I was talking at lunch with some pastors, and we were debating, you know, how much time has really accelerated in this COVID season. 00:03:24.480 --> 00:03:35.620 I've heard some technology experts talking about maybe two years to five years of technology kind of sped up, was kind of fast-forwarded in this season. 00:03:35.780 --> 00:03:49.580 And so it's a fascinating world that we're living in, where maybe even, you know, when Greg started online ministry in 2008 and working into that, it was really this, like, hyper-edgy concept. 00:03:49.940 --> 00:03:52.600 Not a lot of churches were doing it as a matter of what. 00:03:52.880 --> 00:03:59.000 Greg, when you started in 2008, what, five, six churches probably were serious about doing this online? 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:19.600 Yeah, the ones that come to mind that I remember watching in 2008 would be, you know, Brandon Donaldson at Life Church and Bradford Singleton and those guys at Seacoast and Charleston, Cross Point and Nashville, 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:28.600 you know, Central Christian in Las Vegas with Judd Wilhite, but there was just a handful of those I watched each week and write about. 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:33.860 Yeah, and there was, like, Potential Church was one of the—actually, I think it was Flamingo Road. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:35.640 Yeah, Flamingo Road at the time. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:40.420 They do a lot of screenshots of theirs, and I loved watching Flamingo Road online. 00:04:40.420 --> 00:04:44.600 And I actually went and spoke there in either 2008 or 2009. 00:04:44.860 --> 00:04:50.720 I was on my Church 2.0 tour and spoke there. 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:52.680 I believe it was 2009. 00:04:52.860 --> 00:04:56.980 I spoke at Flamingo Road and did a Church 2.0 gathering. 00:04:57.540 --> 00:04:59.640 But, yeah, I followed them for a long time. 00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:01.980 They were doing some great stuff down in your area. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:03.740 That's beautiful. 00:05:03.900 --> 00:05:07.760 We definitely need more solid churches down here in South Florida. 00:05:07.760 --> 00:05:13.440 So, hey, for this conversation, let's start pulling the thread here. 00:05:13.960 --> 00:05:16.660 And, Greg, I'd love to set you up here at the beginning. 00:05:17.640 --> 00:05:19.280 I want to ask this question. 00:05:19.400 --> 00:05:20.760 We did not prompt this. 00:05:20.900 --> 00:05:27.880 I normally would have thrown, Greg, some prompts or, hey, these are some questions that I would ask. 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:30.120 But, hey, so this is going to be raw, right? 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:31.640 Hey, that's the way it works at Clubhouse. 00:05:32.260 --> 00:05:37.940 What I'm curious is, and let this kind of be the first question, the first salvo as we're dialoguing here. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:48.160 What are things that we, when we do church online, and the average church, generalized here, of course, what are we missing? 00:05:48.160 --> 00:06:00.860 The goal is, with our church online services, to engage with people and either build relationships that funnel them into the physical service or to a digital small group or something like that. 00:06:01.220 --> 00:06:07.780 Either way, the majority of churches out there are looking at our services as really the front door to something. 00:06:08.420 --> 00:06:10.660 But oftentimes, we don't know who's watching. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:16.940 People are watching in isolation, in anonymity, and we're trying to engage there. 00:06:17.940 --> 00:06:19.300 And so I'm just curious. 00:06:19.900 --> 00:06:29.760 If you're looking at this church service programming, if you're looking at maybe some of the interfaces of Facebook or YouTube or even church online platform, 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:37.460 what are a couple things, quickly, that it's like, if churches would do this, if churches would take care of this, 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:43.420 as you're doing the secret shop or as you're advising churches, what are the common themes that seem to pop up that, 00:06:43.520 --> 00:06:45.580 hey, these are just some things that we need to fine-tune on? 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:47.480 Sure, yeah. 00:06:47.520 --> 00:06:48.560 I'll throw out some ideas. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:55.460 I also was going to say, kind of echo what you said at the beginning, that I didn't want this to be a one-way conversation. 00:06:55.660 --> 00:06:57.620 I would love to hear what others are doing. 00:06:57.840 --> 00:07:07.580 I see Tyler and Antoine and others on here that I know are doing some great stuff. 00:07:07.640 --> 00:07:10.320 I would love to hear what's happening around the world. 00:07:10.320 --> 00:07:15.840 And as this is a global ministry, so I'm excited to learn as well. 00:07:16.500 --> 00:07:24.120 I'm still a student as well as a leader and practitioner. 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:28.880 But I was working with a church this past weekend. 00:07:28.880 --> 00:07:35.080 I was at Ginghamsburg Church in Ohio doing an in-person secret shopper. 00:07:35.400 --> 00:07:39.220 And I always do dinner with whoever brought me in Saturday night. 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:48.360 And so I had dinner with the teaching pastor and the guest services director and the communications director. 00:07:49.140 --> 00:07:51.260 And we were talking over dinner. 00:07:51.260 --> 00:07:58.280 And I asked them if they knew some of the analytics and some of the metrics of where they're reaching people. 00:07:58.440 --> 00:08:02.540 They are doing a good job with Church Online on Saturday night. 00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:04.780 They're streaming their Saturday night service. 00:08:05.400 --> 00:08:07.440 And then they do in-person on Sunday. 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:10.880 And that was Saturday night. 00:08:10.880 --> 00:08:13.080 And then I visited a church Sunday morning. 00:08:13.180 --> 00:08:17.280 But Saturday night over dinner, I said, do you know where people are watching from? 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:24.220 And so Ginghamsburg Church is in Tip City, Ohio, which is very close to Dayton, Ohio, where I flew into. 00:08:24.980 --> 00:08:28.540 And also close to that is a city named Troy, Ohio. 00:08:29.260 --> 00:08:36.800 And so he said our top three cities of people that watch our online broadcasts are Tip City, Dayton, and Troy. 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:38.360 I said, well, that's awesome. 00:08:38.840 --> 00:08:42.220 I said, what I think is, I think people are watching. 00:08:42.440 --> 00:08:43.220 They're enjoying it. 00:08:43.280 --> 00:08:44.260 They're close to you. 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:55.360 And when this coronavirus goes away and more and more people get immunized and vaccinated and things get safer and things calm down. 00:08:55.360 --> 00:09:09.280 And we get a little bit back to where we feel safe and healthy and things are in a better situation, I said, I think you'll see some people come out. 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:12.840 And I asked him about how they were growing online. 00:09:12.920 --> 00:09:14.140 And he said, we're pretty steady. 00:09:14.300 --> 00:09:21.020 We've been for several months now just the exact same tenets and metrics. 00:09:21.220 --> 00:09:25.780 And I said, well, that tells me that they like what they're seeing because you're not losing people. 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:26.780 It's not decreasing. 00:09:27.180 --> 00:09:32.360 You have the same audience watching every week from your main three cities around the church campus. 00:09:32.680 --> 00:09:34.340 And they like what they're seeing. 00:09:34.680 --> 00:09:39.680 And I said, and I think when it's safe and when the time is right, they'll come in person. 00:09:39.860 --> 00:09:40.900 They'll show up in person. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:44.000 Because we talk a lot about, you know, this whole hybrid concept. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:48.280 And you've coined the term physical and digital. 00:09:49.500 --> 00:09:58.960 And I said, you know, it's one thing if you have somebody watching from Tokyo or the Philippines or Florida, you know, they're not going to show up at your church next week. 00:09:59.180 --> 00:10:10.580 But if your top three demographic are the three cities that surround your church and it's staying, holding steady, there's a good chance those people are going to show up one day in person. 00:10:10.580 --> 00:10:17.900 And that's where first impressions and guest services kicks in and things that I work with churches on to help them feel ready for that. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:22.500 But I like I came home Sunday. 00:10:22.580 --> 00:10:23.740 I flew home Sunday afternoon. 00:10:23.920 --> 00:10:25.900 Sunday night, I started watching church online. 00:10:26.140 --> 00:10:27.160 I caught up. 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:36.060 I watched Elevation Church and saw what I had missed from that morning since I wasn't watching in the morning like I typically do. 00:10:36.700 --> 00:10:39.840 And then I watched actually a church in Charlotte. 00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:42.920 I see Antoine on here. 00:10:43.040 --> 00:10:50.580 I watched Antoine's church and started looking at even a small church just doing some great things creatively. 00:10:50.880 --> 00:11:06.220 And had, you know, welcome video with hosts and, you know, it's one thing, as Jeff, you and I have talked about, it's one thing to just turn on your camera in the back of the room when the service starts and hit record and cut it off when the service ends. 00:11:06.220 --> 00:11:18.320 It's another thing, as I've talked about at Steve Fox Church Online Summit, to have a bookending approach where you have something at the beginning and you have something in or, as I call it, a pre and a post. 00:11:18.640 --> 00:11:31.540 But to have a pre-show where you're hearing from hosts and they're telling you what's going on and welcoming you from around the world and giving you some tidbits about the church and some announcements and things like that. 00:11:31.540 --> 00:11:38.480 And then this church also in Charlotte that I was watching, Antoine's church, had a post show, like an after party on Zoom. 00:11:39.680 --> 00:11:54.680 And so that, to me, is things that make it feel a little bit more like a real church online as opposed to a fly on the wall watching a recording of a service happening in person, if that makes sense. 00:11:55.640 --> 00:12:16.640 Yeah, to make it feel a little bit more engaging, to provide information and content that's exclusive to that online broadcast where it's not, we're shoehorning in, but you're actually providing a voice of somebody who's speaking direct, staring down that camera, talking only to those people online. 00:12:16.640 --> 00:12:37.700 Especially in this COVID season where we are just literally today, where there's like 60% of our people have not yet returned to the physical building to still engage in dialogue with them to the camera, to encourage them, even in their home environments or wherever they're watching. 00:12:37.700 --> 00:12:44.660 I love that example of like the three surrounding cities, they want to come back, they're just not ready to yet. 00:12:44.660 --> 00:12:55.200 And if we're ignoring them, if we're not dialoguing with them, if we're not engaging with them digitally, we run the risk of losing them. 00:12:55.420 --> 00:12:58.740 So that's some awesome tips right there. 00:13:00.100 --> 00:13:01.120 Great, give me one more. 00:13:01.220 --> 00:13:01.720 What else do you have? 00:13:01.780 --> 00:13:02.400 Well, let me say this. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:05.720 Audience, if you've got questions or thoughts, let's go ahead and have you do this. 00:13:06.140 --> 00:13:10.460 Raise your hand, use the little icon there within Clubhouse. 00:13:10.660 --> 00:13:16.080 I'll bring you up to the speaker level, but while you're thinking about that and doing that, Greg, man, one more tip. 00:13:16.220 --> 00:13:16.800 What do you got? 00:13:16.880 --> 00:13:17.960 What's something an easy one? 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:22.720 Yeah, because I like you, Jeff, and you took me to eat Cuban food in Miami. 00:13:23.020 --> 00:13:23.540 Oh, totally. 00:13:23.800 --> 00:13:24.740 I'm going to hook you up. 00:13:25.420 --> 00:13:31.680 Here's a tip that happened recently when I was consulting with the church, and I shared this today. 00:13:31.900 --> 00:13:37.940 I'm doing this week-long First Impressions Challenge in my Facebook group. 00:13:38.020 --> 00:13:40.900 It's just a free online course I'm teaching Monday through Friday. 00:13:41.640 --> 00:13:45.180 If you want, you can catch it tomorrow at 2 p.m. Eastern. 00:13:45.740 --> 00:13:47.880 It's just a free teaching I'm doing. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:49.280 But I talked about this today. 00:13:49.280 --> 00:14:08.480 A lot of churches, when you're in person and especially online, so like for me, Jeff, when I watch church online at home and I watch all the time and I'm watching in several churches, I'm watching Mike Todd at Transformation Church, I'm watching Stephen Furtick at Elevation Church and Craig Groeschel at Life Church. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:13.380 I'm watching Red Rocks, I'm watching Judd Will Hide and Central Christian. 00:14:13.520 --> 00:14:16.960 There's all kinds of churches I keep my eye on, including smaller churches. 00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:25.980 But when I watch a church, a great way for me to connect with you is a digital connection card or a texting solution. 00:14:26.180 --> 00:14:30.220 And I have partnered with Text and Church and used them personally. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:37.200 But I love I love Todd or Smith and the guys at Texan Church and what they're doing and a way to partner together. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:48.500 But what I what I realized recently when I was visiting this church to consult with was they said, if you're new here, we want to connect with you. 00:14:49.020 --> 00:14:52.160 Text the word new to and then they gave a number. 00:14:52.800 --> 00:14:58.040 And so I opened up my texting app, my message messages. 00:14:58.040 --> 00:14:59.040 Is it messages? 00:14:59.040 --> 00:15:07.540 Yeah, messages opened up my text and I typed in the word new and then I clicked the place at the top where you put your number in. 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:12.340 And I looked up at the screen to see what the number was and it had already gone off the screen. 00:15:13.040 --> 00:15:15.760 And the same people were complaining to me. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:16.900 Nobody fills out. 00:15:17.020 --> 00:15:18.360 Nobody does the texting. 00:15:18.660 --> 00:15:21.620 We're paying for Texan Church, but nobody's using it. 00:15:22.040 --> 00:15:25.900 And I said, well, I can tell you why right now, because it went off the screen in a flash. 00:15:26.180 --> 00:15:38.120 And so if I'm if I'm broadcasting church online and I want to connect with people and I want to do a digital connection card like you can do with Texan Church or other solutions, whatever, whatever that may be. 00:15:38.280 --> 00:15:49.460 And the reason texting is good for me, Jeff, is when I watch at home, I'm not on my laptop where I can type in an actual connection card. 00:15:49.460 --> 00:15:53.320 I'm watching on my TV, I have a giant TV in my den. 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:57.620 And I'm using Roku and I'm using the U-Version app. 00:15:57.740 --> 00:16:00.560 I'm sorry, the YouTube app. 00:16:00.980 --> 00:16:03.320 And so I'm watching Church Online on YouTube. 00:16:04.040 --> 00:16:11.160 And the only thing I have near me, because I keep this is another talk I've talked about before about being present and setting boundaries. 00:16:11.460 --> 00:16:15.040 But I keep my laptop in my office, so I'm not in my home office. 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:19.220 So I'm sitting on my couch and all I have with me is my phone. 00:16:19.380 --> 00:16:31.940 So if you want to connect with me and many others while we're watching online on our television, you've got to have a texting solution where you say, hey, if you're new today, we want to connect with you. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:45.100 We'd love to even send you a digital gift, which I'm a big fan of, whether it be a DoorDash gift card or a Starbucks gift card or make a donation to a local charity in somebody's name. 00:16:45.160 --> 00:16:47.160 There's all kinds of digital gifts that you can do. 00:16:47.160 --> 00:16:54.240 But like I said today, it all starts with gathering at the First Impressions Challenge I was teaching on this. 00:16:54.520 --> 00:16:59.800 It all starts with gathering their data, their information, and that comes through a connection card. 00:17:00.300 --> 00:17:09.700 And so if you don't have a texting solution, you're going to miss me while I'm sitting there just staring at my television with no computer nearby. 00:17:10.180 --> 00:17:11.960 So I'm just watching online. 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:23.640 And so when I watch each week and, you know, Chad from Elevation Church or whoever it may be says, hey, you know, if you're new today, text welcome or text new to 555-678. 00:17:24.360 --> 00:17:28.280 And then leave that number up on the screen is my tip of the day. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:29.980 Leave that number up on the screen. 00:17:30.320 --> 00:17:31.900 Allow me to get my phone out. 00:17:32.040 --> 00:17:36.200 Type in the word new or welcome or I'm new or whatever it may be. 00:17:36.540 --> 00:17:38.100 And then see the number. 00:17:38.300 --> 00:17:38.840 Type it in. 00:17:38.900 --> 00:17:39.440 And hit send. 00:17:39.540 --> 00:17:45.700 And then that should send me back a digital connection card where you collect my name, number, and email. 00:17:46.700 --> 00:17:54.840 Once you get all that, then you can interact with me and have a whole follow-up sequence, which I have partnered with, text and search to do this. 00:17:54.940 --> 00:18:07.900 We call it the easy button, but where you have a texting workflow, just like an email workflow, where there's a texting thing that's going to shoot it out. 00:18:07.900 --> 00:18:19.620 And what's cool is when I visited churches as a secret shopper, I'll fill out their connection card digitally, and then I leave and I go back home and I'm going about my normal life. 00:18:19.840 --> 00:18:24.520 And on Saturday, every now and then, I'll get a text from a church that I've consulted with before. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:28.360 It says, hey, don't miss tomorrow as we start our new series, such and such. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:30.200 See you at such and such church. 00:18:30.260 --> 00:18:32.120 And I'm thinking, oh, man, I miss those guys. 00:18:32.360 --> 00:18:33.620 That was a good trip. 00:18:33.820 --> 00:18:47.220 But all that to say, what was happening, Jeff, was they didn't leave the number on the screen long enough, but at the same time, they were complaining to me or mourning to me that nobody was using the texting solution. 00:18:47.420 --> 00:18:48.760 Nobody was filling it out. 00:18:49.340 --> 00:18:55.680 And I whipped my phone out, typed in the word new, and then looked up for the number, and I couldn't find it anywhere. 00:18:56.360 --> 00:18:57.920 It was gone in an instant. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:05.440 And so just leave it up there as a lower third on the screen and allow people time to type it in. 00:19:06.080 --> 00:19:08.520 That's my tip of the day for what it's worth. 00:19:09.060 --> 00:19:11.060 I mean, some several solid things there. 00:19:11.180 --> 00:19:18.880 First off, utilizing as a texting service where it's not tied into like Facebook or one specific platform. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:32.700 Having it even outside of church online platforms, so if people are watching it on social media, like having a text service that crosses over all platforms and is not, you know, social media dependent is a huge win. 00:19:33.040 --> 00:19:41.680 Arguably, that, by the way, that phone number is probably the most important slide or lower third of the entire service. 00:19:41.840 --> 00:19:46.880 Like, I don't want to take anything away from the gospel presentation that the lead pastor is probably going to have at some point. 00:19:47.420 --> 00:20:03.620 But aside from maybe those couple of minutes, getting people connected through that service to something else, gathering that information, allowing them to share with you to engage in that space within the digital service, within a physical service. 00:20:03.620 --> 00:20:04.520 This is crucial. 00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:06.020 This is such a big step. 00:20:06.020 --> 00:20:30.800 So taking that time, even repeatedly, I know specifically with the church that I serve at here in Miami, like they utter that phone number and that information three, four, five times over the course of the service, whether it's the new here or whether it's the give now or whether it's the serve, join a group. 00:20:30.800 --> 00:20:36.380 You know, it's, and when they communicate one, the graphics actually communicate all the buzzwords. 00:20:36.580 --> 00:20:40.060 And so like, it's just part of the culture and the DNA. 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:40.920 So crucial. 00:20:41.320 --> 00:20:46.120 Drip campaigns afterwards, like Greg, you set the, you set it up very well there. 00:20:46.320 --> 00:20:53.060 Once you have gathered that information, have the ability to follow up with more constant information. 00:20:53.500 --> 00:20:54.440 Were you served well? 00:20:54.520 --> 00:20:56.080 Are there other things that we can do? 00:20:56.520 --> 00:20:59.440 How have you liked, after two or three weeks, how have you liked the church? 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:00.600 How can we improve? 00:21:00.800 --> 00:21:07.740 Start to allow that the other people, the visitor, to dialogue with you and to converse about it. 00:21:07.760 --> 00:21:12.580 And you can do that very well via texting as well as even some of the other messaging platforms. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:14.020 So that's, that's solid. 00:21:14.280 --> 00:21:16.260 Well, I tell you what, I haven't gotten any questions yet. 00:21:16.620 --> 00:21:18.320 There's two things that come to mind. 00:21:18.860 --> 00:21:23.120 One church I forgot to mention that I'm watching a lot lately because I love what they're doing. 00:21:23.560 --> 00:21:31.960 And their lead pastor is speaking at the Fall First Impressions Conference, Alex Seeley, and that's the Belonging Co. in Nashville. 00:21:32.260 --> 00:21:33.960 I love what the Belonging Co. is doing. 00:21:34.120 --> 00:21:35.480 And I was watching them online. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:40.100 And Alex was on the stage doing a welcome, greeting people. 00:21:40.600 --> 00:21:50.260 And as she was talking, like you said, behind her on the screen for the whole time was the number to text in, text to give, text if you're new, text if you made a decision. 00:21:50.520 --> 00:21:56.160 Like the whole time, it was up on the screen over her head behind her as she was talking. 00:21:56.420 --> 00:21:58.420 And so I love what the Belonging Co. is doing. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:10.400 And then as you talked about, as that drip campaign goes on and gets more and more through, you know, I was looking at a free resource that Life.Church put out with the church online platform. 00:22:11.020 --> 00:22:15.000 And they're, they had nine ways to follow up online. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:20.860 And so if anybody wants to hear these, in case you haven't seen this resource, you can find it through CHOP. 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.780 But here's nine ways to follow up online. 00:22:23.840 --> 00:22:29.080 And I want to talk about the ninth way because it's what Jeff was alluding to, leading to with a drip campaign. 00:22:29.500 --> 00:22:31.660 But it says, one, create an email workflow. 00:22:32.360 --> 00:22:34.260 Two, invite to a Facebook group. 00:22:34.800 --> 00:22:37.700 Three, invite to a new believer class or small group. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:41.120 Four, record a welcome video for new guests. 00:22:41.760 --> 00:22:43.560 Five, send a text message. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:45.940 Six, send a card in the mail. 00:22:46.600 --> 00:22:48.120 Seven, set up a phone call. 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:52.180 I talked about that today at my first Impressions Challenges, the power of a phone call. 00:22:52.700 --> 00:22:54.240 Eight, schedule a video meeting. 00:22:54.460 --> 00:22:57.540 And nine, this is cool, have coffee with the pastor. 00:22:58.220 --> 00:23:01.500 You know, this online can lead to in-person. 00:23:02.820 --> 00:23:12.660 And so if I'm, like this church I was with this past weekend in Ohio that had the largest bit of their audience from the three cities surrounding the church, 00:23:12.820 --> 00:23:20.140 you could eventually, in a texting relationship where you're doing a drip campaign and getting to know somebody more and more and more, 00:23:20.340 --> 00:23:24.140 that could lead to coffee with a pastor or coffee with a staff member. 00:23:24.740 --> 00:23:26.560 And so that's just food for thought. 00:23:28.140 --> 00:23:28.840 Love that. 00:23:29.500 --> 00:23:33.220 And so I tell you what, like I'm not familiar with that nine. 00:23:33.740 --> 00:23:36.540 But if you're listening on podcast, we'll put the link in the show notes. 00:23:36.540 --> 00:23:39.280 If you're here, you can't Google it, can't find it. 00:23:39.660 --> 00:23:42.820 We'll have that link at some point later on to distribute out. 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:45.740 And so let's do this. 00:23:45.800 --> 00:23:47.820 I seriously, we do want to dialogue here. 00:23:48.320 --> 00:23:54.280 I mean, listen, I can ask Greg questions all day long and we'll continue to just to fill up time. 00:23:54.320 --> 00:23:57.060 But I would much rather hear from somebody in the room. 00:23:57.140 --> 00:23:58.260 What are you guys thinking? 00:23:58.760 --> 00:24:01.600 What's a struggle point that you guys are feeling? 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:05.420 Or even how do we do for what's working or what's working? 00:24:05.560 --> 00:24:07.300 Yeah, let's let's dialogue through here. 00:24:08.180 --> 00:24:13.720 Perennial students here learning up top would love to learn from somebody else in the room. 00:24:14.660 --> 00:24:17.280 Greg, let's let's get controversial here. 00:24:17.960 --> 00:24:20.040 Would love your take on this. 00:24:21.520 --> 00:24:25.200 Pre-recorded exclusive content online versus streaming. 00:24:26.140 --> 00:24:29.020 What do you think works better and why? 00:24:31.540 --> 00:24:33.120 That's a tricky question. 00:24:33.360 --> 00:24:34.460 That's a tricky question. 00:24:35.120 --> 00:24:38.180 I think what works better is live streaming. 00:24:38.780 --> 00:24:42.900 However, if you can't pull that off with excellence, pre-record. 00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:52.280 So I was just watching a church Sunday night when I got back from Ohio and they had pre-recorded the pre and post. 00:24:52.520 --> 00:24:53.500 And it looked excellent. 00:24:53.900 --> 00:24:54.960 And it felt live. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:56.160 It felt like it. 00:24:56.160 --> 00:25:00.040 And then I asked the pastor Monday, was that live or pre-recorded? 00:25:00.120 --> 00:25:01.180 He said, oh, it was pre-recorded. 00:25:01.260 --> 00:25:02.080 I said, that's what I thought. 00:25:02.140 --> 00:25:03.140 But it felt live. 00:25:03.540 --> 00:25:04.300 It felt live. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:13.900 But, you know, when I watch Elevation Church, they're showing what the temperature is in a country in the Philippines or in Brazil. 00:25:14.280 --> 00:25:19.640 You know, a country that's watching online and they're showing the temperature there and a greeting in their length. 00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:23.920 So it's obviously very live and they're talking about stuff in real time. 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:25.840 And so that's very complicated. 00:25:25.840 --> 00:25:27.580 And not everybody has that ability. 00:25:27.580 --> 00:25:39.500 So if you can't pull it off in real time, then then I would then I would I would be all about doing doing as many takes as and I told a pastor this this week. 00:25:39.500 --> 00:25:54.580 I said, do take after take after take until you get a winning video of a pre-recorded welcome by the host where they are personable and relatable and genuine and authentic and smiling and welcoming. 00:25:54.580 --> 00:26:00.720 And once you get that take, then package it and turn it into your pre-roll. 00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:08.040 But the other the other thing that I would mention is investing in the right equipment. 00:26:08.500 --> 00:26:13.540 I was watching a church online recently where it kept sputtering and kept skipping. 00:26:13.540 --> 00:26:16.780 And I thought they've got some Internet bandwidth issues there. 00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:19.860 They're they're they're struggling with their Internet where they're streaming. 00:26:20.040 --> 00:26:22.840 They're streaming from their church building. 00:26:23.220 --> 00:26:26.440 But the Internet is struggling to keep up. 00:26:26.620 --> 00:26:35.740 And so my wife and I were watching it together and it was sputtering so much and it was skipping and going in and out so much that my wife said, please cut that off. 00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:45.780 It's driving me crazy because it just wasn't enough of this investment in in in in infrastructure and in support. 00:26:45.780 --> 00:26:47.420 It's kind of like a slow website. 00:26:47.780 --> 00:26:54.420 If you don't have the right hosting for your website, then your website struggles and it's slow and people won't put up with that. 00:26:54.700 --> 00:26:56.140 Your website has got to be fast. 00:26:56.140 --> 00:26:59.340 So investing in the right equipment is good. 00:27:00.940 --> 00:27:04.300 Yeah, that's just the thought for what it's worth, because it just happened recently. 00:27:04.500 --> 00:27:10.660 Yeah, I know with encoding and Internet bandwidth upload, download. 00:27:10.980 --> 00:27:25.900 There's there's lots of factors that can go into providing a good solution or even providing a stable solution that is able to withhold some of the Internet outages and hiccups that may happen over any given service. 00:27:26.220 --> 00:27:30.140 So, you know, we can talk offline and I can point you in a direction towards that. 00:27:30.140 --> 00:27:35.940 But more more than anything, who do you Greg, who do you recommend kind of and I'll just open it up? 00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:36.300 Why not? 00:27:36.300 --> 00:27:39.340 Who do you recommend working with on some of those streaming solutions? 00:27:39.340 --> 00:27:52.860 Well, I think we both know the same same company that I'm going to say, but our first impressions conference and this is just a free endorsement that I am just a big believer in. 00:27:52.860 --> 00:28:00.840 But we partner with Rezzy used to be living as one and the reason I went with them, what they had reached out to me and we got connected. 00:28:00.840 --> 00:28:08.700 And but when I looked into them, I looked at who uses Rezzy that was formerly known as living as one. 00:28:08.700 --> 00:28:12.060 And we have friends that work there and I know we know a lot of the same people. 00:28:12.060 --> 00:28:23.160 But Life Church, when they stream, they're using Rezzy, Elevation Church, 12 Stone, New Spring, the Global Leadership Conference out of Willow Creek. 00:28:23.380 --> 00:28:30.780 When they're when they're broadcasting to all of their satellite campuses for the Global Leadership Conference, it's coming from Rezzy. 00:28:30.780 --> 00:28:51.340 And so when I'm looking for reliability and a product that I can trust to broadcast around the world to multiple countries, our first impressions conference, it gives me great peace of mind to know that Elevation and Life Church and churches like that with such a huge following use Rezzy, including the Global Leadership Summit. 00:28:51.340 --> 00:28:52.960 That has a lot on the line. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:55.220 And so we have been very happy with them. 00:28:55.220 --> 00:28:56.480 They have no downtime. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:58.260 They do a two minute delay. 00:28:58.260 --> 00:29:00.360 And so there's no downtime. 00:29:00.360 --> 00:29:01.260 There's no skips. 00:29:01.260 --> 00:29:02.260 There's no pauses. 00:29:02.260 --> 00:29:03.760 Everything stays solid. 00:29:03.760 --> 00:29:11.160 So I actually told that pastor that I met with this week, I said, I'm going to connect you with my friends at Rezzy because there's no downtime. 00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:11.920 There's no delay. 00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:15.000 There's no skipping, no sputtering, no buffering. 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:16.160 It just works. 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:19.160 Yeah, I would wholly agree there. 00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:22.560 And the Rezzy formerly living as one guys, they're good friends. 00:29:22.560 --> 00:29:28.840 I want to tell one story for and I did not want to make this a Rezzy commercial, but my favorite Rezzy living as one story. 00:29:29.940 --> 00:29:38.960 We were, I was working at a church contract, helping their tech stuff, kind of doing some upgrades for them. 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:41.580 It's a multi-site mega church down here in South Florida. 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:47.600 And we had just brought in Rezzy recently, was relatively new at that particular church. 00:29:47.600 --> 00:29:48.920 It was living as one at the time. 00:29:49.180 --> 00:29:52.680 And we were on a Sunday where we were serving out in the community. 00:29:53.580 --> 00:29:55.500 And so we were not doing church services on the Sunday. 00:29:55.940 --> 00:29:57.840 Control room, as a matter of fact, was shut down. 00:29:57.920 --> 00:29:59.000 We were doing some upgrades. 00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:04.360 And so all the gear was offline intentionally the Sunday because there were no church services. 00:30:04.360 --> 00:30:07.480 We could afford to move some things around and clean up. 00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:18.220 And what happened was seven o'clock in the morning, Eastern Standard Time, which I guess is like 6 a.m., where Rezzy living as one is located in Dallas with their tech support. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:22.280 They noticed that our encoders are offline when it shouldn't be. 00:30:22.360 --> 00:30:23.480 They're expecting them to be online. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:28.720 And so they shoot an email out to multiple people Sunday morning, 7 a.m. 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:30.600 Hey, we see your gears offline. 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:32.220 Can you get it online? 00:30:32.360 --> 00:30:33.720 We know your service is coming up. 00:30:33.820 --> 00:30:37.240 So do what you can because, you know, right now it's not working right. 00:30:37.940 --> 00:30:39.980 They sent another email like at 745. 00:30:40.180 --> 00:30:47.920 They sent another email at like 815 realizing, hey, the services typically come on at 9 o'clock and you're 45 minutes out. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:49.180 Your encoder is not working. 00:30:49.640 --> 00:30:55.260 Well, nobody's answering these emails because we're all not paying attention to anything service-related or email-related. 00:30:55.560 --> 00:30:57.580 We're going to go out and serve within the community. 00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:17.380 And this even gets to the point where they pick up the phone and they start calling people at 815 in the morning, freaking out that no one's answering the phone and they're 30 minutes away from this service and none of the encoders are working like they're supposed to. 00:31:18.080 --> 00:31:19.540 And so they finally get to me. 00:31:19.620 --> 00:31:21.460 I'm like the third or fourth person they called. 00:31:21.820 --> 00:31:22.960 And I just start laughing. 00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:33.560 I'm like, thank you very much for caring so much about this church service that you've sent three emails and made four phone calls trying to make sure that the service would go off without a hitch. 00:31:34.040 --> 00:31:37.360 We're not worried about it today because we're out serving in the community. 00:31:37.860 --> 00:31:38.820 And it was this great laugh. 00:31:39.080 --> 00:31:43.580 But it's like when you need support is Sunday morning. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:52.480 And whether it's resi or whether it's others, make sure that you've got somebody that's going to answer the phone Sunday morning at 9 o'clock Eastern. 00:31:52.480 --> 00:32:01.900 Because a lot of these solutions that are out there, they're not going to give you that support or they're not even going to be forward acting like we saw with resi in this situation. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:02.440 Go ahead, Greg. 00:32:02.500 --> 00:32:02.820 I'm sorry. 00:32:02.820 --> 00:32:15.440 I was going to say I've experienced that personally as a campus pastor at a multi-site church at a video venue where we relied on streaming and video teaching. 00:32:16.220 --> 00:32:30.020 And when the Internet provider for our city was not in the office on Sunday morning and we had issues and I had to get up there and preach live as the campus pastor because we had no video. 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:31.840 So I'm very familiar with that. 00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:34.140 Get a company that's in the office on Sunday. 00:32:34.700 --> 00:32:35.660 Amen to that. 00:32:35.940 --> 00:32:39.880 And it's never a good time when the campus pastor stands up to preach at a multi-site. 00:32:39.880 --> 00:32:45.520 I'm just telling you, as a production guy of multi-site, when that happens, the following Monday is not a good experience. 00:32:45.840 --> 00:32:47.300 It's just not a good thing. 00:32:47.700 --> 00:32:53.840 Hey, so I hate to call people out, but would love some insight here. 00:32:54.580 --> 00:32:58.540 What are some lessons that you guys are learning as you're looking at church online? 00:32:58.680 --> 00:33:01.740 What's the secret for what you guys are doing? 00:33:01.900 --> 00:33:05.260 How have you seen engagement work online? 00:33:05.360 --> 00:33:08.600 Feel free to raise that hand, come up, and let's dialogue through it. 00:33:08.600 --> 00:33:15.000 I'm running out of my questions that I was going to ask Greg here, so I would love somebody to kind of fill in the gap. 00:33:16.180 --> 00:33:18.120 And we can keep talking. 00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:20.560 Hey, Greg, let me ask this. 00:33:21.100 --> 00:33:25.720 I'm just trying to think, things that I wrestle with as a digital pastor. 00:33:28.320 --> 00:33:37.820 Are announcements exclusive for online, or am I video taking the campus pastor announcements from Broadcast Campus and showing that online? 00:33:38.380 --> 00:33:39.600 What's a better approach? 00:33:39.820 --> 00:33:40.460 What do you think? 00:33:41.260 --> 00:33:42.700 Can you say that one more time? 00:33:43.020 --> 00:33:43.680 What was the question? 00:33:44.060 --> 00:33:44.540 Yeah, sorry. 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:46.020 I think my internet was breaking up. 00:33:46.060 --> 00:33:46.280 Sorry. 00:33:48.120 --> 00:33:52.380 Campus announcements, the announcements in the church service broadcast. 00:33:53.080 --> 00:34:01.600 Is it better to do something exclusive for the online environment, or can we get away with doing the broadcast campus pastor and showing those announcements? 00:34:02.600 --> 00:34:04.000 Yeah, tricky question. 00:34:04.220 --> 00:34:06.900 You can get away with it, but it's better to have exclusive. 00:34:07.260 --> 00:34:18.060 So some of the large churches that I watch online, they cut away to the online host or the online campus pastor to do specifically geared to the online church. 00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:23.720 And they cut back into the service for music and preaching and things like that. 00:34:24.460 --> 00:34:38.780 You just have to be able to see a countdown clock, you know, live on the spot on the stage and stay in sync with each other that, you know, churches like Elevation and Life Church and others do so well, because they've been doing it for a long time in the multi-site world. 00:34:38.900 --> 00:34:41.900 They were always on the clock as campus pastors. 00:34:41.900 --> 00:35:07.460 And so if you can have somebody on stage that's a host doing an announcement or a welcome, and they're watching a clock, and then you have a campus pastor or a host in front of the cameras off to the side or outside doing a welcome or announcements and or announcements, and they're watching a clock and everybody stays synced up, and then you go back live to the worship team for the next song, that's great. 00:35:07.980 --> 00:35:10.300 But, yeah, you could get away with somebody in the room. 00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:29.480 That's obviously a lot easier, and I know you're a video director like myself, but if you can do something exclusive, anytime you can have people talking to looking, you know, I talk about being known and seen, and I always mention the movie Avatar, where they said, I see you. 00:35:29.960 --> 00:35:36.880 To be able to talk straight to people watching online and engage with them is always going to be a win. 00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:39.540 I have a question. 00:35:40.300 --> 00:35:41.180 He's a friend of mine. 00:35:41.180 --> 00:35:41.240 He's a friend of mine. 00:35:41.780 --> 00:35:42.820 I'll be saying this week. 00:35:43.340 --> 00:35:44.620 Charlotte, represent. 00:35:46.900 --> 00:35:52.940 I love this, the idea, and I've had several churches talk to me about this. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:36:03.060 Hey, Jeff, is it possible where I can see, as the pastor on stage, can I see the names of the people that are watching online? 00:36:03.300 --> 00:36:21.180 Can I see the chat room, like on a stage TV, forward-facing, where only I, the speaker or the host, can see it, so that I can literally mention people by name, where I can ask questions and then dialogue with them, like, in real time, as if they're in the room? 00:36:21.180 --> 00:36:32.440 You know, it's almost like, if you've ever watched anything on Twitch, how a streamer is engaging with the people in the chat room and literally having, like, that level of conversation. 00:36:32.560 --> 00:36:50.900 I think that's this next level, this next opportunity that we have in the physical space to really, like, engage with people that are watching digitally, to mention them by name, to talk with them, to have them ask questions in the chat room. 00:36:50.900 --> 00:37:05.880 Yes, chat hosts can engage, and they do a great job, but oh my gosh, to have a teacher, to have a communicator say something and to mention them and bring them into the message or into a prayer time or announcement time. 00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:14.680 Like, I think that's a whole other level of engagement, where physical environments are recognizing and speaking to a digital space. 00:37:14.680 --> 00:37:30.640 I've even had pastors ask me, hey Jeff, can I actually, like, see the people, like, they want to do Zoom church, if only to be able to have a TV running Zoom somewhere up on the screen, so they can see all the people with the webcams on. 00:37:30.640 --> 00:37:33.380 They want, like, that level of interactivity. 00:37:34.080 --> 00:37:34.480 Absolutely. 00:37:35.880 --> 00:37:36.320 Beautiful. 00:37:36.580 --> 00:37:51.500 Hey, do you know anybody that is running those two clocks, like, where the message is live, and so campus pastor, and then digital pastor doing the announcements, and it's all timed? 00:37:51.820 --> 00:37:56.220 I know, like, the elevations and some of the larger churches do that. 00:37:56.660 --> 00:38:04.640 Have you seen smaller churches, like, get to that level of programming, where the announcements are even timed and synced, like, almost to the second? 00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:07.920 Is that popular at, like, a small to medium-sized church? 00:38:07.980 --> 00:38:08.620 I'm just curious. 00:38:09.340 --> 00:38:10.500 Well, two-fold answer. 00:38:10.680 --> 00:38:12.020 One, I haven't seen it. 00:38:12.220 --> 00:38:14.020 Two, but I don't doubt it's out there. 00:38:14.020 --> 00:38:21.940 I think that's why I look to Clubhouse and social media to find out what's going on out there. 00:38:22.020 --> 00:38:23.840 That's why I want to hear from other people in here. 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:33.320 I see Tim and Tyler and people I recognize from social media, and I know Antoine's got a hand up, but I want to, Tim's got something to say. 00:38:33.700 --> 00:38:36.780 I want to hear from people because I'm sure it's out there. 00:38:37.200 --> 00:38:40.620 I'm not aware of it on a smaller scale, but I'm sure it's out there. 00:38:40.620 --> 00:38:46.880 And by the way, Jeff, you probably know this, but I posted it for the first time today on Facebook. 00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:55.820 But me and my buddy Neil Smith created the Social Media Church Conference that's coming this summer. 00:38:56.240 --> 00:39:00.800 And if you haven't checked it out yet, you're going to love this lineup of speakers. 00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:08.080 And we have people specifically speaking on Clubhouse and TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. 00:39:08.860 --> 00:39:14.760 But there are speakers that are speaking about people that I follow on Clubhouse that I love. 00:39:14.860 --> 00:39:20.120 And it's Sean Cannell with YouTube and Brady Share and all these guys and Nona Jones for Facebook. 00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:24.300 But check out socialmedia.church slash conference. 00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:31.260 But, you know, Nils and these guys, and remember DJ, the Social Media Church Podcast has been around for a decade. 00:39:32.020 --> 00:39:41.800 And I've been on it a few times, but we just announced this week the new conference, the brand-new virtual conference where you can learn from social media influencers 00:39:41.800 --> 00:39:47.480 and learn how to leverage tools like Clubhouse because this is such a cool meeting. 00:39:47.660 --> 00:39:49.400 But I don't want to speak anymore. 00:39:49.480 --> 00:39:50.120 I'll go quiet. 00:39:50.120 --> 00:39:53.920 I see we've got Antoine and Tim, however you want to manage that, Jeff. 00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:55.200 We have some questions. 00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:56.680 You know what? 00:39:56.840 --> 00:39:59.120 I can't see any hand raised on my screen. 00:39:59.540 --> 00:40:00.640 Oh, you can't see it? 00:40:00.700 --> 00:40:03.040 No, I guess it's because you started the room. 00:40:03.140 --> 00:40:05.400 Let's go ahead and raise them up and bring them up. 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:13.140 Whoever gets their hand raised, Greg, since I can't see it, just bring them up and I'll kind of navigate through some of that. 00:40:13.960 --> 00:40:16.920 So, Antoine, thank you, sir, for jumping in. 00:40:16.920 --> 00:40:20.840 Sir, I don't think I've met you yet, but it's awesome to have you on. 00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:23.900 What questions do you have? 00:40:23.940 --> 00:40:26.240 What thoughts do you have here on this topic? 00:40:27.280 --> 00:40:35.260 You've asked several of them, but I think my question was building from where you are to where you're trying to go and how do you master the middle? 00:40:36.060 --> 00:40:37.600 The equipment can be expensive. 00:40:37.860 --> 00:40:39.260 The infrastructure can be expensive. 00:40:39.260 --> 00:40:44.360 So, what advice would you give a church who's getting into the digital space? 00:40:45.200 --> 00:40:55.480 How do you gradually grow as opposed to being overwhelmed by so much that you could do, but you have a limited budget? 00:40:55.700 --> 00:40:58.260 So, that was what my question was being framed as. 00:40:58.860 --> 00:41:00.700 Yeah, that's a great question. 00:41:00.780 --> 00:41:01.680 Greg, you want to take a shot? 00:41:02.680 --> 00:41:10.260 Yeah, what's cool is, Jeff, nobody knows this, but I'm actually, Antoine is a church planner in Charlotte. 00:41:11.160 --> 00:41:16.200 And, you know, I live in Charlotte, but Antoine and I are about to team up. 00:41:16.280 --> 00:41:21.240 I'm going to be joining his church, Think Kingdom, as executive pastor. 00:41:22.040 --> 00:41:24.420 And we're going to get there. 00:41:24.820 --> 00:41:29.140 Antoine and I have already had some discussions, and I've been watching what they're doing online. 00:41:29.140 --> 00:41:39.760 And for a small church plant, you wouldn't believe how ambitious they are and how much they are doing that just blows my mind. 00:41:39.900 --> 00:41:45.820 So, are there small and medium-sized churches out there that are doing tough things? 00:41:46.140 --> 00:41:46.700 Absolutely. 00:41:47.720 --> 00:41:58.700 But I would say the foundational piece of advice is you've got to start from somewhere, start from where you are, and then be patient and have a long-term view. 00:41:59.500 --> 00:42:04.900 My goal that I've always told everybody in ministry is we are in this for the long haul. 00:42:05.300 --> 00:42:07.360 You've got to think in terms of years. 00:42:07.860 --> 00:42:16.540 Just have a long-term view of this year we'll invest in this camera, and next year we'll get this camera, and then the next year we'll upgrade to this switcher. 00:42:16.540 --> 00:42:19.500 And then just think in terms of years and seasons. 00:42:20.160 --> 00:42:24.600 It's something I'm writing about right now in my fifth book, thinking in terms of seasons. 00:42:25.120 --> 00:42:27.300 But we will get there eventually. 00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:31.240 We want to think in terms of seasons and years. 00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:33.880 But, Antoine, you guys are questioning. 00:42:34.020 --> 00:42:41.500 You're doing some great stuff to be a church plant with a limited budget in a multi-ethnic context. 00:42:41.500 --> 00:42:43.700 So you guys are doing some amazing things. 00:42:43.700 --> 00:42:46.460 But just keep pressing forward. 00:42:46.620 --> 00:42:48.340 That's how I sign a lot of emails. 00:42:48.780 --> 00:42:49.840 Keep pressing on. 00:42:50.080 --> 00:42:51.220 But you'll get there. 00:42:51.860 --> 00:42:52.580 We'll get there. 00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:53.700 That's beautiful. 00:42:54.000 --> 00:42:56.500 Greg Atkinson getting back in the game. 00:42:57.120 --> 00:43:00.420 Joining on as executive pastor, executive director. 00:43:00.760 --> 00:43:01.780 That's awesome. 00:43:02.580 --> 00:43:03.980 Excited to see Antoine. 00:43:04.100 --> 00:43:05.420 Man, I'm excited about your church. 00:43:05.560 --> 00:43:18.120 There's a lot of – I'm excited meeting any planner that's like gung-ho and not living life like a planner, but instead, you know, pedal to the metal, doing everything they can. 00:43:18.200 --> 00:43:28.920 So even your heart asking this question about how to start, how to grow, you know, I would echo what Greg says, but I would also add this, experiment. 00:43:30.060 --> 00:43:31.460 Especially as a planter. 00:43:32.180 --> 00:43:32.680 It's funny. 00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:34.420 I just had lunch. 00:43:34.500 --> 00:43:35.860 I was running in last second. 00:43:36.400 --> 00:43:38.380 We're working with a church plant. 00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:43.500 I'm attending, my family were attending a church plant, a Stadia church plant down here in Miami. 00:43:43.500 --> 00:43:48.520 And the guys just were at the church, literally, they did their first pop-up service Easter Sunday. 00:43:48.700 --> 00:43:49.740 So everything's fresh. 00:43:50.280 --> 00:43:51.040 Everything's new. 00:43:51.700 --> 00:43:57.160 And for planters like that, and it sounds like planters like you, this is a beautiful opportunity. 00:43:57.460 --> 00:44:00.820 You don't have the baggage of a legacy church, right? 00:44:00.920 --> 00:44:02.980 And so you get to create the DNA. 00:44:03.220 --> 00:44:04.540 You get to create the voice. 00:44:04.860 --> 00:44:07.440 Like, you've got so much opportunity ahead. 00:44:07.780 --> 00:44:18.520 But because you don't have the experience of knowing how things are operating or how things are going to respond, it's really crucial to experiment. 00:44:19.300 --> 00:44:21.160 Try something for a short while. 00:44:21.500 --> 00:44:22.220 Did it work? 00:44:22.320 --> 00:44:23.180 Did it not work? 00:44:23.360 --> 00:44:24.500 Iterate and try again. 00:44:25.400 --> 00:44:31.780 You know, maybe you're using a lesser quality camera or even a free solution as an experiment. 00:44:31.780 --> 00:44:36.580 Maybe you're contracting labor instead of hiring a person. 00:44:36.820 --> 00:44:41.760 You're doing things in short, simple ways that you can see. 00:44:41.860 --> 00:44:46.140 Is this getting us the result that we want or are we needing something different? 00:44:46.280 --> 00:44:53.800 Are we even going to be the type of church that's going to blow up YouTube or do we need to be a type of church that's doing something else? 00:44:54.180 --> 00:44:59.220 That's going to be writing and doing more blogging and doing more like medium.com stuff. 00:44:59.220 --> 00:45:10.180 So experiment with the different ways as cheap as possible so that you can find out the rhythms and find out the ways that God's really going to use you and your church's giftedness. 00:45:10.400 --> 00:45:12.180 So love this question, sir. 00:45:12.260 --> 00:45:13.100 That is excellent. 00:45:13.340 --> 00:45:14.260 What's the name of the church? 00:45:14.360 --> 00:45:16.420 Tell me because I want to watch it from afar. 00:45:17.160 --> 00:45:22.600 Yeah, the name of the church is Think Kingdom based on Matthew 633, Seek Ye First the Kingdom. 00:45:23.460 --> 00:45:28.740 So this season that we're in, I appreciate you have an exclusive. 00:45:29.380 --> 00:45:31.060 So Greg let the cat out of the bag. 00:45:31.160 --> 00:45:35.580 So you should feel honored to know what we're what we have cooking up. 00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:45.920 But I think what we're what we're seeing because of the season that we're in is to be flexible, to be mobile and to use it as an opportunity because it's what you said, Jeff. 00:45:45.920 --> 00:45:51.960 It's the DNA and we're creating the DNA and we're also building the plane as we fly it. 00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:56.480 So that's exciting and also nerve wrecking at the same time. 00:45:56.660 --> 00:45:59.140 But just encouraging this season. 00:45:59.680 --> 00:46:00.440 That's awesome. 00:46:00.720 --> 00:46:04.640 That word that Jeff said, iterate, iterate just little by little. 00:46:04.800 --> 00:46:06.820 We'll just keep building the plane as you fly it. 00:46:07.020 --> 00:46:09.500 Think in seasons, think in terms of years. 00:46:09.600 --> 00:46:10.500 Yeah, yeah. 00:46:11.160 --> 00:46:15.140 Just we're going to improve this this season and then we'll focus on this. 00:46:15.380 --> 00:46:20.340 And, you know, how do you how do you how do you elephant one bite at a time? 00:46:20.440 --> 00:46:22.860 It's what I always tell churches when I come in. 00:46:24.860 --> 00:46:29.920 This title of this broadcast today was a secret shopper. 00:46:30.360 --> 00:46:38.680 When I do a secret shopper, I leave a church with a lot of items to work on and I always say to prioritize and to just take it one at a time. 00:46:38.900 --> 00:46:42.680 Don't get overwhelmed with all my recommendations, just doing one at a time. 00:46:42.840 --> 00:46:45.080 So I'm going to bring up Tim. 00:46:45.680 --> 00:46:48.920 Tim, go ahead and hit us with your question, man. 00:46:50.060 --> 00:46:51.860 I was just going to comment on you. 00:46:51.860 --> 00:46:57.040 Jeff, you asked about any smaller churches doing the timing thing in a live broadcast. 00:46:59.040 --> 00:47:01.940 We're we're kind of like a medium church, I guess. 00:47:02.060 --> 00:47:03.540 We're about prior to COVID. 00:47:03.640 --> 00:47:04.960 We were around thirty three hundred people. 00:47:05.380 --> 00:47:05.620 OK. 00:47:05.860 --> 00:47:11.720 And and online we were running and we were running quite a few there for a while. 00:47:11.740 --> 00:47:16.360 But that's because we were doing some good stuff with Google ads and then they changed everything and it tanked on us. 00:47:16.360 --> 00:47:27.800 But so but what we were doing was if the campus pastor had like a two minute section on planning center map, you know, planning out the service and everything, 00:47:27.800 --> 00:47:33.900 then I would come in on like Saturday night and record a video or whenever I could get to it. 00:47:33.900 --> 00:47:37.040 Basically, that would be that two minute time frame. 00:47:37.580 --> 00:47:50.240 And then we used a live stream switcher, which the software and it could have changed now because we don't really use it now because we're not doing live anymore. 00:47:50.320 --> 00:47:53.340 We're doing prerecorded since COVID started. 00:47:53.340 --> 00:48:02.260 But with live stream studio, we were able to just cut away and put up the video that's prerecorded during that time. 00:48:02.900 --> 00:48:13.240 And then when the campus pastor would get done speaking, we could set our end point and switch back over to the service live. 00:48:13.780 --> 00:48:16.200 It may be like a little minute delay or something like that. 00:48:16.660 --> 00:48:17.160 That's awesome. 00:48:17.380 --> 00:48:18.560 But yeah. 00:48:18.640 --> 00:48:20.440 Hey, Greg, let me let me ask this question. 00:48:20.780 --> 00:48:22.660 Did the content vary? 00:48:23.340 --> 00:48:27.640 Like, why would you do it at something exclusive for online? 00:48:27.780 --> 00:48:29.580 Was the announcement content different? 00:48:29.880 --> 00:48:32.240 Was it that you wanted to be more relational? 00:48:33.240 --> 00:48:35.420 Like, what was the win for your church? 00:48:35.520 --> 00:48:38.260 By the way, 3,300 is not a medium sized church. 00:48:38.540 --> 00:48:39.820 That's a pretty big church, bro. 00:48:40.540 --> 00:48:42.100 But talk to me. 00:48:42.140 --> 00:48:42.780 Give me why. 00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:44.800 What was the win for you in doing something separate? 00:48:45.660 --> 00:48:45.860 Yeah. 00:48:45.900 --> 00:48:47.460 So we didn't want it to be just a stream. 00:48:48.040 --> 00:48:53.940 And, you know, we would say I would get up and record this video and I would say, hey, you're here today. 00:48:54.240 --> 00:48:55.000 Join the chat. 00:48:55.140 --> 00:48:55.680 Say hello. 00:48:55.940 --> 00:48:57.160 Tell us where you're watching from. 00:48:57.480 --> 00:49:00.080 Don't just sit there and watch this thing, but engage. 00:49:00.080 --> 00:49:02.200 You know, you're participating with us. 00:49:03.020 --> 00:49:04.280 We want to get to know you. 00:49:04.400 --> 00:49:05.320 This is about a community. 00:49:05.720 --> 00:49:07.940 It's not about just a video that you're going to sit and watch. 00:49:09.040 --> 00:49:14.660 I mean, I did this every every week for I could almost do the whole spiel, you know, because I did it for so long. 00:49:15.720 --> 00:49:28.320 But so it was that, you know, the worst thing that was in our mind of a campus pastor coming out on stage and someone watching online and they say, hey, I've been in campus. 00:49:28.320 --> 00:49:29.020 Good morning. 00:49:29.240 --> 00:49:31.960 And if it was a seven o'clock service, then they're tuned out. 00:49:32.260 --> 00:49:35.120 Also, Abingdon is not relevant to people online. 00:49:35.900 --> 00:49:42.360 And then if he said anything like grab the card in front of you and let us know you're here, like none of that made any sense to online people. 00:49:42.460 --> 00:49:45.680 So we just wanted to specifically engage the people online. 00:49:46.680 --> 00:49:53.640 And now that we're doing prerecorded with COVID, we also had an opportunity to be picked up by our local TV. 00:49:54.060 --> 00:49:59.160 So we've been doing 11 o'clock on Sunday when football was canceled. 00:49:59.160 --> 00:50:01.400 We were on like the main NBC affiliate. 00:50:01.400 --> 00:50:06.740 Now we're on CW, so it's not quite as big of an audience. 00:50:08.160 --> 00:50:13.440 So we prerecord and now me and another guy kind of just do a little banter back and forth. 00:50:13.440 --> 00:50:15.560 And we say, you know, go to our hub. 00:50:15.660 --> 00:50:16.640 That's where you can connect. 00:50:17.860 --> 00:50:24.720 We've tried the text messaging thing, but we're kind of like an older retirement center type people. 00:50:25.040 --> 00:50:28.360 And we definitely have an older crowd and not everybody texts. 00:50:28.580 --> 00:50:30.600 So we haven't seen a lot of good luck with texting yet. 00:50:31.880 --> 00:50:34.920 But it's definitely something we're going to keep pushing on and do a little better. 00:50:35.040 --> 00:50:39.600 And I really like what you said, Greg, about keeping the number up long enough that that could probably play into what we're doing. 00:50:39.740 --> 00:50:41.640 So that's one takeaway I'm leaving with today. 00:50:42.220 --> 00:50:43.020 Yeah, thank you. 00:50:44.100 --> 00:50:44.940 Yeah, thank you guys. 00:50:44.980 --> 00:50:45.800 And I have to run. 00:50:45.860 --> 00:50:47.860 I wish I could stay longer, but it's basketball night. 00:50:47.920 --> 00:50:49.160 So I got to go play in the rec league. 00:50:50.220 --> 00:50:50.580 Awesome. 00:50:51.180 --> 00:50:52.640 Don't break anything, Tim. 00:50:53.200 --> 00:50:53.660 I'll try. 00:50:53.840 --> 00:50:54.460 Be safe. 00:50:55.240 --> 00:50:55.860 Thanks, guys. 00:50:55.860 --> 00:51:00.280 Put me in a basketball league, I would kill somebody before I would even kill myself. 00:51:00.600 --> 00:51:02.320 So that's not a good thing at this point. 00:51:02.940 --> 00:51:03.820 Nice to talk to you guys. 00:51:04.000 --> 00:51:05.240 Good to talk to you, Tim. 00:51:06.180 --> 00:51:09.120 Jeff, Dan was next, had a hand up. 00:51:09.280 --> 00:51:10.660 Dan, let's hear from you, man. 00:51:11.500 --> 00:51:11.880 Hey, y'all. 00:51:12.020 --> 00:51:12.920 Thanks for doing this. 00:51:13.320 --> 00:51:15.700 First time listener, first time caller. 00:51:15.880 --> 00:51:16.500 Glad to be here. 00:51:17.500 --> 00:51:20.880 So we are a legacy church with a ton of baggage. 00:51:21.220 --> 00:51:24.280 200 people, South Alabama, United Methodist. 00:51:24.740 --> 00:51:26.620 Half of our congregation is over 70. 00:51:26.980 --> 00:51:28.160 But that's a good thing, too. 00:51:28.900 --> 00:51:37.580 So we are going to set aside about 50 grand for audio, visual, streaming upgrades. 00:51:38.120 --> 00:51:42.520 We're already streaming, and we're doing pretty well for our size and compared to our peers. 00:51:43.200 --> 00:51:44.700 But we're not where we need to be. 00:51:45.320 --> 00:51:50.640 My question is, how do – so we've raised money to replace a roof. 00:51:51.260 --> 00:51:53.720 We've raised money to repair a parking lot. 00:51:53.860 --> 00:52:06.760 But when it comes to raising money for the future for more digital stuff, we're not sure what do we call the campaign, how do we sell it, how do we pitch it to people who can't quite see the benefit until it's fully there. 00:52:07.760 --> 00:52:09.660 Yeah, that's a great question. 00:52:09.660 --> 00:52:13.120 Greg, let me tackle this one first, and I'll throw it to you. 00:52:13.600 --> 00:52:15.760 This one hits close to home for me. 00:52:17.160 --> 00:52:19.000 Dan, my – it's funny. 00:52:19.120 --> 00:52:22.540 I've had this conversation with Alabama pastors before. 00:52:22.740 --> 00:52:28.640 So, like, it's – this seems to be a common theme with Alabama, small Alabama legacy churches. 00:52:29.400 --> 00:52:30.740 And so here's my answer. 00:52:31.340 --> 00:52:33.420 My mom is 73 years old. 00:52:33.880 --> 00:52:36.480 She lives down here in Miami with us. 00:52:37.160 --> 00:52:40.140 Not with us, with us, but, like, nearby where we live. 00:52:40.140 --> 00:52:54.340 And she, right now, probably teaches two online small groups, is very active in church-aligned within her church, and she's actually considering starting a third online small group. 00:52:54.400 --> 00:53:02.140 As a matter of fact, she's probably listening to this broadcast right now in the Facebook world or something like that, wherever she's connecting into it. 00:53:03.040 --> 00:53:07.360 She, at 73, has caught the vision of digital. 00:53:07.460 --> 00:53:08.660 Now, I'm a digital guy. 00:53:09.180 --> 00:53:16.220 So, yeah, my mom probably is wanting to connect with me at some level, and so that may have been the thing to get her in. 00:53:16.640 --> 00:53:32.440 But when I had that first conversation with my mom at 70 – when she was probably in her mid-60s, was retired at this point in life, and I wanted mom to teach a small group, I didn't talk to my mom from a technological standpoint. 00:53:33.540 --> 00:53:44.280 I mean, I'm adopted, true story, and so, like, genetics, it's not like this technological thing, the calling that I have, came from my family, although they're pretty technologically savvy. 00:53:45.060 --> 00:53:50.660 What I pitched to my mom was, hey, mom, you're a former business professional. 00:53:50.840 --> 00:53:55.900 You're a vice president of a – at one point of a Fortune 500 company. 00:53:56.780 --> 00:53:59.460 You're a business professional down here in South Florida. 00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:09.300 I've got three girls in their 20s, one studying to be a lawyer, one studying to be a doctor, and one is working on her MBA. 00:54:10.440 --> 00:54:12.420 Would you want to teach a Bible study with them? 00:54:12.540 --> 00:54:21.220 Would you maybe want to pass on – would you maybe want to disciple them, pass on some of the legacy that you have to these girls? 00:54:22.080 --> 00:54:31.980 And my mom, not looking at it from a technological standpoint, but from a mentoring, from a discipleship, from a spiritual standpoint, jumped all over it. 00:54:32.200 --> 00:54:39.160 Side note, these three girls lived in three different states, two different time zones spread across the country. 00:54:39.400 --> 00:54:47.600 So the only way my mom could do this was in context of doing it online through platforms like Zoom. 00:54:48.240 --> 00:55:00.380 And so she would tell me later on, Jeff, these small groups that she leads online, Jeff, it's like having the daughter that I never actually had because I'm an only child and I'm not a girl. 00:55:00.820 --> 00:55:08.920 So she was able to connect, she was able to share, she was able to extend her ministry life in the church that she attends. 00:55:09.500 --> 00:55:12.060 The church is a little more younger, a lot more younger. 00:55:12.460 --> 00:55:17.360 And so at her at 66, 67, 68, she thought she was done with ministry. 00:55:17.460 --> 00:55:18.360 She was hanging it up. 00:55:19.080 --> 00:55:28.300 And she got to this place, though, through digital, through doing online small groups and ministry, where she was able to extend that ministry on. 00:55:28.300 --> 00:55:42.700 As a matter of fact, she started bringing in other women who were at that same 60, 70, retired post-life, you know, work life and brought them in and started training them to do small groups in Bible studies. 00:55:42.840 --> 00:55:50.300 And she's multiplied out where now there's multiple groups meeting and some are being trained by the girls. 00:55:51.020 --> 00:55:53.260 Some are being trained by the women she's trained at all. 00:55:53.260 --> 00:56:00.480 And so we're seeing multiplication happen here digitally because somebody in their 60s stepped up. 00:56:01.140 --> 00:56:03.660 And I think that is the opportunity. 00:56:03.660 --> 00:56:10.320 As I've talked with that generation about some of the things we, Stadia, were doing digitally, like they're very strong supporters. 00:56:10.480 --> 00:56:11.220 They're all in. 00:56:11.600 --> 00:56:14.080 But I'm not winning them over talking about tech. 00:56:14.320 --> 00:56:16.080 It's not tech for tech's sake. 00:56:16.080 --> 00:56:22.620 It's tech as means to the end of discipleship, of disciple making, of spiritual development. 00:56:23.260 --> 00:56:28.960 And so I wouldn't make the pitch about technology. 00:56:29.180 --> 00:56:35.900 I would make the pitch about growing and developing people spiritually, not only today, but in the future. 00:56:36.440 --> 00:56:37.740 Kind of shift it that way. 00:56:37.860 --> 00:56:38.360 Go ahead, Greg. 00:56:38.360 --> 00:56:45.900 Jeff, I was going to say I have a personal story as well about my mom, which gets right to the heart of why this ministry matters. 00:56:46.640 --> 00:56:52.620 And communicates to elders, deacons, boards, anybody you have to talk to to get approval for stuff. 00:56:52.940 --> 00:56:54.460 But my mom has breast cancer. 00:56:54.640 --> 00:56:57.580 She's been battling breast cancer for two years. 00:56:58.000 --> 00:57:04.180 And through chemotherapy, her immune system got shot up where she had no immune system. 00:57:04.420 --> 00:57:06.180 So she couldn't be around anybody. 00:57:06.180 --> 00:57:16.660 So a year before COVID in 2019, she couldn't go to church and had to watch online and couldn't be around anybody because her immune system was compromised. 00:57:17.200 --> 00:57:20.020 And she was going through chemo and surgery and radiation. 00:57:20.340 --> 00:57:29.920 And then the year 2020 during COVID, she still had a weakened immune system, even though chemo was mostly behind her. 00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:35.860 Every now and then she has to take a chemo pill, but the chemotherapy was behind her, but she couldn't be around anybody. 00:57:36.520 --> 00:57:39.900 And so she had a small group from her church. 00:57:41.360 --> 00:57:43.120 And she's a part of a church plant. 00:57:43.240 --> 00:57:44.520 My mom's young at heart. 00:57:44.620 --> 00:57:51.840 This is the second church plant she's been a part of since I left for college over 20-something years ago. 00:57:52.020 --> 00:57:55.140 But she's a part of a young church plant. 00:57:55.240 --> 00:57:57.020 And they're the old people in the church. 00:57:57.400 --> 00:58:03.600 And they actually had their small group come out on Christmas and do Christmas caroling outside. 00:58:03.900 --> 00:58:06.380 My mom heard singing and went outside. 00:58:06.380 --> 00:58:15.400 And there was a small group of young adults, all with masks on, standing outside caroling, turning the online, the virtual, to in-person. 00:58:16.160 --> 00:58:21.420 And my mom stood outside on the porch with her mask on, crying, listening to Christmas caroling. 00:58:22.040 --> 00:58:31.740 But this church plant, which I'm so proud of, took shepherding and caring for those in their congregation seriously, even the so-called old ones. 00:58:31.800 --> 00:58:40.400 And so my mom still, to this day, is not able to go back in person yet just because of a compromised immune system. 00:58:40.940 --> 00:58:44.080 But she's faithful and watches every week online. 00:58:44.360 --> 00:58:52.560 And so, you know, whether it be a TV broadcast, like my mom has watched Charles Stanley for years at First Baptist Atlanta or Church Online, 00:58:53.000 --> 00:58:57.740 you just never know who you're reaching and why they're watching through that means. 00:58:58.640 --> 00:59:02.880 You know, Church Online doesn't have to be just for cool, young 20-somethings. 00:59:03.320 --> 00:59:09.940 My mom is in her late 60s watching Church Online from home just because she can't get out. 00:59:09.940 --> 00:59:20.580 And so I would like, you want to always start with the why, but I would piggyback on what Jeff was saying about getting to the heart of ministry and why we do what we do. 00:59:21.160 --> 00:59:21.940 So good. 00:59:22.120 --> 00:59:23.020 Really good right there. 00:59:23.120 --> 00:59:26.280 Hey, and we got to talk mom stories, Greg. 00:59:26.400 --> 00:59:27.300 This is awesome. 00:59:27.520 --> 00:59:28.160 I love this. 00:59:28.400 --> 00:59:29.760 I've never heard that story from you. 00:59:29.840 --> 00:59:30.640 That's beautiful. 00:59:31.880 --> 00:59:33.540 You're reaching different. 00:59:34.160 --> 00:59:35.080 Here's the challenge. 00:59:35.160 --> 00:59:37.520 And I don't think we, the church, I don't think we've realized this yet. 00:59:38.120 --> 00:59:42.860 We reach a different type of person in digital space than we do physically. 00:59:43.720 --> 00:59:48.080 You know, Greg's talking about his mom, for whatever reasons, isn't coming into the space. 00:59:48.500 --> 00:59:50.220 Yes, there is overlap. 00:59:50.980 --> 00:59:59.740 There are people that may be quote unquote lazy, may not want to come into the building, and would rather process it online. 01:00:00.120 --> 01:00:09.000 But the reality is, is that maybe what we're doing digitally is okay, even at the level of discipleship as physically. 01:00:09.680 --> 01:00:13.700 My parents, you know, like I said earlier, they're on the older side of the equation. 01:00:13.900 --> 01:00:19.280 The church that they attend is very young, kind of, even by COVID standards, it's packed out. 01:00:19.360 --> 01:00:21.340 It's a very kind of crowded space. 01:00:21.340 --> 01:00:29.280 So even pre-COVID, they weren't going to the physical building regularly, but they were involved in multiple small groups. 01:00:29.280 --> 01:00:41.960 They serve in multiple capacities within the community, doing things for homeless ministry, care closets, providing for the needy, even leading out in some of these areas. 01:00:41.960 --> 01:00:49.300 And so there's opportunities to look at, hey, doing ministry digitally is okay. 01:00:49.620 --> 01:00:53.800 Engaging digitally is not better or worse than physically. 01:00:53.800 --> 01:00:55.340 It's just different. 01:00:55.720 --> 01:01:05.800 And if we, the church, could look at it that way and not judge physical environments or digital environments, one being better than the other, all of a sudden, we're going to open up this opportunity. 01:01:06.000 --> 01:01:29.740 Because now digitally, if we really did digital ministry the way that we can, if we looked at it, not as a front door to physical, but as an opportunity to reach a different type of person, the churches that are doing that right now are seeing phenomenal results by reaching a digital person digitally and then leading them into discipleship. 01:01:29.740 --> 01:01:35.000 We can have all sorts of conversations on that later, but I'm excited to see Jeffrey up here. 01:01:35.160 --> 01:01:37.700 Jeffrey's got a question or a thought. 01:01:37.860 --> 01:01:39.100 So what are you thinking? 01:01:39.260 --> 01:01:44.440 What are you, what's your thoughts on this idea here, engaging and talking with people online? 01:01:45.540 --> 01:01:47.920 I think it's necessary. 01:01:48.160 --> 01:02:01.420 I mean, I think you're at a spot now where, where people are more, I think they're more apt to jump on to a church's Facebook live more before they are to actually walk into a building. 01:02:02.480 --> 01:02:07.240 And so not to put any pressure on anybody with that kind of statement. 01:02:07.240 --> 01:02:19.080 I think a lot of us, a lot of times we, we kind of fall trap and we look at places like Elevation or we look at places, you know, like Transformation Church. 01:02:19.080 --> 01:02:24.260 And we look at other, other different places that are, that are, you know, somewhat killing it online. 01:02:24.440 --> 01:02:27.280 And all we're seeing is nothing but the highlight reel. 01:02:27.400 --> 01:02:29.820 And we keep forgetting that there's behind the scenes footage. 01:02:29.820 --> 01:02:31.740 We forget that they had to start somewhere. 01:02:32.540 --> 01:02:37.000 And so I would say, you know, don't, don't, don't count, don't count out the small beginnings. 01:02:37.180 --> 01:02:39.620 You know, I go to a very large church. 01:02:40.420 --> 01:02:42.780 I'm not the pastor, I'm not on staff, just to volunteer. 01:02:43.020 --> 01:02:45.180 I volunteer on the production side of things. 01:02:45.180 --> 01:02:48.740 So I run broadcast for most Sundays. 01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:59.620 And through that, you know, pre-COVID, we had a decent online audience and it wasn't very big. 01:02:59.640 --> 01:03:01.560 And we really weren't devoting a lot of time to it. 01:03:02.300 --> 01:03:18.240 But now in the, you know, when COVID hit and the middle of COVID, hopefully we're getting out of COVID, we have really focused a lot of attention to that online campus and almost made it just as, as a priority as an actual campus that we have. 01:03:19.300 --> 01:03:26.740 And we've seen, and we've seen like, I believe Easter, there was, we saw, I don't think it was like, oh man, I can't remember. 01:03:26.840 --> 01:03:30.900 I think it was like 10 million plus that watched our Easter, our Easter service. 01:03:32.860 --> 01:03:42.800 And so just, you know, kind of, kind of coming from, from, from the opposite side of it, of large church didn't have a huge online presence until COVID hit. 01:03:42.900 --> 01:03:44.720 Now we have a very large online presence. 01:03:44.720 --> 01:03:54.820 So, so don't count it out if you're, you know, if you're in that of just like really trying to focus in on, you know, building up your community right there, then going to online, do it. 01:03:55.280 --> 01:03:57.300 Build up something, you know, get, get something going. 01:03:57.460 --> 01:04:04.640 But don't, don't, don't feel like that you have to do both things at once and don't feel like you have to be an expert at both things at once. 01:04:04.740 --> 01:04:06.820 Build up one, then start building the other up. 01:04:06.820 --> 01:04:14.260 I think somebody was talking a while ago about, you know, this year we're going to buy this and then, then we're budgeting into next year for this and then budgeting into next year for that. 01:04:14.580 --> 01:04:17.020 You know, that's, that, I, I think that's a great idea. 01:04:17.440 --> 01:04:23.580 So I would just say, you know, don't look at these other places and think I've got to be them right now. 01:04:23.740 --> 01:04:32.580 You got to remember, you know, them right now is years in the making from where, from where they are, from where, from where they came from to where they are right now. 01:04:32.580 --> 01:04:42.820 So, so I would just say, you know, don't despise small beginnings and kill it when whatever you're doing so that whenever you get ready to, to jump online, you've got it. 01:04:43.140 --> 01:04:48.600 And, you know, places like this can help you learn how to hone those, those crafts and those skills and what you need to do. 01:04:49.020 --> 01:04:49.420 Thank you. 01:04:50.260 --> 01:04:50.500 Awesome. 01:04:50.860 --> 01:04:52.760 Yeah, that's exactly what I was telling Antoine. 01:04:52.880 --> 01:04:57.880 I actually used that phrase we were eating the other night and I said, don't, don't despise the small beginnings. 01:04:58.640 --> 01:05:01.920 And that's what I was saying about buying equipment year by year. 01:05:02.080 --> 01:05:03.080 You got to start somewhere. 01:05:03.320 --> 01:05:03.760 Absolutely. 01:05:04.560 --> 01:05:06.280 Jeff, I've got to run here. 01:05:06.440 --> 01:05:16.060 It's, it's, it's after six and I've got a, a dinner with a pastor and then we're going to go meet with a guy that's struggling and minister to him. 01:05:16.060 --> 01:05:26.580 And this is the first thing I've done, this is the first thing I've done in person in a long time because with COVID being in a, in a purely virtual world for the last year, but now I'm fully vaccinated. 01:05:26.580 --> 01:05:34.980 So, um, I've got to go meet with this pastor and then go, uh, pray with a guy that's struggling and, uh, first in-person ministry in a while. 01:05:34.980 --> 01:05:38.800 But, um, thanks for setting this up, man. 01:05:38.800 --> 01:05:41.620 And thanks for, uh, making it happen. 01:05:41.620 --> 01:05:42.460 Beautiful. 01:05:42.460 --> 01:05:42.620 Yeah. 01:05:42.620 --> 01:05:43.900 Hey, thanks for joining us, Greg. 01:05:43.900 --> 01:05:45.780 Appreciate the, the, the time that we got. 01:05:45.780 --> 01:05:50.020 Audience, uh, we do this, uh, every Thursday at five o'clock Eastern. 01:05:50.020 --> 01:05:55.660 We've got guests come in, check out the church.digital slash clubhouse for future conversations. 01:05:55.660 --> 01:06:01.840 We'll get them posted up there, but Greg, man, uh, and I know first impressions conference, uh, is, is a big deal. 01:06:01.840 --> 01:06:06.100 You talked about social media, uh, conference as well for social media church. 01:06:06.100 --> 01:06:14.480 So check out Google Greg Atkinson, uh, first impressions conference, uh, Greg, what's the website in passing, uh, before you take off? 01:06:14.480 --> 01:06:18.860 Yeah, the first, uh, first impressions conference.com is our website. 01:06:18.860 --> 01:06:25.180 And, uh, we are less now, less than a month away from our spring conference, May 13th and 14th. 01:06:25.180 --> 01:06:35.220 Going to be hearing from some amazing communicators and speakers and guest services directors and pastors like Kyle Itaman and Southeast Christian and Matt Fry. 01:06:35.220 --> 01:06:46.340 And, uh, uh, Rich Villadas and New York and Chad Veach at Zoe LA Chad uses social media very, very well and is big on TikTok and Instagram. 01:06:46.340 --> 01:06:54.040 And so we're going to be hearing from some amazing leaders at our spring conference, May 13th and 14th, first impressions conference.com. 01:06:54.220 --> 01:06:57.360 And then you can just Google social media church conference. 01:06:57.360 --> 01:06:59.400 Uh, that'll be coming in the summer in July. 01:06:59.500 --> 01:07:01.360 You got plenty of time for that. 01:07:02.180 --> 01:07:02.220 Awesome. 01:07:02.360 --> 01:07:04.020 So we're going to wrap right here, Greg. 01:07:04.100 --> 01:07:11.440 Thanks for the time, check out those, those resources and conferences, check out Greg in general, phenomenal resource there. 01:07:11.440 --> 01:07:19.640 Just even him as a person, uh, but we're going to close here for, for Greg, for Antoine, looking forward to great things coming out of, of that church there. 01:07:19.720 --> 01:07:21.780 This is a Jeff with, and I'll have everybody else who came up. 01:07:21.840 --> 01:07:25.080 Thank you, Jeff with the church digital and stadia church planning. 01:07:25.080 --> 01:07:29.800 Thanks for joining us, um, here at the pod and we'll see you next time on the show. 01:07:30.020 --> 01:07:30.640 Y'all have a good day. 01:07:30.720 --> 01:07:31.200 Thanks, everybody.