WEBVTT 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:05.560 Hey, all right, you got the beta show. I'm Jeff with the Church Digital Podcast, once 00:00:05.560 --> 00:00:11.340 again, powered by Stadia Church Planting. Here with the beta show, we answer your digital 00:00:11.340 --> 00:00:18.880 ministry questions on the air. Text them in, 484-324-8724. By the way, with the beta show, 00:00:18.940 --> 00:00:24.500 we do this live. We do put it on podcast. It is on archive on demand, but we do this 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:31.540 live every Thursday at noon Eastern. Hey, if you're out there watching, feel free to throw 00:00:31.540 --> 00:00:36.680 some questions, throw some comments, throw some thoughts here into whatever the platform 00:00:36.680 --> 00:00:42.380 you're on. If you're on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, wherever you're engaging and you're 00:00:42.380 --> 00:00:45.740 watching this, feel free to comment out there. Let us know that you're out there as we're 00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:50.180 talking through here. If you've got ideas, if you've got thoughts on what we're talking 00:00:50.180 --> 00:00:54.760 about, we would love to hear from you. And if you're out there and your sole purpose 00:00:54.760 --> 00:01:00.040 is to just distract me while I'm trying to talk and do this live, yes, I am talking to 00:01:00.040 --> 00:01:04.720 you, Ray DeArmas. Don't do that. Don't be that guy. Don't try to distract me. Oh, look, 00:01:04.740 --> 00:01:09.360 I'm getting a text literally right now. Okay. Hey, so text the digital ministry questions, 00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:17.400 484-324-8724. And what I want to talk about today, specifically here with beta episode 29, 00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:25.440 five reasons you might be a digital church pastor, a digital church planter. Five reasons 00:01:25.440 --> 00:01:31.340 you really should say pastor. Typo on the screen. That's awesome. Five reasons you might be a digital 00:01:31.340 --> 00:01:36.740 church planter. So we've been talking a lot here about this idea of a digital only expression of 00:01:36.740 --> 00:01:41.420 church. And this is not to challenge what's happening in the physical building as much as 00:01:41.420 --> 00:01:46.240 it is to acknowledge that there are other options, there are other opportunities, there are other 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:53.260 ways to do that. And by launching, by planting, by starting a digital only church, you've got an 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:58.800 opportunity to do ministry in a different way. And so we're going to highlight some of those ways, 00:01:59.060 --> 00:02:03.140 really going to highlight also some of the characteristics of maybe what some of these 00:02:03.140 --> 00:02:10.180 innovative, some of these pioneering entrepreneurial type people, what they're looking for and who they 00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:15.400 are. Who are these people that are getting out and trying to do something different here. So here we go. 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:23.520 Five reasons you might be a digital church planter in the making. Maybe you don't even realize it yet. 00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:32.180 Here you go. Number one, you're going to recognize that physical is a way, not the way. Physical is a 00:02:32.180 --> 00:02:39.920 way of doing ministry. Physical is a way of doing church. It's not the way. It's not the only way. 00:02:40.040 --> 00:02:45.160 Now, listen, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm talking so much here about the way. I'm kind of 00:02:45.160 --> 00:02:50.260 hearkening back. Okay, listen, some of you out there might even be thinking like Star Wars, this is the 00:02:50.260 --> 00:02:55.600 way, the Mandalorian. I am not that guy. I am not the guy right now that's going to bring attention 00:02:55.600 --> 00:03:01.900 to the Mandalorian. This is the way and that we have to, at least with our digital church context, 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:08.920 say that this in a digital only way or in a physical only way, there is not a way. There's 00:03:08.920 --> 00:03:14.640 not the way of doing church. The way is actually biblical. Okay, I'm going to take off the Mandalorian 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:22.700 little gif that was up on the screen. And so there is multiple ways of the models of the strategies of 00:03:22.700 --> 00:03:30.140 of church. What a digital only planter is, is somebody who recognizes that there's a different 00:03:30.140 --> 00:03:35.240 way to do it other than what you see in the physical space. Now, it's interesting. I'm going 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:41.640 to throw another gif here on the screen. I actually had this graphic was texted in to a group with a 00:03:41.640 --> 00:03:47.240 number of digital pastors in it. And the text may be hard to read on the screen. And I should say this 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:52.100 actually, because as a podcast, people are listening in audio only. So there's a photo of a sofa 00:03:52.100 --> 00:04:00.200 here on the screen and the words on the screen simply say this, church on a sofa will never be 00:04:00.200 --> 00:04:07.700 the same as church in a sanctuary. And so I had a digital pastor text this in to a number of digital 00:04:07.700 --> 00:04:13.860 guys. And it was funny in the moment when it came in, the digital pastors' reactions, there was like a 00:04:13.860 --> 00:04:20.000 bunch of like boo gifs that were posted in the group and a bunch of thumbs down emojis. And it just was 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:26.100 like, there was a negative context centered around this idea, centered around this comment of church on the 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:34.700 sofa will never be the same as church in the sanctuary. And it was funny, my response, and I would suggest 00:04:34.700 --> 00:04:42.600 the response of a digital only planter is going to look at that and say, "Oh, thank God. Thank God there's 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:48.700 something other than the model of what's happening in the church in the sanctuary." I wholeheartedly agree. Church on 00:04:48.700 --> 00:04:57.500 the sofa will never be the same as what happens in church in the sanctuary. And it should not be. Because we 00:04:57.500 --> 00:05:03.700 have an opportunity to do something different. Even though the majority of the world looks at what's going 00:05:03.700 --> 00:05:09.800 and let's go back to the building, the majority of Christians, let's go back to the building. A digital 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:15.600 only planter is somebody who's looking at this and saying, "There's another way. There's got to be another 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:21.800 way." And it's going to highlight and draw attention to that. Alright, number two here, let's pump it up. We'll go a 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:30.500 little quicker. A digital only church planter is more interested in building relationships than putting on a show. You're far more 00:05:30.500 --> 00:05:37.500 interested in doing relationships, building relationships, connecting, engaging, dialoguing 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:45.200 with people than building a show. By the way, surprisingly, digital planters often, at least the 00:05:45.200 --> 00:05:49.800 ones that I've met, they're not overly techie. Yes, they understand the technical aspects of what's going 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:55.900 on, but we're not talking, forgive me, we're not talking like technological geeks here. Okay, maybe a couple of 00:05:55.900 --> 00:06:03.900 them are. But really, they're normal people that understand how to build relationships utilizing digital 00:06:03.900 --> 00:06:10.900 tools in digital community. And you don't have to be a cutting edge, a bleeding edge geek guy as much as 00:06:10.900 --> 00:06:17.900 you need to be somebody who understands relationships and how to build those in digital space. How to create 00:06:17.900 --> 00:06:23.900 disciple makers in digital context. So definitely some challenges there. I'd love it. You're more 00:06:23.900 --> 00:06:31.900 interested in building relationships than putting on a show. Number three, digital ministry lessons of COVID 00:06:31.900 --> 00:06:39.900 excite you more than going back to the building. So in this 15, 16, 18 months, whatever it's been, where we've been 00:06:39.900 --> 00:06:46.900 learning how to do digital ministry as a result of COVID. Now that we're seeing this pivot, now that we're 00:06:46.900 --> 00:06:52.900 heading back to the building to re-engage and to do this in physical space, a digital only church planter, 00:06:52.900 --> 00:06:57.900 there's something gnawing away at the inside of you right now saying, "There's a better way." 00:06:57.900 --> 00:07:03.900 There's some, there's a, there's a voice, maybe it's the Holy Spirit, maybe it's, you know, bad tacos. But at the end 00:07:03.900 --> 00:07:09.900 of the day, there's something that's kind of urging inside of you. Maybe there's an opportunity to do 00:07:09.900 --> 00:07:16.900 this digitally, to stick with the digital plan, to maybe even explore a deeper understanding of digital 00:07:16.900 --> 00:07:22.900 ministry than what you're able to do within the established church model, which let's, to be honest, 00:07:22.900 --> 00:07:29.900 may be driving you back to the physical building. The relational context here, connecting with people 00:07:29.900 --> 00:07:37.900 digitally is at a higher value for you than for some churches, managing the systems and processes like 00:07:37.900 --> 00:07:42.900 pastors do physically. And this is the challenge really, and not all churches are this way, but a lot 00:07:42.900 --> 00:07:50.900 are, where a pastor in physical space is really managing systems and processes that allow the overarching 00:07:50.900 --> 00:07:58.900 system of physical ministry to happen. The challenge to that is in digital space, digital pastors bypass a lot of the 00:07:58.900 --> 00:08:05.900 systems and processes and really get a chance to engage with people at a digital level, even more so than 00:08:05.900 --> 00:08:10.900 what happens at the physical level. This has been documented, we've talked about it so much here on the 00:08:10.900 --> 00:08:16.900 podcast, where digital pastors have an opportunity to engage relationally, physically, digitally, even more 00:08:16.900 --> 00:08:23.900 than physical pastors would in physical space. A digital pastor is also going to recognize the potential reach of digital, and they want to step up to the challenge that they're going to do. 00:08:23.900 --> 00:08:42.900 The potential reach of digital, and they want to step up to the challenge of not just reaching tens, hundreds, and thousands of people digitally, but they want to step up to the challenge of engaging, of dialoguing, of building those relationships digitally for the cause of Christ. 00:08:42.900 --> 00:08:49.900 Beautiful stuff that's happening there. Number three, digital ministry lessons of COVID excites you more than going back to the building. 00:08:49.900 --> 00:09:02.900 Here you go. Number four, you might be a digital church planter if you are a disruptor in the making. You're dreaming about doing things differently. 00:09:02.900 --> 00:09:13.900 Okay, you've watched the modern church struggle in its mythology. Words like disruptor, innovator, entrepreneur, these don't scare you. 00:09:13.900 --> 00:09:23.900 In 2021, I believe this to be a fact, weird is just a couple clicks away from being normalized, from being accepted. 00:09:23.900 --> 00:09:32.900 So much of what was weird in 2020, 2019, 2018, let's be honest, here in 2021, weird is normal. 00:09:32.900 --> 00:09:43.900 And so some of what we're experiencing and what a digital-only expression of church and how that, the perception of how that's weird, I think that you're going to see that get normalized very soon. 00:09:43.900 --> 00:09:54.900 Now, as a matter of fact, it's probably getting normalized as it continues to reach some of these people that were defined as being weird, that were viewed as being weird. 00:09:54.900 --> 00:10:00.900 We're literally creating the weird method to reach the weird people for the cause of Christ. 00:10:00.900 --> 00:10:15.900 And so being that disruptor, being that pioneer, being that cutting edge person, not to the end of creating something new, extra biblical, outside of the view of the church in context of the Bible. 00:10:15.900 --> 00:10:17.900 And we're going to get to that here in a little bit. 00:10:17.900 --> 00:10:23.900 But even speaking towards ecclesiology, like this needs to be grounded in the Bible. 00:10:23.900 --> 00:10:35.900 You know, maybe you're looking at the book of Acts and seeing how the diaspora, the breaking up of the established Jerusalem church and how it was, the ecclesia was scattered. 00:10:35.900 --> 00:10:37.900 They preached the Bible as they went. 00:10:37.900 --> 00:10:42.900 They created new expressions and the regathering in physical space. 00:10:42.900 --> 00:10:45.900 You're seeing how the church operated that way. 00:10:45.900 --> 00:10:48.900 Maybe you as an innovator, you're asking questions. 00:10:48.900 --> 00:10:54.900 What is the diaspora and to breaking up of the church to create new ecclesias around? 00:10:54.900 --> 00:10:57.900 How can that benefit the church today? 00:10:57.900 --> 00:11:02.900 What would it look like for a digital church to distribute, to recreate? 00:11:02.900 --> 00:11:08.900 Or maybe you've read books like Francis Chan's Letters to the Church or Ed Silvoso's Ecclesia. 00:11:08.900 --> 00:11:22.900 And all of a sudden you're realizing here that there is room for a new model of church while still holding to that biblical ecclesiology, to the standards that are in place. 00:11:22.900 --> 00:11:25.900 Digital church does not turn its back on the Bible. 00:11:25.900 --> 00:11:29.900 The digital church embraces the Bible, and it's looking for pastors. 00:11:29.900 --> 00:11:37.900 We're looking for planters that want to plant ecclesiologically solid churches just in a digital community. 00:11:37.900 --> 00:11:39.900 Which really gets us here to number five. 00:11:39.900 --> 00:11:50.900 You might be a digital church planter if, number five, you respect that a digital community is a community worthy of a church. 00:11:50.900 --> 00:11:58.900 You might be a digital church planter if you respect that a digital community is a community worthy of a church. 00:11:58.900 --> 00:11:59.900 Let's look at it. 00:11:59.900 --> 00:12:03.900 The largest nation on the planet right now is Facebook users. 00:12:03.900 --> 00:12:16.900 Okay, Facebook users are not a nation, but if you gather all Facebook users, active Facebook users together, there's more than what's in China, more than what's in Russia, much more than what's here in America. 00:12:16.900 --> 00:12:23.900 24 million people are active in a video game called Final Fantasy Online. 00:12:23.900 --> 00:12:25.900 The game's been around a long time. 00:12:25.900 --> 00:12:26.900 It's not a new game. 00:12:26.900 --> 00:12:29.900 They're actually existing in community. 00:12:29.900 --> 00:12:35.900 The game is popular even today because it's a community. 00:12:35.900 --> 00:12:37.900 This is where people's friends are. 00:12:37.900 --> 00:12:42.900 It used to be even things like Twitch, Discord, TikTok. 00:12:42.900 --> 00:12:48.900 We're seeing where younger generations, honestly, they're sprinting to some of these new platforms. 00:12:48.900 --> 00:12:50.900 We even throw Roblox in there. 00:12:50.900 --> 00:12:53.900 Young people are sprinting to some of these new platforms. 00:12:53.900 --> 00:12:54.900 Why, you ask? 00:12:54.900 --> 00:12:59.900 They're ironically running away from the platforms that their parents have come on board with. 00:12:59.900 --> 00:13:03.900 When's the last time you saw a 20-year-old on Facebook, willingly on Facebook? 00:13:03.900 --> 00:13:04.900 It's been a minute. 00:13:04.900 --> 00:13:14.900 Even Instagram is losing value at this point as they're starting to get into the Snapchats and the TikToks and the things like this. 00:13:14.900 --> 00:13:20.900 But for a digital planter, you're not running away from the idea of a church on TikTok. 00:13:20.900 --> 00:13:23.900 You're not running away from Twitch. 00:13:23.900 --> 00:13:30.900 You're running towards it because you're recognizing that there's digital community in that space and a digital community. 00:13:30.900 --> 00:13:36.900 A digital church is needed to be in that digital community. 00:13:36.900 --> 00:13:37.900 All right. 00:13:37.900 --> 00:13:40.900 Hey, so we've hit five reasons real quick. 00:13:40.900 --> 00:13:43.900 Five reasons you may be a digital church planner. 00:13:43.900 --> 00:13:46.900 Recognize that physical is a way. 00:13:46.900 --> 00:13:48.900 It's not the way. 00:13:48.900 --> 00:13:53.900 You're more interested in building relationships than putting on a show. 00:13:53.900 --> 00:14:01.900 You're recognizing that digital ministry lessons of COVID, that excites you more than the idea of going back to the building. 00:14:01.900 --> 00:14:03.900 You're a disruptor in the making. 00:14:03.900 --> 00:14:06.900 You're dreaming about doing things different. 00:14:06.900 --> 00:14:13.900 And number five, you respect that a digital community is a community that's worthy of a church. 00:14:13.900 --> 00:14:15.900 Well, are you interested in doing this? 00:14:15.900 --> 00:14:19.900 Are you interested in planting digital-only expression of church? 00:14:19.900 --> 00:14:24.900 I would love to have a conversation with you and explore these ideas together. 00:14:24.900 --> 00:14:25.900 Connect up with me. 00:14:25.900 --> 00:14:26.900 Swing over. 00:14:26.900 --> 00:14:28.900 Connect up with Stadia as well. 00:14:28.900 --> 00:14:32.900 Swing over to the church.digital/planting. 00:14:32.900 --> 00:14:40.900 More resources there towards this idea of planting digital-only churches at the church.digital/planting. 00:14:40.900 --> 00:14:42.900 Schedule a time to meet up with me. 00:14:42.900 --> 00:14:46.900 And looking forward to have a conversation with many out there. 00:14:46.900 --> 00:14:52.900 Many like you who are interested in planting these digital-only churches. 00:14:52.900 --> 00:14:53.900 Awesome. 00:14:53.900 --> 00:14:54.900 Thanks, everybody. 00:14:54.900 --> 00:14:55.900 Y'all have a good day.