WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.240 All right, welcome to The Beta Show. It's episode 36. I'm Jeff with the Church Digital Podcast. 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:11.180 Once again, all this is powered by Stadia Church Planting, and I'm excited to be here. 00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:16.740 Here at The Beta Show, we answer your digital ministry questions live on air. 00:00:16.840 --> 00:00:22.740 Go ahead and text us your digital ministry questions, 484-324-8724. 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:25.340 We will address them at a later point. 00:00:25.340 --> 00:00:28.980 Actually, we'll talk about this. I have no idea what we're talking about in Beta 37, 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:32.240 so I need you out there to tell me the topic we need to hit. 00:00:32.440 --> 00:00:35.380 Here with Beta 36, we're going to be talking, 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:40.240 hey, my church is reverting back to physical only. What do I do? Help. 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:44.840 I'm getting a lot of these questions, and there's a lot that I want to speak into with this. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.380 We're going to get into that here in a little bit. 00:00:47.440 --> 00:00:51.420 By the way, if you're watching live, go ahead and shoot us some comments. 00:00:51.420 --> 00:00:56.660 Go ahead and engage with us there within the social media, whatever platform you're watching, 00:00:56.760 --> 00:01:01.940 YouTube, Facebook, Twitter. There's different groups and things that were showing this on Facebook as well. 00:01:02.300 --> 00:01:07.720 Engage with that. We'll be getting the chat, some of the comments here through the system. 00:01:07.860 --> 00:01:13.820 Also, we're using StreamYard as the platform, so go ahead and do whatever the approval thing is that you have to do 00:01:13.820 --> 00:01:18.360 to get this to work for StreamYard so that we can see who it is that I'm talking with. 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:21.500 If you're in StreamYard in Facebook, or if you're in Facebook, this will make sense. 00:01:22.100 --> 00:01:31.320 If you're listening to this on demand, realize that we do this show live every Thursday, noon Eastern. 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:38.400 You go to Facebook.com, thechurchdigital, or YouTube.com, thechurchdigital, for the best place to connect into that. 00:01:38.700 --> 00:01:42.520 By the way, Quick Commercial, Stadia is doing an innovation meetup. 00:01:42.620 --> 00:01:49.080 I love these innovation meetups where we gather church leader people, leaders from around the country, 00:01:49.080 --> 00:01:54.240 as well as marketplace leaders coming in and speaking specifically on topics. 00:01:54.240 --> 00:02:01.420 The couple themes that we're working for with this innovation meetup is going to be the multimodal church, 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:06.960 why your church needs to be doing different models, different strategies to be effective towards that. 00:02:07.300 --> 00:02:11.440 We've got churches, church leaders we're bringing in that have been doing multimodal approaches, 00:02:11.820 --> 00:02:12.960 and so we're going to be speaking to that. 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:16.080 Also, insourcing, leadership development. 00:02:16.260 --> 00:02:21.980 What does it look like to grow leaders from within instead of always having to bring in from the outside? 00:02:21.980 --> 00:02:24.280 So, a couple key topics there. 00:02:24.380 --> 00:02:27.880 It's going to be Thursday, excuse me, August 17th. 00:02:27.880 --> 00:02:28.780 I think that's a Tuesday. 00:02:29.100 --> 00:02:31.900 August 17th, noon to 4 Eastern. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:36.800 Go and check out stadiachurchplanning.org slash innovation for information on that. 00:02:37.100 --> 00:02:39.880 Hey, like I said, next week's topic, I don't have a clue. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:43.580 I've been speaking and working on some other things, and so I came back in. 00:02:44.060 --> 00:02:48.600 Today's like my first day in the office this week, which is awesome and horrible, both at the same time, 00:02:48.600 --> 00:02:50.920 and I just collectively have no clue what I'm talking on next week. 00:02:50.920 --> 00:02:53.720 So, I really need you to give me a topic for next week. 00:02:53.780 --> 00:03:00.280 But for today, Beta 36, hey, my church is reverting back to physical only. 00:03:01.260 --> 00:03:02.060 What do I do? 00:03:02.420 --> 00:03:03.920 Help me figure this thing out. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.320 Well, first off, let me tell you that I can relate to this. 00:03:07.380 --> 00:03:15.300 I understand the challenge of how to be digital, how to be thinking digital when the rest of the people you're working with are physical. 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:25.600 And so, there's some things that I want to address here that even at a psychological level, like that's a hard thing to be in when you are thinking different than everyone else that you're with. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:31.080 And you're fighting for the thing, but it constantly makes you feel like you're fighting against everybody else. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:38.820 And so, like, let me even just say up front with this, number one, digital, fidgetal, this is not your identity. 00:03:39.100 --> 00:03:41.960 You know, a lot of times, and listen, I'm even guilty of this. 00:03:42.140 --> 00:03:53.640 There's irony that I'm saying this, that the fidgetal, and you see like a little TM on the lower third trademark, Stadia literally owns the trademark for fidgetal in context of religious, in context of church services. 00:03:54.040 --> 00:03:59.960 So, in some way, fidgetal is our identity, or at least we're helping to define that word, but fidgetal is not your identity. 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:08.340 And whether the strategy includes fidgetal or digital, the endgame for your church isn't the physical space, it isn't digital, it's not these games. 00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:11.860 The endgame is that disciple-making piece. 00:04:12.380 --> 00:04:14.100 And so, don't forget that. 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:18.500 Take a step back and look at what your church is doing, and is it working? 00:04:18.640 --> 00:04:19.360 Is it helpful? 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:20.900 Is it productive? 00:04:21.140 --> 00:04:22.920 Does it need digital in that? 00:04:23.280 --> 00:04:31.200 Where we are in 2021, it's possible—now, I may get people unfollowing me just because of this—it's possible to not need digital. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.740 I think that's decreasing less and less, and I think the pendulum is definitely shifting the other way. 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:46.840 But the reality is that it's possible to make a disciple without utilizing these devices, without utilizing webcams and smartphones and everything else that's in between. 00:04:47.420 --> 00:05:00.480 So, realize that even by doing this, the fact that we are—if you're championing this idea, just because somebody says no to that idea does not mean that it's directed at you. 00:05:01.180 --> 00:05:11.580 Don't take this stuff personally when you get people fighting against the direction that you're trying to push, when you get people that don't understand the direction that you're trying to push. 00:05:11.940 --> 00:05:15.240 You can't make your identity digital of who you are. 00:05:15.320 --> 00:05:17.740 It's not healthy for you as an individual. 00:05:17.840 --> 00:05:27.960 And once again, I can literally attest to this, because the majority of my church staff career, I was fighting for things that the churches ultimately weren't interested in doing. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:31.140 And to say that the ideas were bad isn't true. 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:32.200 They were great ideas. 00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:36.060 It just wasn't for that respective church. 00:05:36.580 --> 00:05:40.700 Once again, remember here that digital, digital, these are tools. 00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:42.080 This is not the goal. 00:05:42.640 --> 00:05:45.700 Just like a building is a tool, it's not the goal. 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:47.340 The disciple-making is the goal. 00:05:47.760 --> 00:05:55.040 And so, whatever method your church is using to get to that place of making those disciples, embrace that and use that. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:06:03.300 But recognize that maybe doing digital for this season, it's not this in-game perfect thing that you're expecting. 00:06:04.140 --> 00:06:06.960 Instead, it may look a little different. 00:06:07.400 --> 00:06:10.020 It may need to be a baby step, not the finish line. 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:20.260 What's interesting is a lot of churches in this COVID season, everybody had a hard right, right around March 16, 2020, to figure out how to do this digital ministry thing. 00:06:20.260 --> 00:06:24.980 And it's a hard left, it feels like, now post-COVID, trying to get back to normal. 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:31.160 And so, maybe there needs to be some baby steps that are in place to better understand that. 00:06:31.420 --> 00:06:38.880 But the battlefield for whether or not to be digital is not, oh, well, we have to be because it's 2021 and we need to be more modern. 00:06:39.320 --> 00:06:42.080 And so, that's why we have to use these tools, these smartphones. 00:06:42.700 --> 00:06:44.740 We have to engage in social media. 00:06:44.880 --> 00:06:47.460 We've got to be able to do these new things. 00:06:47.460 --> 00:06:51.980 I mean, yes, technology is advancing, culture is shifting, but it's more important. 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:53.820 What's more effective in making those disciples? 00:06:54.440 --> 00:07:01.540 What's more important in making disciple-makers where we can—what's more effective to create those disciple-makers that are coming through? 00:07:02.200 --> 00:07:05.280 God can move outside of digital or physical. 00:07:05.860 --> 00:07:11.040 These are just tools that allow God to connect with us through Scripture, 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:16.060 that allow us to create a community where we can connect with and support one another. 00:07:17.060 --> 00:07:17.640 Get this. 00:07:17.740 --> 00:07:18.140 Check it out. 00:07:18.540 --> 00:07:21.840 Championing digital and fidgetal from the second chair. 00:07:21.960 --> 00:07:25.860 So, many of you, you are not the decision-maker in your church. 00:07:26.340 --> 00:07:28.180 Let's be realistic. 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:28.660 You're not. 00:07:29.140 --> 00:07:34.380 In my ministry career when I was a church staff guy, I was probably three or four rungs down the ladder. 00:07:34.580 --> 00:07:39.460 And so, I never had the direct influence of a decision-maker to make a decision. 00:07:40.060 --> 00:07:47.360 But I had the ability to influence someone, to influence someone, to influence someone. 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:54.640 And that's a long, slow process to try to convince somebody, to try to convince somebody else, to try to convince somebody else. 00:07:54.640 --> 00:08:00.100 You probably have done something like this in your either ministry career or in the job workplace. 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:08.700 The challenge, I think, is what's helpful for me was when I started not looking at convincing the guy directly above me. 00:08:08.940 --> 00:08:12.660 But when I started, when I stepped back and said, hey, what's the overall goal of the church? 00:08:13.180 --> 00:08:16.620 And how do I get what I want to align with what they are? 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:27.120 Rather than me trying to force my agenda and shove it up that ladder rung to the next ladder rung, to the next ladder rung, it was, hey, what's the goal of the church? 00:08:27.200 --> 00:08:28.240 What are we trying to do? 00:08:28.780 --> 00:08:33.840 And then how can I use digital to complement what's happening in that space? 00:08:33.880 --> 00:08:37.740 So, I stepped back, and it was like, hey, I want us to be a digital only. 00:08:37.880 --> 00:08:42.400 Okay, digital's not, you know, they're not looking at digital communities, a community that's worthy of a church. 00:08:42.400 --> 00:08:48.440 So, what role does digital need to play, and how can I support it and get it in that place? 00:08:49.380 --> 00:08:58.300 You know, sometimes it's better to take that approach of what piece of the puzzle does digital need to play? 00:08:58.340 --> 00:09:05.240 If digital is a tool, and it's shapeable, and it's malleable, it's fluid, how do we need to adjust it to work? 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:11.300 It was funny, just recently we were having a conversation with a church that was interested in going multi-site. 00:09:12.060 --> 00:09:18.220 And the lead pastor was very aggressive, wanting to go multi-site towards that, which is a, you know, it's a win. 00:09:18.260 --> 00:09:25.000 There's some challenges multi-site even post-COVID, but it's still a win to be able to engage and be more relational within the community. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:37.080 What was interesting was the digital person was very passionate about how the church needed to stop the multi-site plans that were already enacted, 00:09:37.260 --> 00:09:41.800 and they were already rolling because they wanted to do digital first. 00:09:41.800 --> 00:09:51.420 Their understanding was that if the church went from a single location to digital, and then from digital broke it down to go multi-site, that would have been a win. 00:09:51.420 --> 00:09:54.580 And, I mean, that's a good strategy. 00:09:54.580 --> 00:10:06.580 It wasn't the strategy that would have worked for the church, because the church was already moving towards multi-site, they already had locations, they already had campus pastors, they were already developing these leaders. 00:10:06.580 --> 00:10:13.740 It's almost like, yeah, that's a great strategy if y'all thought of it maybe six, 12 months earlier, but unfortunately, you didn't. 00:10:13.820 --> 00:10:15.900 You've already got some of these things rolling. 00:10:16.520 --> 00:10:21.740 How can digital complement, digital, how can digital complement what's already happening in that space? 00:10:22.140 --> 00:10:29.000 And so that's really the challenge is finding that role for what digital needs to be. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:35.240 Number four, find the role for what digital, for what digital needs to be. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:37.740 Does it need to be stronger services? 00:10:38.400 --> 00:10:42.520 Does it need, do you need like a stronger reach of your online services? 00:10:42.660 --> 00:10:49.220 Do you need digital to keep that 50% of people that are not yet in the building, to keep them engaged? 00:10:49.760 --> 00:10:53.520 Do you need digital to be, you know, stronger equipping towards evangelism? 00:10:53.620 --> 00:10:59.360 Do you, looking at digital as a digital mission field, and you want to empower people to go be digital missionaries to go out? 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:02.800 What role does digital need to play? 00:11:03.520 --> 00:11:07.980 In 2021, for a church to say, hey, I want nothing to do with digital is crazy. 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:16.900 Even if, hey, I'm looking at social media as the front door, as the lobby, as the first impression that somebody's going to get from our church. 00:11:17.060 --> 00:11:20.820 And I want to engage in social media to at least pull people in towards the building. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:23.000 Digital has some role. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:25.960 Your church at some level has to be digital. 00:11:26.500 --> 00:11:35.760 They just may not be thinking to the full level of what you, as a church leader, a digital leader, a digital native, are thinking. 00:11:35.920 --> 00:11:40.760 And so it really comes down to what is the role that can play. 00:11:40.820 --> 00:11:43.100 Now, it may not be where you want to be right now. 00:11:43.500 --> 00:11:44.620 And I understand that. 00:11:44.700 --> 00:11:46.220 I appreciate that. 00:11:46.880 --> 00:11:48.940 And I suggest you keep fighting. 00:11:49.060 --> 00:11:50.280 You keep finding ways. 00:11:50.400 --> 00:11:52.700 Maybe fighting is even too part of a word. 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:56.760 But you keep progressing, trying different things. 00:11:56.760 --> 00:11:57.900 You don't give up. 00:11:58.040 --> 00:12:03.000 But you realize that Rome wasn't built in a day and that you're not going to conquer the hill. 00:12:03.180 --> 00:12:11.520 And that as quickly as people pivoted towards digital in the COVID season, they are regressing back the other direction. 00:12:11.640 --> 00:12:12.480 And that's okay. 00:12:13.180 --> 00:12:14.120 You've got lessons. 00:12:14.260 --> 00:12:15.340 You've got observations. 00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:17.160 You've got stories from this season. 00:12:17.660 --> 00:12:18.480 Keep telling them. 00:12:18.680 --> 00:12:20.340 Keep building on them. 00:12:20.800 --> 00:12:25.700 And really, number five here, keep defining the digital, the fidgetal. 00:12:25.800 --> 00:12:27.100 Keep defining the experiment. 00:12:27.980 --> 00:12:28.660 Don't give up. 00:12:28.980 --> 00:12:30.080 Keep trying different things. 00:12:30.560 --> 00:12:31.440 Even if it's, hey, you know what? 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:34.880 I'm going to take you six people over here and I'm going to do something on the side on my own. 00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:35.720 Hey, you know what? 00:12:35.760 --> 00:12:37.880 Yeah, I'm working 40 hours a week trying to do this. 00:12:38.140 --> 00:12:38.960 Hey, you know what? 00:12:39.160 --> 00:12:40.420 But I'm going to do this on the side. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:40.920 Hey, you know what? 00:12:40.980 --> 00:12:43.140 I've got three key volunteers. 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:47.980 I'm going to pull them in and I'm going to ask them to champion this idea for me. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:48.640 It was funny. 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:49.560 I did have a conversation. 00:12:49.780 --> 00:12:50.740 Actually, I'll give credit to this. 00:12:50.800 --> 00:12:51.280 Eric Geiger. 00:12:51.860 --> 00:12:52.100 I don't know. 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:54.900 Eric is a lead pastor at Mariner's Church out in California. 00:12:55.240 --> 00:12:58.660 I used to be under him when he was executive pastor at Christ Fellowship Miami. 00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:01.620 Pre-COVID, he and I had a conversation and he said this. 00:13:01.700 --> 00:13:02.460 I asked him the question. 00:13:02.880 --> 00:13:07.380 Hey, Eric, you're, and Eric's not a digitally comfortable guy. 00:13:07.460 --> 00:13:09.040 Like he's more in that physical realm. 00:13:09.040 --> 00:13:14.180 And as a decision maker, I, you know, response again, I respect how he views digital and the 00:13:14.180 --> 00:13:16.240 decisions that he has to make for his church. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.880 But I asked him, hey, what would change your mind? 00:13:19.420 --> 00:13:22.500 Like, you know, facts, stories, data. 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:27.540 Like, what are the things that change your mind when it comes towards making a decision? 00:13:27.680 --> 00:13:32.880 And one of the things that he said was, Jeff, if there's a whole bunch of volunteers that 00:13:32.880 --> 00:13:38.680 are passionate about serving in this area, high-level volunteers, givers, donors, if people 00:13:38.680 --> 00:13:43.760 are excited about doing something, that may, you know, give me an opportunity to relook 00:13:43.760 --> 00:13:46.420 and to reevaluate because there's something that's already happening. 00:13:46.680 --> 00:13:48.920 I'm not having to build something from scratch. 00:13:48.920 --> 00:13:50.980 I can see the movement. 00:13:51.100 --> 00:13:53.620 I can see the activity and I can learn from it. 00:13:53.880 --> 00:13:57.140 So for many of you, thank you, Eric, for that insight. 00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:01.160 For many of you, I would even challenge you and say, start something. 00:14:01.700 --> 00:14:02.820 Don't give up. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:04.640 Keep it on the down low. 00:14:04.760 --> 00:14:07.160 Keep it like almost underground a little bit. 00:14:07.260 --> 00:14:13.080 Keep working through some of those ideas now because that's going to pay off down the road. 00:14:13.160 --> 00:14:16.700 That's going to give opportunities for you to learn more, to fine tune. 00:14:17.100 --> 00:14:20.680 But as you're doing those experiments, don't do them by yourself. 00:14:21.280 --> 00:14:22.660 Bring in other high-level volunteers. 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:25.700 Let them testify to what's happening and what they're seeing. 00:14:26.260 --> 00:14:29.200 Bring in other staff people, leaders. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:31.460 Like, make it bigger than you slowly. 00:14:31.640 --> 00:14:33.220 Boil the frog slowly towards this. 00:14:33.540 --> 00:14:38.320 But grow something more progressive to the place where, man, look at what we're doing. 00:14:38.400 --> 00:14:39.020 Look what we're seeing. 00:14:39.180 --> 00:14:41.400 Who else can we involve into this? 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:43.160 Can we do something more with it? 00:14:43.160 --> 00:14:50.400 You can't—it's so easy to try to boil the frog, you know, the old adage, if you boil the frog quickly, it's going to jump out. 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:51.140 You're not going to get there. 00:14:51.400 --> 00:14:57.640 But if you boil the frog slowly, put it in cold water—this is a gross illustration for a live stream, sorry. 00:14:57.920 --> 00:15:02.240 But the part of it is, is it takes a while to change this. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:09.940 And I think so often, if I really were to look back and say, hey, what was the lesson of COVID for the church? 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:19.980 It's that hard right and that hard left, hard right pre-COVID changing culture, hard left coming out of now into a post-COVID. 00:15:20.060 --> 00:15:21.180 People are wanting to go back. 00:15:22.680 --> 00:15:24.280 I don't think you change culture. 00:15:24.500 --> 00:15:28.860 I think you had people doing what they did to keep doing the ministry they needed to. 00:15:29.140 --> 00:15:32.360 And changing culture is something that takes time. 00:15:33.060 --> 00:15:34.920 That's the lesson I feel like for today. 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:39.100 So if you're discouraged in this season, don't be discouraged. 00:15:39.760 --> 00:15:40.640 Keep fighting. 00:15:40.820 --> 00:15:42.180 Keep trying to change that culture. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:43.340 Keep championing ideas. 00:15:43.460 --> 00:15:44.720 Keep thinking outside of the box. 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:46.400 Keep innovating. 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:47.880 Keep working through this. 00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:55.180 And know that there are people like myself, especially in the digital church community, there are people out there that want to help you on this road. 00:15:55.180 --> 00:16:05.240 Hey, Stadia, we're doing fidgetal learning communities where we're literally helping churches like yours work through it to thrive, grow, and multiply fidgetally. 00:16:05.400 --> 00:16:06.800 Here's an idea. 00:16:07.900 --> 00:16:13.300 This fall, we're starting more fidgetal learning communities where we're gathering churches together to beat it up. 00:16:13.780 --> 00:16:15.940 Iron sharpening iron, figuring out how to do this. 00:16:16.040 --> 00:16:25.380 We're connecting churches of similar status and type together so that they can work through this within learning communities, not just digesting content. 00:16:25.520 --> 00:16:26.260 Content's free. 00:16:26.680 --> 00:16:28.260 You can listen to my streams all day long. 00:16:28.300 --> 00:16:32.900 But this is an opportunity to connect with people in a new way and to dialogue. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:50.280 And so if you're wanting to connect with some churches that are maybe asking some of these same questions and figuring out how to do it together, go to stadiachurchplanning.org slash fidgetal, P-H-Y-G-I-T-A-L, and get more information on learning communities that are starting up this fall. 00:16:50.740 --> 00:16:52.220 Well, hey, guys, we're going to wrap here. 00:16:52.420 --> 00:16:58.100 Beta 36, my church is thinking about reverting. 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:01.000 My church is reverting back to physical only. 00:17:01.160 --> 00:17:02.040 What do I do? 00:17:02.740 --> 00:17:06.000 Ultimately, you let them, but you don't give up. 00:17:06.300 --> 00:17:07.260 You keep championing. 00:17:07.420 --> 00:17:08.480 You keep finding ways. 00:17:08.820 --> 00:17:10.240 Keep leading from that second chair. 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:15.100 You figure out what the role is that digital needs to play, and you experiment along the way. 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:16.260 So this is Jeff. 00:17:16.320 --> 00:17:18.740 Hope it's been a good one, and we'll see you next time here at the Beta Show. 00:17:19.040 --> 00:17:19.500 Y'all have a good day.