WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.060 Welcome to The Beta Show. This is Jeff with the Church Digital Podcast. 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:09.160 Once again, I love this. All of this is powered by Stadia Church Planting. 00:00:09.500 --> 00:00:12.480 Hey, this is the last episode of The Beta Show. 00:00:12.540 --> 00:00:15.640 We're going to talk more about that here in a little bit. 00:00:15.680 --> 00:00:18.400 But for Beta 42, here's what we're doing. 00:00:18.580 --> 00:00:21.200 Tips for better online small groups. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:24.840 Here at The Beta Show, we answer your digital ministry questions live. 00:00:24.880 --> 00:00:28.400 And we've done that 42 times here with The Beta Show. 00:00:28.400 --> 00:00:32.080 But of course, we are still wanting to engage and talk with you all. 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:36.720 You can text us, digital ministry questions, 484-324-8724. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:38.560 That's literally my cell phone. 00:00:38.720 --> 00:00:41.580 And so we'd love to engage with you if it makes sense. 00:00:41.680 --> 00:00:43.520 And so let's continue the conversation. 00:00:43.800 --> 00:00:47.380 Speaking of continuing the conversation, here's the deal. 00:00:47.660 --> 00:00:54.860 I'm going to be in Washington, D.C. at the Exponential Regional Conference literally on Monday. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:59.700 Monday, I'm doing a pre-conference track, talking digital church. 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:00.700 We'd love to meet you. 00:01:00.720 --> 00:01:05.660 If you're going to be at the Exponential Conference, figure out how to sign up for that pre-conference track. 00:01:06.060 --> 00:01:07.680 And come on, let's hang out together. 00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:13.560 Coming soon, by the way, I'm going to be at other regional conferences. 00:01:13.880 --> 00:01:19.780 And so you can find information there about the North Cal, the South Cal, SoCal, excuse me. 00:01:19.820 --> 00:01:24.120 I didn't mean to offend all the Californians that are living on the south side of the state. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:28.360 Of course, there are going to be other regionals in Houston, in Chicago. 00:01:28.360 --> 00:01:29.500 I'm going to be at all of them. 00:01:29.860 --> 00:01:31.660 I'm doing a lot of traveling before Thanksgiving. 00:01:31.860 --> 00:01:33.640 And so we'd love to meet up with you. 00:01:34.020 --> 00:01:35.680 Go to Exponential.org. 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:37.860 And man, hey, let's get connected. 00:01:38.260 --> 00:01:41.200 By the way, I said it before, bye-bye beta. 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:46.720 Hang around, we're going to talk about that and what's next coming up here at the end of the show. 00:01:46.800 --> 00:01:51.360 But here with Beta 42, tips for better online small groups. 00:01:51.460 --> 00:01:56.460 So I really want to drill in on this topic specifically for you. 00:01:56.540 --> 00:01:59.100 I don't know, I'm kind of digging having the music behind me. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:00.300 That's what we're coming up. 00:02:00.360 --> 00:02:01.560 Hopefully we're going to have more of that. 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:05.120 But hey, let's shift gears here and start to really drill in. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:08.200 By the way, I love having Stream Deck. 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:15.360 If you're not using Stream Deck and you're doing sorts of digital ministry, you should really check out some of the stuff that Stream Deck has available right now. 00:02:15.720 --> 00:02:18.340 Totally off topic, totally unsponsored, by the way. 00:02:18.440 --> 00:02:19.620 Love what Stream Deck is doing. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.560 But hey, let's drill in here tips for better online small groups. 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:25.400 So here we go. 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:28.740 Number one, flip the classroom. 00:02:28.880 --> 00:02:29.840 Go ahead and Google this. 00:02:30.100 --> 00:02:34.080 There's tons of resources centered around flip the classroom. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:38.220 But at the heart of this, flip the classroom is, well, you know what? 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:41.600 There was a couple high school teachers. 00:02:41.940 --> 00:02:43.140 As I recall, they were in science. 00:02:43.220 --> 00:02:43.660 I read the book. 00:02:43.760 --> 00:02:44.260 There's books. 00:02:44.660 --> 00:02:48.940 This is a whole academic, this is a whole academia school of thought. 00:02:49.700 --> 00:02:50.840 I sit around and flip the classroom. 00:02:51.260 --> 00:02:52.900 A couple teachers discovered this. 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:59.360 What they did was, instead of lecturing in their high school classroom, you know, basic science, whatever it was, 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:12.280 they decided that they would record the lectures and give the lectures digitally to their students on iPod videos. 00:03:12.420 --> 00:03:13.680 This is how far back it goes. 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:17.000 The actual, remember like the U2 iPod video from back in the day? 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:27.360 So they would record the lectures and give them to the students on iPod videos for them to watch at home on demand at their leisure when they were doing homework. 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:35.020 And then when the students would come into the class, the teachers weren't having to lecture back at the students. 00:03:35.180 --> 00:03:38.980 The teachers were able to answer questions from the students. 00:03:39.100 --> 00:03:44.620 The teachers were able to learn more about the students in their individual needs in that environment. 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:53.180 Because at the time, the teachers weren't utilizing the class time as an opportunity to lecture to dozens or hundreds of people. 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:58.420 Instead, it was meant to be more meeting them with their individual needs. 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:06.580 And a lot of times when we look at, you know, how this works for online small groups, you know, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, Ken. 00:04:06.640 --> 00:04:12.280 He used to work for Financial Peace University, you know, Dave Ramsey stuff. 00:04:12.640 --> 00:04:21.000 And they were trying to figure out how to do ministry online, how to do FPU online. 00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:22.880 And the struggle came. 00:04:23.340 --> 00:04:30.760 Man, nobody wants to sit in a Zoom room and watch a 50-minute video and then only have 10 minutes to process it. 00:04:31.140 --> 00:04:33.720 What if we watched the video? 00:04:33.900 --> 00:04:38.720 What if we watched that Bible study video in advance? 00:04:39.220 --> 00:04:41.100 What if we watched that on demand? 00:04:41.760 --> 00:04:49.160 And then when we gathered together, we were able to spend time dialoguing, talking together on it. 00:04:49.160 --> 00:05:00.460 Not wasting the time watching the content in that shared environment, but actually able to build community, learn about each other and what our needs are and pray for one another. 00:05:00.660 --> 00:05:01.840 In those communities. 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:10.340 So a lot of times right now, man, if you're doing the share video thing in a Zoom or something like that, man, that's the wrong approach. 00:05:10.340 --> 00:05:22.660 By the way, this may also be the wrong approach as we're going into our weekend services, where maybe it's not sit and watch the 65, 75-minute service, but maybe there's an opportunity to dial. 00:05:22.780 --> 00:05:24.480 But that's for another conversation. 00:05:25.100 --> 00:05:27.660 Flip the classroom, number one. 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:29.720 Number two, you ready for this? 00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:32.100 Platform matters. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:39.680 So look, you know, we use this term a lot of times when we're talking about small groups, platform agnostic. 00:05:39.780 --> 00:05:48.240 I was just talking with the church literally 30 minutes ago about this, because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what platforms we're on. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:58.800 And I've learned this in my own ministry life where there were groups that were meeting up, like one was a soccer mom kind of thing that was wanting to meet together. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:03.160 And they wanted to use Google Meet or whatever it was called at the time. 00:06:03.220 --> 00:06:04.820 I know it's been rebranded a couple of times. 00:06:04.820 --> 00:06:11.860 There was another small group that was meeting up, and there were some international connections with this, and they wanted to use WhatsApp. 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:16.100 And at the time, as a digital pastor, I kind of said, you know what? 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:20.840 No, I want everybody to meet on Platform X. 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:22.700 And I kind of drew a line. 00:06:22.760 --> 00:06:25.740 I kind of was controlling a little bit here and said, hey, you know what? 00:06:25.760 --> 00:06:30.420 I want you all to come in, use this platform, because I don't want to have to support Google Meet. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:32.380 I don't understand the tech aspects of it. 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:36.960 I'm not even sure I agree with, like, calling WhatsApp a small group. 00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:38.380 So, no, here are the standards. 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:39.620 You're utilizing my platform. 00:06:39.840 --> 00:06:42.920 It's the highway or no way. 00:06:43.660 --> 00:06:44.320 You know what happened? 00:06:44.700 --> 00:06:45.640 Those groups still met. 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:47.080 Those groups still exist. 00:06:47.460 --> 00:06:52.860 And they exist outside of those platforms, the platform that I wanted. 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:56.440 The leadership still met, still did what they wanted to do. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:10.140 And so, instead of saying no and pushing away, man, I lost the opportunity to help them, to help them multiply, to help them grow spiritually and to mature into it. 00:07:11.020 --> 00:07:14.700 The platforms matter, not in that we need to control. 00:07:14.700 --> 00:07:22.180 We, the church, need to control, but that we, the church, need to recognize where people are and where they want to go. 00:07:22.700 --> 00:07:26.520 If you've got a soccer mom group that wants to use Google Meet, awesome. 00:07:26.520 --> 00:07:34.080 You got a bunch of CEO business type people that are already in Slack and they want to use Slack, cool. 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:40.520 If you got a bunch of people that want to use WhatsApp, you got a bunch of gamers that want to use Discord, whatever it is. 00:07:40.840 --> 00:07:48.880 I mean, shoot, my friend Tom Pounder is just experimenting now with Twitter spaces and doing a Bible study through Twitter spaces. 00:07:49.460 --> 00:07:56.440 So, if you're wanting to use any of these platforms, by the way, if you're not familiar with Alter Life, alterlife.com, go check it out. 00:07:56.820 --> 00:08:01.360 Incredible platform for not just services, but also for discipleship. 00:08:01.700 --> 00:08:12.940 But regardless of where the platform is, my advice would be, pick one that works for your church, that you are willing to provide tech support for. 00:08:13.640 --> 00:08:22.080 Otherwise, if people want to utilize different platforms, the ultimate question is, where do people want to be? 00:08:22.940 --> 00:08:35.020 And then let them go, let them run, let them explore that space, empower them to do their thing in a different platform, even if it's a platform that you don't understand. 00:08:35.740 --> 00:08:39.020 You know, what's interesting, in the next week, we are actually rolling out a podcast. 00:08:39.260 --> 00:08:41.300 I am super excited about this. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:51.540 It's talking about a student ministry that is actually, sorry, it's a church that's starting to do Bible studies, starting to do small groups in Minecraft. 00:08:52.180 --> 00:08:57.200 And the pastor's exploring Minecraft and the pastor's talking with others that understand. 00:08:57.340 --> 00:08:58.680 If you don't know Minecraft, that's cool. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:00.020 I don't know Minecraft either. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:02.820 And that's actually the heart of the podcast is explaining Minecraft. 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:06.200 But there's an opportunity to connect with people. 00:09:06.420 --> 00:09:16.200 And rather than trying to control people and drive them to one platform, be open-handed here and let others drive where to go. 00:09:17.900 --> 00:09:21.460 Number three here, tips for better online small groups. 00:09:22.380 --> 00:09:24.140 Slow the roll, webcam. 00:09:24.560 --> 00:09:34.100 Look, so much of what we call digital ministry, we are trying to drive people to look into that camera and to engage in conversations. 00:09:34.640 --> 00:09:41.660 What's interesting, in my ministry years, you know, especially recently, I've come across a completely different type of person. 00:09:41.760 --> 00:09:47.600 One that I don't know that I ever met in physical ministry space or in what I was doing digitally. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:55.540 I've started to meet a generation of people that aren't comfortable with that webcam being on. 00:09:56.180 --> 00:10:02.960 And I've started to meet a different maybe classification of people that really are just, they want to engage digitally. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:15.880 But when that webcam's on, I don't know if they're self-conscious because of identity issues or they're not wanting to, like from a privacy issue, they don't want to be that real yet. 00:10:16.100 --> 00:10:23.740 And so I think there's an opportunity for us to engage with people, to dialogue with people without the webcam. 00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:33.380 So like, you know, I've seen this where they're like a church is doing an online service and hey, so the next thing right after that online service, you get a chance to jump in Zoom. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:36.520 We're doing a Zoom meeting with the pastor. 00:10:36.800 --> 00:10:40.280 Come hang out with us in this Zoom meeting with the pastor. 00:10:41.040 --> 00:10:48.260 This sounds like a terrifying idea to me because, well, first off, the pastor is the equivalent of like the high school principal. 00:10:49.020 --> 00:10:52.020 And so you want me to turn on Zoom Sunday morning. 00:10:52.140 --> 00:10:54.820 You want me to like actually get dressed. 00:10:54.940 --> 00:11:02.320 You want me to clean up my house because this pastor, the principal, the leader of the organization is now going to see me. 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:06.780 For many, I think that is a scary thing. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:17.460 There's an opportunity, even within groups, for us to create an opportunity to connect with people without the webcam on. 00:11:17.920 --> 00:11:19.200 Utilizing platforms. 00:11:19.400 --> 00:11:22.220 I mean, we were even just talking about the Twitter thing a second ago. 00:11:22.640 --> 00:11:25.000 Clubhouse has been incredible in this season. 00:11:25.760 --> 00:11:31.860 Even going towards things like Bible reading plans from YouVersion. 00:11:31.860 --> 00:11:38.720 Just an incredible opportunity to meet with people in a different way. 00:11:39.400 --> 00:11:44.620 And while we think, man, we really want to get face-to-face with people as soon as possible. 00:11:45.060 --> 00:11:47.880 Yes, you do want to get face-to-face with people. 00:11:47.980 --> 00:11:50.260 You want to see them through that webcam. 00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:51.820 You want to dialogue with them. 00:11:51.920 --> 00:11:53.340 But when they're ready. 00:11:53.700 --> 00:12:04.480 And there's an opportunity to crockpot the idea, crockpot the relationship, slow cook it, if you didn't get the analogy, instead of microwaving it, trying to rush it through. 00:12:05.880 --> 00:12:10.840 Warm that relationship before you turn on the webcam. 00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:11.760 All right. 00:12:11.780 --> 00:12:12.580 So we're rolling here. 00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:14.720 We are moving past the slow roll. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:16.840 And we're moving to number four. 00:12:16.980 --> 00:12:17.120 All right. 00:12:17.140 --> 00:12:17.820 Number four. 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:20.740 It's better to ask questions than make statements. 00:12:20.920 --> 00:12:21.780 Let me say it another way. 00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:23.060 Number four. 00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:26.760 It's better to use question marks than periods. 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:28.660 Let's say it a third time. 00:12:28.780 --> 00:12:31.180 It's better to dialogue than monologue. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.740 Let me say it another time just to make sure we're all on the same page. 00:12:34.780 --> 00:12:43.960 It's better to shut up and listen than spend the entire time monopolizing the microphone in front of others. 00:12:45.060 --> 00:12:46.100 I mean, that's the heart of this. 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:52.200 Listen, and really, in digital environments, I feel like I need to, like, turn off the shut up thing, so I'll turn that off. 00:12:53.140 --> 00:12:53.820 It's a joke. 00:12:53.880 --> 00:12:54.740 You can hopefully get it. 00:12:55.160 --> 00:13:03.220 Look, at the end of the day, we need to be able to utilize the strength of digital when we're doing our groups, when we're engaging in community. 00:13:03.560 --> 00:13:21.480 Not by talking, not by preaching, not by doing a one-way communication, but by listening, by dialoguing, by giving others an opportunity to speak and to highlight that, to listen to that, to value that, and to meet them where we are. 00:13:22.040 --> 00:13:32.380 Doing digital ministry, doing digital groups is not a come-and-see where I stand in front of the camera, as I'm doing right now, and I preach at you in a one-way conversation. 00:13:32.520 --> 00:13:33.480 This is not effective. 00:13:33.820 --> 00:13:39.340 This is one of the reasons why, honestly, we're moving away from beta and wanting to engage in more two-way conversations. 00:13:40.140 --> 00:13:48.140 Moving forward, for you, your church, there's an option, there's an opportunity for you to listen and dialogue. 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:51.320 Your group leaders should not be preaching. 00:13:51.640 --> 00:13:55.740 You've already got a preacher on Sunday morning who's doing this for your church. 00:13:55.860 --> 00:13:58.980 You don't need group leaders who are preaching. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:01.500 You need group leaders that are listening. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:07.080 And honestly, if this is one of the things, and I'm going to shift gears a little bit, didn't know what I was going to do with this. 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:11.500 Alpha, as an organization, does this incredibly well. 00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:18.580 Alpha is an event-based evangelism tool, and they train their leaders, physically and digitally. 00:14:18.780 --> 00:14:21.480 They train their leaders to listen. 00:14:21.900 --> 00:14:24.540 They train their people to listen. 00:14:24.980 --> 00:14:27.600 And it's highly effective, even in digital spaces. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:35.440 I've had a friend of mine's church have 700 people come to a single Alpha event, and it was all centered around, 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:41.620 and it's hugely successful because the volunteers, because the leaders listened. 00:14:42.160 --> 00:14:48.300 And it's listening in digital environments that gives you an opportunity to have success. 00:14:48.800 --> 00:14:50.000 So, guys, shut up. 00:14:50.840 --> 00:14:53.700 Let's not utilize group as an opportunity to preach. 00:14:54.340 --> 00:14:58.260 Utilize group as an opportunity to listen. 00:14:59.140 --> 00:15:00.460 Moving forward here. 00:15:01.660 --> 00:15:02.660 Number five. 00:15:02.860 --> 00:15:06.600 The first question really defines whether you're going to sink or swim. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:10.360 Hey, when you're doing, and this works for church services as well. 00:15:10.420 --> 00:15:12.480 This works in digital community, period. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:14.920 Chat hosts, small group leaders. 00:15:15.380 --> 00:15:26.580 If your first question is so complicated, is so deep, is so rich that it gets not everybody in the room talking, 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:28.500 you're going to struggle the rest of the day. 00:15:28.900 --> 00:15:30.020 This is a mistake. 00:15:30.280 --> 00:15:31.420 Learn this from me. 00:15:31.800 --> 00:15:34.300 I am the worst at this. 00:15:34.520 --> 00:15:40.900 Where I come in deep, I come in heavy, and I get people staring at me. 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:47.900 Not because it's a bad question, but because I haven't broken the ice. 00:15:47.900 --> 00:15:50.720 I haven't got them talking beforehand. 00:15:51.040 --> 00:15:54.900 I haven't got the group moving and engaging. 00:15:55.320 --> 00:15:58.900 I'm coming in too fast, too hard, too quick, too deep. 00:15:59.260 --> 00:16:04.340 And as a result of it, they are not comfortable yet having that conversation. 00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:07.500 And asking that hard question right out of the bat, 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:14.480 it's very hard to get the group to re-engage, to reconnect once you get that done. 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:16.020 So what am I saying? 00:16:16.560 --> 00:16:22.140 The first question, hey, have a social hangout time before you get started in the small group. 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:22.820 Dialogue. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:23.880 Talk with each other. 00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:25.900 Get people talking. 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:27.760 This is hard in Zoom. 00:16:28.140 --> 00:16:31.620 This is one of the reasons why I mentioned Alter Live earlier. 00:16:31.620 --> 00:16:36.100 The opportunity to have side-by-side conversations, the opportunity to be social, 00:16:36.580 --> 00:16:41.940 the opportunity to kind of whisper to your neighbor exists much better in an Alter Live platform 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:46.640 and in other platforms as well than it does, unfortunately, in Zoom. 00:16:47.260 --> 00:16:51.300 And so get people talking before you start. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:56.080 And the first question that you asked in the Bible study, make it a softball. 00:16:56.760 --> 00:16:59.580 Make it an alley-oop, a lob. 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:05.020 Make it something that people, multiple people can talk about and knock it out of the park. 00:17:05.540 --> 00:17:07.360 Yeah, you're going to get to deeper stuff later. 00:17:07.460 --> 00:17:08.040 You need to. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:09.240 You need to challenge. 00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:13.420 You need to ask such rich questions that people do pause. 00:17:13.800 --> 00:17:16.500 They have to think about it to come up with an answer. 00:17:16.500 --> 00:17:20.640 But if that's the first question that you're coming up with within the small group, 00:17:20.740 --> 00:17:24.480 it's going to be a struggle for you the rest of the day. 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:25.800 Cool. 00:17:26.040 --> 00:17:27.160 Number six here. 00:17:27.620 --> 00:17:29.620 Time to lose control. 00:17:30.340 --> 00:17:34.000 In figital growth is the enemy of multiply. 00:17:34.300 --> 00:17:35.560 It's time to lose control here. 00:17:35.760 --> 00:17:40.860 In figital growth is the enemy of multiply. 00:17:41.520 --> 00:17:42.800 And let's be honest here. 00:17:42.840 --> 00:17:50.400 We don't want to set standards so high as to limit the potential of the leaders and disciple makers that we have. 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:51.500 I've made this mistake. 00:17:51.580 --> 00:17:52.760 I even talked about it earlier. 00:17:52.760 --> 00:17:55.880 I want everybody to be on my platform. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:07.700 And by doing that, I'm limiting the opportunity of growth and the reach of what me as a pastor and us as a church is what we can do. 00:18:08.420 --> 00:18:10.980 And that's at a very practical platform level. 00:18:11.300 --> 00:18:21.680 At a spiritual level, don't have a standard so high that you're turning people away, potential people away, that have potential to do ministry. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:23.840 It's interesting, not related to this at all. 00:18:24.080 --> 00:18:25.860 I was reading a story the other day. 00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:27.780 Man, this may have been an Ed Stetzer article. 00:18:28.320 --> 00:18:29.720 Ed, I don't even remember where I saw it. 00:18:29.760 --> 00:18:31.880 Ed writes so many different articles, it's hard to tell. 00:18:31.980 --> 00:18:34.020 Ed, I'm giving you credit either way. 00:18:34.020 --> 00:18:43.020 But it was an interesting stat where China, as a country, needs missionaries in China. 00:18:43.460 --> 00:18:47.840 And so the church in China would recruit missionaries to go into China. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:59.120 But before they would let them be missionaries within their own native country, they sent them away to England to go to seminary. 00:18:59.120 --> 00:19:04.620 So anybody who wanted to be a missionary in China ended up in England to go to seminary. 00:19:04.980 --> 00:19:15.520 And then after the year of seminary, these Chinese missionaries would go from England back to China, cross the continents to go back to get plugged in and become a missionary in China. 00:19:15.520 --> 00:19:33.400 And what China church found out in this season was that the missionaries, once they got back from England, they were basically useless to the church in China because they were culturally programmed England, because they lost their China root and culture. 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:37.460 Now, examples of this, I don't know specifics, I'm just reading this in an article. 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:49.500 But the fact is, is that there are people within the culture of whatever community that you're wanting to connect in, to have the opportunity to engage at a deeper level. 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:53.220 We just need to challenge them to go where they are. 00:19:53.620 --> 00:19:56.280 We need to encourage radical thinking. 00:19:56.500 --> 00:19:59.900 We need to remember to experiment. 00:20:00.740 --> 00:20:04.700 Digital churches, digital multiplication, is not about numbers. 00:20:05.360 --> 00:20:07.140 It's about relationships. 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:08.640 It's about individuals. 00:20:09.320 --> 00:20:10.160 It's about names. 00:20:10.340 --> 00:20:17.820 And often this is lost in digital because we think that digital is all about anonymous and not knowing who people are. 00:20:17.820 --> 00:20:21.120 And digital does have the challenge of doing that. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:22.240 It is possible. 00:20:22.620 --> 00:20:30.140 I've told the story about my friend of mine who's broadcasting his church service online, reached half a million people, 500,000 people. 00:20:30.520 --> 00:20:32.580 Fact is, he only got 11 connection cards. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:36.740 So there's 499,989. 00:20:37.280 --> 00:20:38.460 I'm probably doing bad math there. 00:20:38.520 --> 00:20:39.260 But you get the idea. 00:20:39.340 --> 00:20:43.480 There's a whole bunch of people who are anonymous in that opportunity. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:57.340 But for us, when we're doing digital, if we're really utilizing the strength of physical and digital working together, we have to understand the relationships, the names that's happening here. 00:20:58.080 --> 00:21:09.880 Digital groups, it's about equipping disciple makers, releasing them and encouraging them along the way as they're going on mission. 00:21:10.580 --> 00:21:12.720 This, by the way, is the opposite of control. 00:21:12.940 --> 00:21:16.060 I'm not telling people, no, you can't do that. 00:21:16.300 --> 00:21:17.620 I'm talking with them. 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:19.420 What do you want to do? 00:21:19.420 --> 00:21:22.020 And then encouraging them to do that. 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:24.560 Praying for them while they're doing that. 00:21:24.980 --> 00:21:35.240 Having faith that God is going to use them on their journey in a better way than God could use me to force them to do something different. 00:21:36.520 --> 00:21:51.080 Really being fidgetal, really understanding digital, is this release of control that is going to allow God to move an individual's lives that are higher and better than what I could do on my own. 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:58.540 Number six, and this may be the most important thing that I say today, it's time to lose control. 00:21:59.500 --> 00:22:04.040 And fidgetal growth is that enemy of multiplication. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:05.860 So take that away. 00:22:05.860 --> 00:22:10.680 Those are your six tips for better groups moving forward. 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:12.160 Hey, this has been great. 00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:14.060 Let's say bye to the beta show. 00:22:14.140 --> 00:22:14.880 We are done. 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:17.020 We've had 42 of these. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:20.040 I'm not saying I'm never coming back. 00:22:20.560 --> 00:22:22.000 We're going to keep broadcasting. 00:22:22.100 --> 00:22:24.220 We're going to keep doing different things in different formats. 00:22:24.800 --> 00:22:26.360 I'm going to put beta on the shelf. 00:22:26.420 --> 00:22:27.220 You may see it again. 00:22:27.720 --> 00:22:31.460 Beta had some spinoffs if you were around for the crazy stuff we were doing with Cray. 00:22:32.340 --> 00:22:34.560 Yeah, let's take a break on it. 00:22:34.560 --> 00:22:36.180 We're going to get back to some podcasts. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:40.560 Here in season two, well, here, let me do this before you get to season two. 00:22:41.340 --> 00:22:44.560 What did we learn in the beta? 00:22:44.560 --> 00:22:47.800 What are some takeaways that I learned here in the beta show? 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:52.900 Number one, you got to let go of something good in order to grab onto something great. 00:22:53.400 --> 00:23:03.260 And the fact is that the resources that went into beta, it really caused us to, man, we want to do something else. 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:05.540 But let's figure out what that is. 00:23:05.600 --> 00:23:07.120 And let's give it a shot. 00:23:07.260 --> 00:23:15.720 Number two, attached to that as well, don't be afraid to kill something that's working, especially when there's limited resourcing that's involved. 00:23:16.260 --> 00:23:23.560 We could keep doing the beta show, but we're going to change formats because I think there's an opportunity to do something better as a result. 00:23:24.140 --> 00:23:28.120 Here, season two is kicking off next week. 00:23:28.260 --> 00:23:32.620 And we're excited about this here at the Church Digital, excited about this through Stadia. 00:23:32.860 --> 00:23:50.580 And we're going to see really a rollout of a new emphasis centered around innovation, centered around crazy thinking, crazy ideas that really is going to push the church, that's going to elevate the church into this next season of ministry. 00:23:50.580 --> 00:24:00.040 Look, it's so easy to look at ministry pre-COVID, COVID, mid-post-COVID, wherever you think you are in this story. 00:24:00.100 --> 00:24:07.240 But the reality is, is that for a lot of us, going back to the building is a priority. 00:24:07.500 --> 00:24:09.080 It's a priority for a lot of churches. 00:24:09.540 --> 00:24:16.420 For us, the Church Digital, we want to keep championing this idea of this innovation, of what's coming next. 00:24:16.420 --> 00:24:27.900 And for us as the organization, we want to continue, not start because we've been talking about it, but we want to continue, not necessarily trying to convince people to do digital, 00:24:28.100 --> 00:24:34.500 but telling the stories of those that are doing digital and how that's being effective in ministry today. 00:24:34.940 --> 00:24:37.640 So, Beta, man, it's been 42 episodes. 00:24:38.120 --> 00:24:39.640 We love you. 00:24:39.740 --> 00:24:41.460 It's been great, audience out there. 00:24:41.560 --> 00:24:44.520 Thanks for jumping on this and being part of the Beta Show. 00:24:44.620 --> 00:24:51.740 But we are very, very looking forward to what season two looks like, kicking off just next week. 00:24:51.740 --> 00:25:00.180 By the way, also kicking off next week, Exponential in D.C., as well as some other events coming here in October and November. 00:25:00.740 --> 00:25:05.920 So, to wrap for all of this, this is Jeff with the Church Digital and with Stadia Church Planning. 00:25:06.040 --> 00:25:12.020 Thanks for jumping here on the stream with us, and we'll see you next week in season two. 00:25:12.280 --> 00:25:12.840 Y'all have a good day. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:13.380 Bye. 00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:18.940 Transcription by CastingWords