WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.820 Welcome to the Church Digital Podcast. 00:00:02.300 --> 00:00:06.340 Through this podcast, learn about how God is using technology and innovation 00:00:06.340 --> 00:00:09.400 in digital and digital environments around the world. 00:00:09.860 --> 00:00:13.800 Our goal? To help churches like yours learn to be the church digitally. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:19.420 Our heart? That churches like yours will discover a newfound focus on disciple-making 00:00:19.420 --> 00:00:21.440 that will revolutionize your church. 00:00:21.840 --> 00:00:24.480 And now, your host, here's Jeff Reed. 00:00:24.900 --> 00:00:28.220 All right, hey, we got episode 201 of the Church Digital Podcast. 00:00:28.220 --> 00:00:31.240 Excited for the conversation that's coming up here. 00:00:31.300 --> 00:00:34.620 Episode 200, we just talked about the Digital Church Network 00:00:34.620 --> 00:00:37.980 and so excited to see everything that's happening and already happening 00:00:37.980 --> 00:00:41.880 and coming about with the launch of the Digital Church Network 00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:44.440 or maybe the pre-launch of the Digital Church Network. 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:50.160 Swing over to digitalchurch.network, the website, digitalchurch.network 00:00:50.160 --> 00:00:51.320 for more information on that. 00:00:51.380 --> 00:00:54.240 But here with 201, and really for a series here, 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.700 we're still in season two, talking with the crazies 00:00:56.700 --> 00:01:00.160 because a lot of my friends are crazy, but that's funny. 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.600 But we really wanted to bring in and start the feature. 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:07.260 Hey, you know, we launched a podcast network, 00:01:07.420 --> 00:01:12.920 TCD Podcast Network, and bringing on an ever-expanding list. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:14.880 Even today as we're doing this recording, 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:18.020 I'm going to have a recording with another potential person 00:01:18.020 --> 00:01:19.900 to join the podcast network. 00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:25.160 And so today, we wanted to feature and give Tom Pounder 00:01:25.160 --> 00:01:30.720 an opportunity to take over the TCD, the Church Digital Podcast. 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:31.940 So we're excited about Tom. 00:01:32.380 --> 00:01:34.100 Tom, thanks for jumping on here, man. 00:01:34.360 --> 00:01:36.860 Hey, as always, Jeff, thanks for having me on. 00:01:36.960 --> 00:01:39.940 I'm really excited with what's happening with the Church Digital. 00:01:40.360 --> 00:01:43.320 Yeah, lots of motion, lots of action, 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.940 lots of stuff happening right now that I can't even talk about yet. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.980 And so there's going to be some really interesting things 00:01:49.980 --> 00:01:52.600 coming in the weeks and the months to come. 00:01:52.700 --> 00:01:53.640 So stay tuned. 00:01:53.720 --> 00:01:54.500 We're really excited. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:56.040 It's interesting. 00:01:56.100 --> 00:01:57.500 We said here with season two, 00:01:57.880 --> 00:01:59.360 hey, we just, we want to go with the goers. 00:01:59.420 --> 00:02:01.020 We want to go with the people that are moving. 00:02:01.380 --> 00:02:03.100 I'm done trying to convince people, 00:02:03.420 --> 00:02:05.960 you know, the 10 reasons why they should be doing online small groups. 00:02:05.960 --> 00:02:08.580 Let's actually run with the people that want to run. 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:11.200 And that philosophy shift has been awesome. 00:02:11.380 --> 00:02:14.420 And it's been really exciting to see how God's been moving through it. 00:02:14.440 --> 00:02:16.200 But here with the takeover, 00:02:16.320 --> 00:02:20.160 we're going to feature some of the podcast creators, 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:23.760 the content creators that are part of the TCD Podcast Network. 00:02:23.940 --> 00:02:26.200 And so we're pulling out an episode of Tom. 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:27.740 I want to talk here a little bit with Tom. 00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:32.620 And then we're going to share one of the TCD Sidekick episodes 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:33.800 here along the way. 00:02:33.800 --> 00:02:37.880 So Tom, let me, I mean, Tom, you've been doing podcasting longer than me. 00:02:38.480 --> 00:02:41.780 To be honest, like I, it was funny just this week, 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:46.720 Tom sent me the first podcast episode that I was on with him. 00:02:46.760 --> 00:02:48.660 It was probably the second interview I'd ever done. 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:52.120 And it was painful, is a word that comes to mind. 00:02:52.220 --> 00:02:54.560 Like it just was really, and Tom's like, we should do this. 00:02:54.600 --> 00:02:57.100 And I'm like, oh no, we'll put a link to it in the show notes 00:02:57.100 --> 00:02:58.400 if you want to go relive that one. 00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:01.620 But it was not airworthy just to say the least. 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:03.440 But hey man, how'd you get started into this? 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:05.380 Like what, what was the trigger for you? 00:03:05.780 --> 00:03:08.540 Even with the stuff that you were doing with YM Sidekick 00:03:08.540 --> 00:03:11.460 and you've been creating content for such a long time. 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:12.920 Like what was your heart? 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:14.660 What was kind of the trigger moment for you 00:03:14.660 --> 00:03:16.460 when you were getting started in this so long ago? 00:03:16.700 --> 00:03:18.320 Well, I like the process. 00:03:18.660 --> 00:03:19.680 I like to think a lot. 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:21.480 I'm a, I'm an overthinker a lot. 00:03:21.620 --> 00:03:24.020 And, you know, again, so I read a lot of books 00:03:24.020 --> 00:03:25.860 and process a lot of things. 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:32.020 And I got started in blogging over 10, 11, 12 years ago, I think. 00:03:32.820 --> 00:03:38.960 And the, the intention for me blogging was that I wanted to share my thoughts. 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:43.200 Like a lot of people who were sharing thoughts at that time were the big wigs, 00:03:43.300 --> 00:03:44.620 the big name people. 00:03:45.160 --> 00:03:47.560 The big, and I was in student ministry only at this time. 00:03:48.220 --> 00:03:51.340 And so there were student ministers who were doing great work, 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:55.440 but I found that some of the things that they were talking about and doing 00:03:55.440 --> 00:03:57.100 just didn't apply to my situation. 00:03:57.100 --> 00:03:59.980 I was at a smaller church with a smaller congregation. 00:04:00.220 --> 00:04:03.760 And so what I wanted to do was just share my thoughts on, 00:04:03.940 --> 00:04:06.700 hey, what am I doing to reach the people in my community? 00:04:07.140 --> 00:04:09.780 And so I started blogging and I love just writing. 00:04:09.980 --> 00:04:11.320 I, and I continue to write. 00:04:11.760 --> 00:04:14.860 That's why I'm so glad to be writing for the church digital. 00:04:15.480 --> 00:04:19.060 I love just processing and sharing practical insights for people. 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:22.720 But then when podcasting started coming about, 00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:24.880 I started thinking, okay, well, 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.040 maybe should I jump into this and see about this? 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.400 And, but then I also felt like, well, you know, 00:04:30.420 --> 00:04:33.740 it's one of those things where nobody wants to hear from me. 00:04:33.940 --> 00:04:35.940 I'm just an average Joe guy. 00:04:36.520 --> 00:04:39.240 Why don't, why don't I just bring on people who are really doing it? 00:04:39.320 --> 00:04:40.960 Ministry people who are in the trenches, 00:04:40.960 --> 00:04:44.040 but quote unquote, like no neighbors. 00:04:44.180 --> 00:04:45.120 They weren't the big wigs. 00:04:45.220 --> 00:04:47.580 They were just regular people doing regular ministry 00:04:47.580 --> 00:04:49.280 and doing it to the best of their ability. 00:04:49.400 --> 00:04:54.320 And so I wanted to get people on there and having conversations with them. 00:04:54.340 --> 00:04:55.680 And that's why I started the podcast. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:57.580 And again, through Twitter, 00:04:57.580 --> 00:05:01.060 I discovered you and all the great stuff that you were doing with the church 00:05:01.060 --> 00:05:03.300 digital, and then your history with online ministry. 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:06.100 And that's why I wanted to have you on my podcast, 00:05:06.100 --> 00:05:10.480 because, Alyssa, I feel like I knew you before you were the big man. 00:05:10.620 --> 00:05:12.280 I mean, everybody knows Jeff Reed now. 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:14.480 I mean, we, we have our staff. 00:05:14.620 --> 00:05:16.760 We talk about you like we're all best friends with you. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.300 And I want to say, no, no, no, guys. 00:05:18.420 --> 00:05:19.680 I know Jeff Reed. 00:05:19.820 --> 00:05:21.900 I, I have, I know him. 00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:24.060 And so, but it's just great. 00:05:24.140 --> 00:05:29.520 I just like talking to people and hearing them share what God is doing in their ministries. 00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:30.260 That's awesome. 00:05:30.260 --> 00:05:35.240 So, uh, what, what a passion over the years of, of, of doing this and connecting. 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:40.820 One of the things that I love about Tom is he, his, his heart as literally, as long as I've known 00:05:40.820 --> 00:05:46.580 him is, is, has been in helping others and in trying to help others do that ministry. 00:05:46.580 --> 00:05:51.340 It's not, um, conceited or self-serving because it's something he's doing. 00:05:51.340 --> 00:05:55.360 And it's, and it's not even sometimes with content creators, it's not even from a place 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:57.600 of, of ego or pride. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:05:59.200 It's, it's really, it was, it was funny. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:04.900 Um, one of our mutual friends on, uh, on, I think on Twitter, Justin Nava has said recently, 00:06:04.900 --> 00:06:10.240 I hope to care for my clients the way that, that Tom Pounder cares for his audience. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:15.920 And so like just the heart for how that, that he cares for it and loves, loves, you know, 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:17.500 the listening audience that's out there. 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:22.060 So if you've not connected, uh, with the TCD sidekick podcast, there's going to be a link 00:06:22.060 --> 00:06:23.220 in the show notes to do that. 00:06:23.500 --> 00:06:27.580 Hey, Tom, what, um, like what types of conversations, what, what are some of the 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:31.240 the conversations that you've got coming up in some of the weeks ahead? 00:06:31.280 --> 00:06:32.040 What do you got scheduled? 00:06:32.140 --> 00:06:32.620 Who's coming in? 00:06:32.940 --> 00:06:37.680 Well, I got some conversations coming up with some online ministers and, um, some people who 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:39.700 are doing practical church communication stuff. 00:06:39.840 --> 00:06:43.080 So, you know, I've got people like Sly King, who's been doing online ministry. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:47.300 You know, I think he was one of the original guys, just like you, one of the first people 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:48.300 doing online ministry. 00:06:48.420 --> 00:06:53.800 We talk about how strategy can kind of, kind of help you, uh, implement an effectiveness 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:55.480 on, on online ministry. 00:06:55.480 --> 00:07:00.660 I got Mark McDonald, who's a great church communicator guy, uh, and Mark McDonald and 00:07:00.660 --> 00:07:01.940 I are going to talk about SEO. 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:06.920 Uh, and we're, we're talking about why that's so important, uh, for your, uh, church and 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:07.680 for your website. 00:07:07.840 --> 00:07:09.600 And I've got people on there. 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:11.220 I've got a new person, Tammy Burdick. 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:16.720 And she's going to be talking to me about, um, uh, about the effectiveness of why it's important 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:21.920 to do research, uh, researching your audience, getting to know your audience so you can communicate 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:22.460 effectively. 00:07:22.460 --> 00:07:26.060 So I got those three people coming up and I'm really excited about that. 00:07:26.460 --> 00:07:30.420 To be honest, I've, I've been tracking with Tammy over the past couple, maybe weeks, maybe 00:07:30.420 --> 00:07:30.840 a month. 00:07:30.840 --> 00:07:35.140 Uh, and so that's going to be an interesting conversation that with, with SEO, one of the, 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:40.580 uh, honestly, probably one of the most underutilized technical aspects, uh, within, uh, church tech 00:07:40.580 --> 00:07:40.860 today. 00:07:41.100 --> 00:07:42.340 So love that. 00:07:42.440 --> 00:07:46.840 So, Hey Tom, with this podcast that, that we're coming up right now, this, this one episode, 00:07:46.980 --> 00:07:51.120 what, what, what are you taking over the church digital to podcast here? 00:07:51.220 --> 00:07:52.320 What, what are we listening to? 00:07:52.360 --> 00:07:53.140 What's this conversation? 00:07:53.440 --> 00:07:58.980 Well, I interviewed Jake McNamara and Jake is someone that I met on Twitter during the 00:07:58.980 --> 00:07:59.680 COVID years. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:04.680 And actually he talks about his story about how he wasn't an online minister before COVID 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:04.920 hit. 00:08:04.980 --> 00:08:07.320 And that's very familiar with a lot of us. 00:08:07.320 --> 00:08:12.100 Uh, and, um, and you know, Jake, and so, you know, we follow each other on Twitter and 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:17.640 we talk about creating that guest pathway from where you get them from the very first original, 00:08:17.640 --> 00:08:22.980 um, caption on a stream or whatever it is that you do. 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:27.320 And then how do you move them along in the process, uh, to get them connected within your 00:08:27.320 --> 00:08:30.940 church, whether it's an online connection or if they were able to actually come in person. 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.100 So we talk about that at length and it's a really good conversation. 00:08:34.220 --> 00:08:34.860 I'm really excited. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:39.400 Um, well, I was excited to share it and I'm excited to share it again with, uh, the trips 00:08:39.400 --> 00:08:39.700 digital. 00:08:40.100 --> 00:08:40.200 Yeah. 00:08:40.300 --> 00:08:40.780 Love it. 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:45.100 So we're going to, we're going to dig in Jake, uh, you know, you're out there, uh, listening. 00:08:45.280 --> 00:08:47.640 I'm sure love getting ready to feature you on this. 00:08:47.680 --> 00:08:50.980 It's, it's been fun getting to know him over recent months as well. 00:08:51.040 --> 00:08:56.580 I think I, I connected with him in Chicago at, uh, one of the regional expo, uh, events, 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:00.700 but, you know, looking, looking forward to, to sharing this conversation centered around, 00:09:00.700 --> 00:09:05.940 uh, the guest engagement pathways and, and, and, and digging down to some old church, uh, 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:10.820 church online roots here, uh, getting back to really talking about how your church can 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:15.420 be more effective in, in, in utilizing online, uh, ministry. 00:09:15.540 --> 00:09:16.380 So looking forward to this. 00:09:16.700 --> 00:09:21.060 Hey, so we're, we're bringing in Tom Pounder, uh, and Jake McNamara here in a conversation, 00:09:21.060 --> 00:09:25.240 uh, centered around, uh, guest engagement pathway. 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:26.000 All right. 00:09:26.060 --> 00:09:27.020 Hey, Tom, thanks for this. 00:09:27.100 --> 00:09:28.900 And, uh, we'll see y'all on the flip side. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:29.520 Thanks everybody. 00:09:29.760 --> 00:09:30.140 Here you go. 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:30.920 All right. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.160 With me right now is Jake McNamara. 00:09:33.400 --> 00:09:34.240 Jake, how are you? 00:09:34.880 --> 00:09:35.900 Doing really well, Tom. 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:36.420 How are you doing? 00:09:36.820 --> 00:09:37.880 I'm doing good. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:43.780 I see you've got a, uh, well, if you're watching the video part of this, you'll see that Jake's 00:09:43.780 --> 00:09:45.640 got a red flannel on. 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:48.640 Is this Christmas oriented for a particular reason? 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:50.960 Uh, not really. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:55.300 Although we did just, you know, the day we're recording this, we recorded our online Christmas 00:09:55.300 --> 00:09:56.320 services last night. 00:09:56.460 --> 00:10:00.100 So I should say it's a tie into all that, but it's just a red flannel. 00:10:00.540 --> 00:10:01.160 That's good. 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:02.320 I'm all in black. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:06.660 And so that's, you know, kind of a different thing, but, um, yeah, that's awesome. 00:10:06.920 --> 00:10:14.440 Um, so, uh, I've known you over the years, um, especially during COVID because of all of 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:19.460 us online ministers kind of getting together and chatting on places like Twitter and whatnot. 00:10:19.920 --> 00:10:23.240 Um, but some of the, this is your first time on my podcast. 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:25.000 So I'm excited to have you on. 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:27.060 So some people may not know who you are. 00:10:27.100 --> 00:10:31.680 So tell people, uh, where you're from, what ministry you serve in and how you got into that. 00:10:32.380 --> 00:10:32.580 Yeah. 00:10:32.580 --> 00:10:35.240 And I'll give you the short versions of all of that here. 00:10:35.340 --> 00:10:36.260 So my name's Jake. 00:10:36.260 --> 00:10:40.860 Um, I am the online campus pastor at the Compass Church. 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:44.640 Uh, it's a church in Naperville, Western suburb of Chicago. 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:48.520 Um, we're a four site, multi-site plus online now. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:57.500 Um, so my background is I was a chemistry major in college, um, decided that I didn't want 00:10:57.500 --> 00:10:58.820 to work in a lab my whole life. 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:04.600 So I fell into kind of some consulting roles and I did environmental work for, um, about 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:10.660 12 years, um, doing things that just, when I explain it, I see eyes glaze over really quickly. 00:11:11.100 --> 00:11:13.080 Um, but I did that. 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:18.700 Um, but I was also working part-time at our church, um, in student ministry at that point 00:11:18.700 --> 00:11:24.280 and time, um, just kind of felt a new ministry would be something that God was going to move 00:11:24.280 --> 00:11:25.740 me into one way or another. 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:28.100 At some point, I just figured it'd be a last career. 00:11:28.520 --> 00:11:34.520 Uh, and lo and behold, I got a call from our executive pastor at the time, um, asking if 00:11:34.520 --> 00:11:38.360 I would be willing to go into our hub campus and run our guest services programs there. 00:11:38.740 --> 00:11:44.200 Um, so all of the assimilation work and, um, you know, connecting people to the mission and 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:44.980 vision of our church. 00:11:45.400 --> 00:11:47.580 Um, so I jumped in and said, yes. 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:49.460 Um, and then COVID hit. 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:54.620 So I feel like I did what any good guest service pastor would do at that point in time. 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:56.940 And I would go where the people are. 00:11:57.180 --> 00:11:58.040 And that was online. 00:11:58.520 --> 00:12:02.120 Um, just fell in love with it and really enjoyed it. 00:12:02.120 --> 00:12:08.780 And our executive team here asked if I would not go back to my old role, um, and stay online. 00:12:08.780 --> 00:12:11.040 So I just have said, absolutely. 00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:16.640 Um, so I've been unofficially in the role since the beginning of COVID and officially 00:12:16.640 --> 00:12:20.540 in the role, um, probably about 14 months or so at this point. 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:21.900 That's awesome. 00:12:22.040 --> 00:12:22.340 Okay. 00:12:22.400 --> 00:12:24.240 So there's so much I got to ask you about this one. 00:12:24.380 --> 00:12:24.660 Yeah, totally. 00:12:25.060 --> 00:12:30.000 The chemistry stuff is fascinating to me because this is what I remember about chemistry from 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:31.920 my experience in high school. 00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:36.320 I had chemistry my 11th grade year and I, it was right after lunch. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:38.560 It was in the basement of our high school. 00:12:38.660 --> 00:12:40.760 So there was no windows or anything like that. 00:12:41.260 --> 00:12:45.440 And I literally, I think I fell asleep every single day in that class. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:50.100 And, uh, so chem sciences were never my strong suit on this. 00:12:50.160 --> 00:12:52.460 So what, what fascinated you about chemistry? 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.880 Uh, so I was going to be a pharmacy major. 00:12:55.880 --> 00:12:57.580 That was the whole plan going into college. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:02.600 Um, so I did chemistry honestly, because my chemistry courses in high school were so hard, 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:06.300 um, that college chemistry courses for the first year and a half. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:08.320 Half to two years were actually really easy for me. 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:13.260 Um, whatever infer from that, what you want, I suppose. 00:13:13.400 --> 00:13:18.640 But, uh, and it was one of those when I decided pharmacy school, wasn't the path chemistry is 00:13:18.640 --> 00:13:20.880 what I was next closest to graduating with the degree. 00:13:20.880 --> 00:13:22.600 And so I stuck with it. 00:13:22.820 --> 00:13:25.020 Um, so you fell asleep in the back of the class. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:29.740 I, uh, I pulled out my phone and played Tetris and thought I got away with it until my teacher 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:32.480 made a comment in front of the whole class, like the last week. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:33.160 That's awesome. 00:13:33.540 --> 00:13:33.860 All right. 00:13:34.420 --> 00:13:38.680 Well, then that, that also alarms me a little bit too, because when I was in high school, 00:13:38.680 --> 00:13:39.920 we didn't have cell phones. 00:13:39.920 --> 00:13:42.480 And so you, you were much younger than I am. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:43.620 So great. 00:13:43.800 --> 00:13:47.240 I'm, I'm talking to someone who's much younger than me now, but no, this is great. 00:13:47.620 --> 00:13:48.380 Um, okay. 00:13:48.380 --> 00:13:53.940 So I love this though, because I've seen a lot of student ministers go from student ministry 00:13:53.940 --> 00:13:55.020 into online minister. 00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:56.120 I saw a lot of that. 00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:59.720 And again, I serve both roles, student and online. 00:14:00.020 --> 00:14:00.520 Yeah. 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:02.220 At least at the time of this recording. 00:14:02.220 --> 00:14:09.120 Um, but, but, uh, you moving from guest services to online, how, how was that transition 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:09.620 for you? 00:14:11.740 --> 00:14:12.300 Complicated. 00:14:12.620 --> 00:14:14.440 Um, but honestly, really good. 00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:20.860 Um, I think linearly, linearly a lot of times and in processes and systems. 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:26.760 Um, and I think from that end, it's actually really helped trying to pull that into, um, 00:14:26.760 --> 00:14:27.640 online, right? 00:14:27.640 --> 00:14:33.060 Like I feel like I put my consultant hat back on in some ways, um, to try and get to the 00:14:33.060 --> 00:14:38.700 point of how can we process as much information as we can quickly and turn it into something 00:14:38.700 --> 00:14:39.160 usable. 00:14:39.800 --> 00:14:43.920 Um, so organizing all of our teams and recruiting volunteers. 00:14:43.920 --> 00:14:50.720 And honestly, just the process of, you know, that somebody's with you now, what do you do 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:51.180 with that? 00:14:51.180 --> 00:14:55.980 Um, I think that's even more critical online just because of the fleeting nature of how 00:14:55.980 --> 00:15:00.520 it can be that moment where you first connect with somebody, what are you going to do? 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:01.100 Yeah. 00:15:01.460 --> 00:15:02.520 Dude, that's awesome. 00:15:02.680 --> 00:15:06.500 Well, that kind of really leads us into what we're going to talk about today, because we're 00:15:06.500 --> 00:15:09.020 going to talk about this online guest pathway. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:15.160 Um, and I think you've are set up perfectly to talk about this because of your guest, um, 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.000 experiences, but then moving on to online. 00:15:18.160 --> 00:15:20.280 So let me ask you this question as we get started. 00:15:20.280 --> 00:15:29.820 Um, what, what was your online, um, what were you guys doing online at the, right at COVID? 00:15:30.020 --> 00:15:31.820 Like, were you streaming your services? 00:15:31.820 --> 00:15:35.240 Were you doing that or were you starting completely fresh? 00:15:35.680 --> 00:15:38.240 Uh, we did a ton of experimenting. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:43.460 So, uh, day one of COVID, um, we were all kind of on house orders. 00:15:43.460 --> 00:15:47.880 So everybody was recording separate parts from their homes and we were getting somebody to 00:15:47.880 --> 00:15:48.780 patch it all together. 00:15:49.460 --> 00:15:55.120 Um, we moved to a live stream concept for a very short amount of time, um, but we actually 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:56.860 moved back to pre-record. 00:15:57.540 --> 00:16:02.300 Um, and we're one of the few churches I feel like that have gone that route. 00:16:02.620 --> 00:16:08.560 Um, so we are pre-recording all aspects of our service to be able to package them together, 00:16:08.740 --> 00:16:13.600 produce them, um, in a way that fits with what people would expect to see on YouTube. 00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:18.120 Um, it's helped keep our services a little bit shorter than you would see in person. 00:16:18.620 --> 00:16:23.540 Um, and since we're not looking to necessarily connect somebody to a specific building, I think 00:16:23.540 --> 00:16:26.600 that's actually been a really helpful thing for at least our church specifically. 00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:31.640 Okay, so now I'm going to have to have you back on again for the podcast to talk about 00:16:31.640 --> 00:16:36.780 your whole recording process, because I'm fascinated because this, because like you just said, 00:16:36.860 --> 00:16:42.040 a lot of people were recording while live streaming was kind of down. 00:16:42.160 --> 00:16:45.660 They weren't able to meet, they were recording, but then once they were able to meet back in 00:16:45.660 --> 00:16:49.880 person, like our church, um, we were, uh, we were live streaming again. 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:50.540 Yeah. 00:16:50.580 --> 00:16:52.900 And we were, and we continue to do that. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:55.800 We do read broadcast, but it's basically our live stream. 00:16:56.660 --> 00:17:00.700 I'm going to have you back on the podcast to talk about this because I'm fascinated with 00:17:00.700 --> 00:17:00.860 this. 00:17:00.940 --> 00:17:01.500 This is great. 00:17:01.620 --> 00:17:05.820 And I'd love to hear the pros and the cons of what you've experienced over your times 00:17:05.820 --> 00:17:06.340 doing this. 00:17:06.340 --> 00:17:08.160 Um, so, okay. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:10.660 So that's really cool of what you guys were doing. 00:17:10.660 --> 00:17:11.140 Okay. 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:14.140 So now let's talk about into this, uh, guest pathway. 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:22.480 So there, do you stream your services the same time that the in-person service is going on, 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:23.760 or is that different times? 00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:24.800 Different times. 00:17:24.800 --> 00:17:30.680 So, um, we are like a lot of churches, but we're going to post on a lot of different platforms 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:33.420 just to catch as many different people as we can. 00:17:33.660 --> 00:17:38.720 Um, our primary three that we focus the most on are going to be YouTube, um, church online 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.840 platform and Vimeo, um, just because Vimeo pulls over to our website. 00:17:42.840 --> 00:17:48.520 Um, uh, we're, you know, we'll do Buzzsprout for audio only podcast versions of it. 00:17:48.520 --> 00:17:53.220 We also put things on Facebook, but, um, those are more just kind of ancillary, aren't 00:17:53.220 --> 00:17:56.960 necessarily the core of what we're trying to do, at least at the moment. 00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:02.240 Um, but podcasting sounds like it'll have a little bit more of a future in our, in our 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:03.520 portfolio here coming up. 00:18:04.020 --> 00:18:04.480 That's awesome. 00:18:04.580 --> 00:18:05.040 Okay, good. 00:18:05.180 --> 00:18:08.060 So how often will you, will you stream your services? 00:18:08.060 --> 00:18:12.640 Like, will you just put it on YouTube at one time or do you have a, a premiere event? 00:18:12.980 --> 00:18:13.140 Yeah. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:17.700 So we premiere on YouTube at eight central and then we do church online platform at nine, 00:18:17.820 --> 00:18:19.000 10 and 11 central. 00:18:19.600 --> 00:18:25.020 Um, and because it's all prerecorded, we know it's all going to fit well within the time buffer 00:18:25.020 --> 00:18:27.600 limits of actually running things on the hour like that. 00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:30.720 Um, and then we'll leave everything on demand after that point. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:35.240 So once the premiere on YouTube is done, people can access it whenever and however they'd 00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:35.480 like. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:36.040 Okay. 00:18:36.120 --> 00:18:42.180 And so you do, you do not post throughout the week, um, on church online, not on church 00:18:42.180 --> 00:18:42.480 online. 00:18:42.620 --> 00:18:42.800 Nope. 00:18:43.020 --> 00:18:47.060 Um, the only other things we'll do is just, um, truncate our message down to where it's 00:18:47.060 --> 00:18:50.820 just the message only as opposed to the full service and make that a separate file, but 00:18:50.820 --> 00:18:52.060 nothing really beyond that. 00:18:52.220 --> 00:18:52.780 That's cool. 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:53.320 Okay, good. 00:18:53.340 --> 00:18:53.900 That's really cool. 00:18:54.020 --> 00:18:54.260 Okay. 00:18:54.260 --> 00:18:58.520 So let's then talk about your Sunday experience on YouTube and then on your church online 00:18:58.520 --> 00:18:59.080 platform. 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:00.960 How are you welcoming guests? 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.820 Like what, what kind of strategic stuff are you guys doing, uh, to do that? 00:19:05.600 --> 00:19:05.780 Yeah. 00:19:05.860 --> 00:19:10.260 And honestly, I'm hoping that none of this sounds like rocket science, right? 00:19:10.700 --> 00:19:11.140 Right. 00:19:11.260 --> 00:19:11.400 Yeah. 00:19:11.620 --> 00:19:11.760 Yeah. 00:19:11.760 --> 00:19:15.620 But whether by hook or by crook, we want to know that people are there. 00:19:16.100 --> 00:19:20.820 Um, so it's the things of calling things out at the beginning of the service, having somebody 00:19:20.820 --> 00:19:24.980 intentionally on screen, talking to people specifically online. 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:30.340 Um, but really what we've started to try and brainstorm more outside of just interacting 00:19:30.340 --> 00:19:36.260 with people specifically during those Sunday morning time slots is how can we, how can I 00:19:36.260 --> 00:19:40.200 personally not feel like a pastor of views, but a pastor of people. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:44.120 So what are we doing to try and get people's contact information? 00:19:44.800 --> 00:19:50.660 Um, so for our church, as an example, um, it was very intentional and strategic where we 00:19:50.660 --> 00:19:55.080 are going to ask people, whether it's your first time or 500th time to fill out a connection 00:19:55.080 --> 00:20:01.620 card every single weekend, um, and cast different vision for how and why, or the different things 00:20:01.620 --> 00:20:06.820 that you can do on there, like fill out a prayer request, um, or turn that into, Hey, 00:20:07.280 --> 00:20:11.760 on your connection card, um, tell us your favorite type of Halloween candy. 00:20:12.360 --> 00:20:17.640 Um, the reason we do that is we just can get a little bit more information, um, from somebody 00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:22.120 by going that route because we can require a name and at least an email address. 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:26.380 And once I have someone's contact information, I can follow up. 00:20:26.820 --> 00:20:29.240 Um, the same happens on church online, right? 00:20:29.260 --> 00:20:35.060 If I see a username, that's not familiar to me, um, very regularly just send a private 00:20:35.060 --> 00:20:38.740 message to them and let them know that we're glad they're here and ask if there's anything 00:20:38.740 --> 00:20:40.140 I can pray for them about. 00:20:40.740 --> 00:20:46.080 Um, it's not a magic bullet, but we definitely get some people to take us up on that offer 00:20:46.080 --> 00:20:48.220 and that can start a conversation there as well. 00:20:48.760 --> 00:20:48.880 Yeah. 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:51.140 I, I, I love this idea. 00:20:51.140 --> 00:20:55.420 Um, and so how often do you, do you change your connection card regularly? 00:20:56.020 --> 00:21:00.620 Uh, you know, again, like you said, the kind of cast different visions or do you just have 00:21:00.620 --> 00:21:01.180 different options? 00:21:01.180 --> 00:21:04.880 Like you, you mentioned the prayer, you mentioned the regular digital connection card. 00:21:05.060 --> 00:21:08.300 Is there, are there other ways that you're trying to capture their information? 00:21:09.020 --> 00:21:09.240 Yeah. 00:21:09.520 --> 00:21:12.780 Um, so that's the main one that we're going to do every week. 00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:18.360 Um, but we've also decided as a church that we wanted to try a handful of different things. 00:21:18.360 --> 00:21:22.540 Um, and that's where I'd encourage anybody who's an online pastor, think of the context 00:21:22.540 --> 00:21:23.300 of your church. 00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:28.700 So as an example, we did a sermon series and like every good church, we used an acronym, 00:21:28.900 --> 00:21:29.120 right? 00:21:29.120 --> 00:21:31.180 Um, the acronym was Pearl. 00:21:31.180 --> 00:21:36.800 It was, uh, an evangelistic strategy, you know, modeled by Jesus and the acronym ended 00:21:36.800 --> 00:21:37.820 up spelling out Pearl. 00:21:38.300 --> 00:21:45.440 So we said, Hey, anybody joining us, if you want us to mail you a physical, tangible reminder 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:50.300 of this sermon series to be praying for your friends, we would love to gift you a Pearl. 00:21:50.660 --> 00:21:54.400 Just go onto our website, give us your name and your address. 00:21:54.740 --> 00:21:59.780 Um, and we will ship one out to you free of cost and use it, you know, however you see 00:21:59.780 --> 00:22:00.120 fit. 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:03.780 Um, we ran that for three weeks. 00:22:04.100 --> 00:22:09.780 Um, we got 160 plus people to give us their information going that route. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:11.300 30 of them were new. 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:13.140 18 of them were out of state. 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:18.880 Um, there was just a lot of really, really wonderful things by just thinking strategically 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:25.460 of how we could tie something into what we are already doing as a church, um, to find 00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:26.960 out who has been with us online. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:29.020 And it helped out a lot. 00:22:29.320 --> 00:22:30.300 Yeah, that's awesome. 00:22:30.600 --> 00:22:30.800 Okay. 00:22:30.800 --> 00:22:36.720 So you talk about how you have that physical, like a, that facial connection of someone welcoming 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:37.880 everybody and whatnot. 00:22:38.100 --> 00:22:41.120 Now, do you have chat hosts in your, your services? 00:22:41.280 --> 00:22:42.480 I'm, I'm assuming you do. 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:43.620 Yes. 00:22:44.220 --> 00:22:44.560 Yep. 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:48.860 What, what is that like in, you know, how do you train them? 00:22:48.860 --> 00:22:53.240 To be looking for guests and new people coming to check out your service? 00:22:54.700 --> 00:22:55.640 Being intentional. 00:22:56.060 --> 00:23:02.960 The, the good news is when you have a team that are at typical services at typical times, 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:05.740 um, the more familiar they get to be. 00:23:05.860 --> 00:23:09.320 And you start to remember the people that are chiming in on a regular basis. 00:23:09.560 --> 00:23:12.640 Um, if you're serving once every two months, it's a little harder. 00:23:12.800 --> 00:23:17.780 Um, we set ours up to serve at a minimum of once a month, um, up to every other week, just 00:23:17.780 --> 00:23:18.940 kind of depending on schedule. 00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:22.340 Um, and that's one of those, they just, they become familiar. 00:23:22.580 --> 00:23:26.200 Um, and then on my end, like, what can I do to best equip them? 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:31.580 Um, and I, I give some cheat sheets, some Google docs that we'll send out, um, and specifically 00:23:31.580 --> 00:23:33.180 a lot of times just on prayer requests. 00:23:33.180 --> 00:23:39.020 I feel like at least in our church context, um, our chat hosts just don't know exactly how 00:23:39.020 --> 00:23:42.880 to address those, um, with regularity. 00:23:43.100 --> 00:23:47.360 So if I can provide them something ahead of time of, Hey, somebody's dealing with financial 00:23:47.360 --> 00:23:47.680 hardship. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:51.520 Here's a couple of verses that you can pray through with them while you're chatting with 00:23:51.520 --> 00:23:51.760 them. 00:23:51.960 --> 00:23:52.320 Yeah. 00:23:52.740 --> 00:23:54.380 And I think it's so important. 00:23:54.460 --> 00:23:56.080 And I love the church online platform. 00:23:56.220 --> 00:23:57.580 We use that ourselves as well. 00:23:57.740 --> 00:24:03.100 And because they have that chat host section in there where that if a chat host has questions, 00:24:03.100 --> 00:24:08.420 like I'm always monitoring that, even if I'm not hosting a particular service, I'm always 00:24:08.420 --> 00:24:11.120 monitoring that and can answer questions and kind of talk. 00:24:11.360 --> 00:24:15.480 And it's good for our chat hosts to kind of talk together, you know, in a private manner. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:16.520 Oh, without question. 00:24:16.520 --> 00:24:20.400 And then you can always go back, I think what, up to a month from church online and pull the 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:23.300 transcripts and search for usernames that way too. 00:24:23.700 --> 00:24:24.560 Yeah, that is great. 00:24:24.860 --> 00:24:24.980 Okay. 00:24:25.060 --> 00:24:28.040 So have you, I've encountered this a little bit. 00:24:28.380 --> 00:24:34.380 Um, how, how do you deal with the people who are in your chat room, but have never officially 00:24:34.380 --> 00:24:39.580 logged into your church online platform and you don't have, you, you don't capture their 00:24:39.580 --> 00:24:41.140 email address or their phone number. 00:24:41.260 --> 00:24:43.880 Is there anything that you've done to successfully do that? 00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:46.420 No, unfortunately. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:46.780 Right. 00:24:47.940 --> 00:24:51.920 You know, like last Thanksgiving, it goes back to the regular things. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:56.320 Like if somebody on screen is saying, Hey, everybody on chat right now, type in something 00:24:56.320 --> 00:24:57.100 you're thankful for. 00:24:57.360 --> 00:25:02.480 If you're not joining us in real time, we'll have a Facebook post on our, you know, compass 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:04.140 online Facebook group, right? 00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:07.080 Go in there and just, what are you thankful for? 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:07.700 Chime in. 00:25:07.860 --> 00:25:10.900 Let's start a thread going, um, those kinds of things. 00:25:10.900 --> 00:25:17.460 So, um, nothing out of the ordinary, unfortunately, that just, you know, gets everybody to decide 00:25:17.460 --> 00:25:21.000 that they want to chime in for the first time, but that's where it just comes down to being 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:22.140 consistent, right? 00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:26.600 There, everybody wants the viral hit or the everybody coming at once, but there's something 00:25:26.600 --> 00:25:31.300 to be said for the slow, steady slog of building an online ministry. 00:25:31.960 --> 00:25:32.020 Yeah. 00:25:32.020 --> 00:25:32.580 That's awesome. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:33.200 Okay. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:35.000 So you've captured their information then. 00:25:35.380 --> 00:25:37.100 What's your next step in the process? 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:38.120 Yeah. 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:43.860 Um, so what I've found in our context is in our in-person services, we would always push 00:25:43.860 --> 00:25:45.500 for something called discover the compass. 00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:51.500 Um, think of it like a meet the staff kind of lunch, um, pre-membership kind of thing. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:55.800 Uh, we found online really quickly that that doesn't work. 00:25:56.280 --> 00:26:01.540 Uh, we had next to no success trying to get people into a zoom call to give a presentation 00:26:01.540 --> 00:26:02.940 of any sort. 00:26:03.540 --> 00:26:05.660 Um, so we shifted it online. 00:26:05.660 --> 00:26:08.340 Um, and now I call it digital coffee. 00:26:08.340 --> 00:26:15.260 So, uh, I get to sit down and drink coffee with anybody who wants, um, but the next step 00:26:15.260 --> 00:26:21.740 or ideally the first step, um, everybody picks and choose their pathway in some regards is 00:26:21.740 --> 00:26:23.700 I want to have a personal conversation with them. 00:26:23.860 --> 00:26:25.800 So that could be a zoom call. 00:26:25.800 --> 00:26:30.640 That could be, um, honestly getting together in person if somebody's more local and in the 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:30.960 area. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:36.160 Um, but the, the unique thing that we try to do with it is, um, it's on our website. 00:26:36.320 --> 00:26:40.880 People can go there and register, but I tell everybody that they can pick the topic and I 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:43.180 will just be along for the ride to talk about it with them. 00:26:43.940 --> 00:26:49.040 Um, so if something's going to get me fired in my career, it's probably going to be topics 00:26:49.040 --> 00:26:53.500 that I don't want to have to talk about, but it's addressing real needs. 00:26:53.620 --> 00:26:58.700 And I think when people understand that us as a church want to meet them where they are 00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:03.040 and talk about the things they are dealing with, they're going to be more open to share 00:27:03.040 --> 00:27:03.380 more. 00:27:04.040 --> 00:27:08.760 So because of that, I can keep a running list of the people I've talked to the conversations 00:27:08.760 --> 00:27:10.720 we've had and mixed in with it. 00:27:10.800 --> 00:27:14.760 If they say, oh yeah, if you ever have a online couple, small group, just let me know. 00:27:15.780 --> 00:27:20.040 Well, if we get to the point where we've built one up and get a small group leader, I now have 00:27:20.040 --> 00:27:24.500 a list of people that I can go back to, even if it's several months after the fact and say, 00:27:24.620 --> 00:27:26.200 you were interested in this. 00:27:26.320 --> 00:27:28.880 Are you still, do you want to have another conversation about it? 00:27:29.480 --> 00:27:36.540 Just another, you know, keeping it more personalized touch points for us has had a lot better success 00:27:36.540 --> 00:27:41.720 online than trying to cast the wide net in terms of classes like that. 00:27:42.260 --> 00:27:42.880 Yeah, that's great. 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:48.220 Okay, so you're trying to then really personally engage with them right afterwards. 00:27:48.800 --> 00:27:50.880 And are people floored by that? 00:27:50.980 --> 00:27:53.100 Are they like, oh, we weren't expecting that. 00:27:53.180 --> 00:27:56.620 We were just expecting an email with general information. 00:27:57.700 --> 00:28:04.180 Yeah, but none of them have been unappreciative of it because they can get those general, you 00:28:04.180 --> 00:28:07.520 know, the first time they show up, the general email of all of that. 00:28:08.020 --> 00:28:14.080 But when they get the personalized touch point, they realize more quickly that we're just not 00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:15.420 faces on screens. 00:28:16.140 --> 00:28:18.060 We are people that truly want to connect with them. 00:28:18.100 --> 00:28:20.920 And then we can have additional conversations. 00:28:21.520 --> 00:28:30.560 And that digital coffee concept for me and for us as a church, it's truly been the best way that we've had to get people into 00:28:30.560 --> 00:28:34.740 membership or serving roles, have conversations around baptism. 00:28:35.480 --> 00:28:42.000 All of those sorts of things have stemmed more from that as opposed to announcements from a weekend service. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:42.700 That's cool. 00:28:42.860 --> 00:28:44.100 That's really, really cool. 00:28:44.460 --> 00:28:44.940 I like that. 00:28:45.220 --> 00:28:52.200 That personal touch that you're adding, because everyone, you know, I hear this a lot, is that online is so sterile. 00:28:52.360 --> 00:28:54.320 You know, there's no real personality to it. 00:28:54.560 --> 00:28:57.740 But then here you are, you're adding that personal touch to it. 00:28:58.560 --> 00:29:02.500 So, okay, so you take that conversation and then what do you do next? 00:29:02.600 --> 00:29:08.120 Do you then, based on what they're looking for, do you try to connect them to different staff people or volunteers? 00:29:08.500 --> 00:29:10.480 Or what's your next step on that? 00:29:10.980 --> 00:29:11.820 Yeah, 100%. 00:29:11.820 --> 00:29:12.880 It's all of the above. 00:29:13.740 --> 00:29:20.000 So it's going to be, if they're in the area, does it make sense to connect them to something at one of our physical campuses? 00:29:20.800 --> 00:29:28.400 If they are not ready for that, whether it's COVID or they just don't live nearby because they don't have a great local church they've connected with, 00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:31.740 what's it going to look like to get them plugged in online? 00:29:32.500 --> 00:29:39.740 So I don't know if you've had the same experience, but for me, one of the fascinating things has been trying to create serving roles for people. 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:47.560 Things that maybe didn't exist at our, you know, physical brick and mortar campuses, but are still going to be beneficial for online. 00:29:48.040 --> 00:29:58.720 So a team to follow up with guests every week, a team to be praying for, like just things that maybe shame on us as a church we didn't have a volunteer team for. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:01.840 We can start to figure out what makes sense. 00:30:02.900 --> 00:30:03.960 Are you a consultant? 00:30:04.120 --> 00:30:04.280 Great. 00:30:04.420 --> 00:30:09.520 Go check out Tom's church and let me know what they're doing and then get back to me and let's find out what ideas they have. 00:30:09.780 --> 00:30:11.280 Now, that's fascinating. 00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:11.840 That's great. 00:30:11.980 --> 00:30:25.820 Yeah, I've definitely felt like with everyone being online, at least for that period of time, that it really did produce a lot of different serving opportunities that were not available to the church before. 00:30:26.560 --> 00:30:34.540 And so I think, you know, whether it's camera people or lighting people or whatever, there's, you know, sound and music people. 00:30:34.600 --> 00:30:46.960 There's lots of different roles that were not available before that are available now and that you can connect people to that, again, like where I live in Northern Virginia, right outside of D.C., there's a lot of computer people and a lot of tech people there. 00:30:47.340 --> 00:30:52.120 Well, now, before COVID, they didn't really have a real big opportunity to serve. 00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:56.820 Now there's more opportunity because of our reliance on tech and computer stuff. 00:30:57.320 --> 00:30:57.480 Yeah. 00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:58.420 Yeah. 00:30:58.440 --> 00:31:00.440 And we're finding the exact same thing, right? 00:31:00.440 --> 00:31:05.360 I feel like a lot of times, initially, people got stuck of, it's chat host or nothing for serving. 00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:15.260 And we learned really quickly, there's a lot of different avenues and angles that we could still use to get people connected and serve on a social media team that was just a person before, you know? 00:31:16.200 --> 00:31:18.480 So it's a good problem to start wrestling through. 00:31:18.900 --> 00:31:22.100 And it's been great ways to recruit people to use the gifts that they have. 00:31:22.540 --> 00:31:22.640 Yeah. 00:31:22.840 --> 00:31:23.940 I love it, man. 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:28.060 I love your ideas, your strategies, you walk them through that process. 00:31:28.120 --> 00:31:28.840 And I agree with you. 00:31:28.840 --> 00:31:38.560 I wanted to make a point of this earlier, but with you saying that with the chat hosts and with the regular attenders on those services, I would agree with you on that. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:46.900 You know, people want consistency and we have the same chat hosts basically every single week at those certain services. 00:31:47.040 --> 00:31:48.700 We do 8, 9, 30, and 11. 00:31:49.260 --> 00:31:52.660 And I know some, I help out with the 8 o'clock service. 00:31:52.980 --> 00:31:58.020 And I know some people in the chat room that I've never met in person. 00:31:58.480 --> 00:31:58.780 Yeah. 00:31:58.900 --> 00:32:01.880 But I feel like they share their lives with us. 00:32:02.020 --> 00:32:11.960 And so, you know, for the people who say that real relationships can't happen online, I think is, you know, malarkey, you know, for lack of a better word. 00:32:12.280 --> 00:32:15.580 I just think because there are people in there and I know who they are. 00:32:15.740 --> 00:32:19.160 They share their lives with us and I share my life with them. 00:32:19.220 --> 00:32:20.300 They get to know me a little bit. 00:32:20.300 --> 00:32:29.560 And so, I just think it's completely fascinating, the opportunities that we have for relationships and connecting them, even though they may not be fully in our area. 00:32:30.860 --> 00:32:31.420 Yep. 00:32:32.040 --> 00:32:32.440 So. 00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:33.520 Totally agree. 00:32:33.960 --> 00:32:34.260 Yeah. 00:32:34.460 --> 00:32:36.720 So, I think it's awesome. 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:37.120 Okay. 00:32:37.220 --> 00:32:43.960 So, as we kind of wrap up here, any other comments you would encourage us with in regarding to an online pathway? 00:32:44.800 --> 00:32:51.280 I would say put on your chemistry lab coat and don't be afraid to experiment, right? 00:32:51.460 --> 00:32:51.660 Yeah. 00:32:51.820 --> 00:32:58.140 I feel like I'm somebody who likes to have everything as planned out as possible before I press go and launch something. 00:32:58.140 --> 00:33:05.640 And then in the world of online, if I'm waiting to do that every single time, the window is probably passed by the time I'm ready to actually go. 00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:07.500 So, try something. 00:33:07.660 --> 00:33:13.120 The worst that can happen is you revert and you get rid of whatever it is you're trying and then you try something else. 00:33:13.940 --> 00:33:22.540 Eventually, you're going to find something that, at least for a season, is working for you in your church context to where your people are resonating with it. 00:33:22.900 --> 00:33:25.440 And it's going to turn into real fruit. 00:33:25.580 --> 00:33:32.800 You're going to meet real people, hear their real needs, and be able to minister to them in very real and unique ways. 00:33:33.260 --> 00:33:33.360 Yeah. 00:33:33.700 --> 00:33:35.640 I love your digital coffee idea. 00:33:36.220 --> 00:33:37.900 That's something that I haven't done. 00:33:38.460 --> 00:33:39.860 And I think it's a great idea. 00:33:40.020 --> 00:33:41.920 So, I might have to steal that from you. 00:33:42.680 --> 00:33:43.280 Do it, man. 00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:44.320 Do it. 00:33:44.340 --> 00:33:45.320 It's not trademarked. 00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:45.680 Yeah. 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:47.340 That's a great idea. 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:49.420 And it's a great way to connect with people. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:51.880 And I'm sure the response is great. 00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:54.080 Because, again, ultimately, people want connection. 00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:57.900 You know, they want to grow in their faith and they want to connect with real people. 00:33:58.600 --> 00:34:02.740 And so, I think you being able to do that and making time for that, that's fantastic. 00:34:02.740 --> 00:34:06.800 So, well, it has been fantastic. 00:34:07.120 --> 00:34:09.720 Finally, again, we've known each other on Twitter for quite some time. 00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:10.840 We've been in some groups together. 00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:15.180 We've done, I think we've done like a clubhouse together before or Twitter spaces before. 00:34:15.740 --> 00:34:15.860 Yeah. 00:34:16.500 --> 00:34:21.060 It's been great chatting with you on social media, but now it's great to meet you in person. 00:34:21.800 --> 00:34:25.660 So, as we kind of wrap up here, I would love other people to connect with you. 00:34:25.740 --> 00:34:28.120 So, what's the best way for people to connect with you? 00:34:28.380 --> 00:34:29.300 And please say Twitter. 00:34:29.700 --> 00:34:33.060 Yeah, I mean, Twitter is where all the cool online pastors hang out, right? 00:34:33.800 --> 00:34:40.740 So, honestly, Twitter and Instagram, you can find me at jakemack84 on either of those places. 00:34:40.940 --> 00:34:43.340 I spend more time on Twitter than anywhere else. 00:34:43.700 --> 00:34:45.120 You can also connect with me on Facebook. 00:34:45.860 --> 00:34:46.760 Just look with me. 00:34:46.860 --> 00:34:49.200 I've got a Cubs hat on backwards in the profile picture. 00:34:49.200 --> 00:34:55.120 But no matter where you go, honestly, or my church website, thecompass.net, shoot me an email. 00:34:55.720 --> 00:35:02.060 Whatever method works best for you outside of like Snapchat and TikTok has just not quite delved into that yet. 00:35:02.780 --> 00:35:05.180 I'll interact with you where you're at. 00:35:05.540 --> 00:35:06.540 Yeah, that's great. 00:35:06.920 --> 00:35:10.180 Yeah, and I'm glad you said Twitter because Twitter is the best place to be. 00:35:10.760 --> 00:35:15.560 It's a great platform and it doesn't get nearly the love that it should get. 00:35:15.560 --> 00:35:17.840 It's the most social of social media. 00:35:18.260 --> 00:35:19.620 Yeah, I agree. 00:35:20.160 --> 00:35:24.980 Okay, and I'll include all your links in the show notes so that people can connect with you. 00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:26.040 It's fantastic. 00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:32.780 And again, we are going to have to have a follow-up discussion in a podcast about what you're doing with your broadcast. 00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:35.500 So I can't wait to talk to you a little bit more about that. 00:35:35.900 --> 00:35:36.260 100%. 00:35:36.260 --> 00:35:36.780 Let's do it. 00:35:37.040 --> 00:35:37.300 All right. 00:35:37.680 --> 00:35:38.980 Hey, man, have a great day. 00:35:39.300 --> 00:35:39.760 All right, you too. 00:35:39.820 --> 00:35:40.180 Thanks, Tom. 00:35:40.560 --> 00:35:41.020 Hey, Tom. 00:35:41.100 --> 00:35:41.360 Awesome. 00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:42.100 That was great. 00:35:43.200 --> 00:35:44.200 Jake's so awesome. 00:35:44.200 --> 00:35:46.640 And it's just taken such a fresh approach coming in. 00:35:46.740 --> 00:35:47.220 I love him. 00:35:47.780 --> 00:35:54.400 Almost taken the church by storm coming through with some of this new digital approach and a new mindset there. 00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:02.560 But hey, so Tom, this is just one example of the TCD Sidekick podcast and kind of love where you're going with this. 00:36:03.180 --> 00:36:09.400 If somebody wants to subscribe to the podcast or maybe if they watch some of the stuff that you're working on right now, how can people keep up with you? 00:36:09.640 --> 00:36:11.900 Yeah, a lot of where people can keep up with me. 00:36:12.040 --> 00:36:13.100 I mean, one is Twitter. 00:36:13.200 --> 00:36:14.080 I'm always on Twitter. 00:36:14.240 --> 00:36:18.120 So if you want to connect with me on Twitter, I love to engage with people. 00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:20.200 My Twitter handle is at TAPounder. 00:36:21.340 --> 00:36:24.820 But a lot of my stuff is just all on the church digital. 00:36:25.740 --> 00:36:28.440 So, you know, you can get my blogs that I do. 00:36:28.520 --> 00:36:33.000 I do a weekly blog and I do a weekly podcast, the TCD Sidekick podcast. 00:36:33.480 --> 00:36:36.020 And I got those coming out on Wednesdays and Thursdays. 00:36:36.020 --> 00:36:37.700 And I'm really excited about that. 00:36:37.780 --> 00:36:43.520 And I've got, I have a whole draft board of just different things, different articles I'm working on right now. 00:36:43.520 --> 00:36:49.020 And so there's a lot of stuff that we'll be touching on in regards to online ministry, very practical stuff. 00:36:49.560 --> 00:36:54.360 And then again, I already talked about it at the very beginning about some interviews I got coming up on the Sidekick podcast. 00:36:54.740 --> 00:36:55.820 So excited. 00:36:56.020 --> 00:36:57.720 So just go to thechurch.digital. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:37:01.040 And then, you know, we got the coaching and the cohorts coming up. 00:37:01.120 --> 00:37:02.420 I mean, do we want to talk about that, Jeff? 00:37:02.420 --> 00:37:02.640 Yeah, that's right. 00:37:02.720 --> 00:37:03.600 Talk to them about that. 00:37:03.700 --> 00:37:04.940 Yeah, I'm excited about that. 00:37:04.940 --> 00:37:12.900 I mean, with all the stuff that's happening right now, Jeff has lined up a bunch of different coaches to work with Digital. 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:16.640 Work with Digital only and then work with Metaverse stuff. 00:37:17.220 --> 00:37:29.860 And so if you're interested in learning any of that stuff and getting some coaching, one-on-one coaching, or actually being a part of a cohort, Jeff's got a bunch of different options for you on the Quip page at thechurch.digital. 00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:35.080 So go there and get connected there because we think this is the time. 00:37:35.180 --> 00:37:43.140 Right now is the time to really get invested in the digital ministry and online ministry, whether it's the Metaverse or whether it's a combination of digital and online. 00:37:43.360 --> 00:37:45.060 There's lots of cool opportunities here. 00:37:45.300 --> 00:37:45.920 Very good there. 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:46.120 Yeah. 00:37:46.180 --> 00:37:47.120 So it's Equip. 00:37:47.540 --> 00:37:50.100 The webpage is equip.thechurch.digital. 00:37:50.160 --> 00:37:52.100 Or, of course, go to the website, thechurch.digital. 00:37:52.340 --> 00:37:56.300 There's a massive link talking about Equip. 00:37:56.300 --> 00:38:10.420 And so would love to maybe help you get connected with some of our online courses or even starting to swing into one of our coaching groups or cohorts that we've got run there through the equipping store at the Church Digital. 00:38:10.620 --> 00:38:12.600 So, hey, this has been awesome. 00:38:12.720 --> 00:38:14.280 Tom, I've loved this time. 00:38:14.380 --> 00:38:21.140 I'm so looking forward to coming along to you, expanding in with TCD Sidekick. 00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:27.400 By the way, while I've got you here awkwardly in front of a whole bunch of people, what does the A stand for? 00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:28.720 I don't know that I've ever asked this. 00:38:28.780 --> 00:38:29.020 T.A. 00:38:29.080 --> 00:38:29.340 Pounder. 00:38:29.460 --> 00:38:33.220 Oh, so, again, I wanted Tom Pounder, but that was taken at the time. 00:38:34.040 --> 00:38:37.640 T is Thomas, my first name, and then A is Andrew. 00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:38.360 Andrew. 00:38:38.520 --> 00:38:39.320 Thomas Andrew. 00:38:39.720 --> 00:38:42.460 You are perfectly named after two of the 12 disciples. 00:38:42.700 --> 00:38:46.000 You are 18% of the disciples. 00:38:46.340 --> 00:38:47.800 This is phenomenal. 00:38:48.040 --> 00:38:50.900 I mean, except you're the doubting guy, so that might be a little awkward. 00:38:51.100 --> 00:38:55.080 Yeah, and, you know, honestly, I think we've talked about this, but I'm not sure. 00:38:55.320 --> 00:39:00.580 But, you know, Thomas is also another word for twin, and I'm actually a twin, so I'm an identical twin. 00:39:00.900 --> 00:39:01.600 I don't think I knew. 00:39:01.680 --> 00:39:02.480 Maybe I knew the twin. 00:39:02.640 --> 00:39:04.020 We may have talked about it. 00:39:04.040 --> 00:39:07.540 I mean, it doesn't come up in conversation a whole bunch, but he actually lives in North Carolina. 00:39:07.540 --> 00:39:13.480 He was living in Jacksonville, St. Augustine for a little bit, and now they're back up in Charlotte, North Carolina. 00:39:13.820 --> 00:39:16.800 So, like, the two of you get together for Christmas and, like, wig everybody out. 00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:18.420 Is it identical, or is it just? 00:39:18.580 --> 00:39:25.160 Yeah, we're identical, and it's funny because my girls will see pictures of him on social media, like, because of my nieces and nephews. 00:39:25.820 --> 00:39:29.060 And so, they're like, Dad, this is you. 00:39:29.180 --> 00:39:30.320 You guys, and I'm like, I know. 00:39:30.420 --> 00:39:31.900 I mean, that's what they mean. 00:39:31.940 --> 00:39:34.380 When you're identical, you really do look the same. 00:39:34.380 --> 00:39:35.740 You really are identical. 00:39:36.040 --> 00:39:37.660 So, that's awesome. 00:39:37.900 --> 00:39:40.200 And this podcast has completely gone off the rails. 00:39:40.300 --> 00:39:40.780 This is awesome. 00:39:41.060 --> 00:39:45.340 Hey, check out Tom and the stuff that he's doing through The Church Digital. 00:39:45.720 --> 00:39:50.040 And subscribe to TCD Sidekick podcast there. 00:39:50.180 --> 00:39:52.720 But we'll have some links on the website as well. 00:39:52.820 --> 00:39:54.600 T.A. Pounder on Twitter and a bunch of other spaces. 00:39:55.100 --> 00:39:56.260 So, hey, but we're going to wrap. 00:39:56.400 --> 00:40:01.060 So, for Tom, for Jake earlier, this is Jeff at The Church Digital. 00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:04.840 Digital Church Network, Leadership Network, and a whole bunch of other stuff. 00:40:04.920 --> 00:40:07.780 Thanks for jumping here on the podcast with us. 00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:08.840 We'll see you next time on the show. 00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:12.860 As we're doing another takeover next week, we'll have a surprise guest coming up here. 00:40:12.960 --> 00:40:14.080 We'll announce that later. 00:40:14.260 --> 00:40:15.100 But we'll see you then. 00:40:15.320 --> 00:40:15.860 Talk to you later.