WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.980 Jeff here. We'll get back to the podcast in a second, but I wanted to let you know of an 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:13.180 opportunity to help you further develop your church online. Here at The Church Digital, 00:00:13.360 --> 00:00:18.300 we found some of the best ways for churches to grow their ministry online is to work alongside 00:00:18.300 --> 00:00:25.080 other churches. To that end, The Church Digital is opening up some coaching cohorts in January 2020. 00:00:25.080 --> 00:00:29.560 Through our cohorts, you'll be connected with churches with similar goals in place in ministry, 00:00:29.740 --> 00:00:34.040 and work through these goals together over the six months under the guidance of the crew 00:00:34.040 --> 00:00:40.000 here at The Church Digital. In 2020, invest in your church online. Invest in you. For more 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:47.220 information and to find out how you can save 20%, visit thechurch.digital.com. 00:00:50.740 --> 00:00:54.980 Welcome to The Church Digital Podcast. My name is Jeff, and once again, 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:59.760 it's a pleasure to have you all join us for the podcast today. We're on episode 21, 00:00:59.760 --> 00:01:06.180 and I love this. This is actually, and I'm going to call myself out publicly here. This is the first 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:12.040 podcast we've had where we've invited a woman on the podcast. It took us 21 of these publicly. I 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:18.340 apologize for this. Secondly, I need to get more women involved in church online because, yeah, we need a 00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:22.040 better representation of that, but we've got a great episode here to kick it off. 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:29.000 Danielle Hicks, you'll hear me call her Danny occasionally on the podcast. She is the watch 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:34.120 party pastor at Elevation Church. Now, if you're not familiar with watch parties, and we talk 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:40.320 a lot about it, obviously, in this episode, it's Elevation Church's attempt to gather people together, 00:01:40.320 --> 00:01:47.680 but a cluster people together in community to watch these broadcasts. And so Elevation's had a long 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:53.180 history of these, obviously, with their broadcast centered out of the Charlotte and North Carolina 00:01:53.180 --> 00:01:59.200 area. Their broadcasts have become quite large, and people from across the country have started 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:06.240 gathering together to watch these services, almost becoming like a house church or a microlocation, 00:02:06.820 --> 00:02:13.460 gathering together to come together for community to do church that's broadcast in over the internet. 00:02:13.760 --> 00:02:19.760 We talked about a similar model, obviously, with First Capital Christians Church Anywhere program. 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:26.420 It's been a couple episodes talking about that in 17, 18, 19 episode. We also, going way back to 00:02:26.420 --> 00:02:33.920 Jay Cranda over at Saddleback, talked a lot about that with their house groups as well, and they're 00:02:33.920 --> 00:02:40.360 also ramping up into more of this. So there's a popular movement here with some churches that have 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:46.260 been successful with church online to take that next step to start to cluster together to create 00:02:46.260 --> 00:02:52.220 biblical communities, to create new communities of gathering together to do this expression of church 00:02:52.220 --> 00:02:58.800 anywhere, utilizing church online. And so we really break this down. It was a fascinating conversation 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:03.500 with Danielle, with Danny, and I'm excited for you to hear it. So once again, we've got Ray Diarmus, 00:03:03.640 --> 00:03:09.400 online pastor at Christ Fellowship Miami. Danielle Hicks, watch party pastor at Elevation Church. Myself, 00:03:09.480 --> 00:03:16.220 Jeff Reed, thechurch.digital, breaking down watch parties through Elevation Church. Here y'all go. 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:23.820 So Danielle, just tell us a little bit here about what you do at Elevation and maybe life at Elevation, 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:28.800 what that looks like. Yeah, for sure. So my role here at the church is watch party pastor, 00:03:29.100 --> 00:03:34.340 which sometimes sounds like a fake title. I feel like a little bit. I tell me like, what is that? 00:03:34.480 --> 00:03:38.820 Define that. It's actually the first watch party pastor role that we've had at our church. 00:03:39.180 --> 00:03:43.940 And the heart of that is really putting some new emphasis and infrastructure to watch parties 00:03:43.940 --> 00:03:49.440 as we figure out what that looks like, you know, as we're administering, utilizing the resources online 00:03:49.440 --> 00:03:53.740 to reach people face to face and in person. I actually though, I've been on staff for a little 00:03:53.740 --> 00:03:59.740 over six years. I was a campus pastor prior to this. And before that was associate pastor at our broadcast 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:05.240 location. So it's been very interesting seeing so many different atmospheres of our church from being at, 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:09.220 you know, where we're broadcasting from, to then being at one of our other locations, 00:04:09.220 --> 00:04:14.580 and now getting to see really expressions of the local church reproduced in all of these different 00:04:14.580 --> 00:04:21.800 pockets. So. That's awesome. You may be the only person in the world who works at a church and has 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:27.880 party in their title. I know. People always give me a funny look when I, when I say that and I'm like, 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:35.040 well, I, and, and, and just knowing the, the idea and we've talked in previous episodes, uh, with 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:40.460 First Capital Christian Church, who's got 16 of these micro locations where they're, they're utilizing 00:04:40.460 --> 00:04:47.300 similar to you, the online broadcast to kind of cluster people together. Um, you know, and he talked a lot 00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:53.020 through, through those, uh, episodes, uh, 17, 18, 19, I think, but talked a lot about kind of 00:04:53.020 --> 00:04:59.240 clustering and gathering the people together, the tying in of the, uh, using the virtual technology 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:05.580 to create the physical, the community, the people together. So like what, what's been the path for 00:05:05.580 --> 00:05:10.740 elevation kind of, you, you were doing the, doing the broadcast, you were all over the place and now 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:17.420 you're, you're gathering them together. Like what has that, that Genesis look like? Yeah. So we've 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:21.800 actually been having pockets or gatherings of people for years in our church. Now we've never 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:27.400 had it quite to this scale and this number, but if we go back even, you know, seven, eight, nine years, 00:05:27.500 --> 00:05:32.840 there were groups of people, a couple of our campuses actually started as watch parties, as small groups 00:05:32.840 --> 00:05:37.040 of people gathering together to watch the sermon. Um, and so that's been happening for a while. We've 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:41.580 called it different things. So we had what were called extension sites for a while, which were 00:05:41.580 --> 00:05:47.300 gatherings of people. A couple were at, at schools, at colleges, a couple in cities. And that was just 00:05:47.300 --> 00:05:52.540 where, uh, organic pockets of people were created and people that wanted a campus near them, but there 00:05:52.540 --> 00:05:57.200 wasn't one. So they kind of started doing their own thing. Now the difference then with, um, extension 00:05:57.200 --> 00:06:02.300 or back in that season was we created really intentional benchmarks, uh, where almost these 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:07.400 extension sites were kind of considered on a continuum or considered to be on a continuum to 00:06:07.400 --> 00:06:12.620 becoming a location would be the goal one day. And so there were very clear definitions of, you know, 00:06:12.620 --> 00:06:17.180 reach, you reach this number and then this happens. Your next goal is reaching this number in attendance and then 00:06:17.180 --> 00:06:21.860 this happens. And, uh, I think that worked for our church for a while, but then when we began to 00:06:21.860 --> 00:06:27.560 leverage technology and see now that, you know, for a while we've had local church happening and then 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:32.820 this emphasis on our online ministry. And I think we've always been traveling side by side, you know, 00:06:32.820 --> 00:06:37.520 not competing with one another, but figuring out how are we actually complimentary and how does one 00:06:37.520 --> 00:06:41.760 build and grow the other? I'm sure that's the tension of, you know, anyone doing both of these sides. 00:06:41.760 --> 00:06:47.040 But I think when we began to leverage the online platform and also leverage the data that we have, 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:51.300 you know, now we're able to actually see where people are tuning in from and hear where they're 00:06:51.300 --> 00:06:56.100 worshiping from. When we started to combine that with these gatherings, that's when the scale began 00:06:56.100 --> 00:07:01.640 to increase. And so now, you know, a lot of the heart for watch parties now is that it's not this 00:07:01.640 --> 00:07:06.860 continuum, you know, as if you're a watch party today, hopefully one day, maybe you'll be a campus. 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:12.080 It's more of how do we create something where the goal is this sustained sense of community and watch 00:07:12.080 --> 00:07:16.340 parties. And so I think that's been a big part of the evolution is it's no longer, you know, 00:07:16.340 --> 00:07:21.600 for example, our Albuquerque, New Mexico watch party, I'm not telling them, hey, hit this number 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:28.480 so that then you'll receive, you know, this support or these resources or this different type of backing 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:33.740 from our church. But instead, it's continue to grow so that you can multiply across your city 00:07:33.740 --> 00:07:38.960 to reach different parts of your community. And so it's really best about getting as big as possible 00:07:38.960 --> 00:07:42.980 and instead allowing the reach to be as expansive as possible, if that makes sense. 00:07:43.380 --> 00:07:48.160 Absolutely. Danielle, this is really encouraging. I've been following this for quite a bit from you 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:52.760 guys from afar, just with the whole not limited by location kind of campaign that you guys have been doing. 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:57.080 What was kind of the genesis behind that? Because I saw that I understood it immediately. I was like, 00:07:57.140 --> 00:07:59.280 this is amazing the way that they're communicating this. 00:07:59.280 --> 00:08:04.080 So I think a lot of what happened is, you know, people come to visit our church and this is the 00:08:04.080 --> 00:08:08.860 thing still, you know, I've been on staff for a while and I'm still just dumbfounded by how people 00:08:08.860 --> 00:08:14.580 just want to come visit and be in the atmosphere of what God is doing. And I think it's so much less 00:08:14.580 --> 00:08:20.080 about elevation and it's more about just the spirit of God and how he's moving within the people of our 00:08:20.080 --> 00:08:25.200 church. And there's this deep sense of unity. And I know God is doing this everywhere, but there is 00:08:25.200 --> 00:08:30.620 something at our church that happens that draws people in. And I think, I think when I, we began 00:08:30.620 --> 00:08:35.400 to see that sense of people would often say, you know, oh, but I wish there was a campus here or I 00:08:35.400 --> 00:08:41.160 wish I lived in Charlotte. And I think the heart of this being not limited by location is not that we 00:08:41.160 --> 00:08:46.200 would reinforce this value or principle of someone needs to be here at our church in order to experience 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:51.200 God. But how do we understand that they have that same access to the Holy Spirit and even that same 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:56.120 ability to build community. And if they want to do it through the community of our church, they're able 00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:01.740 to. And so I think that's the tension point though, as we say that not limited by location is, we don't 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:06.520 want people to feel that limitation, but we do want them to feel deeply rooted in their city and in their 00:09:06.520 --> 00:09:09.300 community and allowing them to build something there. 00:09:09.620 --> 00:09:14.780 That's really good. How do you guys set expectations early on that the goal isn't essentially to become a 00:09:14.780 --> 00:09:18.820 campus? Because I imagine some folks when it starts growing, and I know that some of them have really 00:09:18.820 --> 00:09:22.840 picked up steam, they start thinking to themselves, oh man, I'm gonna be a campus pastor, this kind of 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:26.760 thing's going to happen. Or, or, you know, they may think that they may have like a certain level of 00:09:26.760 --> 00:09:30.600 access or anything like that. But really, it's the focus is, is no, God's working through you where 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:34.860 you're at. We want to continue to empower you where you're at. How do you guys maintain that? 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:37.880 That's right. Do you have some tips and tricks you'd like to give me today? 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:41.000 Because I want to hear it. I want to hear what you've done, because I imagine that's got to be 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:42.980 really hard maintaining the right expectations. 00:09:43.300 --> 00:09:47.640 It is, it is. And I think a lot of times, I think the thing that isn't helpful for people 00:09:47.640 --> 00:09:53.560 is telling them, you will never be a location. And I think sometimes we can try to overemphasize that 00:09:53.560 --> 00:09:57.980 in order to protect people's expectation. But really, my heart is never to tell someone what 00:09:57.980 --> 00:10:02.560 they're not going to be. You know, like I wouldn't, I don't have kids yet. But when I do, you know, 00:10:02.560 --> 00:10:06.640 I'll never tell them what they will not be. But hopefully, I can paint a picture of what it could 00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:10.840 be and what it will be. And I think that's been some of the transition even in our church that 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:14.980 I don't know that we always have done that well, where we've tried to make sure that people have 00:10:14.980 --> 00:10:20.040 accurate expectations. And instead, we leave almost this space in this gap where we're not helping to 00:10:20.040 --> 00:10:24.740 paint a picture or helping to allow people to sort of get in the rhythm of what God is doing. And so 00:10:24.740 --> 00:10:29.440 I think in this season, what I'm trying to do, and again, I'm laughing because I'm really trying to 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:34.660 figure out how do we do this well, and keep people encouraged and feeling like they can somewhat 00:10:34.660 --> 00:10:39.420 grasp what it is that they're building. Right. It's painting this picture of what does it look 00:10:39.420 --> 00:10:45.100 like to have sustained community in specific cities and areas, you know, now people are so tethered 00:10:45.100 --> 00:10:50.340 and attached to what's happening within their city. And I don't think this is a new thing. But I think, 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:54.520 you know, as marketing and as technology has just gotten so incredible with, you know, 00:10:54.520 --> 00:10:59.900 on my cell phone, I look at, I look at something online, and then the stupid ad pops up on my Instagram 00:10:59.900 --> 00:11:05.820 automatically. You know, it's gotten so specific and so unique and personal that I think as the 00:11:05.820 --> 00:11:10.000 church, we have to figure out ways that we allow people to feel connected and tethered to their 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.900 community. And so all of this, just to circle back, the heart of that is how do we allow people to 00:11:14.900 --> 00:11:19.480 understand that that is the focus, is how are they bringing Christ to their city and their community? 00:11:19.660 --> 00:11:24.500 It's not about a campus, and it's not about a building. And, you know, I feel like we say this 00:11:24.500 --> 00:11:28.880 a lot as the church, you know, it's not about the building, it's about the people. But watch parties 00:11:28.880 --> 00:11:33.920 and micro churches and these smaller sites, it's actually when, you know, the time comes to really 00:11:33.920 --> 00:11:38.340 prove that we mean that. And to say, no, it truly doesn't matter, because it's the community and the 00:11:38.340 --> 00:11:43.080 infrastructure that's built. I know I'm kind of circling your question a little bit. But I think 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:47.940 that's the hardest. Can we paint a picture of sharing with people, what does it look like, if we're not 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:53.180 just on this journey to, for God to provide this campus, you know, we're almost telling God what 00:11:53.180 --> 00:11:58.480 we want versus allowing him to show us what is this thing that is sort of unraveling and being 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:03.940 revealed in front of us. And I think the practical step, though, is the thing we're working on now that 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:09.380 we have not figured out that we're trying to is, can we paint a picture of some of the structure? 00:12:09.760 --> 00:12:14.440 So the vision is there, but then how do we practically explain to people, here's what we would love to see 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:19.160 created in your community to give them things to start with, you know, whether it's, hey, we'd love 00:12:19.160 --> 00:12:23.360 to see five community groups or e-groups built, you call them e-groups at our church, but five 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:27.740 community groups built, you know, in your city. We'd love to see you serving at outreach events, 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:32.540 you know, twice a month, where now you're taking this intangible infrastructure and helping people 00:12:32.540 --> 00:12:38.240 to grasp it and understand. But it's such a tension. I just was having a conversation this past weekend 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:44.080 with someone. And I think it's a tension to manage because I also don't want to say we'll never have a 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:49.880 campus there because who knows, right? So if we have a huge group of people, hopefully we're not, 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:54.340 we're not silly. Maybe we will one day, but that can't be the goal, you know, that we're directing 00:12:54.340 --> 00:12:56.020 people to. So it's really tough. 00:12:56.640 --> 00:13:01.080 How are you guys navigating the tension between being a local church and a national church? And 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:05.700 so I caveat that a little bit with the story, and I was really impressed with this. So a couple years 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:11.300 ago, me and a few staff members went to go visit Elevation in order to see, you know, the live 00:13:11.300 --> 00:13:14.840 streaming in the point-to-point that you guys do between campuses because we were looking at it for 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:19.960 our church. And that weekend happened to be the weekend that the riots were happening in Charlotte. 00:13:20.900 --> 00:13:26.860 Stephen was on vacation and flew back to preach to Charlotte and he was rocking, I think he was 00:13:26.860 --> 00:13:31.160 rocking a Queen City shirt, you know, which was super tight. You know, I'm a 305 guy when it comes 00:13:31.160 --> 00:13:37.000 to Miami. So I love like small local tie-in with the area. You better believe it. Yeah. And so I'm all 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:41.340 about like local tie-ins like that. But then I also realized that in the midst of that, because I was 00:13:41.340 --> 00:13:46.220 getting ready to make the move to online, I was like, Oh man, this not only because he was talking 00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:50.560 directly to what was happening in the community that weekend, which is why he came back, you know, 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:55.560 but, and he addressed that very well within his message. But at the same time, I was like, Oh, 00:13:55.580 --> 00:13:59.500 but this is also being heard by a lot of people nationally. And even at these watch parties and 00:13:59.500 --> 00:14:03.440 everything else, I'm wondering how you guys navigate some of those tensions between Stevens talking to 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:08.000 people there in South Carolina. And at the same time, he's talking to this movement that's happening 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:12.980 nationally. For sure. Hey, I get excited when you bring this up, because I think this is one thing 00:14:12.980 --> 00:14:17.560 I've been on this a little bit of a kick lately about figuring out how do we, you know, be inclusive 00:14:17.560 --> 00:14:21.820 of the fact that we're in front of different audiences, but how do we still create a message that shows 00:14:21.820 --> 00:14:25.540 people that we are present and we do understand what's happening in individual 00:14:25.580 --> 00:14:31.120 communities. And I would say, and this is just, this is my opinion on how we navigate that. 00:14:31.220 --> 00:14:37.060 Obviously people and pastor Steven, probably for him, that was value-based in a way of, you know, 00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:42.960 understanding that there was a space where our church was looking, you know, for him to share and 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:46.640 him to speak into this, but then understanding that for most of the people listening, you know, 00:14:46.640 --> 00:14:50.540 they may not have any context or understanding of what's happening, but here's what I think it does 00:14:50.540 --> 00:14:55.300 communicate. And not just even using that weekend as example, but even on our broadcast, you know, 00:14:55.300 --> 00:14:59.980 if there's flooding happening in a specific area or hurricane is passing through a specific state, 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:04.900 you know, we know this is a small piece of our audience yet they're part of it. I think when we 00:15:04.900 --> 00:15:12.260 speak to a specific local value or local issue or tension or tragedy, I think it still communicates 00:15:12.260 --> 00:15:18.360 an overall message that we are present in that community. And I think that probably, in my opinion, 00:15:18.460 --> 00:15:24.060 again, it creates less dissonance as benefit of saying, Hey, we're, we are present. We are available. 00:15:24.060 --> 00:15:28.740 We understand we're, we're there and we're feeling this with you. And I think the principle would be 00:15:28.740 --> 00:15:34.420 that even someone in, you know, in the UK that's watching that would still feel this sense of 00:15:34.420 --> 00:15:39.040 connection for the fact that, um, they're experiencing something that part of, you know, 00:15:39.040 --> 00:15:44.420 what we call our E fan, their family is also feeling in the same way. And, uh, I think there's probably a 00:15:44.420 --> 00:15:49.420 limit to how often you can do this to speak so specifically, but, um, I've actually really been 00:15:49.420 --> 00:15:53.940 trying to do this with watch parties and picking out maybe a story or something that's happening in a 00:15:53.940 --> 00:15:58.740 community, even understanding that it's a little polarizing maybe because maybe that tension isn't 00:15:58.740 --> 00:16:03.660 prevalent everywhere. Um, but still being willing to go straight to that, speak to it. And I think 00:16:03.660 --> 00:16:07.860 it's communicating to the other watch parties. Wow. Like the church actually knows what's happening in 00:16:07.860 --> 00:16:13.460 Idaho, you know, middle of nowhere that all the love for Idaho, no offense, Idaho, but, um, you know, 00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:17.620 they really know what's happening. And so I think, um, I don't know, I think that's probably helpful 00:16:17.620 --> 00:16:21.620 sometimes to be able to still do that. Yeah. That's gotta be very encouraging for the volunteers 00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:25.240 that are there with boots on the ground, just to know that you guys are present with them and that 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:30.740 you care, um, consider it, because I'm, especially from a volunteer perspective, you know, I'm sure 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:34.400 that they, that they have a hard time dealing with that tension of, man, I'm part of this movement, 00:16:34.400 --> 00:16:38.440 but at the same time, I'm so far away from it physically that I feel like I'm part of it, 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:42.660 but I have a hard time connecting with it all the time. Yeah. I was reading an article recently 00:16:42.660 --> 00:16:46.420 and it was talking about Nike and a specific ad that they had, which was presencing 00:16:46.420 --> 00:16:51.700 individual communities. And, uh, they were zooming way, way in to a specific, I can't remember what 00:16:51.700 --> 00:16:55.460 the name of it was, but they were talking about the message that Nike was communicating and that 00:16:55.460 --> 00:17:00.660 it's not this big, broad global impact, you know, but they're able to zoom in. And I, uh, I think 00:17:00.660 --> 00:17:05.780 that's to me what the brand of watch parties for our church represents. And, uh, it's both, 00:17:05.780 --> 00:17:10.020 sometimes it's a bit of a dichotomy, but then also I think it's, it's that we're filling a space 00:17:10.020 --> 00:17:15.220 and a gap that was there. So when we talk about, you know, we call it our E-FAM, this is our extended 00:17:15.220 --> 00:17:20.260 family. It really, we work hard to show everyone this incredible broad impact. Wow. Look at what 00:17:20.260 --> 00:17:25.300 God is doing all over the world. And I think people love to feel a part of something big, but I think 00:17:25.300 --> 00:17:30.180 internally, you know, we all want to know that this is still very pertinent to the city I live in. 00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:34.900 And, you know, when people give, for example, they're, they're blessed by the fact that, um, 00:17:34.900 --> 00:17:38.900 blessed back worldwide, you know, that we're giving to that organization, but Hey, what about the 00:17:38.900 --> 00:17:43.380 pregnancy resource center? That's right here in my community. What does that look like for me to be impacting 00:17:43.380 --> 00:17:48.340 them? And so I think when we consider our broad online community, we're showing them how look at 00:17:48.340 --> 00:17:53.060 this incredible impact, but with watch parties, what we're enabling, um, the people at these in 00:17:53.060 --> 00:17:59.540 these communities to do is we're zooming in as far in as possible to say, we see you, we know that 00:17:59.540 --> 00:18:04.340 you're there. We want to be present. We want to know what you're walking through. And I think that was 00:18:04.340 --> 00:18:08.820 a space that was, um, that was there is this gap that we really needed to fill. And so that's what we're 00:18:08.820 --> 00:18:13.940 working on trying to begin to do for sure. You know, where, where churches have seen success, 00:18:13.940 --> 00:18:20.100 um, with, with the, with the online church onlines. Um, and we hear this Ray and I hear this week, 00:18:20.660 --> 00:18:24.740 week to week, and we have these, these conversations just as we continue to dialogue through it, 00:18:24.740 --> 00:18:30.740 but it's, it's in the individuals. So often when you look at, at the masses and thousands upon thousands 00:18:30.740 --> 00:18:36.980 attend elevation, uh, physical campuses on a regular basis, um, I can only imagine what the 00:18:36.980 --> 00:18:44.740 numbers are, um, virtually and online, but it's, it's masses. I'm sure, uh, watch parties tend to 00:18:44.740 --> 00:18:50.740 turn it a little bit and you, you put faces on it and there, there's relationships that are built at the 00:18:50.740 --> 00:18:58.580 individual level. Um, and so that's fascinating to me how, um, a mega church moves to some, some of this, 00:18:58.580 --> 00:19:04.180 this micro model and kind of feels the tension of that. You talked a little bit about, um, 00:19:05.140 --> 00:19:08.580 uh, you know, investing and use that. I think the pregnancy center, the local pregnancy center 00:19:08.580 --> 00:19:13.540 was the example that, that you shared from a practical standpoint. I'm just curious because 00:19:13.540 --> 00:19:19.620 that's as, as I've done this micro model, we feel the tension of money coming to, uh, the mothership 00:19:19.620 --> 00:19:24.260 versus invested in, in, in, in the community, the tithes and things like that. What, what are the, 00:19:24.260 --> 00:19:29.940 what are the practicalities of like local missions reaching in the watch party, doing things within 00:19:29.940 --> 00:19:34.420 the local community, within that local city? Right. Like how, how do you wrestle with that? 00:19:34.420 --> 00:19:38.580 Yeah. So wrestle is the right word because I think that is, uh, one of the biggest tensions 00:19:38.580 --> 00:19:42.660 right now that we're walking through, you know, as far as, you know, you may have a watch party that 00:19:42.660 --> 00:19:47.460 will say, well, what does it look like? You know, when will the church be able to support this watch 00:19:47.460 --> 00:19:52.420 party or support what we're doing? And that's a valid question and concern because there is a cost 00:19:52.420 --> 00:19:56.660 that's, um, encourage, you know, to supporting the watch party or for them to put on what they have 00:19:56.660 --> 00:20:01.140 each weekend, depending on what it looks like and their atmosphere and all that, um, as well as how are 00:20:01.140 --> 00:20:05.540 we impacting those local organizations? So I'll share maybe what we're doing now, probably six 00:20:05.540 --> 00:20:10.100 months from now, this will continue to evolve. Um, but we're right. We're entering into love week 00:20:10.100 --> 00:20:15.540 actually this week, which is, um, church wide. We serve, um, in different parts of our community here 00:20:15.540 --> 00:20:20.260 in Charlotte and beyond. And this is a good example though of, you know, love week has always been a very 00:20:20.260 --> 00:20:26.340 much, um, campus oriented event. And then as we added our online ministry and continued to grow it, 00:20:26.340 --> 00:20:30.900 you have people that are tuning in that want to contribute and be able to serve their community. 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:35.860 And so we have about, I think 40, 41, 42 events that are happening for love week through our EFAM, 00:20:35.860 --> 00:20:40.260 which honestly, like next year, I would love to see that number tripled, you know, because watch 00:20:40.260 --> 00:20:44.820 parties really to meet each watch party should be having at least a single event in their community. 00:20:45.380 --> 00:20:51.140 The differences, you know, locally for our love week events, the churches, um, is putting the money 00:20:51.140 --> 00:20:57.060 forth to sort of support these events, the resources. So if it's, um, you know, revamping an elementary 00:20:57.060 --> 00:21:00.660 school, our church is putting the money that's needed for that. 00:21:00.660 --> 00:21:03.380 We're putting in the money that's needed for that for watch parties. What we've asked is, 00:21:03.380 --> 00:21:08.420 is they're hosting love week events that either they're providing the resources or they're hosting 00:21:08.420 --> 00:21:14.020 events that still serve the community, but may not have this, um, financial need in order to do it. 00:21:14.020 --> 00:21:18.260 And so where the, the kind of interim, the thing is we're, we're working this out and figuring out 00:21:18.260 --> 00:21:21.620 is how do we have people that are mobilized to be able to serve and help. 00:21:21.620 --> 00:21:25.380 And then honestly, I, I kind of love it at the same time. Cause part of me is like, 00:21:25.380 --> 00:21:30.740 man, we have to figure this out. But then I also love the scrappiness of really this authentic, 00:21:30.740 --> 00:21:35.780 organic, um, creation of the funds to make these things happen. You know, I think sometimes we can 00:21:35.780 --> 00:21:40.020 get a little bit spoiled where, you know, even at some of our events, we just know the church is 00:21:40.020 --> 00:21:44.340 going to get the resources. Let me go pick them up and I'll go serve the people. There's something very 00:21:44.340 --> 00:21:48.340 different that happens in these watch parties when they're actually saying, Hey, what do we want to do? 00:21:48.340 --> 00:21:52.980 What organization do we want to serve? And if there's a need, you know, a lot of our watch parties 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:58.500 will put together their money to, to provide this need for their local community. And I don't know 00:21:58.500 --> 00:22:03.860 how that can sustain forever, but I think there is a scrappiness to it right now where, um, it's coming 00:22:03.860 --> 00:22:08.260 from this deep place in their heart, you know, where they really are. One of the values of our church 00:22:08.260 --> 00:22:12.900 is that, um, we are contributors, not consumers. And I think that's what watch parties are building 00:22:12.900 --> 00:22:18.180 is groups of people that aren't just, um, partaking of what's provided, but they're 00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:23.060 learning and being taught how to really, um, contribute. And it's not contributing in 00:22:23.060 --> 00:22:28.260 a way that, um, I don't know that that is, uh, resentful. I feel like I see them wanting to do 00:22:28.260 --> 00:22:31.940 this thing. It's voluntary. It's not that it's under compulsion. You know, as the Bible says, 00:22:31.940 --> 00:22:35.620 it's actually cause they want to be able to, to serve and contribute. And so it's pretty wild. 00:22:37.620 --> 00:22:42.100 That's exciting. So like, tell them, tell me this, uh, come, tell me a couple of stories. 00:22:42.100 --> 00:22:45.460 Cause you know, we're, we're talking about this. It comes from, it comes from their heart. 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:50.340 They're, uh, they're contributing. They're not, not consuming. Um, give, give me some success 00:22:50.340 --> 00:22:54.580 success stories. Uh, give me some cities of where, man, we're seeing some, some awesome 00:22:54.580 --> 00:22:58.900 things happening through these watch parties. Yeah. So I'll say, um, I wrote down a couple, 00:22:58.900 --> 00:23:03.700 so I would remember. So I'll give you like a quick, a few of them. So for example, there's 00:23:03.700 --> 00:23:08.580 one watch party that's in Ludington, Michigan, that is actually, um, on the coast of Lake Michigan, 00:23:08.580 --> 00:23:14.180 this little beach town. And, uh, the leaders of the watch party own a coffee shop and they've 00:23:14.180 --> 00:23:18.180 been leveraging this space that they have to minister to their community. And they have about 00:23:18.180 --> 00:23:23.060 50 or 60 people that meet, meet week to week in this coffee shop. And, uh, the thing that makes 00:23:23.060 --> 00:23:27.140 them incredible too, is, you know, I mean, we all know this, what happens on Sunday or in the actual 00:23:27.140 --> 00:23:32.340 experience is just a piece and a portion of the discipleship that's happening. And I think what 00:23:32.340 --> 00:23:36.500 I see them doing is actually carrying out that principle, not just talking about it, but they're 00:23:36.500 --> 00:23:41.220 creating these opportunities for people to serve during the week. And so they may meet in the coffee shop, 00:23:41.220 --> 00:23:46.020 but then they're creating these intentional, um, times for them to come together to serve local 00:23:46.020 --> 00:23:50.980 organizations. And, uh, we just see, you know, the value there of having a space that's made available 00:23:50.980 --> 00:23:55.700 to them. Um, and it feels great in the coffee shop, but I think it's challenging our mindsets of what it 00:23:55.700 --> 00:24:00.820 looks like to gather these little, um, pockets together. Um, you know, people want the perfect 00:24:00.820 --> 00:24:05.220 space and they'll look to renting these, these elaborate spaces. It's like, no, God may have already 00:24:05.220 --> 00:24:09.700 given you the opportunity or the access to a space that's right in front of you. Um, so they're an 00:24:09.700 --> 00:24:14.500 incredible watch party. Another would be, um, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we have two 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:19.860 watch party leaders and it's interesting to see the sort of juxtaposition of their types of watch 00:24:19.860 --> 00:24:24.180 parties. Cause one watch party is in a living room and they have about 40 or 50 people that are 00:24:24.180 --> 00:24:29.700 worshiping each weekend. And they're probably one of the most breathtaking depictions of what 00:24:29.700 --> 00:24:34.100 community looks like. Cause you know, community is such a buzzword now. I feel like we all, you know, 00:24:34.100 --> 00:24:38.900 in the church we say it and, um, there's certain times where I see this image where I'm like, 00:24:38.900 --> 00:24:42.900 man, that's, that's the thing that we're talking about. That's what this is. Cause they gather 00:24:42.900 --> 00:24:48.580 together, they're cooking in their home. The guys are grilling out in the backyard and people are 00:24:48.580 --> 00:24:53.700 bringing things. Um, they're really coming together to make this happen. It's not two people putting 00:24:53.700 --> 00:24:58.100 on the watch party for the rest of the group. It's everyone coming together, contributing, bringing 00:24:58.100 --> 00:25:03.300 something forward, um, to make, make it incredible. They have groups that are meeting during the week. 00:25:03.300 --> 00:25:08.820 They're praying together. They're caring for one another. And, uh, it's just an incredible picture 00:25:08.820 --> 00:25:12.340 of it. Now, if you go on the other side of Albuquerque, there's another watch party 00:25:12.340 --> 00:25:17.540 that meets in a yoga studio and it's young people, um, mostly young females. Actually, 00:25:17.540 --> 00:25:22.420 they meet in the yoga studio, then they do yoga immediately after the watch party. And it's just, 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:26.820 you see these two different styles and formats, um, that are both beneficial and both 00:25:26.820 --> 00:25:31.060 impacting people. But that's a bit of the model of this micro church, you know, watch parties, 00:25:31.060 --> 00:25:36.820 whatever you call it at each different church. That's the freedom in it. I think is that how do 00:25:36.820 --> 00:25:41.460 we, you know, being from the campus, just a side note, it's hard for me sometimes because I want 00:25:41.460 --> 00:25:46.020 to implement all the systems in the world and the structures and procedures, because from a numbers 00:25:46.020 --> 00:25:49.780 perspective at the campuses, that was our, you know, that was the background or the system running 00:25:49.780 --> 00:25:53.860 in the background always with watch parties. It's like, I fight that tendency. Cause I'm like, 00:25:53.860 --> 00:25:58.740 there is something beautiful that's being formed when there's an openness and there's not so many 00:25:58.740 --> 00:26:03.220 constraints to it. You see that with those two watch parties are very different, but they're reaching 00:26:03.220 --> 00:26:07.460 people and they're bringing people together. And, um, I don't know. I think that's where that tendency 00:26:07.460 --> 00:26:13.140 to want to control and constraint. I have to pull back to say, maybe I can't just reproduce a model. 00:26:13.140 --> 00:26:17.940 Maybe we have to allow some of this to form and then we just kind of shape it and follow it as 00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:23.380 it goes. That's good. So let me ask this Rachel. Sorry. Um, cut. I apologize for cutting you off. 00:26:23.380 --> 00:26:28.420 Um, like, let's, let's unpack that a little bit because this is some, this intention that I felt 00:26:28.420 --> 00:26:36.100 as we were doing this quality control, um, you know, organic structured, um, you know, obviously, 00:26:36.100 --> 00:26:41.220 and you're, uh, Danny, you're a formal, former campus pastor. You're you, you've, you've been 00:26:41.220 --> 00:26:46.100 associated broadcast. So you feel that tension of quality control and the structure of that 00:26:46.100 --> 00:26:53.380 organizationally looking at, at this house party, the watch party kind of structure that you've had. 00:26:53.380 --> 00:26:59.140 House party sounds even more fun than water party actually. Sorry. You could change that in six 00:26:59.140 --> 00:27:05.620 months. Just give me credit. Yeah. Um, houseparty.com church will document it or something. Um, 00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:12.580 so, but you, you, you've had to kind of back off right a little bit here. It's, it's too broad. It's 00:27:12.580 --> 00:27:17.780 too wide. It's too far stretching. You're not able to really regulate it, like kind of unpack that a 00:27:17.780 --> 00:27:24.100 little bit for us who has attention. Um, it's both for me and external tension, like as I see it and 00:27:24.100 --> 00:27:29.300 helping our watch party leaders to shape it, but then it's also something internal as well. Um, and 00:27:29.300 --> 00:27:34.900 for in this season, it's been a challenge for me to really be able to sort of breathe a little bit 00:27:35.540 --> 00:27:40.820 and give God space to create, instead of me trying to stay out in the front, out in front of something, 00:27:40.820 --> 00:27:46.580 always trying to control and create, um, defined borders. And I think that was something I've had to, 00:27:46.580 --> 00:27:51.620 um, I've had to shift my mindset in that because yes, even being at our broadcast campus, you know, 00:27:51.620 --> 00:27:57.140 many of the systems you put in place there, they're not always rigid, but they're there to care for 00:27:57.140 --> 00:28:01.700 people. The heart of it is to care for people, but they're very clearly defined. And, um, with watch 00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:06.420 parties, what I, what I tend to see happen, even internally, I think one of the first watch parties 00:28:06.420 --> 00:28:11.300 I went to, um, they're actually incredible leaders. Uh, Jonathan and Vicki, they live in Charlottesville, 00:28:11.300 --> 00:28:16.260 Virginia, and they had just started their watch party when I came to visit and, um, they meet in a 00:28:16.260 --> 00:28:23.700 VFW, like a, a space with red velvety chairs and they have a projector with drape hanging. And if, 00:28:23.700 --> 00:28:26.660 you know, the, the quality control part of me, when I walked in, I was like, 00:28:27.220 --> 00:28:31.300 Oh no, I need to help them. I need, man, I need to do like an incredible teaching to share with them 00:28:31.300 --> 00:28:35.860 about atmosphere. And, you know, they had a lot of chairs out. There were some empty chairs and there 00:28:35.860 --> 00:28:42.180 was this internal part of me that I had to say, hang on, this is not that we're not just reproducing a 00:28:42.180 --> 00:28:48.660 version of a campus. We're allowing something to be created. Um, that really is God's spirit sort 00:28:48.660 --> 00:28:53.300 of breathed onto this new local expression of the church. And so how do I not get in the way of that, 00:28:53.300 --> 00:28:58.980 um, and allow some things to be created, still have excellence, but there's such a fine line between, 00:28:58.980 --> 00:29:04.260 um, with these watch parties, I think excellence and control, because we do want them to be unique 00:29:04.260 --> 00:29:09.140 expressions of the leaders, but we do have to have a pretty consistent experience. Um, 00:29:09.140 --> 00:29:13.780 so even in Virginia, they've grown from like three people to 25 people. They're one of my favorite 00:29:13.780 --> 00:29:18.820 watch parties. They've had six salvations in their kids, um, with the kids curriculum that you're using. 00:29:18.820 --> 00:29:23.300 I mean, they're just, they're killing it. And, uh, it's funny because when I talked to them, 00:29:23.300 --> 00:29:28.660 they were feeling stressed or feeling, um, feeling bad about, oh, but we have, you know, 00:29:28.660 --> 00:29:32.260 this projector, we bought it on Craigslist and they're kind of sharing with me. 00:29:32.260 --> 00:29:36.660 And it was cool to be able to encourage them and remind them how beautiful some of those 00:29:36.660 --> 00:29:41.300 imperfections are. And again, this is coming from someone who's very much the quality control 00:29:41.300 --> 00:29:45.060 mindset in the past to say, Hey guys, the things that you see as weaknesses, 00:29:45.060 --> 00:29:49.620 those are actually the thing that makes this feel unique and makes it feel organic and makes it feel 00:29:49.620 --> 00:29:55.780 special. And so to answer your question, I don't know where I'm still working out. How do we allow 00:29:55.780 --> 00:30:00.660 some space for people to create things? But it is true that, especially as we add more infrastructure to 00:30:00.660 --> 00:30:06.260 watch parties, how do we know that the experience is going to be good? And I don't want to run on with 00:30:06.260 --> 00:30:11.140 my response to you, but, um, in the past, we actually, uh, while we were figuring out what 00:30:11.140 --> 00:30:15.060 are we going to do at these watch parties, you know, they're popping up. That's incredible. 00:30:15.060 --> 00:30:18.020 We just, we're trying to figure out what level of support we could offer. 00:30:18.020 --> 00:30:23.780 And so we didn't really have any, um, onboarding or constraints at first to what they would look like. 00:30:23.780 --> 00:30:28.420 Now we're in this season where we're creating onboarding processes for the leaders. Um, we're 00:30:28.420 --> 00:30:33.540 creating some just values and I don't want to say standards and guidelines and it sounds so sterile, 00:30:33.540 --> 00:30:38.180 but we are creating some guidelines that will help people to define a little bit better. 00:30:38.180 --> 00:30:43.220 Um, but every day I'm, I'm something comes across like my email or a conversation where 00:30:43.220 --> 00:30:48.420 I do have to make that decision. Is this, is this something I want to run down and chase down to quote, 00:30:48.420 --> 00:30:53.620 fix, or is this something I let kind of continue to develop, um, to see what God can really work 00:30:53.620 --> 00:30:58.180 out through some of this space that we're creating. That's good. Some nuts and bolts questions about 00:30:58.180 --> 00:31:02.820 that, uh, liabilities, as far as the church is concerned in terms of how much elevation is 00:31:02.820 --> 00:31:05.860 responsible for. I'm sure a lot of churches are going to listen to this and be like, man, we want 00:31:05.860 --> 00:31:09.940 that, but they're also concerned of, okay, but this is our brand a little bit too. And so 00:31:09.940 --> 00:31:13.300 something happens at a watch party. Are we responsible? How does that work out with you guys? 00:31:13.300 --> 00:31:19.380 Yeah, I hate, I'm hesitant to speak for, um, then I'm hesitant to say for sure, but in a lot of the 00:31:19.380 --> 00:31:24.020 conversations we've had, and obviously this would vary church to church. Um, but for us, 00:31:24.020 --> 00:31:30.420 this onboarding that we're doing to really, um, background check our leaders, um, that's a similar 00:31:30.420 --> 00:31:33.860 process that, you know, many of our churches we do for e-groups or for community groups, you know, 00:31:33.860 --> 00:31:38.020 you put people through a process because you are, um, allowing people to go to people's homes. 00:31:38.020 --> 00:31:42.740 And so for us, that's the background process that we've put in place, um, to protect our church and 00:31:42.740 --> 00:31:46.900 protect ourselves and really just to provide a good experience for the people that are going to 00:31:46.900 --> 00:31:51.460 watch parties. And so obviously that would vary church to church, but I think there is a necessity 00:31:51.460 --> 00:31:56.100 for a process to make sure that, you know, you could comfortably and confidently refer people 00:31:56.100 --> 00:31:58.980 to these watch parties and know that they're going to have a good experience for sure. 00:31:59.700 --> 00:32:03.300 Where's, where's kind of the place where you guys get the most pull for possible watch 00:32:03.300 --> 00:32:07.940 party leaders? Is it through the online broadcast? Is it in service? Uh, and I know no ministry ever 00:32:07.940 --> 00:32:11.300 feels like they're getting enough pub, but I imagine something like this, you're like, but man, 00:32:11.300 --> 00:32:15.140 there's so much potential here. How can we let people know this thing exists? 00:32:15.140 --> 00:32:19.940 Right. Right. I think, um, we've really put a lot of emphasis on sharing about watch parties 00:32:19.940 --> 00:32:24.900 over the last, say four or five months. And so right now where we get most of our interest comes from, 00:32:24.900 --> 00:32:29.620 um, when we feature something on our broadcast, um, like what we'll do if I'm going out to a watch 00:32:29.620 --> 00:32:34.020 party, we may have a segment where I'm interviewing the watch party leader and we're broadcasting it out. 00:32:34.020 --> 00:32:39.460 Um, or creative elements that, you know, maybe our video team creates a video about the watch party. 00:32:39.460 --> 00:32:44.820 Um, those are a couple of big pieces that I think if you can allow people to feel what it feels like 00:32:44.820 --> 00:32:49.380 to be a part of it, it's going to connect very differently than us just trying to always give a 00:32:49.380 --> 00:32:53.940 call to action for people. And so we don't do a lot of pushes for watch party leaders, really. 00:32:53.940 --> 00:32:57.620 Um, what we're, we do more of is celebrate and show them what's happening. 00:32:58.180 --> 00:33:02.340 And so you have a lot of people that want to join a watch party that actually end up leading one, 00:33:02.340 --> 00:33:05.140 you know, cause there's not one in their area. And they're like, well, man, I just want to 00:33:05.140 --> 00:33:08.180 be a part of something like this. And so they may shift to want to lead one. 00:33:08.180 --> 00:33:11.540 So I was going to ask about that too. How do you, how are you connecting folks? Like, 00:33:11.540 --> 00:33:15.860 let's say I'm part of elevation and my job is taking me to Albuquerque and I'm like, 00:33:15.860 --> 00:33:19.300 Hey, listen, I'm moving. Uh, do you then connect somebody to a watch party and say, 00:33:19.300 --> 00:33:21.460 Hey, in that area, there's two watch parties. 00:33:22.900 --> 00:33:27.460 Yep. So, um, and this is the next progression, I think where we'll grow, um, in our church, 00:33:27.460 --> 00:33:32.740 as far as how campuses, um, are referring to watch parties. Also, I've had quite a few emails 00:33:32.740 --> 00:33:37.380 and text messages over the last like two months of, yeah, someone moving from a campus to a 00:33:37.380 --> 00:33:41.300 specific area. The watch party I was mentioning in Charlottesville, Virginia, 00:33:41.300 --> 00:33:45.620 there was actually a volunteer at our uptown campus. She moved to Virginia and she was just 00:33:45.620 --> 00:33:49.780 really feeling sad. Like she wasn't going to get to be a part of our church. And I got to share with 00:33:49.780 --> 00:33:54.900 her that there was a watch party there and that now she's found just such a sense of community and 00:33:54.900 --> 00:34:01.780 connection there. Um, basically she oversees helping look after the kids and with kids curriculum. 00:34:01.780 --> 00:34:06.260 And, uh, it's been a while just to see her blossom in that community. And so that's an example of what it 00:34:06.260 --> 00:34:10.340 looks like in a perfect world. But right now, because we're still building all the infrastructure, 00:34:10.340 --> 00:34:15.460 this is still fairly new. Um, we're referring people where there are, you know, watch parties 00:34:15.460 --> 00:34:19.700 and then the next steps will be us improving those processes where they can more easily access that 00:34:19.700 --> 00:34:22.580 information versus us having to always make the connection. 00:34:22.580 --> 00:34:25.860 All right. And I'm sorry, you just offered up a little tidbit and tangent that I got to walk 00:34:25.860 --> 00:34:29.460 down a little bit. All right. So e-kids at watch parties. 00:34:29.460 --> 00:34:34.500 Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, I wanted to ask that question. Why are you asking? No, no, go ahead. I'm just 00:34:34.500 --> 00:34:40.020 kidding. No, like she said that earlier and I'm like, Oh, what's she doing with kids? Like, I want 00:34:40.020 --> 00:34:45.620 to know that answer. Cause that right there. And when I talk with churches on a regular basis that want 00:34:45.620 --> 00:34:50.340 to do this, the secret, the biggest problem that they have that they don't have a solution for is 00:34:50.340 --> 00:34:56.740 what do we do with the kids? So elevation, what are you doing with the kids? How are you doing that at 00:34:56.740 --> 00:35:01.700 a watch party level? Um, this is brand new and we are still working through this. So I'll let me 00:35:01.700 --> 00:35:06.820 preface it with that. Um, it seems to be the theme of a lot of the stuff that I'm sharing. Um, I mean, 00:35:06.820 --> 00:35:10.900 you can sense it and feel it. The season we're in really are, we're trying some things. We're seeing 00:35:10.900 --> 00:35:16.420 how it works. We're seeing how it connects with people. Um, I will see the kids, um, how kids are 00:35:16.420 --> 00:35:21.060 being cared for and experiencing God's word. I was just talking about this this week with our team. 00:35:21.060 --> 00:35:25.140 It's probably one of the greatest objections for people is, you know, you may have someone who 00:35:25.140 --> 00:35:29.220 really, you know, church is just a thing for them. They just go because, you know, it's part of their, 00:35:29.860 --> 00:35:33.620 um, habit or maybe they were brought up that way. Then when you see them talk about what their kids 00:35:33.620 --> 00:35:38.020 experience, you know, everything shifts and changes. And I think of even, you know, being at a 00:35:38.020 --> 00:35:42.740 campus for so long, so many of my conversation with parents, it was a lot about the kids. Like, 00:35:42.740 --> 00:35:46.420 well, I just want to make sure my kids are, you know, taking care, they're going to church and 00:35:46.420 --> 00:35:50.180 I'm getting them in church. And so this has been a need that we've had for a long time with watch 00:35:50.180 --> 00:35:54.740 parties that we are now, um, we have curriculum that we're sharing with our watch party leaders. 00:35:55.300 --> 00:36:01.940 And, um, what they'll do is essentially teach, share it's video based. And there's some content 00:36:01.940 --> 00:36:06.660 that they're sharing, um, for kids at the watch parties. Now it's super, um, elementary, 00:36:06.660 --> 00:36:11.700 no pun intended, uh, right now because we're still getting it going and working out on the details. 00:36:11.700 --> 00:36:15.940 But, um, it's an early stage of just having something, you know, some of them just like 00:36:15.940 --> 00:36:20.740 putting the kids in a room with veggie tails, which shout out veggie tails. Okay. It's not a bad thing, 00:36:20.740 --> 00:36:25.460 but that's right. I love it. Is it still around? Is it still? Absolutely. Yeah. As long, 00:36:25.460 --> 00:36:28.100 as long as there's money to be made veggie tails, we'll be alive. It's fine. 00:36:28.820 --> 00:36:31.780 You're right. Um, but how do we actually understand that they're, you know, 00:36:31.780 --> 00:36:36.740 hearing God's word and experiencing scripture and all that. So, um, I said it lightly because it's 00:36:36.740 --> 00:36:40.260 still, we're still working out what that actually looks like, but we do have curriculum that we're 00:36:40.260 --> 00:36:44.180 sharing with our leaders for sure. No, but that's encouraging either way. Cause logistically, 00:36:44.180 --> 00:36:48.100 I I'd even like to know, like so far, are they, are they utilizing? So some of that video based 00:36:48.100 --> 00:36:52.660 curriculum, like on a TV and a playroom and an alternate room on an iPad, like, what does that look 00:36:52.660 --> 00:36:57.620 like for some of the kids? Cause that's where once again, and I know that all of this is beta. 00:36:57.620 --> 00:37:02.340 Like nobody's looking for this to be a polished answer, but just, man, this is great to hear 00:37:02.340 --> 00:37:07.700 because few people are venturing into this particular space. Uh-huh. Um, yes. And yes, 00:37:07.700 --> 00:37:11.980 it's anywhere. So we're, we're testing it right now. So we have a certain number of watch parties 00:37:11.980 --> 00:37:16.260 that have been testing it and giving us feedback. Um, and then we're rolling it out to the remainder 00:37:16.260 --> 00:37:22.100 of our, our watch parties that have gone through the process to become, um, like onboarded and 00:37:22.100 --> 00:37:27.040 background checked and all that. So, um, yeah, it's both. So some are in a TV, some are in on iPads, 00:37:27.040 --> 00:37:31.520 and they're sharing it. Um, really it's not, you said it like you're not looking for a polished 00:37:31.520 --> 00:37:35.200 answer. Well, there's not one because, um, I don't think the results are polished right now, 00:37:35.200 --> 00:37:38.720 as far as how it's being carried out with the execution of it. And so that's something that 00:37:38.720 --> 00:37:43.360 as we continue to grow and scale, we'll work on, but for now it's at least having resources that we 00:37:43.360 --> 00:37:49.200 can give to the watch party leaders for sure. The humility of, we don't have all the answers. 00:37:49.200 --> 00:37:53.360 We're still trying to figure this out ourselves. Ask us again in six months. And we're probably 00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:57.840 going to tell you something else because we're learning in this process. Like, like I, I, I, 00:37:57.840 --> 00:38:04.240 I love that. Um, I was actually was talking with another church yesterday where, um, leadership 00:38:04.240 --> 00:38:09.760 wanted like, like stats and all this stuff to prove, you know, their, their case towards something. 00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:15.640 And it's like, what's that? We're all just trying to figure this out. Like, it's, it's not like 00:38:15.640 --> 00:38:21.460 there's a proven concept here. And even, you know, looking at, at, at you and, uh, we've had a lot 00:38:21.460 --> 00:38:25.920 of conversations with Saddleback, Jay Crandez, you know, and that church is doing, you know, rolling 00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:32.260 out into a different implication of what watch party can be, but it's, it's a different spin on it. 00:38:32.260 --> 00:38:39.860 Like I love to see churches, even, even the 800 person church, uh, first Capitol wrestling with 00:38:39.860 --> 00:38:45.460 this and, and doing the, the watch parties with a different spin. I love seeing churches explore 00:38:45.460 --> 00:38:46.820 this space. So go ahead. 00:38:47.180 --> 00:38:52.960 We try not to get super excited about, about, um, we are focused on numbers and goals and metrics, 00:38:52.960 --> 00:38:57.000 but I think, um, you know, Chad Zolo, I know, you know, Chad, our online campus pastor, 00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:02.520 our leader of this area, he does an incredible job of keeping us focused on, um, really where we're 00:39:02.520 --> 00:39:07.320 heading and how we keep evolving and reinventing ourselves, but then also the people in the stories, 00:39:07.320 --> 00:39:10.920 just like we talked about, because there are numbers that we can look at and that we can track 00:39:10.920 --> 00:39:15.400 and you can feel good and feel excited about it. But then it really does go back to, are we humble 00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:21.000 enough to keep moving forward with the understanding that we don't know the answers and the answers will 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:25.160 probably change a few months from now. And how can we focus on the right values and principles? 00:39:25.160 --> 00:39:29.960 And so I think that keeps us all really hyper-focused on, man, we have to stay ahead of this because 00:39:29.960 --> 00:39:34.280 we're all, you know, the church, we're all figuring this thing out together. And again, 00:39:34.280 --> 00:39:39.000 it is just shifting so rapidly. Uh, that's the thing I get stressed over. Sometimes it's like 00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:44.120 keeping up with the changes of technology and of culture, all these things. And we have to try to 00:39:44.120 --> 00:39:51.080 stay at least in step with it. And if we're lucky a couple steps ahead, but that's, that's awesome. 00:39:51.560 --> 00:39:55.320 So, so Danielle, where are you going next year? Every week or every other week, it seems like 00:39:55.320 --> 00:40:00.120 you're at some watch party, uh, doing for, for the broadcast. Where are you, where's your next stop? 00:40:00.680 --> 00:40:05.400 So, um, over the next season, I think now we're, I'm trying to get real strategic about where we're 00:40:05.400 --> 00:40:09.240 actually visiting and where we're going. Um, I mean, every, you know, you probably understand this 00:40:09.240 --> 00:40:13.880 tension. You get excited about what's happening. And sometimes what I'll do is go run. I want to go 00:40:13.880 --> 00:40:18.280 see you and experience this and visit and encourage these people. I think now what I'm trying to do is 00:40:18.280 --> 00:40:23.800 get a little more strategic about, um, even creating and developing, um, interest that's there, 00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:28.040 but then how do we deepen that interest? How do we make the connections for people? And so some of our 00:40:28.040 --> 00:40:31.480 watch parties are formed because they're making the connections on their own, but I'm trying to 00:40:31.480 --> 00:40:35.400 think through ways that we can actually help create those connections prior to the watch party, 00:40:35.400 --> 00:40:40.360 you know, create a foundation where people can gather and begin to meet together. Um, so yeah, 00:40:40.360 --> 00:40:44.440 and just figure out where we're going. I think, you know, I mentioned it, but it's just evolving and 00:40:44.440 --> 00:40:50.200 changing. And, uh, even on our team, it's like understanding the, what watch parties look like today. 00:40:50.200 --> 00:40:55.080 Um, it should probably look a little different, you know, a year from now, as we grow in our 00:40:55.080 --> 00:41:01.400 understanding of it and our systems are created. Um, the system piece I think is the biggest thing 00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:04.600 now. I know you're asking, where am I going? Like geographically, but I think 00:41:06.600 --> 00:41:09.560 Either answer works. This is great. Vision's even better. 00:41:09.560 --> 00:41:13.800 I went a little deep there, but, um, I think vision wise, it's hard because a lot of our watch 00:41:13.800 --> 00:41:19.400 parties now there, the leaders are desiring these intricate systems and they've had exposure to 00:41:19.400 --> 00:41:24.760 campuses. You know, we reproduce the things that we've seen. And so a lot of our leaders will say, 00:41:24.760 --> 00:41:30.760 Hey, what is your VIP followup process for campuses? And we're going to implement this for VIPs. And, 00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:36.040 um, I try to challenge them to say, hang on, how many VIPs did you have this past week? And they may 00:41:36.040 --> 00:41:40.360 say, you know, one or two in their watch party. And I'm trying to challenge and encourage them 00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:45.800 to don't create the system before you actually have the need. Like, what would you do in, right? What 00:41:45.800 --> 00:41:49.080 would you do with the one person you would take them to coffee? You would help them make a connection 00:41:49.080 --> 00:41:53.480 with someone in the watch party. And so I think, um, where we're really heading is figuring out, 00:41:53.480 --> 00:41:57.720 how do you have systems that don't constrain the actual values you want to reproduce, 00:41:57.720 --> 00:42:03.400 but how do we allow some flex and some space to be of what God is doing? Um, and I think that's the 00:42:03.400 --> 00:42:08.600 thing we're trying to figure out. And then geographically I'll say, uh, all over. So some 00:42:08.600 --> 00:42:13.240 of the areas that we're trying to grow a couple of the ones I mentioned, in fact, um, really are 00:42:13.240 --> 00:42:17.080 speckled throughout the U S we have them all over the world, but right now my focus is in the U S 00:42:17.080 --> 00:42:21.080 and figuring out how do we add the support and structure and then getting out to the watch parties 00:42:21.080 --> 00:42:27.480 too. Let me ask, has there ever been a watch party and has there ever been a watch party where you 00:42:27.480 --> 00:42:31.400 guys are looking at this and you're like, all right, man, this is the one we're going to start a 00:42:31.400 --> 00:42:35.880 campus with this one. So there has been. So a couple of our locations actually were birthed out of watch 00:42:35.880 --> 00:42:41.960 parties that had begun years ago. And so, um, our Roanoke location, as well as our Melbourne campus 00:42:41.960 --> 00:42:47.400 really started from gathering people together to worship. And, uh, I'll say now, um, I'm, I was 00:42:47.400 --> 00:42:51.720 smiling when you asked the question because, um, this is one of the big things I think we're working 00:42:51.720 --> 00:42:56.680 through, um, in this season is figuring out, you know, again, being from the campus side, I was always 00:42:56.680 --> 00:43:02.120 like, uh, before I came over to the team, I was all about the local church. I just want to see us launch 00:43:02.120 --> 00:43:07.160 campuses everywhere. And I'll always be about the local church. And I think even internally, I was 00:43:07.160 --> 00:43:11.480 still working on reconciling. What does it look like for us to have, um, this incredible online 00:43:11.480 --> 00:43:16.600 ministry yet still be planting local churches. And, um, I mentioned it earlier and I'm sure you guys, 00:43:16.600 --> 00:43:22.360 you've probably said the same thing. It could almost feel like they were opposing, but with understanding and 00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:27.160 being able to see this sort of revelation of, they're not opposing and you can actually sell 00:43:27.160 --> 00:43:32.120 out to both. You can have one feed the other one. And, uh, you know, even for the local campus 00:43:32.120 --> 00:43:36.840 or the local church, um, and my husband's a campus pastor also, by the way. And so we still have 00:43:36.840 --> 00:43:40.600 these discussions where, you know, even at his campus, you may not have people that attend every 00:43:40.600 --> 00:43:44.600 single week. They may miss a couple of weeks. What's incredible though, is when they're out, 00:43:44.600 --> 00:43:49.000 which is the normal human pattern at every church right now, right? Nobody's coming every week. 00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:54.200 They can still engage in the ministry. They can still stay active, you know, in their giving 00:43:54.200 --> 00:43:58.760 and their participation on the weeks that they're not present. And so I do think that, um, our online 00:43:58.760 --> 00:44:03.560 ministry supports campuses in that way. Now, when we talk about expansion, that's where I think we've 00:44:03.560 --> 00:44:09.720 only begun to explore this, even in our church of how do we collaborate online and campus to really 00:44:09.720 --> 00:44:14.520 figure out what does it look like to expand? And so, yeah, my heart, even with watch parties, 00:44:14.520 --> 00:44:19.640 um, I mean, watch parties is my focus. However, for our church, it would be incredible if some of 00:44:19.640 --> 00:44:24.520 these watch parties led to locations down the road. And I think, um, the answer though is pretty 00:44:24.520 --> 00:44:30.920 ambiguous of when is that point that it transitions or why, you know, um, but it has happened in our 00:44:30.920 --> 00:44:36.520 church. And so now I think in this next season, again, I see us partnering better than we ever have 00:44:36.520 --> 00:44:42.120 now. And, uh, this is because of, you know, our pastor, he really leads us pastor Steven leads us in 00:44:42.120 --> 00:44:48.840 the mindset of we are working together. These are complimentary, um, parts of our ministry and, uh, 00:44:48.840 --> 00:44:54.120 we're going where God is moving. And so we can clearly try to keep defining and constraining it, 00:44:54.120 --> 00:44:58.200 but instead we're in the rhythm and the flow of where God is taking us. And so I think when it comes to 00:44:58.200 --> 00:45:03.320 this idea of how can we contribute to expansion, um, from an online perspective, you know, we have 00:45:03.320 --> 00:45:08.120 data information, we know where people are tuning in from, we have these watch parties. I think we 00:45:08.120 --> 00:45:12.920 can contribute. It's just figuring out what is the tipping point. What does that look like? You know, 00:45:12.920 --> 00:45:15.640 when it does become a campus, I don't know if I'm answering your question or not. 00:45:15.640 --> 00:45:20.120 You have, and you've done it very well, but the fact that you guys were able to cite actual 00:45:20.120 --> 00:45:24.760 examples of, of places that have made that jump. Um, and it's funny cause I've actually, you know, 00:45:24.760 --> 00:45:27.640 being down here in Florida, I've had friends go and visit Melbourne. I didn't even know that it 00:45:27.640 --> 00:45:33.000 started as a watch party. Um, and, and that's encouraging to know simply because there's so 00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:37.320 many different pockets around the United States of folks who, number one, they want to connect. 00:45:38.120 --> 00:45:42.200 They almost want like all the benefits of big church with small church, which is what I see 00:45:42.200 --> 00:45:46.360 watch party as being, you know, like you get the grand communicator, you get a great 00:45:46.360 --> 00:45:51.480 worship experience, but you also get the feeling of close community, right? There's that next step 00:45:51.480 --> 00:45:56.520 beyond that, which some folks take and some folks just honestly, they're not meant to, and that's okay. 00:45:56.520 --> 00:46:01.560 Right. Right. And I think, you know, the campus side, you know, as you talk about, um, 00:46:01.560 --> 00:46:07.400 what that looks like to transition, I think again, it's such a tension because even as I talk about 00:46:07.400 --> 00:46:11.720 it, there's a part of me that's like, what if what we're creating, you know, it's not that a 00:46:11.720 --> 00:46:15.880 campus is the ideal scenario. How do we allow people to understand that, that what you were 00:46:15.880 --> 00:46:20.360 just talking about that small, authentic community, you know, if that's what people want, how do we 00:46:20.360 --> 00:46:25.400 get them to be content with where they are and what they have in the watch party? And I don't 00:46:25.400 --> 00:46:30.520 know the answer to that. I think culturally watch parties still feel, feel new, but you know, we're, 00:46:30.520 --> 00:46:35.240 we're really not innovating anything. You know, I try to remind myself of that sometimes when I'm like, 00:46:35.240 --> 00:46:38.840 I have to figure this out. I'm like, man, these cell groups, whatever you want to call it, 00:46:38.840 --> 00:46:42.600 have been around for so long, you know, in the book of acts talking about churches, gathering 00:46:42.600 --> 00:46:48.120 and homes. And, uh, I don't know. I think that's the constant tension. The theme is how do we allow 00:46:48.120 --> 00:46:52.760 people to not just look to the campus? That's the goal, but how do we get them to see and appreciate 00:46:52.760 --> 00:46:59.240 this model as something that can be long lasting? Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's no magic in the bricks. 00:46:59.240 --> 00:47:04.040 There's the bricks of your church building. It's, it doesn't have the power that that's not where 00:47:04.040 --> 00:47:11.000 everything resides. So you guys breaking out of that, um, being example of utilizing micro locations to 00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:18.120 start to, um, uh, get, get the word out to, to spread the gospel, to empower people. Uh, you said 00:47:18.120 --> 00:47:23.080 it earlier in the broadcast, the same Holy spirit that's, that's, that's in Steven is, is in the people 00:47:23.080 --> 00:47:29.080 who are leading your, uh, the micro locations and God can use them in the exact same way. So, um, 00:47:29.080 --> 00:47:34.440 um, I mean, I just, I just applaud you guys and thank you guys for, um, for taking a chance getting 00:47:34.440 --> 00:47:39.320 out there, but then also, man, just coming on this broadcast and sharing this Ray landing the plane 00:47:39.320 --> 00:47:44.040 and any thoughts as we're, we're wrapping. Not, you know, it's funny, Danielle, as we've been talking 00:47:44.040 --> 00:47:48.360 about church online over these last few weeks, and I just want to encourage you. I watched a lot 00:47:48.360 --> 00:47:52.440 of toy story with my kids, you know, with the new ones coming out and, and you know, the whole line 00:47:52.440 --> 00:47:59.240 of, Hey, I'm not flying. I'm falling with style to me just kind of encompasses everything that's 00:47:59.240 --> 00:48:03.640 going on with elevation and you guys are doing such a phenomenal job. And so keep it up. I'm 00:48:03.640 --> 00:48:07.640 hoping for a follow-up interview. I hope we can have you on again. Cause I love that for sure. 00:48:07.640 --> 00:48:13.240 Thank you so much guys. Awesome. Danny, anything else? Closing thoughts as we're wrapping here. 00:48:13.240 --> 00:48:18.600 Hey, I just, uh, I'm, I'm humbled and, uh, thankful to be able to, to contribute to this 00:48:18.600 --> 00:48:23.000 conversation because I think there's so many churches that, you know, we're figuring this 00:48:23.000 --> 00:48:28.120 out together and there's such power in unity, um, when we're discovering it alongside one another. 00:48:28.120 --> 00:48:31.720 And so thank you for allowing me just to contribute to that. So grateful for it. 00:48:31.720 --> 00:48:37.160 Awesome. Thanks, Danny, for joining us, uh, for Danny, for Ray, uh, my name is Jeff. Oh, 00:48:37.160 --> 00:48:39.560 by the way, before I break, Danny, where can we find you on social media? 00:48:39.560 --> 00:48:45.800 Um, so my Instagram handle is Danny dot Hicks. Um, and then on Facebook under Danielle Hicks as well. 00:48:45.800 --> 00:48:53.240 And that's Danny D-A-N-N-I. That's right. That H-I-C-K-S. Awesome. So for Danny, for Ray, 00:48:53.240 --> 00:48:57.640 my name is Jeff with the church digital. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next time. Thanks, everybody. 00:48:57.640 --> 00:48:58.520 Thank you.