WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.880 Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Church Digital Podcast. My name is Jeff. Thanks for jumping on 00:00:03.880 --> 00:00:09.840 this one. By the way, this is our 25th episode, the two five. This is our silver anniversary of 00:00:09.840 --> 00:00:17.020 podcasts. And so what did you bring, listening audience? I'm expecting silver from you in honor 00:00:17.020 --> 00:00:22.920 of our 25th. I can't even finish it. But I am excited you're here. We've got a great guest in 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:28.960 on this podcast. Ryan Sharp is the online small groups pastor with Life.Church. We're doing a 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:33.760 deep dive here on small groups on biblical community, what that looks like, and how it 00:00:33.760 --> 00:00:39.960 can be utilized. Why has Life.Church been so successful with this? How do they overcome some 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:45.360 of the negativity that's centered around doing biblical community online, how they've been 00:00:45.360 --> 00:00:51.000 able to create that culture from leadership down and what it's like to pass that on to 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:57.280 volunteers and getting volunteers to buy in to this idea of a biblical community of small groups of life 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:05.740 existing online. By far, the greatest line that I've ever heard in context of online small groups happens 00:01:05.740 --> 00:01:12.260 in this interview. And I'm not even going to tell you what it is. It's so powerful. You're going to 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:16.140 know it when you hear it, and you're going to want to write it down like I did, and you're going to 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:22.000 want to share it with others. It's that good. So listen to the podcast here. Myself, Jeff, with the 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:29.820 Church Digital Podcast, interviewing Ryan Sharp, online life groups pastor through Life.Church, doing a deep 00:01:29.820 --> 00:01:37.920 dive here on online small groups. Hey, everybody. Here you go. Yeah. The point is that our heart has 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:44.760 always been community around the Word of God. And so we have, just like at physical locations, you try to 00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:50.740 foster community around the teaching of the Word of God, of like people coming together and meeting up 00:01:50.740 --> 00:01:55.940 locally and things. And so whatever you might do at a physical location, we wanted to do that online as 00:01:55.940 --> 00:02:05.320 well. There's an incredible community of people that reaches globally that our heart is to help them 00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:11.420 take their next step in their faith journeys. So it's really, it's a way for people to get to know 00:02:11.420 --> 00:02:16.720 each other, because they go to the same church, and then to really pursue Jesus together as well. 00:02:17.260 --> 00:02:21.760 That's the why. We want people to be fully devoted followers of Jesus. 00:02:22.720 --> 00:02:27.240 And yeah. I'm curious, just because I'm leading an online Bible study, and I've got this guy from 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:33.600 South Africa. We use Zoom, just kind of jump on. So like when you're doing international, are most of 00:02:33.600 --> 00:02:37.500 the Bible studies, like the small groups that, or you guys call them life groups, right? I don't 00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:41.800 want to use your language. Yeah, life groups. Yeah. So life groups, the online, is that through 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:47.360 Zoom? Or do you have like people clustering and gathering together internationally and UK in 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:52.520 different places? What does it look like? The short answer is all of the above. We structure our life 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:59.720 groups in two different ways right now. The two different categories are in person or entirely online. 00:03:00.040 --> 00:03:08.300 And so within these two ways, we leave it completely open to the leader to decide how they can connect. 00:03:08.480 --> 00:03:15.780 Why they connect stays the same, but we really leave the how and the what up to that leader. So some use 00:03:15.780 --> 00:03:24.100 Zoom, some use Facebook groups, some use talkie.io. So I mean, it's a free version of what you might have 00:03:24.100 --> 00:03:29.580 on Zoom. It's pretty cool. It's an up and coming. I love, love that, love that tool. But, but really, 00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:36.980 they, they get to, they get to connect with however they, they best can connect with their communities. 00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:43.200 Talkie.io. That's something, that's something I've not heard of. So that, that's, that's interesting. 00:03:43.300 --> 00:03:45.940 I'll have to look that up. Is that mobile app or is that, is it web-based? 00:03:46.160 --> 00:03:51.820 It's a web-based app. They're trying to do a mobile thing, uh, as well. Um, it's not as good as the web-based 00:03:51.820 --> 00:03:57.440 app. Okay. Interesting. I will dive into that. Thanks for the tip. How'd you get started into 00:03:57.440 --> 00:04:01.380 this? So like last, and just to put it in context, you were, you were in United Kingdom, 00:04:01.380 --> 00:04:08.440 like last week, two weeks ago, by the time this, this airs, investing into volunteers over there, 00:04:08.440 --> 00:04:13.800 casting vision into church online. Did you like go to school for church online? Did you wake up one 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:17.300 morning and like, Hey, I'm going to do church online. And everybody looks at you like you're 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:19.980 crazy. Cause that's, that's what happened to me. But like, what's your story? 00:04:20.940 --> 00:04:26.600 No, that's really good, man. So I, I grew up, um, I grew up in multiple places of the world. My dad 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:34.260 was a geophysicist. And so we traveled to multiple areas throughout my, my early childhood. Um, so I 00:04:34.260 --> 00:04:38.980 was exposed to a lot of different cultures around the world. I've always been interested in technology, 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:43.560 but more than that, my worldview has always been this global worldview that 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:50.600 people need to know Jesus wherever they are. And so when, uh, in, through my college years, I was 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:57.500 thinking to myself, well, Paul used the most advanced piece of technology to spread the gospel 00:04:57.500 --> 00:05:03.060 of Jesus Christ. And at the time it was the written word, right? And however they would deliver that 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:08.580 written word, those letters to the churches, he would spread the good news, the gospel, the direction 00:05:08.580 --> 00:05:14.520 using the most powerful piece of technology, the most advanced piece of technology that he had. 00:05:14.520 --> 00:05:19.900 So why wouldn't we do the same in this day and age? And it just clicked like, why can't we just use 00:05:19.900 --> 00:05:28.700 the internet? And so, uh, I have been a huge, um, follower of, of Life.Church and I'm just admirer 00:05:28.700 --> 00:05:35.260 for, for years throughout my teenage years and through, um, my early twenties and, um, have always 00:05:35.260 --> 00:05:40.120 just dreamed about like, God, if you could provide a way that I could work for that organization and be 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:45.300 a part of what God is doing. Um, I feel like my heartbeat would be the same, uh, as, as that 00:05:45.300 --> 00:05:52.760 organization. And really the credit goes to, to, uh, Bobby Grunewald who back in 2006, they were, 00:05:52.760 --> 00:05:56.900 the story goes like this, that people, they were moving, uh, we're planning physical locations 00:05:56.900 --> 00:06:03.120 and they were moving these, uh, these heavy equipment, you know, as you might set up in a, 00:06:03.260 --> 00:06:08.140 in a, uh, a portable church environment and everything like that. And one person said to, 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:12.660 said to Bobby, you know, Hey, can you get that speaker? And, and, you know, as he was lifted up 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:17.640 the speaker, he said, I could do this so much easier online. And the person said, what do you, 00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:22.040 what do you mean by that? He goes, well, I could, I could put a church service together and I could 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:27.480 have a community online and I could, I could do this. But back in 2006, Bobby Grunewald, 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:32.200 the creator of the YouVersion Bible app had the idea for church online. Of course, he's our 00:06:32.200 --> 00:06:39.460 innovations pastor. And so he, uh, he started this website called church online, life church online. 00:06:39.460 --> 00:06:45.540 And so we, uh, uh, that's really where it started. And since then I, uh, I actually was an early 00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:51.580 adopter of life church online through my college years in 2007. I, this was my church. 00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:56.360 I was away from my physical home church and looking for a church and found stumbled on church 00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:59.040 online. And since then, man, I was hooked. 00:06:59.940 --> 00:07:05.920 That's a phenomenal story. Yeah. I've, I've, I too have lifted way too many speakers in a portable 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:10.960 environment even recently and said, yeah, there's gotta be a better way to do this. Go, go church 00:07:10.960 --> 00:07:18.920 online. Um, just the, the, the heart behind using church online to reach people. And so you guys are 00:07:18.920 --> 00:07:23.340 doing with, with life church, obviously you're reaching tons. Like I don't even know numbers. 00:07:23.340 --> 00:07:29.000 And at some level numbers at some point they, they stop meaning things because you lose the stories 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:34.380 in the heart behind it, but you're, you're reaching these phenomenal numbers of people, uh, through the 00:07:34.380 --> 00:07:41.040 physical campuses. Uh, you're reaching phenomenal numbers online, literally internationally, evidently, 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:47.760 because you're going over to meet with volunteers in the United Kingdom even, but you have the difficult 00:07:47.760 --> 00:07:53.120 deal of, of not reaching people in rows, but reaching them in circles. Uh, I'll, uh, and the 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:59.320 Stanley. So how do you, what's, what's the tension that you wrestle with? Let me say it this way. 00:07:59.460 --> 00:08:04.760 I know lots of churches that are broadcasting the services online, but when it comes to, 00:08:05.140 --> 00:08:08.680 Hey, let's do small groups. Hey, let's do discipleship. Hey, let's do biblical community 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:12.100 virtually. Oh no, you can't do that. You got to, got to do that physically. 00:08:12.960 --> 00:08:17.540 What tensions, or how would you answer a church that maybe has some of that tension that 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:21.000 you can't do biblical community online? 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:27.260 Yeah, I, I'm, uh, um, I w I would just say, you know, follow what, what God specifically 00:08:27.260 --> 00:08:32.580 is calling you and your church to what he's called us to is to embrace the technology, the 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:39.620 opportunity to reach people on deeper and deeper levels. And so, um, I, I would maybe share 00:08:39.620 --> 00:08:46.180 specific stories like the opportunity to reach a guy named Muhammad in, um, in a, in a Muslim 00:08:46.180 --> 00:08:50.960 country. He was in a, this is a story that, that came out. And I love that you mentioned 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:59.320 that you lose the power of the one story is I'm all about that too. So Muhammad was in, um, a Muslim 00:08:59.320 --> 00:09:08.400 country and he was in a world religions course and his Muslim professor, uh, gave a assignment on, 00:09:08.400 --> 00:09:18.320 um, on Christianity. And that's when, um, that, that's when, uh, Muhammad received the instruction 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:24.180 to download the YouVersion Bible app so he could complete his Christianity paper. Um, he downloaded 00:09:24.180 --> 00:09:28.920 the YouVersion Bible app, started reading the word of God and was completely transformed by it. 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:37.620 And then he came to church online because he somehow found church online, life church online and, uh, and he 00:09:37.620 --> 00:09:43.520 ended up giving his life to Christ at the end of the service. And so he emailed us this story because 00:09:43.520 --> 00:09:48.960 he said, pray for me because it can be very dangerous for me knowing this. Now, even more than that, fast 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:54.620 forward. Now he serves on our team, uh, from his country, leading people around the world to Christ 00:09:54.680 --> 00:10:02.060 at life church online. And he's not only found Jesus and found a new life in him, but he's found a 00:10:02.060 --> 00:10:08.440 community that he gets to serve with. And through a medium of technology, he gets to connect with our 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:13.640 team. He gets to connect with others and, uh, and lead people to Christ. That's the opportunity that's 00:10:13.640 --> 00:10:19.620 ahead of us, uh, uh, at, uh, in front of us at church online. And so what I might say to a church is 00:10:19.620 --> 00:10:25.120 embrace that opportunity is that the, the Holy spirit, God, it can work through incredible ways 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:31.300 through life, life church online, through church online, uh, ministry. And, uh, and so just see 00:10:31.300 --> 00:10:37.200 what God might have, have for you. I love that by the way, Muhammad awesome, awesome story of, of just 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:42.960 a guy whose, whose life was changed in a, you know, in a Muslim country, a place that we can't, 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:48.320 you know, as a church, as physical American church, we can't reach into without like embracing the 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:53.960 online technology component of this. We, when you talk with volunteers, like even, cause I know you 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:59.400 were international United Kingdom, 71 volunteers, when you talk to American volunteers, you know, 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:05.420 whatever, whatever the scope is like, do you have a hard time casting vision, getting people to 00:11:05.420 --> 00:11:12.040 understand, um, the why, or even, even the how, or, or do, does life church volunteers, do they, 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:17.620 do they embrace this strongly? Yeah, they, they embrace it. I mean, the, the, the opportunity is, 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:25.200 is that they, they get to come weekly and really be, uh, be a part of our church. So we, we have 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:29.480 multiple layers of leadership with volunteers. When you ask, how do we communicate and cast vision 00:11:29.480 --> 00:11:37.140 to volunteers? We, uh, uh, uh, everyone has a leader and no one leads more than 10 people. 00:11:37.140 --> 00:11:43.880 And so, so the way that structure works is I would lead up to 10 individuals and those 10 individuals 00:11:43.880 --> 00:11:48.980 would lead up to 10. We want all of our volunteers to feel like they're a part of our church and that 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:53.860 they're pastorally cared for. And so we have volunteers, not just in life groups, we have, um, 00:11:53.980 --> 00:11:59.160 volunteers in social media, in what we call our host team, which are the people that welcome and pray 00:11:59.160 --> 00:12:04.460 for people, uh, at our services and multiple other areas as well that people can serve in. 00:12:04.460 --> 00:12:09.820 And so, so we want our volunteers to feel that they're pastorally cared for as well as individuals 00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:15.180 that come online. And there's many different ways that we're able to care for those, those as well. 00:12:15.420 --> 00:12:19.620 What percentage of people that are watching the services, uh, align with groups? 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.880 Well, what we find is obviously, and I work with other churches and online, the people that we're 00:12:24.880 --> 00:12:31.000 talking to with the podcast, like it's, it's a huge number, um, that, that are, that are watching 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:37.440 the services tens, hundreds, thousands, even. Um, but some, some churches, they have that, 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:43.580 that vision towards, okay, groups, we're going to hit it and run. Um, some it's, it's more kind 00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:48.440 of pulling teeth where, where it's not necessarily there. So like, I'm, I'm just curious kind of what 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:53.940 your percentage is or what advice that you would give, uh, to somebody that maybe is trying to get 00:12:53.940 --> 00:12:58.580 started in this and trying to, trying to establish that small group culture online. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:03.980 Well, everyone that comes online, maybe not everyone, but what we, what we've found at Life 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:09.160 Church Online is that everyone that comes is looking for a place to belong. And so, so when they, 00:13:09.300 --> 00:13:15.020 when they come to a service and that's, that becomes their community, we find that there are people 00:13:15.020 --> 00:13:20.640 that come to the same service every single week, uh, no matter where they are, we've never met them 00:13:20.640 --> 00:13:27.820 in person, but we know them and they're more apt to share, uh, even, even quicker, deeper things 00:13:27.820 --> 00:13:33.700 because they feel like there's, there's a, uh, there, there's a level of, of an anemone there where 00:13:33.700 --> 00:13:39.840 they can kind of share what's on their heart. So community starts from step four rather than step 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:45.760 one and a lot of ways online. So I feel like they embrace community. That's why they're there. That's 00:13:45.760 --> 00:13:50.980 why they're chatting. That's why they're, they're, they're involved. Um, and so, so they're looking 00:13:50.980 --> 00:13:57.780 for a place to belong. And just like in, in any in-person connection, every single individual alive 00:13:57.780 --> 00:14:05.340 in any conversation, their brain is automatically searching for, am I safe? Am I, is this a safe 00:14:05.340 --> 00:14:10.300 environment? And so even when we started this conversation, my brain and your brain quickly 00:14:10.300 --> 00:14:15.640 processed, is this a safe conversation? Do I need to fight this or flight this? You know, that's, 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:21.860 that's the response that physically happens in our brain. And so, uh, that's, that's what, 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:26.260 what we can help people understand that, man, you're in a safe place. We're excited that you're 00:14:26.260 --> 00:14:33.000 here. And God has, has, God loves you very deeply and has, wants the best for you. And so those walls 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:37.920 start to come down and people start to embrace community, but it's not automatic, Jeff. It's 00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:44.500 really not, man. It's, it's a constant, it's building that culture of community in an online space, 00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:47.460 just like you would build the culture in a physical space as well. 00:14:47.460 --> 00:14:53.120 Yeah. Jay, it was Jay Crand over at Saddleback. We had him on, uh, I think it was like episode three, 00:14:53.260 --> 00:14:57.620 way back when we were starting the podcast and, uh, and, and I, he and I have had the conversation 00:14:57.620 --> 00:15:02.540 several times. I just would love, love your take on it. Uh, in virtual environments and online 00:15:02.540 --> 00:15:06.600 environments, people connect to community before they connect to Christ. Have you guys experienced 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:11.040 that? What, what, what is life church feeling? Uh, when it comes to that people connect to community 00:15:11.040 --> 00:15:15.980 before they connect to Christ. Uh, I think just like what, what maybe I said before, 00:15:15.980 --> 00:15:20.620 people are always searching for a place to belong, no matter what they believe. And at life church, 00:15:20.620 --> 00:15:26.340 we, we feel like we, you want, we want you to feel like you belong here before you even believe. 00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:33.500 And so, so when, when people come, absolutely let's engage them in community because we truly do care 00:15:33.500 --> 00:15:40.260 off authentically, uh, about them as people they're created by God for a purpose. And so, um, 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:46.800 absolutely, I would say that, but I don't, I, I would also say not always people, people can come 00:15:46.800 --> 00:15:51.700 to know Christ and then seek out community out of that. And so it works, it works both ways. You 00:15:51.700 --> 00:15:56.780 know, the, the whole thing of, there's always a next step, a best next step for some individual, 00:15:56.780 --> 00:16:01.880 and that looks different for different times and different people. A quick story of a specific 00:16:01.880 --> 00:16:07.240 life group. This is an in-person life group out in Beaumont, Texas. Shout out to my life group 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:13.180 leader there, Jessica. She, uh, she leads a life group and I was able to visit that life group. 00:16:13.560 --> 00:16:20.860 Um, and, uh, and while I was there, there, Pastor Craig at our services, uh, Pastor Craig Groeschel, 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:29.080 he always at the end of his message invites people to give their life to Christ. And at, uh, he says, 00:16:29.180 --> 00:16:33.300 raise your hand if you want to commit your life to Christ. It's a private moment. And I happen to be 00:16:33.300 --> 00:16:37.040 looking at the room at the time. There's a group of people around sitting and watching the service 00:16:37.040 --> 00:16:42.780 together, this church online, this life church online service. And I see this guy in the back 00:16:42.780 --> 00:16:49.160 raise his hand. And I'm like, man, this is such a powerful moment where someone in a life group 00:16:49.160 --> 00:16:53.840 at church online gives their life to Christ. So I had to catch up with this guy at the end. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:59.400 So after the service ends, I was like, introduce myself. His name is Bruce. And Bruce, uh, said that 00:16:59.400 --> 00:17:04.080 this is his first time actually coming into the life group and watching the service. And he would drop 00:17:04.080 --> 00:17:09.620 his daughter and his wife off every single week and he would sit in the truck and he wouldn't come in 00:17:09.620 --> 00:17:15.440 because he, he, he feels like he's not ready to commit or not ready to be in community or even to 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:20.500 devote his relationship to Christ or his life to Christ, anything like that. And he said, today was 00:17:20.500 --> 00:17:25.060 just different. I felt like I needed to be there. And then in that moment, I felt compelled to give my 00:17:25.060 --> 00:17:30.700 life to Christ. I don't know what that means yet, but I'm, I, I did it. And so then we connected him 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:34.940 with the life group leader and, and, uh, he's a part of community and he gave his life to Christ. 00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:39.640 And so that's, that's just what gets me so excited. And this is someone who has never walked into a 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:45.960 life church location, but yet they're finding community and they found Christ in the context 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:49.280 of an in-person church, a life church, online life group. 00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:55.180 Sounds like what you're describing is really this, this melding of, of, of physical and online, 00:17:55.180 --> 00:18:01.520 um, type, type of thing, right. Where, where they're, they're meeting in the physical space, but utilizing 00:18:01.520 --> 00:18:07.380 some of the online technology to kind of, to kind of see that in. So it's, it's like your, your online 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:12.780 campus is birthing more physical communities around or some of these gatherings is, is that, that's kind 00:18:12.780 --> 00:18:13.620 of what you're describing, right? 00:18:14.120 --> 00:18:19.680 Yeah. Yeah. Precisely. People gather together, attend the service together and then talk about it. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:24.780 That's really the lowest bar of like, I love what, uh, another life group leader said. Uh, 00:18:24.780 --> 00:18:30.040 he's an in-person life group leader out in South Carolina. Shout out to Steven. He, uh, he leads 00:18:30.040 --> 00:18:35.720 an in-person life group there. And he said, life church online makes it so easy to run my life 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:40.740 group. All I did was make some coffee, turn on the service, invite my friends and God did the rest. 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:49.080 That's funny. That's cool. So like, how do you, how do you train? How do you equip? How do you 00:18:49.080 --> 00:18:57.520 empower the, the leaders? So Steven, South Carolina, um, turn it on a computer, you know, whatever to 00:18:57.520 --> 00:19:03.140 TV, Apple TV, whatever it is, some sort of vehicle to, to get it up on, on a screen that's to experience 00:19:03.140 --> 00:19:08.320 service. And then it's leading, I'm guessing some sort of discussion conversation afterwards, 00:19:08.320 --> 00:19:13.260 like Steven's in South Carolina. What, what does that training look like? How, how are you guys 00:19:13.260 --> 00:19:14.700 helping him do this? 00:19:15.100 --> 00:19:18.780 Yeah. So he's connected. He has his own leader. It's like we said before, there's multiple, 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:24.040 uh, layers of leaders. So his leader trains him and connects with them every three months, 00:19:24.040 --> 00:19:28.700 at least they're having a, what we call a significant conversation. That's really what 00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:33.660 we train our leaders of leaders to have every three months, have a significant one-on-one 00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:39.500 conversation with the people that you lead. And so there he's getting that connection to a life 00:19:39.500 --> 00:19:45.500 church, uh, uh, team member, volunteer. And, and then also there's initial training that he goes 00:19:45.500 --> 00:19:50.560 through, um, after we, we do background checks and everything, get them through our, our process 00:19:50.560 --> 00:19:57.140 of applications. We have different videos that we've shot of how to practically lead a in-person 00:19:57.140 --> 00:20:01.900 life group. And so it even talks about having the music on, having it smell good in the room, 00:20:01.900 --> 00:20:08.700 having enough for parking, um, having it easily accessible. So really practical training in that 00:20:08.700 --> 00:20:13.780 area. And then on the entirely online side, we have practical training for that as well. How to lead an 00:20:13.780 --> 00:20:18.500 effective Facebook group, how to increase engagement in your Facebook group, how to do a 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:24.360 Zoom call, things like that. And so it's very practical training on the front end to set the 00:20:24.360 --> 00:20:30.400 life group leader up for success. That's incredible. And so that's just part of your life church team 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:40.780 is doing, is developing the content. Your leaders, though, for accountability, you're 1 to 10 to 10 00:20:40.780 --> 00:20:46.520 underneath. Like that's all volunteer driven or mostly volunteer driven, right? Yeah, it's entirely 00:20:46.520 --> 00:20:54.860 volunteer. Yeah. The entire life groups ministry at church online is all volunteer. Wow. So when it 00:20:54.860 --> 00:21:02.720 comes to like, you know, expanding your circle of influence, like there's no place life, I mean, 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:10.360 you're telling me a story about Muhammad in, you know, undefined Middle Eastern country. There's no 00:21:10.360 --> 00:21:16.280 place you don't want to go. You'll, you'll go anywhere. Yeah, absolutely. I think that Jesus 00:21:16.280 --> 00:21:22.320 will go anywhere. That's really the, the, the power behind the gospel and the hope of what Jesus, you 00:21:22.320 --> 00:21:29.140 know, I believe in Matthew 28, when he said, go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to 00:21:29.140 --> 00:21:33.300 obey all the commands I've given you. And remember this, I'm with you to the end of the age. When he 00:21:33.300 --> 00:21:40.420 gave us that, that command, that commission, I believe he had the internet in mind. As he stood 00:21:40.420 --> 00:21:44.860 right then and there, he knew that there would be something called the internet that will allow us to 00:21:44.860 --> 00:21:51.900 do this on a broader scale and a quicker scale. And then I think he, he knows what's coming next. 00:21:52.900 --> 00:21:59.360 And he's, he says, man, let's utilize that. Let's leverage that to go everywhere to help people find 00:21:59.360 --> 00:22:07.240 Christ. Amen. I love this conversation and I'm going to love this next question because yeah, I want to 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:14.980 see how you respond to this. So you are effectively in life church, God, Holy spirit, like, forgive me. 00:22:15.040 --> 00:22:21.480 I don't want to like boil any of, of the spirituality out of this conversation. So don't, don't allow that 00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:29.900 to happen. But effectively life church is, is going out and attempting to reach the world, utilizing church 00:22:29.900 --> 00:22:35.780 online. Um, and effectively is, is, well, at least in conversations we've talked about multiple 00:22:35.780 --> 00:22:42.460 states, multiple time zones, uh, Europe and, um, multiple continents, uh, middle East, probably more on 00:22:42.460 --> 00:22:48.580 the, on the Asia side. So yeah, multiple continents involved in this conversation. Um, yet the average 00:22:48.580 --> 00:22:54.820 church in America struggles with church online. Um, and when you really drill into like the, and so the 00:22:54.820 --> 00:22:59.520 listeners who are hearing you talk about all this, the listeners are saying, yeah, I have this vision. 00:22:59.520 --> 00:23:04.740 I want to do this too. I want to be part of a church that's doing that. But my church is too afraid of 00:23:04.740 --> 00:23:11.960 embracing church online because it competes with a physical church. Um, because you can't do this stuff 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:17.000 virtually. It has to be done in physical space. I'm not saying there's like magic power in the bricks, 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:23.180 but often we, we live our lives that way. Like the Holy spirit, um, isn't, isn't an ethereal thing. 00:23:23.180 --> 00:23:28.080 It's a virus that gets spread when we breathe the same air together. And yes, when two or more 00:23:28.080 --> 00:23:33.800 gathered together, um, God does something phenomenal, but I think God does something phenomenal via zoom 00:23:33.800 --> 00:23:39.040 too. And I'm not one to limit God. So my, my, my question is, is, is this, all that was set up for, 00:23:39.120 --> 00:23:47.440 for this? Yeah. Like how can you encourage people or, or what would you look at to say, Hey, 00:23:47.800 --> 00:23:53.740 life church, we were able to get past this. We were able to get past this issue. And once we saw it 00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:59.320 from this angle, once we understood this, we, we just were able to run because we're life church 00:23:59.320 --> 00:24:05.620 and you're not the only one, there are others, but as a whole, there's 350,000 evangelical churches in 00:24:05.620 --> 00:24:11.460 America. There's probably two to 300 that are doing online small groups. So there, there's something 00:24:11.460 --> 00:24:17.520 special that's happening with a select few. My hope is that more can get on board. How can more get on 00:24:17.520 --> 00:24:22.860 board? What, what do we need to do? Yeah. Uh, to answer your question, I don't know if there's a 00:24:22.860 --> 00:24:28.600 specific like silver bullet that this is what changed our whole mindset. I think it was, it was 00:24:28.600 --> 00:24:34.880 really what we felt like God was calling us to and the opportunity ahead of us where, I mean, what, 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:42.160 what I may say to someone who is on the fence about is this, is this online, is an online ministry for 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:48.040 us as a church, consider processing. Um, what if you had the opportunity, you know, to reach 00:24:48.040 --> 00:24:54.680 quite literally billions of people within the context of your city, you would do everything you 00:24:54.680 --> 00:25:01.340 could do to reach those, those people. If they lived in your city, you would find a way to reach them. 00:25:01.460 --> 00:25:08.200 Well, there's billions of people in an online context and online world. And we have the, the, 00:25:08.200 --> 00:25:16.180 the greatest message, the greatest news that has ever hit humanity, which is Jesus Christ and, 00:25:16.360 --> 00:25:23.080 and the redemptive power of, of what he brings to the world. And so why wouldn't we try to, 00:25:23.080 --> 00:25:31.260 to reach those, you know, as many people as possible. And so, um, I think, I think also it's, 00:25:31.260 --> 00:25:37.400 um, just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. And so, um, 00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:43.200 that's, that's, that's maybe something that, that we might, you know, look at as a church and see, 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:49.180 you know, why, why can't we do that? And, you know, we've, we've failed a lot through the process. 00:25:49.280 --> 00:25:55.880 And, um, and as, as you're starting online ministry, you may try something and it may not work, 00:25:55.880 --> 00:26:01.240 or it may not work how you thought it might work. Keep trying because the why matters the most. And the 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:06.260 why is to bring as many people into heaven as possible. The many, many, many people that know 00:26:06.260 --> 00:26:11.940 the hope of Jesus Christ, you know, that that's, that's the why. And so when we know that we'll use 00:26:11.940 --> 00:26:16.660 anything, we say this all the time at life church, that we'll do anything short of sin to reach people 00:26:16.660 --> 00:26:21.180 who don't know Christ, to reach people. No one's reaching. We have to do things. No one's doing. 00:26:22.040 --> 00:26:27.440 So maybe God's calling you to that. Maybe God's calling you to, to do things that no one else is 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:34.580 doing. And, and, uh, it may look different than life church and, uh, and God's calling you to that, 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:39.080 to reach your unique community of people in an online context. 00:26:39.600 --> 00:26:44.600 Well said. Uh, I think I've, I've quoted both those things and other people on this podcast, 00:26:44.600 --> 00:26:50.080 everything short, nothing short of sin, uh, or everything short of sin to, to reach. And if 00:26:50.080 --> 00:26:54.220 you want to reach different people, you got to do different things. Um, yeah, that, that's been 00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:59.700 the reverberation of, of this podcast and, uh, and other guests on there. So yeah, thank you for, 00:26:59.700 --> 00:27:07.160 um, uh, you know, personalizing that and, and, and putting an actual face to, to somebody who is, 00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:14.500 who's out there, you know, trying to do something different and, and trying to be effective in creating, 00:27:14.500 --> 00:27:20.740 uh, a disciple online and creating biblical community opportunities to, uh, help people 00:27:20.740 --> 00:27:24.860 go deeper in their faith. I'll tell you, man, it's a team, it's a team effort. We've got an 00:27:24.860 --> 00:27:30.060 amazing team here at life church that we're, we're excited to, to try new things and do different 00:27:30.060 --> 00:27:35.900 things and fail quickly and adjust quickly. And also our global team of volunteers, they're just, 00:27:35.900 --> 00:27:40.960 they're, they're bought in, they're excited. They're, they're also alongside us willing to do 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:47.480 whatever. Um, and, uh, and so that combination really, uh, really helps us focus what is truly, 00:27:47.700 --> 00:27:52.320 what we're truly after. One of the biggest problems that I see with churches that are doing church 00:27:52.320 --> 00:27:59.700 online where they're, they're stuck is, okay, we're broadcasting the service. We've got hundreds, 00:27:59.700 --> 00:28:05.600 maybe a thousand people watching this. We know it's views. Analytics are telling me that a significant 00:28:05.600 --> 00:28:09.960 amount of traffic is local within the city. Analytics are telling me a significant amount 00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:16.660 of traffic that's outside of the city. So it's kind of all over, but I don't know who these people 00:28:16.660 --> 00:28:24.060 are. So like, I've got people who are doing church in isolation. That's not good. We want people in 00:28:24.060 --> 00:28:29.960 community. Um, what are some things that, that you guys, life church has done that you've seen done? 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:36.900 How do we break down those walls of isolation and start to discover, you know, who is actually watching 00:28:36.900 --> 00:28:41.680 in church online? So once we know who they are, we can pull them in. What's worked for you guys? 00:28:42.100 --> 00:28:47.920 Yeah. I mean, we see, we see life church online as just another location where we have church. And so 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:51.960 in the same way that we would attack problems, we would attack them the same way at physical 00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:57.220 locations. And so we think to ourselves, how would we handle it if we had some people coming in and 00:28:57.220 --> 00:29:02.240 sitting in the back row, which we do a lot, and then leaving right away? We don't know who they are. 00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:08.940 We might see their face for a brief moment, or actually we might not. And so, uh, so they come in, 00:29:09.020 --> 00:29:16.060 they sit down, they leave. How might we help them engage now for a time that might be the best 00:29:16.060 --> 00:29:21.180 next step for them. It'd be amazing if they came back and then they came back again, then they came 00:29:21.180 --> 00:29:26.180 back again and just had a great experience every time they came and maybe they introduced themselves. 00:29:26.340 --> 00:29:32.380 Maybe we engage them. Uh, maybe we lead them to engage. You know, we say, we say all the time, 00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:40.220 we will not say our people won't. We've committed as a church to say, we won't say our people won't. 00:29:40.220 --> 00:29:47.140 We'll actually instead say we've not led them to yet. And so, so really if we, if we have people 00:29:47.140 --> 00:29:52.640 coming online, we want to lead them to take that next step, to have a conversation. And so that's 00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:58.580 in maybe a transition video from worship to pastor Craig, we may say, Hey, here's a question. 00:29:58.680 --> 00:30:04.300 Why don't you answer that in the chat and express genuine concern for them and to see them where 00:30:04.300 --> 00:30:09.580 they're at. And so really engaging that online audience as if they are in the room, which they 00:30:09.580 --> 00:30:14.740 are, they are in the room. And so you may say in a physical location, we'd love to meet you in the 00:30:14.740 --> 00:30:20.160 lobby, connect with our team in the lobby. We might do the, we do the exact same thing online. We say, 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:26.480 connect with us in that chat area, join a life group. Life is better together. And we're so glad 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:30.360 you're here. Those are the, those, that's the language. That's the culture. That's how we're 00:30:30.360 --> 00:30:34.700 leading people towards deeper connection and not just a coming and going. 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:42.120 Great. And I know one of the movements that I've seen with groups lately has been, you know, 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:48.560 and Clay Scroggins has talked a lot about this, where they've started marketing the digital groups, 00:30:48.760 --> 00:30:56.780 not just to the online campus, but actually to the, to the physical campus as well. Your guys group 00:30:56.780 --> 00:31:02.540 approach is, is it, is it unified like that where somebody can attend a physical campus and then a 00:31:02.540 --> 00:31:07.580 virtual small group? Is that encouraged? Is that discouraged? Like how do you handle nuances like 00:31:07.580 --> 00:31:13.960 that? Yeah, absolutely. Specifically, it goes both ways. We've had many opportunities in our, in our 00:31:13.960 --> 00:31:19.660 campuses where I find someone that's near a campus that wants to join a life group. And so I'll connect 00:31:19.660 --> 00:31:24.400 them with that local life groups pastor and they'll start it at a physical location, but yet they found 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:29.920 that physical location through life church online. So, and then the opposite happens. There are people 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:36.840 at physical campuses that approach the, the, the, the life groups team at that campus and says, Hey, 00:31:36.840 --> 00:31:41.560 I'd, I'd like to start an online group. And so they'll both list them for their, their local 00:31:41.560 --> 00:31:47.020 volunteers, but then that life group leader would like to open it up globally and say like, Hey, I want 00:31:47.020 --> 00:31:52.280 to start a homeschool moms group and I want to open it up to more than just this city. And so that life 00:31:52.280 --> 00:31:58.100 groups team will send us that information and we'll, we'll help them connect globally as well. So it can 00:31:58.100 --> 00:32:06.280 go both ways. It's, it's interesting. The, the relationship you're describing cause it's, it's 00:32:06.280 --> 00:32:10.680 irregular and you've had a regular results and I'm not saying the two are actually, I am saying the two 00:32:10.680 --> 00:32:17.760 are related, but like how do, and this gets back to this idea of, of culture, right? Cause so you guys 00:32:17.760 --> 00:32:22.500 have this culture where it's a healthy balance between what you're describing, a healthy balance 00:32:22.500 --> 00:32:29.480 between physical and virtual between the, the brick and mortar and online where they're cohabitating 00:32:29.480 --> 00:32:37.560 very well, very efficiently and helping each other, not viewed as, as, as opposites or almost enemies. 00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:42.920 Like, and, and I have, I have, I have clients, I have, um, churches that, that I've, I've worked with 00:32:42.920 --> 00:32:50.280 that, that would paint the picture of, yeah, I'm literally a larger church in the Midwest, five, 00:32:50.360 --> 00:32:56.240 6,000 people literally having conversations about shutting down their online campus or online campus 00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:03.660 reaches multiple thousands of people, um, uh, a week, uh, because the church saw that the online 00:33:03.660 --> 00:33:09.540 attendance was growing physical campus was declining and therefore we want to shut down the online campus 00:33:09.540 --> 00:33:13.260 and force everybody to come to the building. I may be overstating on some things, but that's the general 00:33:13.260 --> 00:33:21.280 principle of a lot of the churches out there. And yet somehow you've created this healthy balance culture 00:33:21.280 --> 00:33:26.320 between the physical, as well as, as online, where you're working together towards a common goal 00:33:26.320 --> 00:33:31.400 and people are interweaving between physical and online healthy as they should. 00:33:32.740 --> 00:33:34.880 How do you create that culture? 00:33:35.340 --> 00:33:40.220 Well, the first thing I would say is I, I, I never want to doubt anything that God may be calling a 00:33:40.220 --> 00:33:46.740 specific church or leadership to do. And so, so, uh, I, I, I really want, uh, whatever the lead pastor, 00:33:46.860 --> 00:33:52.860 senior pastor at any physical location to hear is that I'm, uh, uh, we, we never want to say that 00:33:52.860 --> 00:33:59.400 there's, this is the only way, um, uh, we, to answer the second part of your question, 00:33:59.400 --> 00:34:05.540 I, I would say that we, we truly do believe both at Life.Church Online and at all of our physical 00:34:05.540 --> 00:34:12.320 locations, which they're one in the same, we feel like, are, um, that the church is truly not a 00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:18.720 building, but it's the people. And so that is, that is really the culmination of how we've led our 00:34:18.720 --> 00:34:23.980 people to believe that it is the people. It is in deeper levels of community that it is a people. 00:34:24.100 --> 00:34:29.720 So whether they come online or come in person to us, it's the same. And we we've had to make that, 00:34:29.880 --> 00:34:36.000 that call. And it, it, not that I've, I've not heard anything to where that was an even difficult 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:43.120 call. That was a call that we understood that the church truly is the people. Um, and, uh, we say this 00:34:43.120 --> 00:34:48.200 all the time at, at Life.Church Online within our thing, we actually just, just right near me, we have 00:34:48.200 --> 00:34:53.640 a saying on the wall. It says, every number has a name. Every name has a story and every story matters 00:34:53.640 --> 00:35:01.920 to God. And so we may be seeing, we may be seeing people coming to our services and we consider them 00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:08.020 just a number, the X amount of people came and then X amount of people left. When really, we have to 00:35:08.020 --> 00:35:13.580 understand that because the church is the people and not a building, that that number has a name 00:35:13.580 --> 00:35:19.800 and that name has a story and that story matters to God. And so it's that understanding, it's that 00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:26.580 culture that we've been able to, to, um, to fall into that, uh, that's led us to, to really have this, 00:35:26.980 --> 00:35:29.380 this, um, this outcome. 00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:35.880 Yeah. I'm going to steal that. Every number has a name. Um, every name has a story and every story 00:35:35.880 --> 00:35:40.960 matters to God. That's it. Who actually, who actually said that? That's Pastor Craig. Craig. 00:35:40.980 --> 00:35:47.320 Pastor Craig Rochelle. Yes. Awesome. Awesome. Hey, Craig, uh, if you're not listening, but if you 00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:55.380 were, thank you. I appreciate the, uh, the quote. That's awesome. Um, man, there, there, this has been 00:35:55.380 --> 00:36:01.280 great. It's been really good. I love, I love your heart to create community. I love your heart to, 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:10.240 to work alongside the campuses. Um, I love how God is, is, is rewarding your, your faithfulness and 00:36:10.240 --> 00:36:15.960 humbleness, um, in, in mighty ways to make a difference in, in the kingdom. Like this has been, 00:36:16.100 --> 00:36:21.200 been really exciting and encouraging for the listeners and those that are out there. Um, 00:36:21.880 --> 00:36:29.300 what's the, you said, there's no silver bullets. I totally get that. What's the first step. 00:36:29.900 --> 00:36:37.320 So, uh, I'm doing a broadcast. Uh, I, I need to, I want to take that first step. I want to create 00:36:37.320 --> 00:36:44.880 groups. I have no idea how to start. Where do I start? Yeah. I would say if, if you're, if you're 00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:52.480 doing a broadcast and you're not cultivating online community, your first step would be to either 00:36:52.480 --> 00:37:01.260 yourself or develop a team to, to stimulate online community around that broadcast. So stimulate that 00:37:01.260 --> 00:37:07.960 online community, um, create that community around that content is really what we, we would say. And so 00:37:07.960 --> 00:37:14.300 then, so once, once you're there, um, and you've got two or three on your team that show up at every 00:37:14.300 --> 00:37:19.300 service or they're parceled out of different services and they're answering every comment that 00:37:19.300 --> 00:37:24.700 comes in, like welcoming them personally, getting to know their stories, engaging with them with the 00:37:24.700 --> 00:37:32.760 content. Then I, um, step two would be to find people to, to lead groups that you could lead them 00:37:32.760 --> 00:37:39.540 into deeper levels. And so, um, step two would be, um, John Smith wants to lead a life group. 00:37:39.640 --> 00:37:44.640 It's going to be on Tuesday nights at this time, or it's going to be an ongoing Facebook group. 00:37:45.020 --> 00:37:51.240 And, uh, then I can lead them to that. Something that we've, we've tried that has, has, um, has 00:37:51.240 --> 00:37:57.680 it had, it had a decent result of it will actually gather people together and create a Facebook group 00:37:57.680 --> 00:38:05.720 for them and then, and then connect them to it. Um, it's, it's gotten okay results. I wouldn't say 00:38:05.720 --> 00:38:10.160 that's a silver bullet, just like what, what, you know, you said, there's no silver bullet, but, uh, 00:38:10.160 --> 00:38:16.340 um, then I, then I would say, I would say also something that has really been a game changer for us 00:38:16.340 --> 00:38:24.260 has been having a, uh, a Facebook group that we can filter everyone to. So every person, so we call it 00:38:24.260 --> 00:38:30.540 our global, global Facebook group, you know, so, so, um, we have a certain amount of people that, 00:38:30.640 --> 00:38:35.280 that are in there that are part of our services that either find that group or find it as a result 00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:41.680 of our service. And so they go to and from that group from a service or to a service. Um, but really 00:38:41.680 --> 00:38:48.980 it's a way that every day, um, uh, members of our team and volunteers are engaging people, uh, with 00:38:48.980 --> 00:38:53.700 different questions of the day and different, um, updates about what different events at church 00:38:53.700 --> 00:38:58.060 online, um, really about your next steps and different, different things we want to lead people 00:38:58.060 --> 00:39:04.700 towards. Okay. So you're create, creating community around the event, chat room, stuff like that, 00:39:04.740 --> 00:39:10.320 meeting people, getting names, cataloging their information in some sort of database, and then 00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:17.780 inviting them into like, uh, a mega group for your entire online environment. And so that online group 00:39:17.780 --> 00:39:24.080 could involve hundreds, if not thousands of people. Uh, it could involve, uh, physical campus people 00:39:24.080 --> 00:39:28.860 that are just attending, um, online occasionally as well. Like you're going to get a lot of crossover, 00:39:28.860 --> 00:39:33.540 but, and then once you have all those people, once you have their contact info, once you have them 00:39:33.540 --> 00:39:40.820 on, on, on Facebook, funneling all of them and trying to get those people connected into some sort 00:39:40.820 --> 00:39:47.260 of an online group where they can be part of a biblical community and somebody can, can spiritually 00:39:47.260 --> 00:39:54.300 be, be caring for them. That's awesome. Exactly. I mean, I think like, uh, I would say the audience 00:39:54.300 --> 00:40:00.360 here that's listening is, you know, pastors and church leaders and, and different individuals. And so 00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:05.320 I would say it's the same way you might, uh, if you're starting a new, a new location or even 00:40:05.320 --> 00:40:11.060 planting a church, what would be your first step to do what it would probably be to try to foster 00:40:11.060 --> 00:40:15.900 community around, you know, the message of what, what you're doing. So how much you do that? Well, 00:40:15.900 --> 00:40:20.620 first you'd have people greeting at the front door to make sure that this is, you know, help people 00:40:20.620 --> 00:40:25.900 see that. So you would do the same online. You would have people greeting and, uh, and stimulating that 00:40:25.900 --> 00:40:32.960 community in like a lobby of sorts and in your chat area. And then you might say, man, take your next 00:40:32.960 --> 00:40:34.980 step to join a group. So. 00:40:36.360 --> 00:40:42.640 Love it. Love it. Let me, one more question before we go. Um, what do you guys study curriculum content 00:40:42.640 --> 00:40:48.820 wise? Like what with online, is it the same thing as a physical groups? What does that look like content 00:40:48.820 --> 00:40:54.760 wise? Yes, it is the same thing as physical locations and all of those groups as well. So we 00:40:54.760 --> 00:41:01.060 have every week, we have questions that are created by our team that, and this is the life church team 00:41:01.060 --> 00:41:08.840 that all of the campuses get and church on life church online gets as well. Um, and these are deeper 00:41:08.840 --> 00:41:15.800 questions, what you might see at, at most churches that do a small group ministry, uh, model where 00:41:15.800 --> 00:41:21.520 they're diving down deeper into the message. So we get that. And then also there's specific content 00:41:21.520 --> 00:41:29.560 that we record out of series. Pastor Craig will record extra kind of bonus content videos. And so 00:41:29.560 --> 00:41:34.600 at physical locations, they'll have those, those life group, um, Pastor Craig has these, 00:41:34.600 --> 00:41:39.720 these things with like help let me lead your life group. And so it's really effective whenever, 00:41:39.720 --> 00:41:44.360 you know, Pastor Craig is on the screen and then you get to have a conversation about that, 00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:49.320 that content of what he just said. And so it's not just deeper, it's deeper, deeper, even so, 00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:54.980 you know, and so, um, so that's, that's been really effective too. And as far as curriculum, 00:41:54.980 --> 00:42:00.860 we hold it really open-ended. We, they're not required to bring up the, what we call our talk 00:42:00.860 --> 00:42:05.920 it over notes. Those are the questions out of that, that, uh, that week sermon. They're not required 00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:12.420 to follow any sort of specific curriculum. Um, we really have a high degree of, of trust of like 00:42:12.420 --> 00:42:17.540 lead your community, help your community, you know, grow. And, uh, and we're excited that you're doing 00:42:17.540 --> 00:42:23.360 it within, within Life.Church and around our services. Awesome. Awesome. It's really exciting. 00:42:24.300 --> 00:42:30.680 It's, it's, it's funny. Like when I've talked to churches about their online and the church 00:42:30.680 --> 00:42:37.140 that are doing a small group, um, some of them tend to create systems that are very complex, 00:42:37.140 --> 00:42:44.400 but yours is very simple, you know, very, uh, reproducible, very, uh, you know, yes, 00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:50.720 there's technology behind it, but you know, it's, it's, it's questions from the sermon. So people 00:42:50.720 --> 00:42:56.300 watch the sermon, the easiest thing for them to do is, is to follow up on that. And, and so 00:42:56.300 --> 00:43:02.480 to use that as the vehicle to grow into reproduce groups, maybe some easier groups to help people 00:43:02.480 --> 00:43:08.000 get started. Like that's, that's an encouraging thing to consider. Don't, don't overcomplicate 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:14.920 it. Um, maybe try to keep it simple to allow people to connect to the community and then let 00:43:14.920 --> 00:43:20.220 God move within the community and grow it as, as he does. So that's that to me, that's a huge 00:43:20.220 --> 00:43:24.560 takeaway right there. Just keep it. I mean, I hate to be like the kiss, keep it simple, stupid 00:43:24.560 --> 00:43:29.340 guy, but wrap it up with a podcast, keep it simple. Right. You know, and then just allow 00:43:29.340 --> 00:43:32.580 God to, to move as he does. So that that's really encouraging. 00:43:33.240 --> 00:43:38.180 Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's, uh, there's resources at your, at your disposal. You know, 00:43:38.180 --> 00:43:45.700 this is doable. This is, this is, uh, this is biblical. This is, uh, and so, um, that's, uh, 00:43:45.820 --> 00:43:52.540 that we're just really excited about what God has allowed us the opportunity to do. And, um, and if, 00:43:52.540 --> 00:43:57.600 if you have any questions at all, I would love the opportunity to just have a, have a conversation 00:43:57.600 --> 00:44:03.060 with you about, about what God might be doing in your, your unique situation and, uh, and, and see 00:44:03.060 --> 00:44:07.280 what God might, might have for you. That's awesome. Hey, uh, so where, where can they find you 00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:13.560 online? Yeah. You can reach out on Instagram. Uh, my, my tag is, uh, or my handle is at Ryan 00:44:13.560 --> 00:44:21.680 M sharp, R Y N M S H A R P. Cool. And so you can go on there and I'm sure he's got some, uh, 00:44:21.680 --> 00:44:27.180 Europe posts still somewhere from, from United Kingdom on there just recently and, and others. 00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:31.260 Um, and you know, and I appreciate it. Like I, I've, I've engaged with you several times 00:44:31.260 --> 00:44:36.380 online and, and, you know, I'll listen to honest. I'll tell you, like he was, was very receptive and 00:44:36.380 --> 00:44:42.180 open quickly, uh, to, to jump back. So that, that was, it's always good to know, like when 00:44:42.180 --> 00:44:48.160 people are like open and receptive, um, and so the heartbeat, yeah, man, the heartbeat of 00:44:48.160 --> 00:44:52.840 our church, the heartbeat of our leadership is we're all about the capital C church. And 00:44:52.840 --> 00:44:58.280 so we really, um, we believe in what God is doing here at life church, but we, we, we also 00:44:58.280 --> 00:45:03.540 believe in what God is doing in the global capital C church. And so for you listening, um, 00:45:03.780 --> 00:45:10.380 we're, um, God, God's called you for a specific purpose. He's, uh, um, and, uh, and you can 00:45:10.380 --> 00:45:15.960 do this. And if you feel a level of discouragement, just, uh, turn to Jesus and refocus on what 00:45:15.960 --> 00:45:21.480 truly is important and lead well. Amen. I was going to ask you if there's any thoughts to 00:45:21.480 --> 00:45:25.180 wrap up, but honestly, that was the most eloquent thing I think we could wrap up on. So we're 00:45:25.180 --> 00:45:29.040 just going to call it done for Ryan. Uh, this is Jeff with the church digital. Thanks for 00:45:29.040 --> 00:45:32.160 joining us and we'll see you next time. Have a good day.