WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.300 You've got to start to rethink, are we actually accomplishing the mission? 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:04.740 And just start with that question. 00:00:05.460 --> 00:00:06.660 Are we accomplishing the mission? 00:00:06.760 --> 00:00:08.700 Then go to the Bible and see what the mission is all about. 00:00:09.380 --> 00:00:11.440 And then see if we've got an answer. 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:15.100 Like, the things that we do on the weekends, the things that we do on the weekdays, 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:16.960 are we accomplishing the mission? 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:19.640 Are we helping people to go out and make disciples? 00:00:20.140 --> 00:00:22.040 Welcome to the Church Digital Podcast. 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:26.880 Through this podcast, we'll talk about the technological innovations within the church. 00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:30.700 But more than tech for tech itself, we'll address deeper questions. 00:00:31.400 --> 00:00:32.920 Is disciple-making possible digitally? 00:00:33.300 --> 00:00:35.400 How should we approach the digital mission field? 00:00:35.660 --> 00:00:38.260 Can a biblically grounded church operate in digital space? 00:00:38.660 --> 00:00:42.580 Oh, and where does the metaverse and artificial intelligence fit into all of this? 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:45.460 Whether you're a big or small church, 00:00:45.800 --> 00:00:50.300 the Church Digital's goal is to help churches like yours learn to be a multiplying church, 00:00:50.680 --> 00:00:52.140 digitally and physically. 00:00:52.660 --> 00:00:54.300 And now here's your host, Jeff Reed. 00:00:54.420 --> 00:00:55.160 Hey, everybody. 00:00:55.300 --> 00:00:56.920 Welcome to the Church Digital Podcast. 00:00:57.120 --> 00:01:00.300 This is episode 302, if you're keeping track at home, 00:01:00.380 --> 00:01:04.300 or the big giant 302 that was on the thumbnail, if you're watching this on YouTube. 00:01:05.020 --> 00:01:08.840 But we are in season eight of... 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:11.420 Let me see if I can get my inflection right, Joey, as I'm kicking off here. 00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:11.900 Wait! 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:13.500 That's a church? 00:01:14.940 --> 00:01:18.680 We are doing... 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:21.920 I'm bringing in Joey Santos, my friend here for this season. 00:01:22.340 --> 00:01:28.020 And we're doing an introspective on unique expressions of church. 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:33.360 And so Joey has some experience with unique expressions of churches, with Church at a Bar. 00:01:33.360 --> 00:01:36.880 And we're going to get into a deep dive in that here in a little bit. 00:01:37.100 --> 00:01:43.580 But through the season and other shows, because I have a feeling this is going to spin off into a standalone show on its own, 00:01:43.700 --> 00:01:50.780 but we're going to be talking and highlighting more of the innovation and unique ideas that's happening there 00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:54.400 and what ecclesiology looks like at a church at a bar. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:02:04.500 What, you know, how community, how discipleship, how connection is happening at churches that meet in bars 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:07.860 and microlocations and a lot of the unique stuff that's out there. 00:02:07.940 --> 00:02:09.600 So, man, I'm super excited about this. 00:02:10.100 --> 00:02:13.280 Joey, thanks for jumping on the show once again. 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:18.180 We started the conversation last week, 301, kind of an overview, like a big picture type thing. 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:27.260 But here with 302, we're going to do a deep dive, I think, more into Church at a Bar. 00:02:27.720 --> 00:02:29.500 So, Hayes, we're kicking off here. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:30.640 Anything you want to open up with? 00:02:32.140 --> 00:02:40.260 Yes, I think we should create a cartoon version of Jeff saying, wait, is that a church? 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:41.180 Do you know what I mean? 00:02:41.260 --> 00:02:44.560 Like, we can probably get somebody to make even an animation out of that. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:48.380 Because I think that would be, that would be the way to launch this thing. 00:02:49.300 --> 00:02:50.380 That would be funny. 00:02:50.600 --> 00:02:57.320 A little 8-bit animated Super Mario of Jeff jumping up and down in front of a, you know, big giant. 00:02:57.320 --> 00:02:57.680 Exactly. 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:02.320 You know, a cathedral that morphs into a bar or something like that. 00:03:05.320 --> 00:03:13.660 I'll share this clip with Barbara, Carnero, Barbara and her team, I am sure, can come up with something like that. 00:03:13.720 --> 00:03:14.440 That's so good. 00:03:16.940 --> 00:03:17.920 And you know what? 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:30.360 You could have, like, somebody, you know, after the church morphs into the bar, you could have, like, another person, like, jumping up and down angry, like, turning red, frustrated that, you know, the church at the bar. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:36.520 And then, you know, you could, you could walk, the ape version of you could walk up and say, hey, you want to come in? 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:37.860 Let's grab a, let's grab a bourbon. 00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:39.960 And, and then they'll, they'll. 00:03:42.140 --> 00:03:50.980 It's so funny because you say that because when we launched the church, the bar, the first time we launched, now remember, before we, we had our first service. 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:55.120 It was right at this time, 4th of July, we launched in the fall. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:02.200 So, 4th of July, we actually had a stand outside the bar because it was a big, big deal at the bar, 4th of July. 00:04:02.480 --> 00:04:05.300 So, we had a stand, like, church, the bar, launching this fall. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:12.640 And I'm telling you, it was so funny to see people come up and, like, is this for real? 00:04:13.300 --> 00:04:15.780 And some people would be, like, what do you think you're doing? 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:16.860 You're in the bar. 00:04:17.400 --> 00:04:28.600 I mean, and, and that was the reaction that we got from church people, you know, the so-called church people, for some of them, it was, like, I cannot believe you guys are doing this. 00:04:28.640 --> 00:04:29.240 This is ridiculous. 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:30.120 This is a joke. 00:04:31.220 --> 00:04:35.600 And then we got people come up to us that we asked, you know, do you go to the church? 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:38.160 No, but, man, I think it's incredible you guys are doing this. 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:42.040 You guys are stepping out of a church building and trying to meet us in these different places. 00:04:42.340 --> 00:04:51.420 So, it was a weird, like, we got less support from churchgoers at the moment, at the time, than we got from not churchgoers. 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:53.040 They were, like, this is so good. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:59.540 And then, without us knowing, the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote an article about it. 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:04.640 They saw what we were doing and wrote an article about the church, the bar. 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:15.820 And the social media, it was just interesting to watch, you know, again, some churchgoers saying that this is, you should never, you should do that to the house of the Lord. 00:05:16.100 --> 00:05:18.080 And you should never call this thing a church. 00:05:18.080 --> 00:05:26.240 And then you got people commenting, saying, man, I've been out of church for a long time, but I may check this out because this seems more interesting to me. 00:05:26.900 --> 00:05:27.180 Right? 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:31.980 And I'm so glad you guys are stepping out to meet people outside the church building. 00:05:32.980 --> 00:05:41.680 And that kind of painted a picture to me a little bit about, you know, where we are and what we understand to be a church. 00:05:42.860 --> 00:05:45.120 What do you kind of see the church is? 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.500 And really kind of shape a little bit what we should be doing. 00:05:49.460 --> 00:05:51.360 That reaction kind of helps us visualize. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:06:00.760 Maybe we've got to shape this a little different than that traditional church because maybe the people there are actually understanding or trying to understand what we're doing. 00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:10.140 They're looking for something that actually connects better and is different because they already tried the other one and they did not connect. 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:10.760 Right? 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:18.380 Again, it's not something we're not trying to bash down the traditional model, but not everybody going to connect with that. 00:06:18.440 --> 00:06:19.880 So let's figure out a way to connect with them. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.900 In the church, the bar, we believe that we're giving people that option to connect in a different way. 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.500 Connect with people and God in a different way. 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:29.820 Yeah, I love it. 00:06:29.820 --> 00:06:30.660 You know, it's funny. 00:06:30.960 --> 00:06:41.820 Before I even met you, Joey, I blogged this statement back in like 2018 that we needed to lower the standard of church and raise the standard of discipleship. 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:51.140 And, you know, making that one statement was I got brailed, you know, 2018 for that idea. 00:06:51.260 --> 00:06:55.820 Pre-COVID, you know, I literally I had pastors calling me out. 00:06:56.460 --> 00:07:02.260 People I knew, hey, like Jeff, you really you're going to you're going to hurt. 00:07:02.520 --> 00:07:04.580 It was people who were trying to protect my image. 00:07:04.780 --> 00:07:06.400 You know, you're hurting your image. 00:07:06.540 --> 00:07:09.820 You are physical churches are not wanting to work with you. 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:11.480 Pastors are going to be offended by this. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:13.320 You need to you need to back off. 00:07:13.460 --> 00:07:17.700 And, you know, a lot of what we're experiencing Sunday morning. 00:07:19.580 --> 00:07:22.400 It's I mean, I don't mean to disrespect the model. 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:23.580 It's so hard. 00:07:23.660 --> 00:07:24.080 I'm learning. 00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:28.920 It's so hard to innovate the model that you're, you know, disrupt the model and so respect it. 00:07:29.420 --> 00:07:34.220 But it's a lot of what we're doing is extra biblical. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:36.000 It's outside of the Bible. 00:07:36.400 --> 00:07:40.940 How much time did Jesus did go to the to the to the temples, to the to the synagogues? 00:07:41.900 --> 00:07:49.560 He also spent a lot of time in the in the in the marketplace, in the town centers and and walking around nature and talking from a boat. 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:52.600 And he was not locked into a building. 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:54.660 He understood how to get outside. 00:07:55.080 --> 00:07:59.680 And he was he was rubbing shoulders with prostitutes and tax collectors. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:02.760 And I mean, crap, he put one of them on his team. 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:05.480 And don't give me start on Mary Magdalene. 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:14.260 So, like, there's so much potential for us once we get outside of the freaking buildings that we've been using as a refuge for all these years. 00:08:15.880 --> 00:08:16.400 Exactly. 00:08:16.400 --> 00:08:16.840 I love it. 00:08:17.180 --> 00:08:22.380 And I think I think that's part of the challenge because we are conditioned to it. 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:22.740 Right. 00:08:22.820 --> 00:08:24.060 We've been conditioned to it. 00:08:24.080 --> 00:08:31.920 Second, I don't think even though Jesus started the church and he assigned the disciples to begin that journey of what we call church. 00:08:32.700 --> 00:08:39.200 I don't think he ever meant for us to to turn into something that where we stay contained in it. 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:39.940 Right. 00:08:40.220 --> 00:08:44.300 But he always meant to go out and he set the example for it. 00:08:44.300 --> 00:08:54.160 So I don't think I think people listening to this podcast or watching this podcast, I wanted them to understand that maybe it is worth having a conversation. 00:08:54.160 --> 00:09:02.880 Because when you talk about church expressions, we're not talking about the fact that you've got to completely dismantle what you have. 00:09:03.780 --> 00:09:09.200 But you've got to start to rethink are we actually accomplishing the mission and just start with that question. 00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:15.920 Are we accomplishing the mission and go to the Bible and see what the mission is all about and ask and then see if we're getting out an answer. 00:09:16.060 --> 00:09:21.440 Like are we the things that we do on the weekends, the things that we do on the weekdays, are we accomplishing the mission? 00:09:21.560 --> 00:09:24.220 Are we helping people to go out and make disciples? 00:09:24.760 --> 00:09:30.060 If you are, then you're on the right track because you're on the track that Jesus established. 00:09:30.920 --> 00:09:42.940 But if you're not, then have the conversation and look what innovation can look like for your church because it's worth having the conversation because that means more souls to the kingdom. 00:09:43.140 --> 00:09:44.760 That's all we're talking about. 00:09:45.260 --> 00:09:48.200 So no reason to get mad, people. 00:09:48.340 --> 00:09:49.600 No reason to get upset. 00:09:50.280 --> 00:09:57.500 It's a really good reason to like let's have the conversation because we see the signs. 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:03.720 There are signs showing that less and less people are getting involved with the way the church is going. 00:10:04.880 --> 00:10:07.360 And we can fight culture all day long. 00:10:08.040 --> 00:10:13.740 If that's our strategy, I can tell you I'm not a prophet or anything like that. 00:10:13.780 --> 00:10:21.180 I'm just saying it's going to lose it because we lose that battle the way it stands right now with culture. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.820 So I think there's an opportunity, right? 00:10:23.820 --> 00:10:30.640 When we started the church to borrow, we knew like I can tell the number one mistake we made. 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:38.680 Number one was to try to replicate in the church to borrow what we do in a traditional building. 00:10:39.980 --> 00:10:46.960 And that was the number one mistake we made because we tried to really like everybody comes, sit down, listen. 00:10:48.260 --> 00:10:55.060 And we did three worship songs on video and everybody's just sitting there. 00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:58.480 Nobody's engaging. 00:10:59.860 --> 00:11:06.360 And soon enough, we see like every Sunday we had new people coming in, but they'll never come back. 00:11:07.420 --> 00:11:08.380 They'll never come back. 00:11:09.820 --> 00:11:14.020 So one of the best things that actually happened for the church to borrow was COVID. 00:11:14.980 --> 00:11:18.560 Because COVID caused us to stop for three or four months. 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:24.080 And when we came back, that's when we're like, we've got to change how we're doing this. 00:11:24.900 --> 00:11:37.960 Because people are not staying because they figure, if I'm going to sit in the bar, if I'm going to leave my house to go to a bar to watch you guys play three songs on video, I can do this from home, eating pancakes. 00:11:38.800 --> 00:11:42.200 I don't need to be at the bar to do that where you don't even have pancakes. 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:47.000 So we're like, then we've got to change this thing, right? 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:50.080 We've got to figure out a way to connect with people. 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:51.740 And that's when we switch the format. 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:57.420 And when we switch the format by doing, we cut the music completely. 00:11:58.880 --> 00:12:07.360 The second thing we did, we changed the message to a format more like a group study, right? 00:12:07.380 --> 00:12:11.080 So we make a biblical point and then switch to questions. 00:12:12.760 --> 00:12:14.400 So we make a point for five minutes. 00:12:14.400 --> 00:12:17.640 So the instruction I gave the pastors was like, preach for five minutes, ask a question. 00:12:18.040 --> 00:12:20.600 The question has to be real life related. 00:12:20.740 --> 00:12:31.120 So you teach the Bible and then you ask a question that people can relate, meaning you don't have to be a church goer for 20 years to debate this question, right? 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:37.840 So sometimes we ask questions in Bible studies that is like, what do you think Jesus was heading into you? 00:12:38.060 --> 00:12:38.740 No, no, no, no. 00:12:39.520 --> 00:12:49.300 We want to like, when you battle in this situation with this in your life, what do you think this scripture is trying to tell you about how you handle this in your life, right? 00:12:49.300 --> 00:12:54.540 So we're trying to connect the Bible to real life situation and that's the rule for the questions. 00:12:55.540 --> 00:13:04.700 And that, that, those changes alone caused us to, for people to come and now like, I'm participating in this conversation. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:06.920 I can actually talk. 00:13:06.920 --> 00:13:11.640 I can actually, I'm getting something more than just watching. 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:18.660 The interesting thing, like when you have a room with 60 people in it, it becomes a very interesting dynamic, right? 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:20.760 And we try different things. 00:13:20.800 --> 00:13:28.000 So we try like, okay, if we have 60, 70 people in the room, let's everybody on your own tables have a discussion. 00:13:28.280 --> 00:13:29.760 And that lost the energy. 00:13:29.860 --> 00:13:43.360 It was so interesting to see it because it lost the energy because we gave people five minutes to discuss these questions, but they would not engage like if it was a big, a one gigantic group in the room. 00:13:43.940 --> 00:13:44.420 Yeah. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:51.180 So again, we started learning more and more by how people responded. 00:13:51.180 --> 00:14:01.180 And we, we continue to adjust because the goal was to make disciples, meaning connect with people in a way that really produce fruits. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:04.500 So we never attach ourselves to the model. 00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:07.020 We never attach ourselves to the model. 00:14:07.260 --> 00:14:09.080 We always attach ourselves to the mission. 00:14:10.040 --> 00:14:13.680 And, and, and that causes us to always be open to it. 00:14:13.680 --> 00:14:19.960 So we, it, we, we never close to anything, any ideas, but we always like, are we accomplishing the mission? 00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:22.540 And if we are, we stick to it. 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:25.320 If we're not, we remove it and try something else. 00:14:26.260 --> 00:14:27.060 I love it. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:34.900 And it's, it's interesting that, that structure of, of your teaching communication, the Bible study with, uh, you know, it's, it's actually, it's called master teacher. 00:14:34.900 --> 00:14:42.760 Master teacher, or at least I was doing that format, you know, back in student ministry days, 25 years ago, early, early 2000s. 00:14:42.760 --> 00:14:52.760 You know, you get five minutes of, of monologue of, of teaching, and then you ask a question and everybody's in tables and they're supposed to, you know, talk amongst themselves and come up with an answer. 00:14:52.760 --> 00:14:56.100 And then there's a dialogue and then you, you teach for another five minutes and ask. 00:14:56.180 --> 00:14:59.380 And so it's like the master teacher teaching to, to the tables. 00:14:59.380 --> 00:15:17.240 And, um, and it was, it was very hard to do, um, at, you know, 20, 25 years ago to students because students in a Sunday school environment, Sunday morning, 9am, you know, really weren't that interested in talking or dialoguing. 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:32.020 Um, and, and, but I would imagine, you know, in a more relaxed environment, like a bar, uh, you're able to get people to, to engage in dialogue and, and, and be more open through those conversation points. 00:15:32.020 --> 00:15:36.700 Do you find that the environment of, of the bar actually helps you, uh, with some of these conversations? 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:38.540 Yeah, it is. 00:15:38.660 --> 00:15:44.560 What I see is like, when I look at the bars, like what, why do people actually come to a bar? 00:15:44.660 --> 00:15:44.900 Right. 00:15:45.520 --> 00:15:50.520 And just by watching people's behavior, they're sitting around the table talking. 00:15:52.020 --> 00:15:57.640 So I was like, if I'm going to do a church, the bar, I want, I want people to, so I want people to do the same thing. 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:03.360 I want them to come sit down and talk and, and, and fellowship, but we're, we're doing something extra here. 00:16:03.760 --> 00:16:06.600 We're learning the Bible while we do the same thing. 00:16:07.220 --> 00:16:07.580 Right. 00:16:07.760 --> 00:16:13.060 And so we don't change the setup of the bar, the same setup in tables, the chairs is the exact same. 00:16:13.140 --> 00:16:14.540 We don't, we don't modify anything. 00:16:14.540 --> 00:16:15.920 We don't move chairs around. 00:16:15.920 --> 00:16:17.080 We don't move tables. 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:38.060 Um, we keep the same way, but I think you're right because the proof of that is that, um, every, every Sunday, Jeff, every Sunday that a new, a new, like there's a new person, a first time guest that come in. 00:16:38.400 --> 00:16:44.040 By question two or three, by question two or three, they're talking and it never fails. 00:16:44.560 --> 00:16:56.760 And that, that, that told me like, I, there's people that probably watching this podcast, you've been in your small group for three years and there's people's voice that you've never heard before in that, in that, in that small group. 00:16:56.760 --> 00:17:01.380 Because if the small group, I've been part of a small groups, church, small groups before. 00:17:01.920 --> 00:17:05.320 And I, we don't feel that kind of freedom sometimes. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:11.200 Some, some groups they do because of the, they're so close together, which that's the key. 00:17:11.540 --> 00:17:22.900 They end up, I'll open up more, but I think what the environment of the bar allows people to, they don't feel constrained to the, to the building structure. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:29.360 They don't feel constrained by the environment that feels like we walk in a church and we want to make it feel sacred. 00:17:29.620 --> 00:17:29.900 Right. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:31.460 I think that's the idea. 00:17:31.460 --> 00:17:40.100 I mean, we, for centuries, the Catholic church instilled that idea that once you step into the building, it's a holy ground, it's a sacred ground. 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:42.240 You don't say, you don't talk, you don't do anything. 00:17:42.940 --> 00:17:47.340 And the Christian church, even the modern Christian church, we brought that in a little bit. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:18:02.760 So when we start the service, sometimes we dim the lights and we, we play this, like some services, like the soft music, and we want people to be like in this quiet mode when they walk into the church, into the worship center prior to worship. 00:18:02.760 --> 00:18:07.160 So we, we, we create this environment and expect people to connect with each other. 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:07.780 Right. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:09.200 So it's hard to do that. 00:18:09.220 --> 00:18:11.320 But at the bar, people come their shorts. 00:18:11.520 --> 00:18:18.760 Last Sunday, we got four people coming for the first time and right by the bar, there's this bike trail. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:25.880 There's, if you, if you've been to Ohio before, uh, one of the greatest benefits of Ohio is the bike trail. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:27.800 It cuts through the entire state. 00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:34.940 Like I can go from Cincinnati to Cleveland, just riding my bike through the bike trail to the scenery. 00:18:34.940 --> 00:18:36.720 It's, it's, it's an incredible thing. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:43.260 So we got four people stopped by Sunday because they saw the sign for the first time wearing bike gear. 00:18:43.260 --> 00:18:55.020 Like they park their bikes and their bicycles in this, they walk in and they, and they enjoy the service and they, they're talking and they're participating and they like, we just want to see what this thing looks like. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:57.720 And, and that's what I'm saying. 00:18:57.720 --> 00:18:59.860 Like it's the environment counts. 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:00.640 Right. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:11.080 So, so here's a tip, like in your church, like if you're, sometimes you expect the lobby to be the place to where people talk, but when they walk in a worship center, it's not a place to talk anymore. 00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:18.940 And my question I ask is why, why is, why so, why we make that so sacred? 00:19:18.940 --> 00:19:32.800 Why we feel so guilty to actually fellowship right before we do an opening prayer while we sing the first song because we are there to worship God and fellowship is part of the act of worship. 00:19:32.800 --> 00:19:42.120 Like I'm, I'm in communion with my brothers and sisters and I want to take the, the biggest amount of time that I can connecting with people. 00:19:42.120 --> 00:19:42.440 Right. 00:19:43.100 --> 00:19:47.780 Uh, anyways, I think, I think the environment really definitely counts. 00:19:48.260 --> 00:19:54.000 And I think there's something to be said about that and, and it can happen in any, any environment. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:20:02.680 You guys are going to have an experience here soon hearing from Joe, Joe friends from the brew pastors and they do meetings like this in breweries. 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:06.600 And man, he gets the very identical results. 00:20:06.860 --> 00:20:17.020 These people come in and they sit down in the brewery and all of a sudden, you know, it doesn't feel like it's no longer, I have to behave a certain way because I'm in the sacred place. 00:20:17.600 --> 00:20:18.080 Yeah. 00:20:18.180 --> 00:20:24.960 You know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I have to, I can just sit down and talk and I can talk where two or three are gathering my name. 00:20:25.220 --> 00:20:25.760 There I am. 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:29.460 That's what Jesus said, but he didn't define a location for that meeting. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:30.600 Right. 00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:34.600 So he just said, just get there together, but he didn't define a location. 00:20:34.600 --> 00:20:41.080 So man, I can do this two or three people in a, in this here, right? 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:41.700 This court. 00:20:42.080 --> 00:20:50.100 And Jesus is right here because he said, we just got to gather in his name, but we don't have to get in a specific location, a specific format. 00:20:50.100 --> 00:21:07.760 So I think, I think the environment, I think if we can start thinking, can we change the environment to facilitate people, facilitate that people can actually engage with God and each other, whatever we are and what that, what that should look like. 00:21:09.700 --> 00:21:11.360 Well, man, now you're talking crazy. 00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:14.140 Two or three people gathered in discord and God's here. 00:21:14.300 --> 00:21:19.020 I'm pretty sure God does not recognize discord as, as a community. 00:21:19.140 --> 00:21:23.540 I don't, I don't, I literally don't understand the words coming out of your mouth. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:24.740 No, it's, it's funny. 00:21:25.100 --> 00:21:28.260 By the way, we are, we are doing this live in discord right now. 00:21:28.260 --> 00:21:34.100 And so, uh, discord.thechurch.digital, um, we're, we're doing the show regularly Wednesdays at two o'clock. 00:21:34.100 --> 00:21:41.040 And so if you're out there wanting to jump on the stream, we got white beard, Ian, pastor, Dom, Matt, Penny, and flat cap hanging out with us today right now. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:44.400 And so guys here in the room, um, thanks for coming in. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:46.180 If you've got any questions, feel free to throw them in chat. 00:21:46.260 --> 00:21:47.060 We'll, we'll ask away. 00:21:47.620 --> 00:21:53.140 Um, I, I want to get into, let's, let's, let's poke the bears a little bit, a little bit. 00:21:53.300 --> 00:21:53.660 All right. 00:21:54.260 --> 00:21:57.180 Um, so I was, I, you know, I go to a small church. 00:21:57.180 --> 00:22:01.040 If you're watching on YouTube, I'm actually wearing, uh, my, my church's t-shirt right now. 00:22:01.080 --> 00:22:02.060 Reality church, Miami. 00:22:02.060 --> 00:22:10.300 It's a church plant in, in Miami, Florida, like two years, maybe two and a half years old, maybe 250 people on a weekend. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:17.000 Um, this past weekend worship was musical worship was really powerful. 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:28.320 Like I, I, I would, I would say that I, it was the, um, emotionally, it was one of the best worship sets I had heard from my church in a long time. 00:22:28.320 --> 00:22:33.240 I actually texted the worship leader and lead pastor, like right during the worship service, actually. 00:22:33.360 --> 00:22:36.400 Hey guys, this is an incredible service that y'all put together. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:42.760 Um, and it felt to me like, you know, I was like, man, I felt God in the room. 00:22:42.820 --> 00:22:43.780 I felt the presence of God. 00:22:44.280 --> 00:22:54.660 Now, whether that was the subwoofer mixed perfectly or whether that was a well-crafted, you know, song selection that tied with the message or, or whether God came in, I don't know. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:57.620 But, you know, I felt like I felt like I was having one of those God moments. 00:22:57.620 --> 00:23:04.600 And as people that do church, we do, I, and we understand what those God moments actually are. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:13.080 And so my, my, my question for you, Joey is what does a God moment look like at the church at a bar? 00:23:13.280 --> 00:23:18.100 You know, you're very relational and, and that's a huge win on, on engaging with people. 00:23:18.100 --> 00:23:23.300 But I can, can you tell me moments that it's like, oh my gosh, God is here. 00:23:23.560 --> 00:23:27.760 What, what does that look like or feel like in, in a, in a bar environment? 00:23:29.620 --> 00:23:32.840 Yeah, I, you know, I, I, it's kind of funny. 00:23:32.900 --> 00:23:37.360 I work in a, in a traditional church for a very long time, over 20 years. 00:23:38.100 --> 00:23:48.140 And I remember having these conversations like, you know, we, we knew there's moments like, okay, this is really going to, this is going to do something or, you know, we're, we're crafts. 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.580 And again, if you're working programming in church, you know what I'm talking about. 00:23:52.900 --> 00:23:58.000 We try to craft the service every week and thinking, you know, how we create that moment. 00:23:58.740 --> 00:24:12.920 And learn, you know, it took a little while to learn that we, so much we can do, like, let's do things with, with excellence because God deserves our best and deserves everything we can give to him. 00:24:13.560 --> 00:24:20.580 But I cannot really control the moment because the moment's going to look different to everybody. 00:24:20.580 --> 00:24:30.940 Like, I believe, Jeff, you had a God moment, but that doesn't mean everybody in the room have the same God moment that you had because it's so personal and it's so intimate. 00:24:31.800 --> 00:24:42.380 And once I learned, once I really learned that, I was like, okay, now that I'm in front of people every Sunday or most Sundays speaking, I had to let that go. 00:24:42.580 --> 00:24:56.920 Like, I'm, I'm, I'm, when I, when I write the sermon or I write the message or I write the questions, I, I don't look at, man, this, this is going to drive home and this is going to bring people up and this is going to, no, I don't. 00:24:57.760 --> 00:25:09.780 And what I learned about that is that most God moments that happen in the church, the bar, most, I mean, I'm telling you like 90, 90%, and I'm not kidding about that. 00:25:10.280 --> 00:25:14.700 It was happening exactly not when I was talking, but when somebody else was talking. 00:25:16.600 --> 00:25:30.320 Because when somebody said something so insightful or something so deep about their own lives or their own walk and moved somebody else and, and, and that happens. 00:25:30.460 --> 00:25:37.860 So you see that God moments happen when people like, oh my word, this, they, I mean, it gets them and put them in tears. 00:25:37.860 --> 00:25:52.280 And, and I realized, man, I, I just got to watch that because somebody else decided to participate on what God's doing or somebody decided to respond to what the spirit's telling them to do and had nothing to do with me. 00:25:52.940 --> 00:25:56.220 And that's, that was like another wake up call to me. 00:25:56.300 --> 00:26:03.100 It was like, man, how many, how many times I waste my time trying to figure it out, like, how I'm going to craft this thing. 00:26:03.100 --> 00:26:14.340 So this is going to move people this way or going to move them that way and realizing, man, I, I was just trying to get people's emotions to respond, but not spiritually. 00:26:16.140 --> 00:26:26.360 And, and you, you know, that because all we can do, all we can do as humans, we can move people emotionally, but we cannot move people spiritually. 00:26:27.820 --> 00:26:37.920 And I think that's the part as pastors, as leaders that once we get, once we encounter that reality, man, that's actually freeing. 00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:42.600 There's a lot of freedom in that because then you can just do what God's telling you to do. 00:26:43.500 --> 00:26:48.300 And, and all you, all you do is just watch what God's going to do in the room. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:57.600 So I think like, I think I always tell the worship team once, once I was leading, I never led worship because I was never giving the gift of a voice. 00:26:58.100 --> 00:26:59.020 Which is great. 00:26:59.220 --> 00:27:03.380 And I think when God says, you know, when you see in the Bible, make a joyful noise. 00:27:03.380 --> 00:27:12.240 I don't think he was thinking of me, but I led the worship teams and I led programming teams before. 00:27:12.420 --> 00:27:18.380 And I always told people, I said, when you're on the stage, people get help by seeing you getting help. 00:27:19.780 --> 00:27:28.000 So when you, when you lead the worship from the stage, don't worry about what people are thinking of you or just, just really worship. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:36.240 Because if you simply worship from the stage and actually you start getting help from God by the way you worship on the stage, people watch you. 00:27:36.300 --> 00:27:37.360 They're going to get help from that. 00:27:38.460 --> 00:27:42.580 And I think the same way for pastors is the exact same thing. 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:48.720 When they preach the same thing wave, even if you're just ministry, if you teach, that's the same way. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:56.040 Like if you, if you, if you, if people can see you get help by the things that you're teaching, why you're teaching, you're, you can help them through that. 00:27:56.140 --> 00:27:57.220 They get help through it. 00:27:57.580 --> 00:28:09.140 But the God moments happen in the bar setting, exactly in moments when somebody that's being moved by God and want to share something and something impact them. 00:28:09.580 --> 00:28:12.660 And man, it just gets us, gets around the room and people like, wow. 00:28:13.360 --> 00:28:18.100 Because they see, they expect to hear, to hear God's wisdom from me. 00:28:19.020 --> 00:28:22.580 But the church setting, we don't expect to hear that from the people sitting around you. 00:28:24.040 --> 00:28:30.020 So there's a difference when people sitting around you stand up and say, here's what God's showing me. 00:28:30.060 --> 00:28:34.860 And boom, makes a total difference to how people receive and hear. 00:28:35.380 --> 00:28:41.460 And that's why when Paul described what church service should look like, I think we should listen. 00:28:42.260 --> 00:28:52.360 That it's not just one person, one person act, but it's the whole congregation participating in that environment, in that moment. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:56.180 And that's kind of like, we look forward to at the church at a bar. 00:28:57.020 --> 00:28:57.460 Yeah. 00:28:57.760 --> 00:28:59.560 What do you do with kids? 00:29:00.460 --> 00:29:07.060 Like, do, do, I mean, children's ministry, do, do, do people at church at a bar bring their children? 00:29:07.320 --> 00:29:11.180 Like what, how, what is that interaction look like at church at a bar? 00:29:11.980 --> 00:29:14.520 Man, that, that was another fail. 00:29:15.140 --> 00:29:16.280 Another big fail. 00:29:16.620 --> 00:29:17.660 We tried that. 00:29:17.800 --> 00:29:27.480 We tried, try to do kids ministry, do, again, when we started, we started trying to replicate the traditional church model into the church at a bar. 00:29:27.980 --> 00:29:33.180 So what we did, we, we went ahead and like, oh, let's, let's get volunteers to help with the kids. 00:29:33.180 --> 00:29:35.220 And we have some crafts here. 00:29:35.360 --> 00:29:39.420 We, we had a rubber mat and put on the other side of the bar and all that. 00:29:39.520 --> 00:29:40.420 And it didn't work. 00:29:40.520 --> 00:29:42.180 It simply did not work. 00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:46.520 Like it was, it was forcing something that was not made for that environment. 00:29:46.520 --> 00:29:47.640 And we learned that. 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:51.440 So when kids come, they, they are part of the conversation. 00:29:51.580 --> 00:29:52.480 I mean, they're sitting there. 00:29:52.540 --> 00:29:53.520 They're part of the conversation. 00:29:53.740 --> 00:29:55.560 They, they listen. 00:29:56.740 --> 00:30:02.320 And, and then some parents do, I know they're not coming back because parents says, do you have kids programming? 00:30:02.420 --> 00:30:05.500 Like we, no, we don't, we don't have kids programming. 00:30:05.780 --> 00:30:13.020 Um, and if you need help finding a church with good kids program or we can recommend some, um, but no, we don't. 00:30:13.020 --> 00:30:19.280 And, and that's a limitation that we have, but also we feel like we don't want to force something that we don't have. 00:30:19.520 --> 00:30:23.160 And we don't have to pretend to have something we cannot have. 00:30:23.580 --> 00:30:33.980 So, but man, the beginning we failed a lot and some families, they loved, like the parents, they loved the church, the bar, but they're like, I want to find a place where my kids can grow. 00:30:34.060 --> 00:30:35.560 And I'm like, I understand that. 00:30:35.560 --> 00:30:38.180 And I think you should find a place that we can help you with that. 00:30:39.020 --> 00:30:51.900 Um, but, and it's interesting because we have, uh, one of the things that we do every Sunday, we do prayer requests and we have an email prayer request that goes out on Mondays. 00:30:52.900 --> 00:31:00.780 Um, and, and it's a very interesting thing because we, we only send prayer requests and they may, we say, we don't say anything else. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:10.280 And a lot of these people that came to the church, the bar, but had to leave because, you know, they need to find the kids programming for the kids or anything like that. 00:31:10.360 --> 00:31:15.660 What we did was we just, they like, can you not remove me from the email list? 00:31:15.700 --> 00:31:17.020 So I still want to get the prayer requests. 00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:26.120 So our prayer request is pretty long because these people were like, they would still want to be connected and they still want to get their emails with prayer requests. 00:31:26.120 --> 00:31:32.400 And they, they responded, they're like, Oh, I'm praying for you or praying for this situation, or they submit themselves a prayer request. 00:31:32.980 --> 00:31:36.900 Even though they don't come to church, the bar, they submit prayer requests. 00:31:37.020 --> 00:31:44.860 Another thing is when they go through something in their lives, some challenges, they reach out to us saying, Hey, I'm going through this. 00:31:45.360 --> 00:31:46.360 Can you guys pray for me? 00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:49.940 Or Joey, can you come and visit me at my house? 00:31:49.960 --> 00:31:51.260 Cause we're going through the situation. 00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:53.940 They have not been captured here for over a year. 00:31:54.740 --> 00:31:57.840 And when something happened, we were their first call. 00:31:59.540 --> 00:32:01.440 So for us, it's like, absolutely. 00:32:01.580 --> 00:32:02.640 We'll come and check on you. 00:32:02.740 --> 00:32:03.960 We'll come pray for you. 00:32:04.040 --> 00:32:07.840 We'll come because it's not about being in our building or not. 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:09.260 You're not part of this community. 00:32:09.800 --> 00:32:11.900 And if you need us, we'll be there for you. 00:32:12.800 --> 00:32:25.680 Yeah, it's, it's a beautiful way to, to reimagine community, you know, not who's sitting in the pew Sunday morning, 9am, but, but who you are influencing, um, spiritually and who are falling on you. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:33.700 And now you're through that, that opportunity, you are building relationships and, and, and trying to, to draw them deeper into an understanding of Jesus. 00:32:33.700 --> 00:32:37.760 But it's, um, it takes more time, uh, to do that. 00:32:37.760 --> 00:32:40.900 And it's, and it's definitely, you know, I need to figure out a better phrase here, Joey. 00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:46.640 So I apologize for you for saying this, but it's, you know, the, the, the, it's a boiled and raw slowly approach. 00:32:46.820 --> 00:32:57.440 You know, you're building relationships over time, being very relational, engaging in a, in a, a different environment that that's more friendly and more open to conversations. 00:32:57.860 --> 00:33:00.040 Um, I'm, I'm, I'm curious with this. 00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:00.360 Yeah. 00:33:00.840 --> 00:33:08.740 I don't know, Joey, I know you've been a standalone church for a couple of years, I guess at this point, maybe 18 months. 00:33:09.120 --> 00:33:13.180 You were doing this as part of the other church for a couple of years. 00:33:13.180 --> 00:33:14.980 So you've got some, some time on you. 00:33:16.140 --> 00:33:22.820 Is, is somebody going to be a member of the church at the bar members, even a word, word, word for like 10 years? 00:33:23.220 --> 00:33:31.760 Like is, is the, is the goal for longevity of the bar is the goal to hand them off to somebody else, to another church at some point? 00:33:31.760 --> 00:33:36.420 Like what's long-term look like for the average attender at church at a bar? 00:33:36.820 --> 00:33:40.680 Uh, yeah, that's a good question though, but I, I don't know. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:46.020 We, we talk, uh, constantly. 00:33:46.420 --> 00:33:47.900 We talk about, yeah. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:54.820 So I think that what, what I see is like, we have people attending for years now, two, three years. 00:33:55.560 --> 00:34:03.960 Um, and we have people that they came a year ago, they still with us, but we constantly talk about multiplication. 00:34:05.640 --> 00:34:16.460 So what I'm hoping to see is people, um, people moving forward as we multiply. 00:34:17.640 --> 00:34:20.280 So, and that's a big challenge, right? 00:34:20.460 --> 00:34:30.920 But, but I think that we, they still connect, they may still connect it to the church, the bar, but they may, they may not still connect it to this particular church, the bar. 00:34:31.240 --> 00:34:35.240 They may be someplace else because we're expanding, we're multiplying. 00:34:35.620 --> 00:34:39.960 And that's my hope is that we see that kind of a expansion. 00:34:40.620 --> 00:34:47.620 Uh, so people stay around, but they staying in different places because they're leading, they're participating, they're helping to expand. 00:34:47.640 --> 00:34:48.640 Got you. 00:34:48.780 --> 00:34:55.080 So, man, you are, you are wanting to create a long-term model, um, of, of involvement for, for the churches. 00:34:55.080 --> 00:34:58.440 You're not a gateway to help people get connected back to a physical building. 00:34:58.440 --> 00:35:05.260 You're looking to, to create a long-term church discipleship experience through the, through the bar. 00:35:05.400 --> 00:35:06.140 I love that. 00:35:06.260 --> 00:35:06.420 Oh yeah. 00:35:06.540 --> 00:35:16.740 Cause that, cause I, I can tell you right now that we have, um, you know, when we, when we split, if you, if you would just say the way it is, 00:35:16.740 --> 00:35:22.500 we were connected to a, uh, uh, established church until February last year. 00:35:23.380 --> 00:35:38.000 But when we split, when we decided like we're going to be independent, we gave everybody in the room a chance to like, if you, you know, if you, if you don't want to do this, because now we are moving from being connected to the big church to we're all thing here. 00:35:38.680 --> 00:35:41.940 Um, and I, I told them, I gave all of them the option. 00:35:41.940 --> 00:35:49.720 I said, man, I, if, if, if, if this room gets, get backs down to just three people, three of us, four of us, I'm okay with that. 00:35:49.720 --> 00:35:56.580 And I understand if you feel like you still want to be connected to, um, to a larger church environment. 00:35:56.580 --> 00:35:58.860 And now one person left. 00:36:00.240 --> 00:36:13.220 So I think the group that we have today, that is, you know, the, the, the 30 and 40, 50 people there and there constantly, they are committed to the model that we have. 00:36:13.220 --> 00:36:19.420 They style, they, they are very vocal about feeling like I, I'm finally feel part of a community. 00:36:19.420 --> 00:36:29.800 And that's why I like this, but what we're trying to do is make sure they don't feel so comfortable because discipleship means we got to go out. 00:36:30.260 --> 00:36:39.560 So for example, the, you know, the bar we're meeting today, we're, we're building a second location for the bar four miles down the road. 00:36:40.740 --> 00:36:46.420 And the owners of the bar already told us that they want to have a church, the bar there. 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:51.460 So that's going to be by next year, be our second location, most likely. 00:36:52.540 --> 00:36:54.560 Um, so I think that's, that's going to be a big part of it. 00:36:54.560 --> 00:36:55.280 Awesome. I didn't know that. 00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:56.040 That's exciting. 00:36:56.860 --> 00:36:59.440 Second, second location for church at the bar. 00:36:59.620 --> 00:37:02.680 That'll be, I mean, there's a whole bunch of questions. 00:37:02.820 --> 00:37:04.220 Maybe, maybe we'll get into that next week. 00:37:04.940 --> 00:37:07.220 Franchise, Ian is saying it in chat. 00:37:07.940 --> 00:37:09.320 Dominic's asking the question. 00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:12.320 Um, uh, I have to ask the big question. 00:37:12.460 --> 00:37:16.460 What, what is the alcohol policy for church at the bar? 00:37:17.260 --> 00:37:20.040 Um, I, I'm guessing the answer is yes, please. 00:37:20.200 --> 00:37:22.860 But, um, uh, you know, what, what's okay. 00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:23.720 What's not okay. 00:37:23.820 --> 00:37:25.040 Is there, is there a line? 00:37:25.140 --> 00:37:26.600 What, how are you managing that? 00:37:26.980 --> 00:37:31.980 Um, I know we, we don't on Sundays, the bar is not open when we meet. 00:37:33.300 --> 00:37:46.640 Um, so we, you know, we naturally don't have alcohol because we don't, we meet on the Wednesday nights and on Wednesday nights, the bars open and we tell people you, you, you, you, it's, it's a bar. 00:37:46.720 --> 00:37:47.460 It's help yourself. 00:37:47.460 --> 00:37:55.860 You know, so you're going to see a glass of beer, bourbon and wine on Wednesday night Bible study, uh, because we're in a bar and people drink. 00:37:56.620 --> 00:38:07.900 Um, but outside of that, it, it, on Sunday, you know, I, I make a joke to people because we're meeting in a bar and people like to, you know, oh, in a bar say, yeah, my community is better than yours. 00:38:08.300 --> 00:38:28.400 Uh, but, you know, we, I think people just got to understand that at the moment that, that if we're meeting a bar where people meet to, to have a drink and to, to talk, um, at the moment I start putting limitations on what they can do, that's when I start to look like something else. 00:38:29.000 --> 00:38:33.700 So, um, we, we, obviously we don't encourage alcoholism. 00:38:33.860 --> 00:38:37.620 We don't, we actually fight that and we, we control that. 00:38:37.740 --> 00:38:40.160 Remember I work at the bar, right? 00:38:40.200 --> 00:38:41.300 I'm operations manager. 00:38:42.060 --> 00:38:53.220 So regularly, uh, we're so serious about that because red, like on the weekends, it's very common for me to come out to your customer and say, Hey, we're going to cut you off. 00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:54.640 You're crossing the line. 00:38:54.720 --> 00:38:55.860 You're drinking too much. 00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:00.800 We don't support people abusing the alcohol in the establishment that we sell alcohol. 00:39:01.700 --> 00:39:11.260 So we, we have the very clear that as a principle, uh, and we will try to offer any help we can to people who need help. 00:39:11.980 --> 00:39:18.920 Um, but no, we don't, we, we don't, people want to enjoy a bourbon, a beer and, and have a conversation. 00:39:18.920 --> 00:39:20.200 That's, we're going to have that. 00:39:20.260 --> 00:39:21.220 We're going to, we're going to sit down. 00:39:21.300 --> 00:39:24.680 I remember I'm the pastor of the church, the bar. 00:39:24.680 --> 00:39:27.280 We have signage church, the bar, all over the building. 00:39:28.240 --> 00:39:31.040 People know who I am, what I do. 00:39:31.860 --> 00:39:39.280 And I lead, um, I, I run the bourbon club that to the bar, which we have over a thousand members. 00:39:40.420 --> 00:39:45.980 Uh, so I, you know, I just led with the bourbon tastings every month. 00:39:45.980 --> 00:39:48.780 I host this bourbon tastings, right? 00:39:48.780 --> 00:39:51.840 And I, I talk about it in every bourbon tasting. 00:39:52.420 --> 00:39:57.780 There's a conversation because I want to mention, I said, I'm a pastor and I do the church, the bar. 00:39:57.780 --> 00:39:59.820 And then that's the invitation. 00:39:59.820 --> 00:40:01.640 And people, they take the bait. 00:40:02.020 --> 00:40:03.340 They're like, hold on a second. 00:40:03.340 --> 00:40:06.180 You're running church, the bar, and you're here doing bourbon tasting. 00:40:06.320 --> 00:40:07.600 Tell me about the church, the bar thing. 00:40:08.560 --> 00:40:11.420 Uh, tell me about what you guys are doing, how this works. 00:40:12.040 --> 00:40:18.160 Um, and people start to see me as a relatable pastor, as somebody that can actually approach and talk. 00:40:19.040 --> 00:40:33.360 Um, and as a result of that, it's, it's not uncommon for people to walk up on a busy Friday night and say, Hey, I just learned that my, my husband got cancer or this happened to my family this week. 00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:34.860 And can you guys pray for us? 00:40:35.680 --> 00:40:37.880 And, and I'm telling you, that started with the staff. 00:40:37.880 --> 00:40:49.540 We have such an influence on our staff because they know, you know, what we do and what we believe, even the owners, they know the owners are, you know, very dedicated Christians. 00:40:50.240 --> 00:40:59.780 Um, so they, they go with, to us, they come to us with a question or a request and they say, can you guys pray for me? 00:40:59.780 --> 00:41:18.800 Can you guys, and man, it, the, one of the most fun events that happened is when we're meeting on a Wednesday night and a staff member, out of nowhere, uh, she was diagnosed with cancer and she went through a treatment and she got, you know, cured from breast cancer. 00:41:19.500 --> 00:41:25.740 And I don't know where she just walked by through our group meeting on a Wednesday night and said, Hey, I don't mean to interrupt. 00:41:25.740 --> 00:41:31.480 I just want to thank you guys for praying for me because I knew you were praying for me and I don't attend your church, but I just want to thank for praying for me. 00:41:31.580 --> 00:41:32.160 I'm doing a lot. 00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:37.740 And I mean, everybody, the church, the bar guy was so excited that that happened. 00:41:37.900 --> 00:41:41.160 So it's, it's all over Jeff. 00:41:41.240 --> 00:41:49.260 Is it like, you gotta be present and you, you have an opportunity when you do this to be present in people's lives and make an impact in this life. 00:41:49.260 --> 00:41:53.100 So it's not just, you know, impressing people with this new idea. 00:41:53.700 --> 00:41:56.460 Is customers now know about it. 00:41:56.580 --> 00:42:04.320 Staff knows about it and people talk about it and, and they feel that in some level now they can be part of it. 00:42:05.020 --> 00:42:07.880 Uh, that it's, it's something that's a lot deeper. 00:42:07.880 --> 00:42:13.360 I think, uh, as we get into it, that it can, it can have a huge impact in the local community. 00:42:13.700 --> 00:42:14.980 And I appreciate that. 00:42:15.180 --> 00:42:15.500 Totally. 00:42:15.640 --> 00:42:16.260 Thanks, Joey. 00:42:16.520 --> 00:42:17.140 Uh, sorry. 00:42:17.300 --> 00:42:19.100 Internet's breaking up here on discord. 00:42:19.100 --> 00:42:21.800 And so it was, was, was pretty broken with that. 00:42:21.880 --> 00:42:27.080 That being said, uh, the recording is going to be pristine the way that the riverside technology works. 00:42:27.080 --> 00:42:32.380 And so, um, we'll hang out, you know, and I would encourage you all in the room to hang over there and do that. 00:42:32.720 --> 00:42:34.800 Um, episode we're going to wrap for today. 00:42:34.800 --> 00:42:43.640 This has been a great conversation starting to dig into, um, church at a bar and, uh, and a unique, uh, expression of worship. 00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:52.060 Um, what I think we're going to do next week is we'll probably scale more into, you know, maybe a minimally ecclesiology. 00:42:52.060 --> 00:43:05.360 What is, um, what defines a church and what's the, the minimum as we start to look at other potential expressions of worship, you know, and, and other, uh, spaces, physical spaces or another, uh, digital. 00:43:05.360 --> 00:43:07.680 And so Joey's going to come back next week. 00:43:08.220 --> 00:43:11.240 Uh, it's going to be Wednesday, same time, 2 PM Eastern. 00:43:11.240 --> 00:43:14.160 And we're going to kick into the conversation here. 00:43:14.340 --> 00:43:20.480 Uh, if you're listening online and you don't have a discord, uh, account, or you're not part of the TCD server, 00:43:20.620 --> 00:43:26.020 open up a web browser and go to discord.thechurch.digital discord.thechurch.digital. 00:43:26.340 --> 00:43:28.680 That'll walk you through the ability to create the account. 00:43:28.780 --> 00:43:36.140 If you don't have one and then come sign up for the server, you can check out the event board and jump into any of the conversations that we've got going on. 00:43:36.380 --> 00:43:40.560 I freaking love discord, but that's another conversation for a different day. 00:43:41.120 --> 00:43:44.360 Um, uh, let's talk pastor Dominic. 00:43:44.440 --> 00:43:46.160 Let's talk about the metaverse sometime soon. 00:43:46.240 --> 00:43:46.560 Jeffrey. 00:43:46.700 --> 00:43:47.060 Yes, sir. 00:43:47.120 --> 00:43:48.540 Pastor Dominic, you're on my list. 00:43:49.020 --> 00:43:52.000 Um, we're not, this, this show is probably not going anywhere. 00:43:52.120 --> 00:43:53.460 We're going to be doing this a long time. 00:43:53.500 --> 00:43:56.960 And so talking virtual reality is, is one of those expressions. 00:43:56.960 --> 00:43:58.380 We're definitely going to get into that. 00:43:58.740 --> 00:44:01.120 Uh, tall, skinny kiwi just wrapping up in Europe. 00:44:01.120 --> 00:44:05.520 It's very common for us to have the church in a venue where beer and wine is available. 00:44:05.520 --> 00:44:09.740 And most of the participants have beer in their hand, uh, in the church. 00:44:09.740 --> 00:44:15.640 We started in Prague, the preacher would take his glass of beer, uh, to the front when, I guess, when he was preaching. 00:44:15.860 --> 00:44:16.820 That's, that's awesome. 00:44:17.180 --> 00:44:21.260 Uh, that being said, the Americans beat Europe in, in their, uh, war. 00:44:21.500 --> 00:44:22.620 So no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:44:22.620 --> 00:44:23.000 I don't know. 00:44:23.060 --> 00:44:23.680 Just, I'm kidding. 00:44:24.080 --> 00:44:25.440 But, uh, well played. 00:44:25.580 --> 00:44:29.360 I, I do, I just, I, I keep coming back to this. 00:44:29.420 --> 00:44:35.260 I mean, so much of what we are calling the church in 2024 is extra biblical. 00:44:35.260 --> 00:44:40.280 It doesn't make it bad, but recognize that it's not biblical. 00:44:40.620 --> 00:44:45.880 And so if it's not biblical, well, then we should have the freedom to reimagine or do something different with that. 00:44:45.920 --> 00:44:51.980 And that's really going to be the theme that I think we're going to, to play here, uh, through the show. 00:44:52.160 --> 00:44:54.200 Wait, that's a church. 00:44:55.300 --> 00:45:00.280 I think that's the right, I haven't, I haven't figured out the trademark, um, excite. 00:45:00.280 --> 00:45:00.900 We'll figure it out. 00:45:00.980 --> 00:45:01.680 We've got to make it. 00:45:01.740 --> 00:45:02.940 We've got to make the cartoon though. 00:45:04.920 --> 00:45:05.940 Yeah, I, I will. 00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:10.040 I'll pitch that Barbara, uh, Barbara will be getting that conversation. 00:45:10.040 --> 00:45:11.280 Um, you know what? 00:45:11.300 --> 00:45:15.200 She's in, she's in, uh, uh, Portugal at this point. 00:45:15.200 --> 00:45:16.420 She's not, you know, in America. 00:45:16.420 --> 00:45:17.680 She doesn't get the fourth off. 00:45:17.780 --> 00:45:18.740 Let's get her to work. 00:45:19.280 --> 00:45:20.840 Um, sorry, Barbara. 00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:22.220 We'll talk soon. 00:45:22.480 --> 00:45:22.900 All right. 00:45:22.900 --> 00:45:31.960 Hey, uh, Joey, man, thanks for jumping on, on the show, but we're going to land the plane here on, uh, episode 302, episode two of Wait, That's a Church. 00:45:32.340 --> 00:45:33.700 Uh, see you next time. 00:45:33.800 --> 00:45:34.660 Uh, have a good one. 00:45:39.460 --> 00:45:48.820 Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.