WEBVTT 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:02.380 Welcome to the Church Digital Podcast. 00:00:03.360 --> 00:00:07.220 Through this podcast, we'll talk about the technological innovations within the church. 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:11.040 But more than tech for tech itself, we'll address deeper questions. 00:00:11.660 --> 00:00:13.260 Is disciple making possible digitally? 00:00:13.660 --> 00:00:15.720 How should we approach the digital mission field? 00:00:16.020 --> 00:00:18.600 Can a biblically grounded church operate in digital space? 00:00:19.020 --> 00:00:22.900 Oh, and where does the metaverse and artificial intelligence fit into all of this? 00:00:23.880 --> 00:00:25.800 Whether you're a big or small church, 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:30.640 the Church Digital's goal is to help churches like yours learn to be a multiplying church, 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:32.480 digitally and physically. 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:34.640 And now here's your host, Jeff Reed. 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:38.840 All right, hey, that music faded out almost like in perfect timing. 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:42.060 It's like I designed it that way. 00:00:42.100 --> 00:00:43.000 That was so good. 00:00:43.080 --> 00:00:48.220 Hey, welcome to the Church Digital Podcast episode 324. 00:00:48.540 --> 00:00:51.800 I've done 324 of these things. 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:53.700 Well, you know, I had some people cover here or there, 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:58.820 but 324 is a lot of me talking. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.500 And so you're going to get a lot more of me talking in the episodes to come. 00:01:02.580 --> 00:01:03.340 We're going to get back. 00:01:03.720 --> 00:01:08.500 We're doing a season here on the flywheel of digital ministry, 00:01:08.660 --> 00:01:10.960 the digital mission flywheel. 00:01:11.020 --> 00:01:12.600 We're going to get into that here in a little bit. 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:17.240 And a surprise guest once again, joining us, Funko Pop Da Vinci. 00:01:17.380 --> 00:01:20.100 We'll get into Funko Pop Da Vinci here in a second. 00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:24.100 But for today, I wanted to hit a couple of things just up here at the front. 00:01:24.580 --> 00:01:25.840 We're going to get in the next season. 00:01:25.940 --> 00:01:29.020 We're going to be talking about questions in digital mission work. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:37.920 Really getting into some deep theological, deep, systematic, deep, but practical steps. 00:01:38.300 --> 00:01:40.300 Deep theological and deep practical at the same time. 00:01:40.380 --> 00:01:41.540 Like, how do those fit together? 00:01:41.940 --> 00:01:42.440 I don't know. 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:43.180 We're going to figure it out. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:43.680 It'll be fun. 00:01:43.980 --> 00:01:47.640 So check that in the weeks to come as we're wrapping up the flywheel. 00:01:48.060 --> 00:01:49.300 But write this down. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.240 February 11th, Tuesday, 1 p.m. Eastern. 00:01:53.360 --> 00:01:58.780 We're going to do our second town hall meeting. 00:01:58.880 --> 00:02:08.280 Some of you may remember through the church digital, we did a town hall meeting back in, what, August of last year. 00:02:08.420 --> 00:02:14.920 That was when we announced, hey, we're switching over to this digital missionary sending agency model, 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:21.540 which was a pretty massive shift, and it was well-received, and it was a lot of fun having some of those conversations. 00:02:22.200 --> 00:02:31.420 And we want to bring everybody together again because, hey, we've got, I don't know that I would say it's massive shifts. 00:02:31.940 --> 00:02:37.980 I don't know that it's as groundbreaking, as revolutionary, as a digital missionary sending agency. 00:02:37.980 --> 00:02:44.220 Like, I cannot promise every town hall meeting we're going to be, like, groundbreaking, like the digital missionaries sending agency. 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:45.540 But I will say this. 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:53.240 We're announcing a couple things coming up at that town hall meeting Tuesday, February 11th, that are freaking awesome. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:55.740 Like, I'm really excited about this. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:02.440 I cannot wait to get the word out on this and to see what's going to happen in the weeks and a month ahead because of it. 00:03:02.440 --> 00:03:13.300 So if you're hanging out with us and you're kind of on the, you're lurking on the outside, you're not, you're in the community but not engaging, man, this is a great time. 00:03:13.420 --> 00:03:17.020 Come hang out with us Tuesday, February 11th, 1 p.m. Eastern. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:18.540 It's during this time slot. 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:22.180 Yeah, we'll make it the podcast, and we'll get the word out via VOD. 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:29.580 But it's so much more fun if you're hanging out with us in the stream here live. 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:32.140 But as a matter of fact, I got some people hanging out with me today. 00:03:32.820 --> 00:03:35.200 Journey fan, Jeff, great to see you, bud. 00:03:35.980 --> 00:03:37.000 Zuko doing that. 00:03:37.100 --> 00:03:40.160 We got Steve Reed, my brother from another mother. 00:03:40.480 --> 00:03:41.920 You are tough. 00:03:43.540 --> 00:03:46.160 I'm going to assume that's the best and not I'm a jerk. 00:03:46.620 --> 00:03:47.720 No, Steve wouldn't call me a jerk. 00:03:48.020 --> 00:03:49.760 Steve doesn't know me well enough to call me a jerk yet. 00:03:50.140 --> 00:03:50.920 I love that. 00:03:51.160 --> 00:03:53.920 Ukulele, hand, pink, waving. 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:55.120 It's good to know. 00:03:55.620 --> 00:03:59.420 I'm always good for the emoji in YouTube. 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:02.640 To be honest, I kind of miss Twitch a little bit. 00:04:02.740 --> 00:04:04.540 You know, I enjoy the YouTube. 00:04:04.720 --> 00:04:05.580 I'm not really the Twitch. 00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:07.600 This is not the face of a Twitcher. 00:04:08.100 --> 00:04:10.620 And so I don't fit the Twitch model. 00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:12.900 So that's why I'm kind of hanging out more here in YouTube. 00:04:13.200 --> 00:04:15.700 But looking forward, oh my gosh, there's so much. 00:04:15.900 --> 00:04:17.080 Oh my gosh, there's so much. 00:04:17.580 --> 00:04:18.760 Oh my gosh, there's so much. 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:27.220 Man, as I'm even thinking about sitting here in this chair, I'm just, man, there's three, four things I would want to drop at that town hall meeting. 00:04:27.420 --> 00:04:34.180 And so, listen, if you're not coming to that town hall meeting Tuesday, February 11th, yeah, what's wrong with you? 00:04:34.460 --> 00:04:35.880 Music keyed perfectly with that. 00:04:36.200 --> 00:04:37.200 I'm loving this. 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:40.440 This soundtrack's much more my jam. 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:45.560 And so come hang out with us Tuesday the 11th at 1 p.m. Eastern, okay? 00:04:46.840 --> 00:04:47.540 Commercial over. 00:04:47.660 --> 00:04:48.440 We're going to get into it. 00:04:48.780 --> 00:04:56.540 Hey, so here with the stream today, we have been talking about this idea of a digital missionary. 00:04:56.900 --> 00:05:00.520 Now, we've been using the language framework, the digital missionary framework. 00:05:00.860 --> 00:05:03.700 But to be honest, it's the same strategy we play here at the Church Digital. 00:05:04.200 --> 00:05:08.280 Like, you know, I'm not only the president, I'm also a client. 00:05:08.280 --> 00:05:11.560 Those of you that remember the Hair Club for Men will get that nod. 00:05:11.800 --> 00:05:12.760 But it's true. 00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:16.000 Like, we use this same strategy for the Church Digital. 00:05:16.140 --> 00:05:19.880 We've seen it really be effective in digital missionary work outside. 00:05:20.260 --> 00:05:22.300 And you've heard me say this time and time again. 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:32.280 The people we connect with at the digital level, social media, blogs, content, relationships, virtual reality, meeting and world, 00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:39.700 the people that we connect with, we want to invite them into a community to establish trust, to build relationships, evangelism, discipleship. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:41.980 All that works best at the community level. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:49.140 But through that discipleship and through that community, we want to get to the place of where we are equipping people to do ministry, 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:54.760 where they're discovering what their calling is and not only helping them find their calling, 00:05:54.760 --> 00:06:04.920 but mobilizing them, sending them out to do what God is calling them to do and resourcing and caring for them on that journey. 00:06:05.460 --> 00:06:08.300 Connect, community, equip, mobilize. 00:06:08.520 --> 00:06:18.860 And so through the past couple weeks, we've not only been talking about that as a framework for you all to contextualize 00:06:18.860 --> 00:06:25.700 and for you to adapt into your ministry, but we've also been talking about it as a flywheel. 00:06:25.700 --> 00:06:30.780 Now, this is where my good friend here, Funko Pop Da Vinci, comes into play. 00:06:31.200 --> 00:06:37.640 Leonardo Da Vinci, you may understand, he was an artist, it's funny. 00:06:37.780 --> 00:06:44.420 He's got little paintbrushes there and he's got a sketchbook he's holding there in his hand, Da Vinci does. 00:06:44.660 --> 00:06:46.420 Isn't that nice? Funko Pop Da Vinci. 00:06:47.080 --> 00:06:53.580 Yeah, I really wanted Funko Pop Albert Einstein because I'm kind of a dork and it's too expensive. 00:06:54.440 --> 00:06:57.840 It's rare at this point, so they marked up the price. 00:06:58.540 --> 00:07:00.940 Boo, Albert Einstein. I love Albert Einstein. 00:07:01.200 --> 00:07:03.600 But Da Vinci invented this device. 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:12.160 He's this famous inventor historically and actually like I've seen displays with hundreds of his inventions and exhibits and things. 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:14.540 And so he's this huge inventor back in the day. 00:07:14.540 --> 00:07:20.640 And one of the things that he invented was this idea of the flywheel. 00:07:21.200 --> 00:07:27.940 Now, I'll actually, you know, I've got videos of like the original flywheel and photos and what he created for it. 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:33.240 But it was this crank device up and it had a handle that you would crank. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:41.980 And on when you cranked it, there were four blocks of wood that were held up by chains. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:48.700 And as you cranked it, the centripetal force, I think I'm saying that right, centripetal force. 00:07:48.960 --> 00:07:53.680 This is physics, you know, put on your thinking hats as I'm wearing Georgia Tech. 00:07:54.180 --> 00:07:55.200 The engineering, whoo. 00:07:55.580 --> 00:08:02.260 So the force of the circle, of it going in a circular motion, caused those wood blocks to go out. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:10.560 And the physics of what was involved in that, those four wood blocks continued to go on and on and on. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:19.000 And as you let go of the crank, once it got motion, it continued on for a long amount of time. 00:08:19.700 --> 00:08:30.700 What I'm describing here is the physics of what's in motion, stays in motion, and the four things together continually kept itself in motion because of the centripetal force. 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:33.040 All right, thinking caps off. 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:34.300 Let's talk digital mission work. 00:08:34.380 --> 00:08:34.760 No, I'm kidding. 00:08:34.880 --> 00:08:35.760 Keep your thinking caps on. 00:08:36.900 --> 00:08:45.940 I think that there is a little bit of application here as we talk about equipping, excuse me, as we talk about connection, community, equipping, mobilization. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:59.900 Like, if all we're doing is connecting and we're not getting people into digital community, well, connection without that community, you really have no power. 00:09:00.340 --> 00:09:04.160 You have people up at the connection level that are shallow and superficial. 00:09:04.660 --> 00:09:10.060 And I don't mean to be judgmental, and please don't read too much into this, but you're not able to. 00:09:10.140 --> 00:09:19.140 It's really hard to get into rich, deep disciple-making conversations because discipleship happens via two-way conversations. 00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:24.160 Digitally, we see evangelism have much better in community. 00:09:24.800 --> 00:09:29.220 And so the ability to get these people down to community is so important. 00:09:30.060 --> 00:09:38.760 Really, I can tell you stories of connection level ministries that have really fizzled out within months because they were not effective in building community. 00:09:38.760 --> 00:09:48.780 It basically became an advocacy group for Christ without actually having tangible stories of life change because all they were doing was creating content and creating noise. 00:09:49.540 --> 00:09:56.660 And so, but community, without having that equipping, well, why are you doing community? 00:09:56.820 --> 00:10:04.600 What's the purpose of community without having some level of helping people find what God is calling them to do? 00:10:04.680 --> 00:10:06.020 That's somewhat we're going to get in there today. 00:10:06.560 --> 00:10:11.540 Like, you know, the scripture says, you know, it's, you're eating, you're drinking spiritual milk. 00:10:11.640 --> 00:10:14.660 You should be on solid food by now. 00:10:14.980 --> 00:10:23.980 Helping people not only discover who Christ is, which is important in community, but helping them discover what God is calling them to do. 00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:33.040 What is their purpose in being here and helping get them to the point, multiplying into them where they can go out. 00:10:33.800 --> 00:10:38.420 A multiplication strategy in digital context is an unbelievable opportunity. 00:10:38.540 --> 00:10:41.000 We'll talk more about that here in a little bit. 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:52.800 But if you're doing community without having some sort of equipping level, why are you doing the community in the first place to help people find Christ, which is an incredible opportunity. 00:10:53.180 --> 00:10:59.360 But that is a wasted opportunity if you're stopping with the salvation. 00:11:02.020 --> 00:11:03.420 You're on spiritual milk. 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:05.980 And by now you should be on solid food. 00:11:06.640 --> 00:11:09.080 Like, that's the thing of nightmares for me. 00:11:09.540 --> 00:11:12.680 It's, it's not stopping at salvation. 00:11:12.680 --> 00:11:18.760 It's continuing on through discipleship to help them figure out what's next. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:25.760 And if you're doing equipping without some sort of mobilization piece, well, you know, that's, that's reckless. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:30.780 You're equipping people with the, with understanding their calling and you're like, okay, see you later. 00:11:31.520 --> 00:11:32.560 And you send them out. 00:11:32.880 --> 00:11:38.820 I mean, it's like the bomb kicking the bird out of the nest and the bird tanks and crashes down. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:39.460 Okay. 00:11:39.540 --> 00:11:39.800 Yeah. 00:11:39.800 --> 00:11:40.720 Tough love happens. 00:11:41.140 --> 00:11:41.340 Yeah. 00:11:41.340 --> 00:11:42.700 You're going to learn things by doing it. 00:11:42.740 --> 00:11:44.040 That's apprenticing one-on-one. 00:11:45.080 --> 00:11:46.320 But that's almost the point. 00:11:46.400 --> 00:11:48.980 Apprenticing one-on-one, you're still checking in. 00:11:49.180 --> 00:11:50.360 There, there's a, there's accountability. 00:11:50.620 --> 00:11:51.520 There's relationship. 00:11:51.900 --> 00:11:52.660 It was interesting. 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:54.220 I was just doing some scripture reading. 00:11:54.880 --> 00:11:57.280 Uh, and I'm going to, I'm going to misquote the scripture. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.800 I believe it was first Timothy or second Timothy two, two. 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:05.820 Uh, and Paul, you know, Paul's talking about training Timothy in, in front of an audience 00:12:05.820 --> 00:12:11.100 of others, uh, so that the people that Timothy would train had the ability to train, train 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:11.460 others. 00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:14.420 In that first Timothy, second Timothy, I'm bad with the numbers. 00:12:14.420 --> 00:12:15.740 Second Timothy two, two. 00:12:16.160 --> 00:12:20.780 It's literally five generations of people are involved in the conversation. 00:12:21.700 --> 00:12:26.160 Paul teaching Timothy in an audience of others so that the lessons that Timothy was teaching 00:12:26.160 --> 00:12:27.900 to others could be multiplied into others. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:29.800 That's the verse. 00:12:30.340 --> 00:12:31.400 There's accountability. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:37.040 Paul was teaching Timothy in the audience of others so that Timothy could teach others who 00:12:37.040 --> 00:12:38.660 would teach others with Timothy's oversight. 00:12:39.020 --> 00:12:43.520 Like it's a mobilization strategy in place. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:48.760 By the way, you know, how did church exist 2000 years later? 00:12:49.280 --> 00:12:50.260 How do we get to this point? 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:51.320 Holy spirit. 00:12:51.620 --> 00:12:51.940 Yes. 00:12:52.180 --> 00:12:52.480 Prayer. 00:12:52.680 --> 00:12:52.940 Yes. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:53.420 God. 00:12:53.540 --> 00:12:53.740 Yes. 00:12:54.040 --> 00:12:54.760 Divine intervention. 00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:56.940 Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:03.600 Could you imagine if Paul was like, Hey, it's been fun. 00:13:03.640 --> 00:13:04.980 Y'all have a nice life. 00:13:05.560 --> 00:13:06.300 See you later. 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:09.320 Paul wrote first Corinthians was like, screw you all. 00:13:09.380 --> 00:13:09.740 I'm done. 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:10.780 Second Corinthians. 00:13:10.980 --> 00:13:11.700 No, it doesn't matter. 00:13:12.640 --> 00:13:13.380 Y'all do what you want. 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:18.320 You know, even that, uh, it's at some level, the, the church and revelation act, uh, revelation 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.820 two, revelation three, you know, there. 00:13:21.420 --> 00:13:23.740 Yeah, it was, uh, it was, there were bad letters. 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:26.020 It was, yeah, I'm, I'm angry with you. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:32.540 You are failing, which even shows the accountability in that moment to be able to say, to slap 00:13:32.540 --> 00:13:35.220 him on the wrist and say, you've lost your first love. 00:13:37.060 --> 00:13:41.440 So it's important for us to, to not stop at the equipping. 00:13:42.220 --> 00:13:48.120 It's important for us to not stop at the, the community, but to understand the full picture 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:51.220 of, yes, we want to create connections. 00:13:51.400 --> 00:13:56.060 And through those connections digitally, get them into community through community, help 00:13:56.060 --> 00:14:02.700 them find, uh, Christ evangelism, discipleship, build trust, build relationships that allow 00:14:02.700 --> 00:14:08.380 us the opportunity to help them find their calling it to, so that we can be used by God 00:14:08.380 --> 00:14:13.020 to speak biblical truth in their life and then mobilize them and help send them out to what 00:14:13.020 --> 00:14:14.780 God is calling them to do. 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:21.000 Now here's, yes, that's a framework that is a framework and you can use that in your context 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:22.180 right now. 00:14:22.180 --> 00:14:27.180 And, and it's effective and we've seen it be effective, but I want to challenge you even 00:14:27.180 --> 00:14:32.280 beyond the framework to start to look at it as a flywheel. 00:14:33.500 --> 00:14:40.540 As you get more and more people going through that system, flywheels, it was funny. 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:44.260 I was talking with, um, I was talking with a digital church. 00:14:44.340 --> 00:14:45.460 I'm not going to say what church it is. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.100 I was talking with a digital church pastor. 00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:53.360 She'd been doing this a while and, uh, and she's, you know, came alongside her. 00:14:53.560 --> 00:14:58.200 We're, we're doing some, some, some consulting and kind of helping her turn the corner in her 00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:06.480 ministry and, uh, she is, I would say that she's incredible at the equipping and the mobilization 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:11.520 phase, like some of the, some of the strategies, some of the resources that, that she's been 00:15:11.520 --> 00:15:12.040 implementing. 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:15.340 She is very good at the bottom of the funnel. 00:15:16.060 --> 00:15:22.340 And, and, and the reality is, is that she has struggled at the top of the funnel. 00:15:23.580 --> 00:15:30.440 So she has these, these beautiful strategies and tools to equip and mobilize people, but 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:35.180 she's been ineffective in getting people connected into the connection, into the community. 00:15:35.180 --> 00:15:36.060 So they get to that. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:40.260 And so like, she's putting in all this resources at the bottom without having people to send 00:15:40.260 --> 00:15:40.660 through. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:45.180 And, you know, and seeing that we, we came alongside, I had a meeting with her this week 00:15:45.180 --> 00:15:48.780 and, you know, basically was like, you know, we want church, this is going to come along 00:15:48.780 --> 00:15:49.440 and help. 00:15:49.760 --> 00:15:54.720 And as we started to explore what some of these problems were, it became obvious that, 00:15:54.780 --> 00:15:57.640 you know, she needs coaching on the top half. 00:15:57.780 --> 00:16:02.700 She needs some guidance on the top half, or maybe even she needs to connect with some people 00:16:02.700 --> 00:16:09.700 that are, um, strong on the top half that are good at connection and community, but may 00:16:09.700 --> 00:16:12.100 not be fully, you know, capable. 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:14.800 It may not have time for equipping and mobilization. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.020 This is where it's really interesting. 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:23.680 We're going to get more into this in a little bit, but if you're like, this is overwhelming 00:16:23.680 --> 00:16:25.600 for me, Jeff, listening to you talk. 00:16:26.740 --> 00:16:28.060 It doesn't mean I'm wrong. 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:34.880 It means there's opportunities for partnership or there's opportunities to bring people inside 00:16:34.880 --> 00:16:40.660 because whether or not you, I mean, let's talk connect community, equip mobilization at 00:16:40.660 --> 00:16:46.200 a physical, a physical space, uh, you need some sort of a community in a physical space. 00:16:46.400 --> 00:16:52.380 Now that community can be at a small group, a Starbucks, that community can be a, you know, 00:16:52.400 --> 00:16:55.700 I tend to a hundred person venue church, maybe 150. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:58.160 That can be a 5,000 person venue. 00:16:58.160 --> 00:17:02.060 Like it can look differently, but that doesn't null and void the importance of community and 00:17:02.060 --> 00:17:02.440 physical. 00:17:02.900 --> 00:17:10.340 And you need that in digital without connection, without community, then, then the ministry 00:17:10.340 --> 00:17:11.260 you're doing is powerless. 00:17:11.420 --> 00:17:13.380 There's no roots at the connection level. 00:17:13.780 --> 00:17:18.020 Community without equipping is pointless because why are you even bothering with community? 00:17:18.020 --> 00:17:21.420 If you're not doing anything with the people when they're in the community and equipping 00:17:21.420 --> 00:17:25.300 without mobilization, that's just reckless because you're giving people the gospel and you're 00:17:25.300 --> 00:17:28.960 kicking them out of the nest and you're not caring about what they do in the long run. 00:17:29.900 --> 00:17:36.840 But once you get all this going, once you get those four blocks of wood spinning, it carries 00:17:36.840 --> 00:17:40.000 on because the community is feeding into equipping. 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:41.840 Equipping is feeding into mobilization. 00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:46.720 Mobilization is sending out and they're connecting with new people that are feeding into the community 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:48.040 or into their community. 00:17:48.180 --> 00:17:52.560 And so you're either multiplying within your own community and your own church and your 00:17:52.560 --> 00:17:56.540 own missions work, or you're sending out and creating new opportunities where that, where 00:17:56.540 --> 00:17:58.640 that flywheel is working on its own. 00:17:58.800 --> 00:18:03.660 This is what multiplication looks like in the digital mission work, in the digital church 00:18:03.660 --> 00:18:04.240 context. 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:09.720 There is power in what I'm describing here. 00:18:10.840 --> 00:18:18.940 I think it's important for us to realize there's power in the idea of giving this away. 00:18:19.640 --> 00:18:20.120 All right. 00:18:20.140 --> 00:18:21.420 So let's lean into some things here. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:27.760 You know, as we talk about digital missionary, even the idea of equipping, you know, there's 00:18:27.760 --> 00:18:28.820 there's the opportunity. 00:18:28.820 --> 00:18:30.460 And I would love that. 00:18:30.760 --> 00:18:31.840 I would love to ask this question. 00:18:31.900 --> 00:18:38.680 Those of you that are watching right now is as you do digital missionary work, do you see 00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:40.940 more value in technology? 00:18:42.420 --> 00:18:57.600 Are you the type of person that is jacked up about new technology, new platforms, new opportunities 00:18:57.600 --> 00:18:58.140 for ministry? 00:18:58.280 --> 00:18:59.760 I don't, by the way, I don't think there's a wrong answer. 00:19:00.280 --> 00:19:03.640 Are you, are you excited about the opportunity? 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:09.320 Are you an explorer or are you more of a relationships? 00:19:09.760 --> 00:19:19.280 Are you more of the type of person that can, can connect with people in the, in the community 00:19:19.280 --> 00:19:21.700 that exists in digital space? 00:19:23.140 --> 00:19:24.100 Throw that in chat. 00:19:24.180 --> 00:19:24.520 Let me know. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:25.800 I see somebody's right now. 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:27.660 Trustees Asbury. 00:19:28.900 --> 00:19:29.800 How are you doing, man? 00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:31.260 We actually haven't talked to you in a while. 00:19:31.320 --> 00:19:32.300 We need, we need to catch up. 00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:33.760 This is all so true. 00:19:33.860 --> 00:19:34.740 Community should be moving. 00:19:34.860 --> 00:19:39.320 I think it's, this is why people don't stay plugged into a local church anymore. 00:19:39.460 --> 00:19:41.360 Community stopped moving. 00:19:41.780 --> 00:19:46.280 I mean, that's, that's an interesting, are you doing your, your grant? 00:19:46.900 --> 00:19:48.400 I, yeah, you got to catch up with me, bro. 00:19:48.500 --> 00:19:51.920 I need to, I need to figure out where you are and how I can help. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:52.980 Let's do that. 00:19:53.140 --> 00:19:54.020 Um, yeah. 00:19:54.140 --> 00:20:00.680 So the, the challenge is as a digital missionary, you know, and I'm not even talking about APAS. 00:20:00.780 --> 00:20:04.700 I'm not even talking about motivations and, and there's other assessments and things that, 00:20:04.800 --> 00:20:10.320 that we do through the church digital to help people understand their calling, their giftings 00:20:10.320 --> 00:20:11.100 and their skillset. 00:20:11.820 --> 00:20:17.780 But I think it's, it's important for us to understand our, our motivations walking into 00:20:17.780 --> 00:20:18.160 this. 00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:21.400 Are we, I, it's funny. 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:21.720 I did. 00:20:21.740 --> 00:20:22.380 We just did it. 00:20:22.380 --> 00:20:25.300 We're partnering with a new organization called true center. 00:20:25.860 --> 00:20:29.520 And anybody who does EDM is going to get access to this true center. 00:20:30.080 --> 00:20:32.140 And I did the assessment myself. 00:20:32.260 --> 00:20:36.780 And I did a walkthrough with the, the founder, the CEO of the, of the assessment. 00:20:37.340 --> 00:20:40.000 And, um, I am, I am an explorer. 00:20:40.560 --> 00:20:48.140 I think two of my five motivations were like explore and, uh, a motivator and, um, innovator 00:20:48.140 --> 00:20:49.880 and, uh, empower. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:53.140 Like it was, it's basically what I do. 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:56.660 Like it was the most accurate assessment of, of who I am. 00:20:57.080 --> 00:20:57.860 But it was funny. 00:20:57.860 --> 00:21:00.120 It was like looking at, at that skillset. 00:21:00.460 --> 00:21:05.880 I always am, you know, drop me off on the Island with a machete and I'll carve my own way. 00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:07.220 So that other people come behind me. 00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:11.440 And I'm great at recruiting other people to come jump on the boat and get bit by mosquitoes. 00:21:12.120 --> 00:21:13.940 So like, that's, that's me. 00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:16.260 That's the motivation aspect behind me. 00:21:16.520 --> 00:21:21.900 The weakness aspect of me is funny on the flip side of that is you give me a, like a, a menial task. 00:21:22.140 --> 00:21:24.120 You tell me to do something for six months. 00:21:25.800 --> 00:21:27.420 I don't, I don't, I don't do that. 00:21:27.540 --> 00:21:29.360 I barely do anything for two weeks. 00:21:29.560 --> 00:21:31.320 Like, you know, I'm always looking for something new. 00:21:31.360 --> 00:21:33.700 I'm always looking for a challenge to be overcome. 00:21:33.700 --> 00:21:35.700 And so like, that's, that's my motivation. 00:21:36.260 --> 00:21:37.040 It's interesting. 00:21:37.140 --> 00:21:41.020 My brother from another, Steve Reed saying here, like his motivation. 00:21:42.020 --> 00:21:47.700 From the tech side to the relationships, he's more interested in the relationship aspect. 00:21:47.900 --> 00:21:51.140 And Steve, I can, you know, what I know of you, I can see that in you. 00:21:51.260 --> 00:21:54.340 I think that's a very good idea. 00:21:54.780 --> 00:21:56.280 I think that's a great place to be. 00:21:56.620 --> 00:21:57.700 And that makes sense for you. 00:21:57.760 --> 00:22:02.840 And that's, once again, that's not bad to understand how to use those relationships. 00:22:04.080 --> 00:22:08.140 And use that gifting to connect with people in digital space. 00:22:09.140 --> 00:22:11.920 That's good, but it's also important. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:15.520 To recognize the strengths and weaknesses of that. 00:22:16.020 --> 00:22:17.480 Steve, you're really good at relationships. 00:22:17.800 --> 00:22:20.680 Steve, you're learning about the technology. 00:22:21.320 --> 00:22:32.860 And so to be able to connect with someone either in the network or partner with another missionary or someone that can lean into the technological aspects of what you want to do, it's going to be very important. 00:22:33.260 --> 00:22:35.460 We've talked about some of that in some of our open offices. 00:22:35.800 --> 00:22:39.360 By the way, Steve's great at jumping in an open office. 00:22:39.420 --> 00:22:41.740 You know, I do open offices two or three times a week. 00:22:42.260 --> 00:22:45.300 Our other leadership does open offices periodically as well. 00:22:46.020 --> 00:22:49.920 And, you know, as I talk with everybody on leadership, how'd the open office go? 00:22:50.140 --> 00:22:50.880 It's so funny. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:51.480 One of the opening. 00:22:51.540 --> 00:22:52.380 Oh, I met Steve. 00:22:52.900 --> 00:22:56.560 You know, Steve's been diving in and really asking some great questions. 00:22:56.780 --> 00:23:03.680 And that's what we're here for with the open offices and the streams and all this is to really give opportunities to learn. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:15.120 Steve, what's interesting in Steve's context, like the people Steve's going to reach are not the type of people that I'm going to reach. 00:23:16.120 --> 00:23:19.300 Steve is – Steve, I'm going to tell just a fraction of your story here. 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:20.480 I'm guessing it's okay. 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:23.840 Steve's a, you know, retiree in South Florida. 00:23:24.180 --> 00:23:25.580 He's over on the west coast of Florida. 00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:26.840 I'm on the east coast of Florida. 00:23:27.020 --> 00:23:31.180 I actually drove through Steve's town over the weekend just real quick. 00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:33.460 Had a quick road trip with the fam, with my wife. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:40.080 But, you know, Steve's retiring age, and I look like I should be retiring, but I'm significantly younger. 00:23:40.860 --> 00:23:44.680 And so Steve's circle of influence is quite different than mine. 00:23:45.520 --> 00:23:54.640 And so Steve's ability as a digital missionary to reach, engage, share, and disciple with people in digital space is a huge win. 00:23:55.220 --> 00:24:02.700 Steve's ability to create community, invite them, create connections with digital people, people digitally. 00:24:02.700 --> 00:24:09.800 Invite them into a community, build relationships, establish trust, share Jesus, digital discipleship. 00:24:10.280 --> 00:24:13.120 He's already doing – it's so funny in Steve's story. 00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:16.660 He already had access to some of that, didn't even realize what he was sitting on. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:23.380 He just had to open his eyes to maybe a new way of looking at some of the social media assets he had available for him. 00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:39.800 And now he's being aggressive on evangelizing and discipling in some of those connection points and inviting them into the community and even getting to the place of starting to grow them in the community to the place of some sort of equipping. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:47.300 You know, I remember Steve's like, you know, as he's relatively new in this, maybe two or three months into this mindset. 00:24:47.800 --> 00:24:52.280 You know, Steve was like, hey, Jeff, I understand the top two connection and community. 00:24:52.680 --> 00:24:55.160 Equipping and mobilization, I ain't there yet. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:57.780 Don't worry about it, bro. 00:24:57.960 --> 00:24:59.500 You keep working on the top. 00:24:59.940 --> 00:25:01.160 Connect community, connect community. 00:25:01.220 --> 00:25:07.120 And what's going to happen is you'll see it happen naturally almost in equipping and mobilization. 00:25:07.620 --> 00:25:09.740 Or we'll come around and talk to you. 00:25:09.780 --> 00:25:14.680 As part of what we're doing with the church digital, we're creating this series of networks. 00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:21.360 We're calling them outposts to allow for accountability, for relationships to develop even within our network. 00:25:22.020 --> 00:25:32.700 And so we want to connect, Steve, with the other digital and metaverse church planters that would fit in similar context to who he's trying to reach so they can be friends on mission together. 00:25:32.700 --> 00:25:49.440 Whether that's, you know, exploring or experimenting, getting encouragement, exploring new platforms or ideas, experimenting with new techniques, being encouraged in ministry, or being empowered, being released to do things instead of being afraid to jump. 00:25:49.560 --> 00:25:50.980 So many people are afraid to jump. 00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:52.360 It's so interesting. 00:25:52.920 --> 00:25:54.680 They literally just need to be told, do it. 00:25:54.760 --> 00:25:55.640 And they go. 00:25:55.800 --> 00:25:59.360 But it's like nobody ever says go in digital missions. 00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:01.240 It's all, I don't know about that. 00:26:01.740 --> 00:26:04.420 You know, it's been fun to be the guy that's always saying go. 00:26:06.100 --> 00:26:09.540 And so empowering and releasing people, it's very important. 00:26:10.420 --> 00:26:13.300 And I see that in some of what Steve's doing. 00:26:14.300 --> 00:26:16.560 But Steve's context is different than mine. 00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:21.800 Steve's context is so very different from mine. 00:26:22.040 --> 00:26:23.300 And that doesn't make it bad. 00:26:23.380 --> 00:26:24.520 It just makes it different. 00:26:24.660 --> 00:26:25.580 Steve's commenting here. 00:26:25.740 --> 00:26:26.800 Of course it is. 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:28.300 Of course it's different. 00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:31.320 You know, why would it be the same? 00:26:31.320 --> 00:26:37.560 Even though we're in the same locale, like Steve's maybe 90 minutes away from my house. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:43.920 There, it's a significant jump between the two. 00:26:45.260 --> 00:26:47.780 This is some of the stuff, the contextual adaptation. 00:26:48.560 --> 00:26:53.700 This is really what we're teaching through equipping digital missionaries. 00:26:53.800 --> 00:26:55.380 Now, you've heard me talk about this. 00:26:55.900 --> 00:26:57.720 Thechurch.digital slash EDM. 00:26:57.780 --> 00:26:59.320 You can pull up the website for more information. 00:26:59.620 --> 00:27:02.280 Thechurch.digital slash EDM. 00:27:02.380 --> 00:27:06.340 This is our, this is the church digitals equipping phase. 00:27:06.520 --> 00:27:12.740 This is where we take the time to intentionally equip people to be digital missionaries. 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:20.700 Now, we, whereas the people we work with are, you know, worried about digital evangelism, 00:27:20.840 --> 00:27:22.460 which is rightfully so as missionaries. 00:27:22.560 --> 00:27:25.700 We're not, we don't consider ourselves directly missionaries. 00:27:26.860 --> 00:27:28.300 We're a sending agency. 00:27:28.300 --> 00:27:33.920 And so we, we deal more with discipleship and, and empowerment and, and equipping and, and 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:35.420 that aspects than, than evangelism. 00:27:35.540 --> 00:27:36.820 But we do coach evangelism. 00:27:36.920 --> 00:27:40.780 There's, there's, you know, it's interesting in EDM, somebody, one of our participants going 00:27:40.780 --> 00:27:41.020 through. 00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:44.080 It's like, Hey, you never really talk about prayer digitally. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:45.600 And I was like, it's a bait. 00:27:45.740 --> 00:27:47.980 It was like, Oh my gosh, it's a huge miss. 00:27:48.020 --> 00:27:52.560 We need to talk about prayer and, uh, you know, Christ centered in, in that and what it 00:27:52.560 --> 00:27:53.820 looks like to be gospel centric. 00:27:54.220 --> 00:27:59.500 Uh, and so, yeah, it was a good call, but we typically, we don't coach that aspect. 00:27:59.700 --> 00:28:05.800 Uh, but I think, I think now that we're getting, uh, into like normal people without the seminary 00:28:05.800 --> 00:28:09.580 training, without the, uh, who are trying to understand the missionary calling, I think we need 00:28:09.580 --> 00:28:15.940 to get more aware of that, but through our EDM course, we're, we're helping people understand 00:28:15.940 --> 00:28:21.860 how to be a digital missionary through some of the videos that we're, we're sending out. 00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:28.880 We are instructing them on, um, you know, philosophy and techniques, uh, behind the why of what they're 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:29.280 doing. 00:28:29.360 --> 00:28:34.180 We're giving them an asynchronous community, a WhatsApp or discord, giving them the opportunity 00:28:34.180 --> 00:28:36.740 to process that information with a group of peers. 00:28:36.980 --> 00:28:42.900 And then we, we meet in a huddle, uh, of, uh, gathering of, you know, people in a, in a, 00:28:42.900 --> 00:28:50.160 in a Google meet call or WhatsApp or something to let people, uh, apply this information to 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:56.440 their ministry and start to take, uh, accountability on practical next steps in front of others. 00:28:56.440 --> 00:29:06.560 And so the ability to instruct, to process and to apply IPA, not affiliated, but IPA, uh, is 00:29:06.560 --> 00:29:14.400 key behind what we're doing in the, uh, asynchronous, uh, in our, in our EDM and our equipping process. 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:22.400 And so we were, I was, to be honest, I was supposed to be teaching a cohort right now in this slot. 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:27.500 As I'm doing this, this live, I was scheduled to launch, I think three or four cohorts in, uh, 00:29:27.500 --> 00:29:28.420 this week in January. 00:29:29.100 --> 00:29:35.920 And, um, as we're wrapping up the, the first round of EDM in my mind, it was, okay, we're 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:38.600 just going to copy and paste that into version two. 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:46.440 And as we were in the middle of wrapping up version one of the beta V1, uh, it was, oh, 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:48.420 we're not, it's, we got to make some adjustments. 00:29:48.620 --> 00:29:50.240 We had to make a lot of adjustments. 00:29:50.380 --> 00:29:54.740 It was a great first stab and I'm really happy with what we did. 00:29:55.080 --> 00:29:58.600 I am, I'm a firm believer in this and you'll hear me say this a thousand times. 00:29:58.920 --> 00:30:00.980 Version one is better than version none. 00:30:01.100 --> 00:30:06.800 I would rather get started and learn from it than, than sit around in a room and talk about 00:30:06.800 --> 00:30:09.100 what we could have done and never do anything. 00:30:09.100 --> 00:30:14.420 I was actually in a meeting, uh, with one of my teammates today, uh, Stacy talking about 00:30:14.420 --> 00:30:16.180 some of the changes we want to do with EDM. 00:30:16.500 --> 00:30:21.000 And I just was constantly reminding her it's beta, it's beta, it's beta, it's beta, it's 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:21.240 beta. 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:23.060 Let's not sit around and theorize. 00:30:23.280 --> 00:30:25.640 Let's just try it and, and, and learn from it. 00:30:25.980 --> 00:30:30.420 Uh, you got, you got to crack some eggs to make an omelet, uh, insert Iron Man joke 00:30:30.420 --> 00:30:30.660 there. 00:30:30.980 --> 00:30:34.040 It's, it's just, it's, it's important for us to do that. 00:30:34.040 --> 00:30:39.380 And so EDM is starting on February 12th. 00:30:40.340 --> 00:30:45.620 And through equipping digital missionaries through this court, this is our desire to equip 00:30:45.620 --> 00:30:53.740 people like you to be digital missionaries in your context, not to adapt to our mindset 00:30:53.740 --> 00:30:54.680 and our way of thinking. 00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:58.720 This is not digital imperialism where it's, it's, it's our way or the highway. 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:03.460 In fact, we want to give to you the trainings so that you can contextualize it so that you 00:31:03.460 --> 00:31:04.440 can adapt it. 00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:10.980 We're white labeling this in such a way so that you can distribute this in, in your context 00:31:10.980 --> 00:31:12.280 to others. 00:31:13.020 --> 00:31:19.240 We want to see a movement of digital missionaries happen at the global scale, not only in locations 00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:20.100 across the planet. 00:31:20.100 --> 00:31:21.140 We're already seeing it. 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:23.140 We want to see it even multiply more. 00:31:23.140 --> 00:31:28.640 Where we want to start to create some of these, uh, uh, outposts, these networks, even in 00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:31.040 platforms, we want to see gaming space. 00:31:31.040 --> 00:31:32.260 We want to see virtual reality. 00:31:32.260 --> 00:31:34.480 We want to see, um, in other platforms. 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:39.800 I was talking to somebody about doing, uh, an outpost starting a network in blue sky. 00:31:39.800 --> 00:31:43.080 It was funny was I didn't even realize blue sky was still around. 00:31:43.080 --> 00:31:45.580 Like blue sky is not on my radar at all. 00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:47.860 And he's like, Oh yeah, I'm, I'm in blue sky all the time. 00:31:47.860 --> 00:31:53.800 And I was like, really, why don't, why don't you start and do a digital missionary and start 00:31:53.800 --> 00:31:57.400 to recruit and develop some digital missionaries to, to go into blue sky. 00:31:59.800 --> 00:32:01.180 It's this way of thinking. 00:32:01.900 --> 00:32:07.920 And as, and as we, you know, I say this, I was actually talking this morning to a group 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:12.920 of, um, a global missions organization was doing a conference in Turkey. 00:32:13.160 --> 00:32:17.620 And instead of flying me out to Turkey to speak to them, they asked me to speak via zoom. 00:32:17.940 --> 00:32:21.200 Uh, I told them next time I was more than happy to take the plane ticket to Turkey. 00:32:21.580 --> 00:32:23.500 Cause I wouldn't mind hanging out in Turkey. 00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:29.340 But, uh, this morning I, you know, I, I, I just, I shared with them what we're doing through 00:32:29.340 --> 00:32:35.600 equipping digital missionaries and the ground level of, of what I want to do is this has 00:32:35.600 --> 00:32:38.780 nothing to do with Jeffrey.com. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:43.260 My desire is not to, this is not out of ego. 00:32:43.260 --> 00:32:44.620 This is not out of pride. 00:32:45.060 --> 00:32:46.600 Um, pride is my weakness. 00:32:46.780 --> 00:32:52.360 Ego is, is the, is the crack in the armor that allows Satan to come in. 00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:56.780 Uh, and so I am trying so hard to keep myself humble. 00:32:57.220 --> 00:33:01.980 When I say this, I'm even said publicly, you've heard me say this, the, the face of a global 00:33:01.980 --> 00:33:07.140 digital missionary movement, it's not a white bald man with a beard. 00:33:07.540 --> 00:33:10.560 Like this is not the face of the future of the church digital today. 00:33:10.980 --> 00:33:12.260 It's the, it's the face. 00:33:12.700 --> 00:33:18.520 Uh, as we try to see these ideas multiply and grow at the global level. 00:33:18.520 --> 00:33:22.380 Uh, I got, um, a good news life talking in here. 00:33:22.820 --> 00:33:23.940 Uh, so pumped. 00:33:24.040 --> 00:33:27.200 I'm currently got two Asbury university students. 00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:31.640 I'm doing a digital missionary independent study with, we all enrolled for EDM and I'm so 00:33:31.640 --> 00:33:36.100 pumped to coordinate this, uh, without, uh, with our classroom. 00:33:36.380 --> 00:33:37.440 So that's awesome. 00:33:38.380 --> 00:33:39.580 I didn't know that. 00:33:39.700 --> 00:33:40.240 That's cool. 00:33:40.840 --> 00:33:42.600 I want to, I got to catch up with you on that. 00:33:42.780 --> 00:33:46.380 Uh, I'm trying to think, did I see your registrations come in? 00:33:46.440 --> 00:33:47.160 I'll double check. 00:33:47.540 --> 00:33:50.460 I don't know if I told you, like it start, I, you should have got an email from us. 00:33:50.520 --> 00:33:53.520 It's going to start in February, but we'll, we'll, we'll make that happen. 00:33:53.560 --> 00:33:54.580 I'm excited to see that, man. 00:33:54.620 --> 00:33:59.140 That is very cool to see that context are different. 00:33:59.140 --> 00:34:00.780 And that's really what we work through with EDM. 00:34:01.020 --> 00:34:03.760 We teach you a, it's, it's a, um, it's a framework. 00:34:04.740 --> 00:34:06.360 It's a, uh, what is it? 00:34:06.360 --> 00:34:07.960 It's, um, it's not a blueprint. 00:34:08.220 --> 00:34:09.540 It's a, it's not a blueprint. 00:34:09.820 --> 00:34:10.800 It's a framework. 00:34:11.420 --> 00:34:13.640 And so we don't tell you what to do. 00:34:13.780 --> 00:34:22.120 We give you a framework in our desire is to get you to shape it, to adapt it to your context. 00:34:22.540 --> 00:34:26.760 What, uh, what good news life here is doing training a couple of college kids. 00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:32.400 Once again, a couple of college kids are going to reach people much differently than a 47 year 00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:35.460 old bald man with a beard is going to reach. 00:34:36.220 --> 00:34:40.980 And so the ability to train those people and equip them and mobilize them, send out. 00:34:42.060 --> 00:34:43.120 That's the desire. 00:34:43.740 --> 00:34:50.120 As we see this happen at a global scale, you know, at some level, and, and, and even, uh, 00:34:50.120 --> 00:34:54.740 he needs to understand here with, uh, with good news life as, as he's worked with college 00:34:54.740 --> 00:34:57.180 kids, which is a beautiful story, man. 00:34:57.240 --> 00:34:58.740 I need, we just need to catch up. 00:34:59.220 --> 00:35:04.060 Um, it's, it's, it's understanding the digital calling, helping those kids, helping those 00:35:04.060 --> 00:35:04.320 students. 00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:10.280 I say kids, they're adults, helping those college students understand what their digital 00:35:10.280 --> 00:35:11.260 calling is. 00:35:11.700 --> 00:35:13.400 What are you called to do? 00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:18.860 And, and, and, and, and to be honest, once again, who are you going to partner with to 00:35:18.860 --> 00:35:26.000 fill in the gaps, connect community, equip, mobilize, connect community, equip, mobilize. 00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:31.280 So many stories of people that just want to do connection and they fizzle out because they 00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:32.040 have no community. 00:35:32.720 --> 00:35:38.360 So many stories of people that are interested in developing digital community and really interested 00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:42.560 in discipleship and evangelism via digital community, but they're not good at creating 00:35:42.560 --> 00:35:43.040 content. 00:35:43.540 --> 00:35:48.900 And so their, their community fizzles out because they don't have people to feed down 00:35:48.900 --> 00:35:50.940 into the, the community level. 00:35:51.220 --> 00:35:56.240 My friend that I was telling you about the planter, she's really good at the, you know, equipping 00:35:56.240 --> 00:35:58.120 and mobilization level. 00:35:58.120 --> 00:36:03.980 And she wants to do incredible stuff, but she's not had success at the top to funnel in. 00:36:04.200 --> 00:36:09.040 And it's like, oh my gosh, if I could connect you with you and you in like almost Frankenstein, 00:36:09.160 --> 00:36:13.300 some sort of a network and turn it into a church, there could be an incredible. 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:20.240 Opportunity, an incredible movement as, as we get valid connection points, feeding into 00:36:20.240 --> 00:36:26.380 a tangible digital community, which is getting into feeding into a place where there's wisdom 00:36:26.380 --> 00:36:28.300 and strategy behind equipping and mobilization. 00:36:29.500 --> 00:36:34.660 And so as I'm saying all these things, it's not as important for you to think, oh my gosh, 00:36:34.660 --> 00:36:37.000 I have no idea how to equip people. 00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:40.600 Some of you will understand that. 00:36:40.700 --> 00:36:41.500 Some of you won't. 00:36:42.020 --> 00:36:43.380 Some of you don't need to. 00:36:43.540 --> 00:36:49.220 But there needs to be understanding my role I'm responsible for. 00:36:49.940 --> 00:36:54.440 And, and, and if I can't do it, I got, I need to come alongside somebody who can do it 00:36:54.440 --> 00:36:55.020 with me. 00:36:55.560 --> 00:37:01.020 And, and, and sometimes, you know, that person's going to be somebody who's on your team. 00:37:01.660 --> 00:37:07.340 And sometimes that's going to be, hey, let me partner with somebody that's outside of 00:37:07.340 --> 00:37:10.100 me and, and they work it within their ecosystem. 00:37:10.100 --> 00:37:16.160 You know, Jason Morris has, um, always not, I don't say always, I don't mean it that way, 00:37:16.160 --> 00:37:19.260 but JMO has, is our equipping and mobilization director. 00:37:19.560 --> 00:37:23.140 And I don't know, he's been with us a couple of years maybe. 00:37:23.460 --> 00:37:29.360 And so like he is representing and helping us build out the, the, our outposts and our, our 00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:30.460 decentralized networks. 00:37:30.460 --> 00:37:34.700 And, and what we're hoping to build out at a global level to resource digital missionary 00:37:34.700 --> 00:37:35.520 growth and movement. 00:37:35.520 --> 00:37:41.500 Um, we want to see 20,000 gospel conversations through our, uh, church digital missionaries 00:37:41.500 --> 00:37:42.660 in 2025. 00:37:42.660 --> 00:37:46.840 We want to see 20,000 gospel conversations in 2025. 00:37:47.860 --> 00:37:54.060 It's, it's, it's very aggressive stats and I'm excited about the opportunities therein and 00:37:54.060 --> 00:37:58.660 how God's, I think, going to use our obedience, but this really does, it comes down to like, 00:37:58.720 --> 00:38:01.400 that's what we're doing within the church digital. 00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:06.760 If I didn't have access to Jason Morris and some of the intentionality that he's bringing 00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:13.140 in, that doesn't let me off the ability to, to not create a multiplication strategy. 00:38:13.140 --> 00:38:17.180 To be honest, I'd probably be calling up that, that planter that I was talking about just 00:38:17.180 --> 00:38:21.340 a minute ago, who's really good at the bottom of the funnel and asking her, Hey, why don't 00:38:21.340 --> 00:38:24.480 you come on board and do something with us? 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:28.660 Or can I take the influence that I have and send it over to you and, and do that? 00:38:28.660 --> 00:38:32.860 And, and like, you know, you've seen me through the church digital, I bring plenty of people 00:38:32.860 --> 00:38:35.500 in and, and, and give them influence and share the platform. 00:38:35.600 --> 00:38:36.520 I have no problem with that. 00:38:37.080 --> 00:38:43.960 Um, just because you're not called to it doesn't release you from the responsibility. 00:38:44.820 --> 00:38:45.720 That's what I'm saying. 00:38:46.160 --> 00:38:51.360 Just because you're called to do only a part of it doesn't release you from the responsibility 00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:52.160 of the whole. 00:38:53.960 --> 00:38:55.480 God's given you these resources. 00:38:55.700 --> 00:38:56.820 God's given you these people. 00:38:57.220 --> 00:39:03.160 Are you, are you doing something with the talent, so to speak, or are you burying it in 00:39:03.160 --> 00:39:03.700 the sand? 00:39:03.700 --> 00:39:10.980 Um, are you able to multiply the gifts that he's given you or are you struggling to, to do 00:39:10.980 --> 00:39:13.760 anything with it for fear of, of losing it? 00:39:15.920 --> 00:39:17.580 That's the big difference. 00:39:17.580 --> 00:39:23.040 And really, I think maybe what I want to wrap with here today is the understanding of, of 00:39:23.040 --> 00:39:27.920 growing versus multiplying, growing versus multiplying. 00:39:28.400 --> 00:39:33.500 Like we can, we can grow a digital ministry. 00:39:34.500 --> 00:39:42.800 We can connect with people via content, pay ads, drive new people in utilize Google SEO. 00:39:42.800 --> 00:39:47.320 I'm not speaking bad of, uh, uh, search engine marketing, social media marketing. 00:39:47.520 --> 00:39:49.940 I've got friends that do that very well. 00:39:50.080 --> 00:39:52.120 It's a necessary part of digital ministry. 00:39:52.500 --> 00:39:56.540 But if that's the only thing that's bringing people in, that's interesting. 00:39:56.800 --> 00:40:03.240 So you've got people at the top level, and then you're feeding them into a community for evangelism 00:40:03.240 --> 00:40:04.060 and discipleship. 00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:05.800 That's growth. 00:40:06.340 --> 00:40:13.700 Now, the more checks you write to Google and to Facebook, the more money that you spend on 00:40:13.700 --> 00:40:15.680 getting new people to come into the funnel. 00:40:15.680 --> 00:40:19.600 Well, that's the more your digital ministry is going to grow. 00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:24.560 And that is an effective way to grow the ministry. 00:40:24.820 --> 00:40:32.780 At the global level, millions of U.S. dollars are spent in areas like MENA, in the MENA, Middle 00:40:32.780 --> 00:40:34.680 East, North Africa region. 00:40:35.300 --> 00:40:42.880 Millions of dollars are spent in India to drive and to get attention for people in those regions 00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:50.040 to get them connected to an organization and eventually get those fed into community or 00:40:50.040 --> 00:40:53.860 call centers with one-on-one people to have a conversation. 00:40:54.700 --> 00:40:55.860 That playbook's happening. 00:40:56.480 --> 00:40:57.920 And it's effective. 00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:00.660 But that's growth. 00:41:03.260 --> 00:41:07.220 As we're discipling these people, and this is what makes us unique. 00:41:07.820 --> 00:41:14.960 This is the thing that when I talk with other organizations, to be honest, I don't hear it. 00:41:15.720 --> 00:41:17.180 And maybe it's there. 00:41:17.600 --> 00:41:18.400 Maybe it's implied. 00:41:18.500 --> 00:41:21.900 Because sometimes I don't, I'm not clear on some things. 00:41:21.900 --> 00:41:23.160 And even some people question me. 00:41:23.260 --> 00:41:25.300 So like, I'm no judgment in this. 00:41:25.740 --> 00:41:32.460 But I'm not hearing this idea of helping people find their calling, equipping them to fill that 00:41:32.460 --> 00:41:35.140 calling, and then mobilizing and then sending them out. 00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:46.680 To me, that's the power and the purpose behind what we're doing compared to some of the others. 00:41:48.020 --> 00:41:51.040 Seth Godin, you've heard me tell this story many, many times. 00:41:51.900 --> 00:41:52.560 Somebody, it was funny. 00:41:52.620 --> 00:41:59.760 Actually, I told this story this morning to the group I was speaking with in Turkey, which 00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:00.280 is ironic. 00:42:00.980 --> 00:42:02.020 I'll tell you there in a second. 00:42:02.560 --> 00:42:05.120 So I was speaking with a group in Turkey about this. 00:42:05.660 --> 00:42:09.400 And Seth Godin, you know, is talking, Seth Godin, if you don't know, I've said his name 00:42:09.400 --> 00:42:09.900 a lot already. 00:42:10.340 --> 00:42:13.760 He is the, I mean, I don't know what to call him. 00:42:13.820 --> 00:42:18.340 He's a thought leader in communications and marketing here in the US. 00:42:18.780 --> 00:42:21.520 I don't know, US Times or New York Times bestseller. 00:42:21.900 --> 00:42:28.140 He's written 40 some books, like incredible, well known, well versed in the US and global 00:42:28.140 --> 00:42:28.460 scale. 00:42:29.120 --> 00:42:33.080 And so somebody asked Seth Godin, ironically, the guy that asked Seth Godin this question 00:42:33.080 --> 00:42:33.800 was in Turkey. 00:42:34.560 --> 00:42:37.560 It was part of Seth Godin's podcast, 2019, 2020. 00:42:38.040 --> 00:42:41.340 Somebody asked Seth Godin, hey, how do I get my message heard around the world? 00:42:42.020 --> 00:42:46.300 I say all this is ironic because the guy was in Turkey talking to Seth Godin, not a Christian 00:42:46.300 --> 00:42:47.340 who's in New York City. 00:42:47.520 --> 00:42:52.340 So the fact that, you know, he asked that question, got this message heard around the world. 00:42:52.500 --> 00:42:53.960 That wasn't what Seth answered though. 00:42:54.860 --> 00:42:58.100 Seth answered the question, how do I get my message heard around the world? 00:42:59.040 --> 00:43:04.280 And Seth's response was a billion people don't care about anything you have to say. 00:43:06.080 --> 00:43:11.840 If you want to get your message heard, it's not talking to a billion people. 00:43:12.340 --> 00:43:14.100 You need to think much smaller. 00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:16.980 Okay, it's not a billion. 00:43:17.200 --> 00:43:17.520 So what? 00:43:17.580 --> 00:43:24.720 I got to talk to a hundred million, 10 million, 1 million, 100,000, 10,000, 1,000. 00:43:25.780 --> 00:43:28.900 Seth, how much smaller do I need to think? 00:43:30.160 --> 00:43:35.040 This is the, this is the marketing thought leader in the U S if not global. 00:43:36.580 --> 00:43:39.740 If you want to get your message heard around the world, this is, it's literally a Kimbo 00:43:39.740 --> 00:43:45.000 podcast, 2019, email me, DM me directly, text me 4 4 3 2 4 8 7 2 4. 00:43:45.140 --> 00:43:47.320 I'll send you the link specifically where he says this. 00:43:47.700 --> 00:43:49.400 You want to get your message heard around the world. 00:43:50.040 --> 00:43:55.920 You craft a message specifically for someone, for an individual. 00:43:57.560 --> 00:44:01.140 Get that person to see it, hear it, understand it. 00:44:01.940 --> 00:44:04.860 Get that person to tell someone else. 00:44:07.500 --> 00:44:13.080 And when that person sees it, hears it, understands it and tell someone else, then they are driven 00:44:13.080 --> 00:44:16.660 to tell someone else and tell someone else. 00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:23.760 And all of a sudden now you've got a multiplication strategy in effect because you've got all these 00:44:23.760 --> 00:44:26.240 ones talking to their ones and fives and tens. 00:44:28.860 --> 00:44:31.180 This is the opportunity of the church digital. 00:44:31.900 --> 00:44:35.120 This is the opportunity of a digital missionary. 00:44:36.260 --> 00:44:38.680 This is the opportunity of a digital church planter. 00:44:39.860 --> 00:44:42.460 Not to amass these giant followers. 00:44:43.240 --> 00:44:45.680 We've talked about this in recent weeks. 00:44:46.120 --> 00:44:51.580 Not to get a large number of subscribers of nameless people we don't know. 00:44:53.040 --> 00:44:55.360 But to invest directly into people. 00:44:56.220 --> 00:44:57.740 To build relationships. 00:44:58.240 --> 00:44:59.560 To establish trust. 00:44:59.880 --> 00:45:06.100 To help people find Jesus and discover who Jesus is and what he would have for their 00:45:06.100 --> 00:45:10.480 lives and mobilize them for that calling. 00:45:12.480 --> 00:45:13.940 That is how we multiply. 00:45:15.700 --> 00:45:22.020 And to multiply, there has to be a reason why that community exists. 00:45:22.700 --> 00:45:28.320 There has to be intentionality to push those people into an equipping. 00:45:28.400 --> 00:45:29.460 Push may be the wrong word. 00:45:29.460 --> 00:45:37.560 To invite those people into an equipping so that you can personally or someone within your org, 00:45:37.720 --> 00:45:45.820 your chain, someone you're partnering with is responsible for equipping them to do what God is calling them to do. 00:45:46.340 --> 00:45:56.720 Because if we're not intentional about taking the resources that God is giving us and equipping them to do what God is calling them to do, 00:45:56.720 --> 00:46:00.000 what's the point? 00:46:01.380 --> 00:46:07.920 And if we're equipping people without knowing what they're doing and walking with them, 00:46:08.920 --> 00:46:11.200 well, then aren't we being a little reckless? 00:46:13.600 --> 00:46:16.080 As we're wrapping up, that's the flat wheel. 00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:21.880 The people we're connecting with digitally, we want to invite them into a community to establish trust, 00:46:21.980 --> 00:46:24.780 build relationships, evangelism, discipleship. 00:46:25.360 --> 00:46:31.640 In that context, we want to, through discipleship, we want to start to engage them and equip them, 00:46:32.040 --> 00:46:38.160 help them understand their calling and release them and mobilize them to do what God is calling them to do. 00:46:38.640 --> 00:46:39.580 Sounds easy, huh? 00:46:40.620 --> 00:46:41.380 Maybe it is. 00:46:42.080 --> 00:46:46.320 If you're interested in more of the questions on this, feel free to hit me up. 00:46:46.400 --> 00:46:47.220 You guys know where to find me. 00:46:47.280 --> 00:46:50.320 If you're watching on YouTube, put the comments here in YouTube. 00:46:50.320 --> 00:46:53.680 I answer every comment on YouTube. 00:46:53.800 --> 00:46:57.660 Personally, you'll often see, you almost always see the dash J-R. 00:46:57.860 --> 00:47:01.620 That is me, Jeff Reed, and I'm happy to engage with you on YouTube. 00:47:01.980 --> 00:47:08.340 Or you can find me in Discord or Slack, excuse me, Discord or WhatsApp, discord.thechurch.digital. 00:47:08.400 --> 00:47:09.400 Take your web browser there. 00:47:09.920 --> 00:47:12.080 WhatsApp, whatsapp.thechurch.digital. 00:47:12.180 --> 00:47:12.860 Find me there. 00:47:13.160 --> 00:47:20.360 Or you can go ahead and give me my cell phone number, plus 1-484-324-8724. 00:47:21.460 --> 00:47:24.880 And once again, the music just kind of panned out perfectly right there at the end. 00:47:25.280 --> 00:47:25.840 That was nice. 00:47:26.620 --> 00:47:27.980 So we're going to land the plane today. 00:47:28.360 --> 00:47:29.320 I hope this was helpful. 00:47:29.420 --> 00:47:37.120 Next week, we're going to do a deep dive in mobilization and start to paint a picture of, 00:47:37.260 --> 00:47:44.100 okay, once we get people off spiritual milk and we get them on solid food, what's our responsibility 00:47:44.100 --> 00:47:47.640 and how do we immobilize them? 00:47:47.720 --> 00:47:48.760 How do we apprentice them? 00:47:48.820 --> 00:47:51.040 How do we get them out of the nest? 00:47:51.100 --> 00:47:55.280 How do we kick them out without, you know, destroying or burning them in the process? 00:47:55.280 --> 00:47:57.680 And what is our responsibility long-term? 00:47:58.340 --> 00:48:03.700 And more than that, how can the Church Digital help you do this? 00:48:04.140 --> 00:48:04.420 All right. 00:48:04.800 --> 00:48:05.620 So that's going to wrap up. 00:48:05.680 --> 00:48:09.980 Don't forget about February 12th is February 11th is the town hall meeting. 00:48:11.020 --> 00:48:12.480 That was really weird. 00:48:13.520 --> 00:48:15.560 I don't know what I was thinking when I did that. 00:48:15.680 --> 00:48:17.400 So nobody turned that into a clip. 00:48:17.460 --> 00:48:18.340 I would really appreciate it. 00:48:18.340 --> 00:48:19.240 But we're going to wrap. 00:48:19.420 --> 00:48:22.640 So for Jeff, this is Jeff with the Church Digital. 00:48:22.860 --> 00:48:25.860 Thanks for hanging out with us with this podcast. 00:48:25.980 --> 00:48:27.100 We'll see you next time on the show. 00:48:28.020 --> 00:48:28.640 Y'all have a good one.