WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.740 Jeff here with the Church Digital, live streaming from my car. 00:00:06.420 --> 00:00:12.680 I actually had a meeting with a church that went really well here in Miami. 00:00:12.680 --> 00:00:16.360 One of our partner churches with the Church Digital, Christ Journey. 00:00:17.200 --> 00:00:19.900 I can go ahead and say this. 00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:21.140 I'm excited to say this. 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:26.120 I will be joining staff with Christ Journey later this year. 00:00:26.740 --> 00:00:28.780 It's part I wanted to talk about today. 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.520 But I also wanted to get into some other things just going on with life. 00:00:34.140 --> 00:00:39.400 The struggles and the opportunities of bivocational ministry and everything that's involved. 00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:44.860 Actually, I am not driving because you can see I'm not touching the steering wheel. 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:49.220 AI is driving for me in my nice Tesla. 00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:51.720 Thank you, Tesla, for driving. 00:00:52.700 --> 00:00:53.540 It was funny. 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:55.620 Tesla actually drove me here today. 00:00:56.220 --> 00:00:57.320 I almost got in a car wreck. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.860 I literally honked the horn, you know, Tesla, when it's got cameras everywhere. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:04.740 And so when you honk the horn, it records video. 00:01:04.880 --> 00:01:07.000 And so I have to go back and see how close it was. 00:01:07.100 --> 00:01:08.680 But somebody came out. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:09.520 Sly! 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:10.800 Sly! 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:12.020 Right off the bat, dude. 00:01:12.160 --> 00:01:13.680 I screwed up. 00:01:14.320 --> 00:01:15.620 Bro, that's on me? 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:17.300 I am so sorry. 00:01:17.660 --> 00:01:19.840 I had this meeting booked. 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:21.540 It wasn't on my calendar. 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:27.540 And I was physically on site with this Church Christ journey. 00:01:28.180 --> 00:01:30.920 And I picked up my phone to see what time it was. 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:34.200 And I immediately saw your text message. 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:38.140 And I was like, oh crap, did I never cancel with Sly? 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:43.520 And so Sly, sir, that is 100% on me. 00:01:43.720 --> 00:01:47.140 Thank you for your grace that you're showing via chat. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:49.120 I'll make it up to you. 00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:50.500 I don't know how. 00:01:50.580 --> 00:01:51.300 We'll figure it out. 00:01:51.940 --> 00:01:55.940 But, man, that's a lot of traffic that way. 00:01:57.300 --> 00:01:58.280 Welcome to Miami. 00:01:58.660 --> 00:01:59.820 Traffic all over the place. 00:01:59.860 --> 00:02:01.860 I'm going to have to go a different route. 00:02:02.940 --> 00:02:06.220 Anyway, yeah, it's been a hectic. 00:02:06.380 --> 00:02:07.980 It's been a fun couple days. 00:02:08.100 --> 00:02:09.560 I'm actually coming back from vacation. 00:02:10.640 --> 00:02:12.280 I was, well, that car is doing that. 00:02:12.320 --> 00:02:13.380 So I have to do this. 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:16.220 Oh, life is interesting. 00:02:16.920 --> 00:02:17.580 I don't want to die. 00:02:18.940 --> 00:02:21.320 Yeah, that guy was probably upset with me. 00:02:23.940 --> 00:02:25.940 Life, I saw I was on vacation last week. 00:02:25.980 --> 00:02:26.920 And it was fun. 00:02:27.040 --> 00:02:28.100 It was relaxing. 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:31.740 I spent some time with the family, which was great. 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:33.080 They're all at school. 00:02:33.260 --> 00:02:34.180 They're off from school. 00:02:34.440 --> 00:02:35.560 You know, my kids are in high school. 00:02:35.880 --> 00:02:37.340 My wife's a high school teacher. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:40.660 And so when everybody's at the house, man, I kind of like. 00:02:41.720 --> 00:02:43.340 It's hard to stay motivated. 00:02:43.440 --> 00:02:44.420 I like sleeping in. 00:02:44.740 --> 00:02:49.080 I like, you know, last night we went and got ice cream after dinner and just like. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:50.860 I like being around my family. 00:02:51.900 --> 00:02:52.720 We did a call. 00:02:52.780 --> 00:02:54.420 I'll tell you about some of this in a little bit. 00:02:54.820 --> 00:03:03.380 Before I get to a couple things, just one, we haven't talked about this, but equipping digital missionaries. 00:03:03.660 --> 00:03:10.380 We have a new series of equipping digital missionaries cohorts coming out this August. 00:03:10.380 --> 00:03:14.180 This later in, towards the end of August. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:36.580 Equipping digital missionaries is a 10-week, excuse me, a five-week, we've shortened it, a five-week cohort where we walk people like you through what it means to be a digital missionary and start to give you some trainings to wrap your brain around how to be more effective in your digital mission calling. 00:03:37.220 --> 00:03:38.740 And so it's a lot of fun. 00:03:39.180 --> 00:03:50.340 And I'll tell you, this is the round where we are baiting our new LMS, our new learning management system called Nobi. 00:03:50.880 --> 00:03:53.820 And so Nobi is a partner organization. 00:03:53.820 --> 00:04:00.220 We're excited to have them on board and check out thechurch.digital.edm. 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:16.300 If you are interested in what a digital missionary is, if you're new to the Church Digital and trying to wrap your brain around how to get connected or what it looks like to be part of the network of digital missionaries that we have here at the Church Digital, 00:04:16.300 --> 00:04:22.120 your first step is thechurch.digital.edm. 00:04:22.200 --> 00:04:25.380 Hey, Troy, Troy, I haven't seen you in a while yet either. 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:27.880 We got to catch up with my friends and talk. 00:04:27.960 --> 00:04:28.500 We'd love that. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:30.760 So thechurch.digital.edm. 00:04:30.760 --> 00:04:45.700 By the way, the other thing is we have a small digital missionary conference, excuse me, four digital missionary conferences coming up in September and October. 00:04:46.020 --> 00:04:57.760 We've got the information on the website, which is constantly growing and expanding, thechurch.digital, excuse me, missionary.digital, www.missionary.digital.edm. 00:04:57.760 --> 00:05:01.920 You can get more information on the four summits there. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:17.700 We've got a digital neighborhood, September 17th, talking about the culture that exists in platforms and recognizing that culture and sharing Jesus inside that culture, even planting churches in that culture. 00:05:18.520 --> 00:05:27.880 We've got, in addition to that, we've got Christ-centered, we've got the Control-Alt-Recover, Christ-Centered Recovery happening September 24th. 00:05:27.880 --> 00:05:36.520 October 1st is the European Digital Missionary Conference, and October 8th is the Gaming Digital Missionary Summit. 00:05:36.700 --> 00:05:46.860 So we've got four major events coming up in September, October, and you all want to get plugged in to that. 00:05:46.960 --> 00:05:50.760 All the conferences are free, and you just need to register. 00:05:50.760 --> 00:05:57.900 Swing over to the website, missionary.digital, www.missionary.digital. 00:05:58.820 --> 00:06:02.080 Okay, hey, I don't know if you can see this. 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:03.740 This is what it's like living in Miami. 00:06:04.460 --> 00:06:08.060 You see that Lamborghini right there? 00:06:08.700 --> 00:06:11.280 It's, sorry, I changed the camera sideways. 00:06:11.820 --> 00:06:12.780 You see that Lamborghini? 00:06:13.460 --> 00:06:15.860 Yeah, that's what it's like living in Miami. 00:06:16.020 --> 00:06:17.840 You get people with really nice cars. 00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:21.820 Like, I have a nice car, a Tesla's driving me, I said that earlier. 00:06:22.960 --> 00:06:28.680 But, yeah, Lamborghinis, Porsches, all over the place. 00:06:28.900 --> 00:06:32.720 My son is, he drools over this stuff. 00:06:33.080 --> 00:06:40.980 Like, he just, he sees these fancy cars, and I'm like, dude, CJ, yeah, that's a whole other league of money, bro. 00:06:40.980 --> 00:06:44.960 So, you know, marry well or get a good job. 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:46.860 And so, we'll see. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:49.160 I was offensive when I said that marry well thing. 00:06:49.300 --> 00:06:50.160 I didn't mean that. 00:06:50.280 --> 00:06:52.320 That was an inopportune joke. 00:06:52.460 --> 00:06:53.180 I apologize. 00:06:53.420 --> 00:06:56.740 I just lost two followers by saying, marry well. 00:06:56.880 --> 00:06:59.920 Hey, Melanie is saying San Diego can be like that too. 00:07:00.380 --> 00:07:06.600 Lots of, you know, crazy, crazy cars, you know, in some of these states. 00:07:07.220 --> 00:07:08.720 It's a lot of fun. 00:07:08.860 --> 00:07:13.240 So, Tesla is driving me home. 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:22.000 And, you know, with my health, with my legs, I don't drive well. 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:23.380 Like, I can't feel my feet. 00:07:23.440 --> 00:07:24.400 I've talked about that before. 00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:33.480 And so, you know, honestly, my feet getting the gas and the brake pedal confused happens more than it should. 00:07:34.380 --> 00:07:39.120 And so, in this situation, having AI drive me home actually pays off pretty well. 00:07:39.200 --> 00:07:41.220 I have to keep my eyes on the road or the car yells at me. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.100 And, yeah, it's good stuff. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:48.400 So, if you're like, how's he doing this without even, like, touching the wheel? 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:51.460 It's because, what does Tesla call their AI? 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:57.440 Gronk, Gronk, Gronk is doing an excellent job of taking me home. 00:07:58.280 --> 00:08:00.360 Hey, so, here's the deal. 00:08:00.540 --> 00:08:04.880 Let me just share a little bit of what's going on in my life. 00:08:05.420 --> 00:08:15.140 So, I have taken a position, a role with one of our partner churches in town, Christ Journey. 00:08:15.140 --> 00:08:21.540 Christ Journey, actually, I was working with that church pre-COVID. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:30.780 When COVID hit, I was actually on leadership with Christ Journey and helped them early navigate some of the tensions early on. 00:08:31.440 --> 00:08:35.760 I would also, like, and it's just been a church that's very close to my heart. 00:08:36.260 --> 00:08:38.240 It's not the church that I currently attend. 00:08:38.800 --> 00:08:41.320 I attend another church called Reality Church. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:50.020 That's a church plant that my, a good friend of mine, Carlos Lollet, is a planter and pastor of and love Carlos, love the church that's there. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:09:09.220 But an opportunity came up to get back to some of my technical roots and start to re-engage in live production and help the church kind of launch out a new campus and a new outreach for ministry. 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:19.160 And so, I'm getting back into the physical, multi-site, mega-church type of a model. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:26.340 And you've heard me say many times, yeah, the mega-site, the multi-site church model, it's not perfect. 00:09:26.540 --> 00:09:28.200 No model is perfect. 00:09:28.860 --> 00:09:38.920 It's got its flaws, it's got its strengths, but the mega-site, the mega-church, the multi-site church, it's going to reach the people it's going to reach. 00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:43.060 Actually, I'm going into a brand-new campus. 00:09:43.620 --> 00:09:46.000 Literally, the building is not even done being constructed. 00:09:46.700 --> 00:09:49.760 It's supposed to launch in October, November. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:10:03.820 And so, I'm going into a brand-new building, a brand-new facility in a very densely populated area of Miami to go set up an outpost for ministry to be the light of Christ in that area. 00:10:03.980 --> 00:10:06.200 And I am so excited. 00:10:06.860 --> 00:10:11.040 I am so excited to do ministry in this space. 00:10:11.040 --> 00:10:16.020 Now, this is not digital ministry, it's physical. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:23.060 And I am happy to say I am excited to still be doing the church digital as well. 00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:28.480 Christ Journey, you go to ChristJourney.org, you can see more information about the church. 00:10:29.020 --> 00:10:35.800 They are, like I said, they've been supporters of the church digital for years. 00:10:36.640 --> 00:10:42.340 Even pre-COVID, they had visions and were supportive of what we were doing. 00:10:42.340 --> 00:10:50.180 And were financial supporters of us, the church digital, as well as the digital missionary conference. 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:52.560 Like, they buy in. 00:10:52.620 --> 00:11:12.320 Actually, I was sitting down with the executive director, who is just so praising of the work that's been done and is so open and receptive to what empowering individuals to share the gospel in today's culture can be. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:14.900 I mean, really awe-inspiring stuff. 00:11:14.900 --> 00:11:25.720 Like, some of the conversations we've had is, how do we take this equipping and mobilizing mindset into physical churches? 00:11:26.340 --> 00:11:29.480 What does – this is literally the conversation that we had. 00:11:29.760 --> 00:11:33.520 What does accountability look like in the church environment? 00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:49.320 And this is, you know, I actually – on one of these streams, maybe a couple hundred episodes ago, I had a physical – no, I had a microchurch network leader tell me, hey, Jeff, you really can't – the church cannot say the word accountability because people don't like accountability. 00:11:49.860 --> 00:11:54.300 Like, you know, we all say we're going to go be the light in the darkness. 00:11:54.300 --> 00:12:01.980 We all say that we are going to enter – when we leave the church building, we're going to enter the mission field. 00:12:02.260 --> 00:12:03.140 We all say that. 00:12:03.820 --> 00:12:08.980 But when push comes to shove, do the people in the pews actually do anything? 00:12:10.260 --> 00:12:11.660 Where is it lost? 00:12:11.760 --> 00:12:14.060 Do they not – are we not communicating it properly? 00:12:14.180 --> 00:12:15.540 Do they need a framework or a system? 00:12:16.560 --> 00:12:18.240 Do they need accountability? 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:25.920 What does accountability look like for an unpaid volunteer who you're asking to catch vision to do something in a spiritual level? 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:29.940 Like, there's some complexity that's involved in this conversation, right? 00:12:30.660 --> 00:12:31.820 And I'll never forget this. 00:12:32.260 --> 00:12:32.880 Thanks, Judy. 00:12:34.900 --> 00:12:35.260 Julie. 00:12:35.500 --> 00:12:36.120 Judy or Judy? 00:12:36.760 --> 00:12:37.600 Steele, thank you. 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:40.160 It just popped up real quick on my screen. 00:12:40.340 --> 00:12:42.280 And for laughing at me, I can't remember which your first name is. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:42.920 I'm Steele. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:45.460 But I do appreciate that. 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:53.840 The challenge that Ryan said, he's like, you know, it's not accountability. 00:12:56.160 --> 00:12:57.680 And I was like, oh, crap, that's good. 00:12:58.560 --> 00:13:01.080 Like, it's not accountability. 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:05.340 We're going to, like, put our thumb on you when you don't do it. 00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:10.400 But it's the integrity of, hey, what is God calling you to do? 00:13:11.300 --> 00:13:16.060 And do you actually have the integrity to follow through? 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:23.720 I was sitting back, and I was like, Ryan, that is – that's beautiful. 00:13:25.380 --> 00:13:29.180 It's not accountability with the thumb. 00:13:29.300 --> 00:13:36.780 It's integrity where you're inviting them to keep the promise they have, 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:40.640 not with the church, but with God. 00:13:41.580 --> 00:13:43.360 Hey, video might be a little sketchy. 00:13:43.880 --> 00:13:47.640 I'm driving a car on a cell phone, and I hope 5G. 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:50.480 So it is what it is. 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:51.560 Hopefully, it works. 00:13:52.880 --> 00:13:55.600 So it was just a beautiful conversation. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:02.520 I am looking forward to getting back into the physical church space. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:04.200 It's interesting. 00:14:04.380 --> 00:14:06.000 This is praising of digital. 00:14:06.780 --> 00:14:12.020 I love the fact that I have digital relationships globally. 00:14:13.380 --> 00:14:16.080 You know, I had a meeting this morning with Barbara and her team. 00:14:16.780 --> 00:14:19.760 Barbara is in Barcelona. 00:14:20.020 --> 00:14:23.540 Ingrid is in Portugal. 00:14:24.540 --> 00:14:30.680 And so working with people – you know, yesterday, I had a face-to-face meeting with Cindy from Hong Kong. 00:14:31.680 --> 00:14:34.260 You know, WhatsApp-ing people from different continents. 00:14:34.920 --> 00:14:36.080 Like, it's fascinating. 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:42.320 I was talking yesterday with Adrian from Oceania, from Australia. 00:14:43.380 --> 00:14:48.920 Like, it's so much fun to have all these relationships and see all this grow. 00:14:51.820 --> 00:14:58.020 My daughter says to me the other day, she says, Daddy, do you even have friends in Miami anymore? 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:02.400 And that was like the, huh. 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:04.400 Okay. 00:15:04.760 --> 00:15:06.300 So I'm well-connected globally. 00:15:06.300 --> 00:15:08.540 I'm developing relationships digitally globally. 00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:14.740 But I think part of me is pivoting too much globally. 00:15:15.100 --> 00:15:20.500 And I want to revert back and be a little more in some of the physical space as well. 00:15:21.140 --> 00:15:25.120 Now, some of that is my calling towards being a digital minister. 00:15:25.520 --> 00:15:29.100 And that's – I'm very happy that God's given me this opportunity. 00:15:29.700 --> 00:15:31.040 Part of that has actually been my health. 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:34.720 Many of you know, and I said it earlier, like I have diabetic neuropathy. 00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:36.000 I still can't feel my legs. 00:15:36.220 --> 00:15:38.260 I've got arthritis in my knees. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:39.560 I've got shin splints. 00:15:39.660 --> 00:15:41.820 I've got – I mean, I can just rattle off. 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:49.040 If anything that can go wrong beneath my knees except for gangrene where I have to cut it off, that is going on right now. 00:15:49.740 --> 00:15:57.580 And so it's a little bit of me of, okay, I'm going to have to like step out of my comfort zone. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:08.720 Because right now it's easy for me to wake up at 8 o'clock in the morning, take a shower, walk into my guest bedroom where my office is set up in a five-by-five square area. 00:16:09.400 --> 00:16:12.400 I literally have a coffee machine sitting on my desk. 00:16:12.800 --> 00:16:16.000 And I could be drinking a cup of coffee by 8.30 in a meeting. 00:16:16.280 --> 00:16:17.340 Like that's just easy. 00:16:17.420 --> 00:16:17.980 That's convenient. 00:16:18.280 --> 00:16:19.620 And by the way, that is so effective. 00:16:20.140 --> 00:16:26.160 I'm not ripping that model because the church digital has been highly successful with that model. 00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:28.260 And Lord willing, we'll continue to be that. 00:16:29.680 --> 00:16:31.120 I'm not leaving the church digital. 00:16:32.820 --> 00:16:42.700 But there's this interesting dynamic where outside of my family, I don't know that I've got a lot of friends locally. 00:16:43.540 --> 00:16:44.360 Actually, it was funny. 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:45.720 I was texting Garrett Silgy. 00:16:45.820 --> 00:16:48.020 I run an ABL company with Garrett. 00:16:48.520 --> 00:16:50.200 Garrett honestly does all the work. 00:16:50.660 --> 00:16:53.620 And I cash checks. 00:16:54.280 --> 00:16:55.760 Thank you, Garrett, if you're watching this. 00:16:55.800 --> 00:16:56.500 I appreciate that. 00:16:57.700 --> 00:17:03.700 But, you know, I don't see Garrett but once a year in physical space, unless we're on a job. 00:17:04.340 --> 00:17:08.500 And so I was actually texting him yesterday about I went to a Coldplay concert over Saturday night. 00:17:08.540 --> 00:17:10.000 He went to the same concert Sunday night. 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:16.740 But it was like, dude, are we actually going to be able to sit in a coffeehouse together and have a physical conversation? 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:21.540 That's not via, like, FaceTime, WhatsApp, texting, or Zoom. 00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:37.480 Because it's just, it's, that's, when physical relationships go digital and not physical, only digital and no physical, I'm thinking, hey, there's something missing. 00:17:38.820 --> 00:17:39.640 You know, it was interesting. 00:17:39.740 --> 00:17:41.400 I was watching even a TV show. 00:17:42.180 --> 00:17:44.160 I forget what TV show it was last night. 00:17:46.740 --> 00:17:48.920 I was watching something with my wife. 00:17:49.660 --> 00:17:56.600 And there was, there was a line in the TV show where a woman said, well, of course, I don't have any friends. 00:17:56.800 --> 00:18:00.700 I'm a 43-year-old mother, single mother. 00:18:01.300 --> 00:18:05.940 I'm a 43-year-old woman, a single mother woman, something like that. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.300 And, and, and, and I kind of laughed. 00:18:09.380 --> 00:18:11.980 I looked at my wife and I was like, my wife's not 43. 00:18:12.140 --> 00:18:13.140 She's a little older. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:14.000 I'm not going to call her out. 00:18:14.660 --> 00:18:16.440 But I was like, is that, is that true? 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:21.840 Do, do, do, do, do like 43-year-old women have trouble. 00:18:23.740 --> 00:18:25.620 And I was like, oh my gosh, of course. 00:18:25.760 --> 00:18:26.140 Yes. 00:18:27.100 --> 00:18:36.620 And I realized, you know, I mean, she's got, she's got close friends, but we, we've, we've moved this life away from physicality. 00:18:38.720 --> 00:19:00.440 So, what does it look like for a digital missionary to be engaging in ministry digitally, to be operating in digital space, to be building relationships in digital community, represent the culture of the digital community, while still being grounded in a healthy physical environment? 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:04.540 I would love a conversation around that. 00:19:04.540 --> 00:19:06.600 I would love a conversation around that. 00:19:09.300 --> 00:19:11.940 The, I don't, I don't know the answer. 00:19:12.660 --> 00:19:16.380 Like, I, I, I walk that tension. 00:19:17.160 --> 00:19:19.200 Listen, we're incredibly successfully digitally. 00:19:19.380 --> 00:19:19.960 I love it. 00:19:20.620 --> 00:19:38.040 I, I, if, there's part of me, I, I definitely love the idea of doing online remote ministry, remote work, remote leadership teams being as global oriented as, as we are. 00:19:38.900 --> 00:19:45.500 I'm going to be honest, we're doing a board of director meeting, and the majority of the board of directors live here in Miami. 00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:47.460 It would be very easy to jump on a Zoom call. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:53.140 A couple of the board, one, I think one person at this point lives outside of Miami. 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:55.020 We're flying them in. 00:19:56.080 --> 00:20:04.640 Fly to Miami, we put you up in a hotel for a couple days, and let's actually, instead of doing it on Zoom, let's meet together in physical space. 00:20:05.100 --> 00:20:05.460 Why? 00:20:05.940 --> 00:20:08.040 Because there's value in meeting together physically. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:14.600 There are ways to be more effective in, in meetings and conversations physically than digitally. 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:16.640 That's not knocking digitally. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:27.680 To, to get into a deep planning, a deep meeting conversation, deep strategy, you can build trust much quicker. 00:20:28.760 --> 00:20:33.560 You can deepen trust much deeper physically, I think, than digitally. 00:20:34.760 --> 00:20:42.320 It takes a little bit longer digitally, although it's easier because of constant communications. 00:20:42.500 --> 00:20:44.980 We can get into the weeds on that if you want. 00:20:46.280 --> 00:20:54.520 But the fact is, is that I'm walking this tension of what is the relationship between physicality and digital? 00:20:54.900 --> 00:21:00.480 And how can we be digital ministries but still being healthy physical? 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:03.260 I was listening to a podcast a while back. 00:21:03.420 --> 00:21:04.480 Oh my gosh, this is funny. 00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:08.060 I'll actually, I'll parallel it with something else. 00:21:08.760 --> 00:21:11.540 If you've ever watched Die Hard, I love Die Hard. 00:21:11.620 --> 00:21:12.660 The best Christmas movie ever. 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:13.740 You can at me on that. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:20.000 But, you know, the opening scene, Bruce Willis is on this airplane, and this has nothing to do with the entire movie. 00:21:20.340 --> 00:21:26.100 Except this is why Bruce Willis eventually takes off his shoes at the Nakatomi Plaza, I think it is. 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:40.060 But the guy sitting next to Bruce Willis is talking about, hey, to get over the jet lag, when you take off your shoes, curl your toes in the carpet. 00:21:40.520 --> 00:21:47.960 It's like this, in the movie, it's like this physical trigger that gets people to work through the jet lag. 00:21:49.420 --> 00:21:52.460 And it's funny that Bruce Willis actually does that in the movie. 00:21:52.700 --> 00:21:53.920 He says, oh my gosh, it works. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:58.760 And then his shoes are off when the terrorists come in, and then Bruce Willis is running around barefoot for the rest of the movie. 00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:00.700 Blood everywhere, you can watch it. 00:22:02.600 --> 00:22:08.300 There's an interesting, I heard a podcast from John Pyle a while back. 00:22:10.100 --> 00:22:18.020 We had on, it was a great guy, talking about the, and it was about this, the, the, some of the tension between physicality and digital. 00:22:18.980 --> 00:22:20.000 Great podcast. 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:21.780 We'll have to find it in the show notes. 00:22:22.340 --> 00:22:27.780 But John, the guest said, you know, sometimes you got to get the grasp between your toes. 00:22:31.360 --> 00:22:39.760 And if I'm honest in my own life, whether it's work, whether it's ministry, whether it's my own physicality, 00:22:39.760 --> 00:22:51.640 limitations that, that have existed, whether it's my just lack of a desire to do it in physical, I, I just, yeah, my, my, or the fact that it's 120% humidity outside. 00:22:53.860 --> 00:22:58.080 The idea of getting the grasp between my toes has not been, been a strong point for me. 00:22:58.940 --> 00:22:59.980 And so I got to do it. 00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:02.300 I got to get the grasp between my toes. 00:23:02.900 --> 00:23:04.100 I got to get out of the house. 00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:07.000 I got to let AI do some driving for me. 00:23:08.040 --> 00:23:11.020 And, and so I'm taking this role in Christ's journey. 00:23:12.120 --> 00:23:14.500 I'm excited about doing ministry in physical space. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:17.620 I'm, I'm excited about where the church is going. 00:23:17.820 --> 00:23:19.920 They're coming up on their hundredth year anniversary. 00:23:20.780 --> 00:23:31.660 And there's a lot of energy in a hundred year old legacy, uh, mega multi-site church in Miami. 00:23:32.660 --> 00:23:42.620 Launching this new campus, um, launching some other new initiatives, um, you know, a strong pastor, biblical, biblically grounded. 00:23:43.140 --> 00:23:49.300 It's a, it's a, uh, a desire to empower individuals with the gospel. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:53.880 Like it's, it's a, it's a really fascinating opportunity. 00:23:55.860 --> 00:24:07.540 When I look at the church digital, I, so in many ways, you know, the church digital is a, it's a fractional, we talk about it's a fractional part-time job. 00:24:07.600 --> 00:24:08.740 It's a volunteer organization. 00:24:09.780 --> 00:24:11.160 I'll, I'll say something publicly. 00:24:11.320 --> 00:24:12.460 This is the first time I've said this. 00:24:12.520 --> 00:24:15.360 We'll, we'll share this, that in other, in other places. 00:24:16.360 --> 00:24:21.700 I, the church digital ended its first year of nonprofit status. 00:24:23.340 --> 00:24:31.180 Um, 2024, July 1, 2025, June 30th, July to June fiscal year. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:39.500 And so this is actually our first year of being a nonprofit organization before the church digital has been around a long time before. 00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:46.020 Honestly, we were a for-profit organization run off my, you know, bank account. 00:24:46.360 --> 00:24:50.640 Uh, but we moved this past year to being nonprofit. 00:24:51.380 --> 00:24:57.540 And, um, organizationally we've operated on 75,000 U.S. dollars. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:04.200 2024, 2025, that 12 month period, we had $75,000 come in. 00:25:04.560 --> 00:25:08.460 And organizationally we spent $76,000. 00:25:10.100 --> 00:25:13.200 First off, that is incredible. 00:25:13.380 --> 00:25:14.340 I am so thankful. 00:25:14.340 --> 00:25:20.620 I am so grateful for the $75,000 that's come in organizationally. 00:25:20.800 --> 00:25:22.920 That's, uh, Giving Tuesday. 00:25:23.540 --> 00:25:27.120 That's, uh, the first conference, conference sponsors. 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:29.200 That's individual donors. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:30.920 That's sponsoring churches. 00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:34.280 That's sponsoring organizations, missions organizations. 00:25:34.700 --> 00:25:40.260 Um, like that is an incredible amount of money. 00:25:40.260 --> 00:25:44.660 To go from zero to $75,000 is, uh, is a testimony to. 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:54.540 The fact that I was able to stay on budget and take it and spend $76,000 of the $75,000 is incredible as well. 00:25:55.560 --> 00:25:58.020 Just because I love spending other people's money. 00:25:59.820 --> 00:26:00.860 Sorry, Christ journey. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:10.480 Um, that being said, I cannot believe, like, this is the thing that I want to like step back and I want to document. 00:26:10.980 --> 00:26:22.340 I cannot believe the amount of ministry impact we have had at a global level with spending $75,000, $76,000. 00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:28.060 Like, um, uh, seven, was it six times 12 is $72,000. 00:26:28.840 --> 00:26:33.240 So, you know, just rough math in my head, $6,400 a month. 00:26:34.320 --> 00:26:37.620 Like, that's not even a, that's not even a full-time salary. 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:40.440 Like that, I could not live on that in Miami. 00:26:41.140 --> 00:26:42.180 Miami is just so expensive. 00:26:43.120 --> 00:26:52.020 But this fractional leader, this volunteer team, these people that, that we're developing and empowering and casting vision towards. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:27:04.320 It's been a whole life-affirming thing to see people catch the vision of digital missionaries, to understand the vision of the church digital, and to propagate this out in big ways globally. 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:06.120 And I'm so thankful for that. 00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:09.200 Um, I, I was at a crossroads. 00:27:10.500 --> 00:27:17.020 Do I, Jeff, do I make the $72,000, $76,000, $75,000 that comes in? 00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:18.600 Does that go into my bank account? 00:27:19.460 --> 00:27:21.200 And like, how do we pay for tech stack? 00:27:21.300 --> 00:27:23.240 How do we pay for other leadership? 00:27:23.380 --> 00:27:24.320 No, everybody's volunteer. 00:27:24.840 --> 00:27:26.560 Or do I say, hey, you know what? 00:27:27.220 --> 00:27:29.380 I'm going to make very little, just like everybody else. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:30.740 Everybody else is making very little. 00:27:31.300 --> 00:27:34.240 And, and the tech stack is growing and increasing in cost. 00:27:34.700 --> 00:27:36.620 Marketing is growing and increasing in cost. 00:27:36.700 --> 00:27:40.240 It's where, we're accelerating, growing, sending out. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:44.340 And, and I went to ladder model, which is why I'm, I'm getting a job. 00:27:44.820 --> 00:27:45.160 Nice journey. 00:27:45.820 --> 00:27:48.500 Because, yes, I'm very excited about physical ministry. 00:27:49.160 --> 00:27:50.860 Yes, I'm very excited about digital ministry. 00:27:51.340 --> 00:27:56.880 And I have a unique, unique skill set in place where I get to do both. 00:27:57.620 --> 00:28:02.580 Um, and, and hopefully make a little money along the way to pay the bills. 00:28:04.800 --> 00:28:23.660 When I look around the, the mid digital ministry spaces right now, to be honest, I can only pick out a handful of missionaries, a handful of church planters that are paid 100% by an organization. 00:28:24.520 --> 00:28:31.080 Like the, the, there's very few that are on a quote unquote salary per se. 00:28:33.340 --> 00:28:46.560 And that number honestly, um, feels like it's diminishing more and more as, as more and more organizations are leaning towards a bivocational or a fundraising model in, in, in, in digital missionary space. 00:28:47.180 --> 00:28:52.080 I mean, even like the, we, we do a lot with crew and crew is a immense supporter. 00:28:52.360 --> 00:28:53.900 I'm so thankful of crew. 00:28:53.900 --> 00:29:01.260 Crew is actually the, one of the major sponsors right now of the digital missionary conference coming up, um, here in September and October. 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:13.980 But even crew, uh, they invite their staff to, to fundraise, to generate their own salaries that, that are coming in to fundraise for the budgets of, of what's happening. 00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:23.280 And so the old model of, Hey, we're going to do ministry and we're expecting the ministry. 00:29:23.280 --> 00:29:24.900 We're expecting the ministry to pay for our salary. 00:29:25.800 --> 00:29:30.640 I mean, to be honest, I, I'm, I'm, I'm taking one of those jobs in, in, in physical church space. 00:29:31.080 --> 00:29:32.700 And, and, and, and I'm grateful for that. 00:29:32.700 --> 00:29:42.000 But to be honest, I've also got a couple other revenue streams in place between the ABL company that I've started, a couple other contracts. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:49.600 I've got a conversation later today with another, uh, organization that may want to put me on a contract and I'll be a very above board. 00:29:49.600 --> 00:29:52.320 Like the meeting that I just had with, with Ryan at Christ's journey. 00:29:52.520 --> 00:29:56.260 Hey, just so you know, here are the conversations that I'm still having. 00:29:56.360 --> 00:29:57.560 I am accepting this job. 00:29:57.980 --> 00:30:03.500 Um, if I do sign a contract over here, then I'm going to invite some other people to be part of that contract. 00:30:03.500 --> 00:30:08.860 And by the way, if I do sign on with this company over here, here's how it's going to benefit Christ's journey. 00:30:10.680 --> 00:30:14.580 Like I would challenge us and I'm a serial entrepreneur. 00:30:15.120 --> 00:30:20.100 I, I have started exactly a really interesting thought right now. 00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:28.340 I've started more businesses than I've owned cars, but I've owned, I've started businesses than I've owned houses. 00:30:28.580 --> 00:30:32.300 Actually, I thought that was going to be close, but I, I've started a lot of businesses in my life. 00:30:32.760 --> 00:30:39.080 Um, a lot of succeeded, a lot of failed, and I've learned so much along the process of, of both. 00:30:42.420 --> 00:31:01.960 But to desire to do ministry full time without recognizing that there's mortgages, that there's, that there's, um, costs, that there's kids college funds, there's savings, there's retirement, there's, you know, all this stuff that, that piles up. 00:31:03.460 --> 00:31:14.660 We've got to be able to create a method in our lives that allows us to do both, to be able to generate that revenue and do the ministry. 00:31:15.040 --> 00:31:21.840 Now, too often, and I've seen this within TCD, I really have, and this may come across harsh. 00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:25.380 I really don't mean it to, I just drove past the house I grew up in. 00:31:25.820 --> 00:31:28.240 Um, I don't mean this to come across harsh. 00:31:28.320 --> 00:31:29.460 I'm, I'm sorry if it does. 00:31:29.460 --> 00:31:33.460 But too often, I've, I've seen where we are. 00:31:36.780 --> 00:31:43.440 As it's in to do the hard work of ministry, because it's not able to generate the funds. 00:31:47.560 --> 00:32:00.280 In my life, I have seen where God has called for obedience and humility before he has provided solutions. 00:32:02.560 --> 00:32:15.160 In my life, I have seen where God has provided obedience and humility before he provides solutions. 00:32:15.340 --> 00:32:16.480 Let's, let's look at it this way. 00:32:17.160 --> 00:32:19.400 Um, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. 00:32:19.580 --> 00:32:21.100 I talk about this all, all the time. 00:32:21.340 --> 00:32:23.800 It is literally the contract between man and God. 00:32:24.080 --> 00:32:26.760 If man does this, God will do this. 00:32:27.500 --> 00:32:33.340 Man says, God says to man, hey, this is what I need you to do. 00:32:33.600 --> 00:32:37.060 I need you to trust me with all your heart. 00:32:37.620 --> 00:32:39.560 Lean not on your own understanding. 00:32:40.340 --> 00:32:42.520 In all your ways, acknowledge God. 00:32:43.100 --> 00:32:44.840 That's the three things man does. 00:32:45.260 --> 00:32:47.920 Trust, even when it doesn't make sense. 00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:50.220 And praise God while you're doing it. 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:52.760 And what's he going to do as a result? 00:32:53.940 --> 00:32:55.280 He will direct your path. 00:32:55.880 --> 00:32:57.840 He will make your, your path straight. 00:32:58.320 --> 00:33:02.060 He will make, he will solve it. 00:33:03.540 --> 00:33:07.020 Solve it, maybe not the way that you want, but he's going to solve it. 00:33:08.220 --> 00:33:13.840 And so it's not, God solves the problem before you do it. 00:33:14.180 --> 00:33:20.140 It's, you've got to take the leap and trust knowing that he's going to make the path straight. 00:33:23.560 --> 00:33:24.960 In my own life, it was funny. 00:33:25.020 --> 00:33:29.020 I was telling Ryan the story today. 00:33:29.180 --> 00:33:30.480 I'm actually, it's so, so funny. 00:33:30.560 --> 00:33:32.120 I'm, I'm randomly driving at this point. 00:33:35.320 --> 00:33:36.500 Two blocks this way. 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:39.300 It was, it's a Christian bookstore. 00:33:39.400 --> 00:33:40.540 It used to be a Christian bookstore. 00:33:41.300 --> 00:33:42.720 It used to be my Christian bookstore. 00:33:44.440 --> 00:33:44.960 2003. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:52.960 I was just coming off this really weird experience where I lost my, my first.com, my first business, eBeliever.com. 00:33:53.960 --> 00:34:05.680 As a server crash, the company that I had paid tens of thousands of dollars to, to, to keep the server healthy and to back it up, had told me, oh, after three years of business, no, we never did any backups. 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:09.680 And I lost, you know, four years worth of web dev work. 00:34:09.860 --> 00:34:12.520 I lost 69 church websites. 00:34:12.660 --> 00:34:13.640 I literally had pastors. 00:34:15.640 --> 00:34:17.640 I lost all their websites. 00:34:18.060 --> 00:34:22.500 All email addresses were tied to this door, Gmail or, or, you know, any of that. 00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:23.880 Like it was, it was a big freaking deal. 00:34:24.580 --> 00:34:26.040 And this back in like, oh, three. 00:34:27.080 --> 00:34:32.300 And, um, as a result of, of that, I, I was, I crushed, I lost everything. 00:34:33.140 --> 00:34:40.060 And, um, I, I felt like I was searching for what God was going to do next. 00:34:40.940 --> 00:34:47.100 And God told me, literally, I can, I can equivalently say this. 00:34:47.620 --> 00:34:51.860 There's maybe half a dozen times in my life where I can tell you that the voice of God told me to do something. 00:34:52.760 --> 00:34:54.940 And say, I mean, this is not like an idea. 00:34:54.940 --> 00:34:58.560 This is like, literally, I'm hearing audibly God saying this is true. 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:02.220 And God told me to buy a Christian bookstore. 00:35:02.580 --> 00:35:05.400 There was a Christian bookstore that was not too far away from where I am now. 00:35:05.660 --> 00:35:11.980 It's called, uh, the word Christian bookstore is owned by a former pastor, family friend, knew the guy for a long time. 00:35:12.460 --> 00:35:14.240 I used to buy books in there all the time. 00:35:14.240 --> 00:35:16.520 I am a, a techie. 00:35:16.620 --> 00:35:17.500 I'm an innovator. 00:35:17.640 --> 00:35:20.420 I'm a very aggressive type of person. 00:35:20.500 --> 00:35:21.020 You know me. 00:35:21.800 --> 00:35:29.760 And in this, in this, at this point, I call this the Luddite years. 00:35:30.080 --> 00:35:32.700 My friends that know me call this the dark ages. 00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:39.240 I was so adverse to technology because of the way I lost my first.com, my first business. 00:35:40.020 --> 00:35:43.340 Um, that I was like, I never want to literally, I was like, I never want to touch a computer again. 00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:47.260 And so, and God was like, buy this bookstore. 00:35:49.080 --> 00:35:50.920 And so I went up to the, I knew the owner. 00:35:51.140 --> 00:35:52.820 He was moving, he was retiring. 00:35:53.240 --> 00:35:59.720 And it's, this is a small closet, really small, um, startup kind of, not startup. 00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:03.300 It'd been around a decade, but he just didn't have a lot of capital to build it out. 00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:06.440 Uh, it was kind of a side project for him. 00:36:06.580 --> 00:36:10.380 He really wasn't doing anything, but he just had no desire to build it. 00:36:11.140 --> 00:36:14.040 And, you know, there were a couple other closets around. 00:36:14.040 --> 00:36:15.460 There wasn't a strong demand. 00:36:16.420 --> 00:36:20.160 Um, but I, I just, I had a passion for scripture. 00:36:20.280 --> 00:36:21.300 I had a passion for the Bible. 00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:24.400 I had a passion for books and music at the time. 00:36:24.560 --> 00:36:25.700 I was just maybe 23. 00:36:26.560 --> 00:36:29.140 And I told, I told the guy, I was like, Hey, I want to buy your bookstore. 00:36:30.160 --> 00:36:31.080 And he's like, well, good. 00:36:31.140 --> 00:36:32.420 I want to, I want to sell you my bookstore. 00:36:33.560 --> 00:36:41.480 And I just, I had this piece of late 23 that God was, was going to work this thing out. 00:36:43.400 --> 00:36:47.580 And, um, something changed along the way. 00:36:48.160 --> 00:36:50.780 And right around November 23, I get this call. 00:36:51.140 --> 00:36:54.200 November of 2003, I get this call. 00:36:54.780 --> 00:36:57.020 And, and it's, it's, it's Paul, the owner. 00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:00.820 And he says, Hey, just so you know, I'm not going to sell the bookstore to you. 00:37:00.820 --> 00:37:02.320 Instead, I'm going to sell it to this other guy. 00:37:03.900 --> 00:37:05.060 I mean, that crushed me. 00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:06.420 I was like, why? 00:37:07.140 --> 00:37:11.280 And he's like, well, um, first off, you're, you're really young. 00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:15.800 And, and, and I don't think you can really do the business aspects of this. 00:37:16.020 --> 00:37:18.400 And I was like, well, you know, I've, I've run this other business. 00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:19.780 I've got three years experience. 00:37:20.320 --> 00:37:22.500 Um, you know, my, my background with family. 00:37:22.500 --> 00:37:26.160 I was like, I've got, I've got opportunities here, Paul. 00:37:26.580 --> 00:37:29.620 And he's like, well, yeah, but this other guy has more capital. 00:37:30.060 --> 00:37:33.440 He's got a team of people that are going to co-run it with him. 00:37:33.800 --> 00:37:37.920 Uh, and so just so you know, like, it's no disrespect, Jeff, I like you, but I'm going 00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:39.240 to sell this business to the other guy. 00:37:40.180 --> 00:37:43.560 This is like early November, 2003. 00:37:45.960 --> 00:37:49.820 And I'm like, God, what are you doing to me? 00:37:51.380 --> 00:37:54.600 You told me I was going to buy this bookstore. 00:37:55.820 --> 00:37:58.920 And, and, and yet you tell me like, it's now going to this guy. 00:37:59.820 --> 00:38:00.180 Why? 00:38:01.640 --> 00:38:05.300 It was not the answer that I wanted to hear. 00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:11.020 Now, fast forward a little bit. 00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:25.460 December, call it 26th after Christmas, 2004, 2003, same year, months later, the guy that 00:38:25.460 --> 00:38:31.580 bought the bookstore, by the way, all that capital, all that partners that he had. 00:38:32.600 --> 00:38:36.700 Dude went crazy upgrading the bookstore. 00:38:37.800 --> 00:38:39.900 $300,000 of new inventory. 00:38:40.120 --> 00:38:42.520 It's $100,000 of new fixtures. 00:38:43.120 --> 00:38:49.140 He took the bookstore from a 1,500 square foot to a 5,000 square foot, built out a back office, 00:38:49.300 --> 00:38:56.720 built out a cab, like a work facility in the back, a storage facility. 00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:03.240 Like, this was 5,000 square feet of retail gloriousness. 00:39:03.660 --> 00:39:04.220 I'm not kidding. 00:39:04.400 --> 00:39:06.060 It went, I said 1,500 square feet. 00:39:06.140 --> 00:39:11.060 It may have been 1,000 square feet to now, like, almost 5,000. 00:39:11.140 --> 00:39:12.380 Oh, so 5,200 square feet. 00:39:12.380 --> 00:39:16.580 It was this huge, huge undertaking. 00:39:17.280 --> 00:39:20.620 He opened it Black Friday, day after Thanksgiving. 00:39:21.240 --> 00:39:26.240 He ran it Black Friday to the day after Christmas. 00:39:27.100 --> 00:39:35.080 And the day after, you know, Christmas Eve, he shut it down for a week to kind of rest afterwards. 00:39:35.320 --> 00:39:37.220 And he calls me the day after Christmas. 00:39:38.220 --> 00:39:43.260 He says, Jeff, I just invested $500,000 into this business. 00:39:44.060 --> 00:39:48.900 And I realize I can't do this. 00:39:50.500 --> 00:39:52.620 Jeff, honestly, this is honestly got a true story. 00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:57.740 He says, Jeff, I've come to realize that I just, I don't like people that much. 00:39:58.600 --> 00:40:00.140 I'm really a private guy. 00:40:00.700 --> 00:40:05.540 And having all these conversations with people, being all this relational, physically, 00:40:06.100 --> 00:40:11.740 dealing with people as customers, like, I don't know what I was thinking, but that's just not me. 00:40:12.680 --> 00:40:21.580 And so he says, he says, Jeff, why don't you buy the bookstore from me for what you were going to pay the previous owner? 00:40:24.720 --> 00:40:29.180 And so I owned the Living Word Christian bookstore for about four years. 00:40:29.660 --> 00:40:33.400 We shut it down eventually because of the recession in 08, 09. 00:40:34.620 --> 00:40:50.400 But the ministry implication that I want to share, by the way, I profited $500,000 worth of revenue, worth of inventory and, you know, fixtures. 00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:58.720 He invested $500,000 into that store and didn't make hardly anything off it. 00:40:59.500 --> 00:41:05.080 Meanwhile, I went from a store in a closet that was maybe making $100,000 a year. 00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:16.480 And because of that, that footprint of a store he gave, he literally gave me, I'm not pennies on the dollar, quarter on the dollar, so to speak. 00:41:17.220 --> 00:41:24.200 Like, we launched that store into a million-dollar business in the middle of, you know, early recession time periods. 00:41:24.360 --> 00:41:29.300 Eventually, we lost it in 09 when a lot of businesses shut down. 00:41:31.940 --> 00:41:41.260 My point is, is I think we have to risk and trust in it. 00:41:41.860 --> 00:41:53.740 I think too often people are hesitant to let go of what they have, not realizing that what God has for you is so much better. 00:41:55.180 --> 00:42:03.520 I think it's very easy for us to, you know, a bird in one hand is better than two in the bush. 00:42:08.980 --> 00:42:25.340 In bivocational ministry, it's very easy to look and to say, but Jeff, I want to do great things, but I can't get paid for it. 00:42:25.940 --> 00:42:29.080 And so I need to, I need to shut it down. 00:42:29.200 --> 00:42:30.080 I can't do this. 00:42:30.120 --> 00:42:30.780 I give up. 00:42:31.320 --> 00:42:42.480 I had conversations, unfortunately, with so many people that have incredible visions of digital ministry, but they can't get past not being able to monetize it and do a full-time salary. 00:42:42.860 --> 00:42:47.520 And so many of these callings are lost out of fear of not being able to pay the paycheck. 00:42:50.620 --> 00:42:56.560 Now, look, you can interpret what I'm doing with the church digital, going back and now taking this full-time job. 00:42:57.240 --> 00:42:58.460 I'm working full-time. 00:42:58.760 --> 00:43:04.420 Well, I'm working close to full-time for the church or for Christ's journey. 00:43:06.100 --> 00:43:08.040 You can look at that and say, hey, you know what? 00:43:09.100 --> 00:43:09.900 Jeff's giving up. 00:43:10.820 --> 00:43:11.560 Jeff's chickening out. 00:43:12.400 --> 00:43:21.000 Jeff himself doesn't have faith to hold on to what, you know, what God can do through the church digital monetarily. 00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:25.060 And so Jeff's cowarding, taking the coward way by getting a secondary job. 00:43:26.700 --> 00:43:29.020 And maybe that's right. 00:43:29.120 --> 00:43:29.500 I don't know. 00:43:29.640 --> 00:43:31.420 One day I'll stand before God and ask him that question. 00:43:35.460 --> 00:43:46.140 The way I would look at it is that we are aggressively diversifying and decentralizing the church digital away from me. 00:43:47.380 --> 00:43:50.940 I have, I went in and I've, I've, I've said this a hundred times. 00:43:52.980 --> 00:44:03.740 2018, I'm sitting at downtown Disneyland in, uh, in California at, at a push pay conference. 00:44:04.100 --> 00:44:12.120 And I'm sitting at this conference, 2000 people are in the room listening to a keynote talk. 00:44:12.120 --> 00:44:18.920 And I'm literally writing out names, domain names for what, uh, we wanted. 00:44:19.040 --> 00:44:22.540 Actually, I have these sketches, uh, that I did them on an iPad. 00:44:22.540 --> 00:44:30.160 So they're digitized, but I'm literally writing out domain name ideas, um, for, for what the church digital would become. 00:44:30.820 --> 00:44:35.360 And, and, and, and, and, and, and I have Jeffrey.com. 00:44:36.440 --> 00:44:41.100 And then I have others names that were listed, the church digital among others. 00:44:41.740 --> 00:45:01.300 And, and, and, and, and, and what our intentionality has been, and my leadership team, the board, uh, the volunteers with TCD, they've heard this so much. 00:45:03.960 --> 00:45:12.340 So when things get too heavy, the answer is not slowed down. 00:45:12.980 --> 00:45:22.500 The answer, honestly, the answer is involve more people into the conversation. 00:45:23.900 --> 00:45:31.400 And that's where, for this to operate bigger than me, we need to decentralize this away from me. 00:45:32.080 --> 00:45:41.440 We need to get people like Jason Morris, like Andy Mage, like Barbara Canero, like, uh, Stacy, like the others in leadership. 00:45:41.440 --> 00:45:47.960 We need to get them more authority to lead out as the experts that they are. 00:45:50.600 --> 00:45:55.340 We need to empower you as, as help post leaders, as digital missionaries. 00:45:55.540 --> 00:45:58.840 How can you contribute and, and, and bring into this? 00:45:58.900 --> 00:46:02.300 To be honest, I'm looking at guys like Steve Reed. 00:46:02.420 --> 00:46:12.200 I'm looking at guys for months and, and literally are telling me, that's pretty cool. 00:46:13.160 --> 00:46:14.760 So how do I get more involved? 00:46:16.640 --> 00:46:27.940 The beauty of the church digital at this point is that we're very close to successfully creating a framework and establishing that framework, which means y'all can do whatever you want with it. 00:46:28.180 --> 00:46:31.820 Like, it is my gift to you, you make it happen. 00:46:32.940 --> 00:46:42.700 But in keeping it running, keeping it operating, we never would have gotten here if it was Jeff Reed.com. 00:46:46.040 --> 00:46:51.760 It took a lot of risk to not do Jeff Reed.com. 00:46:52.840 --> 00:46:55.400 I mean, let's, let's just put numbers on this. 00:46:55.800 --> 00:46:58.500 And I've got, I'm going to have to go at some point soon, a couple minutes. 00:47:00.880 --> 00:47:04.760 I started the church digital in 2018. 00:47:07.140 --> 00:47:08.020 20, yeah, 2018. 00:47:09.580 --> 00:47:11.620 Nine iterations of the church digital. 00:47:12.060 --> 00:47:16.720 The church digital has been nine different focuses since 2018. 00:47:17.340 --> 00:47:22.740 We have been learning, we have been experimenting, we have been trying, we have been failing since 2018. 00:47:24.340 --> 00:47:30.740 Finally now, 2025, six, seven years later, we got it right. 00:47:32.440 --> 00:47:33.460 There's some risk. 00:47:34.980 --> 00:47:36.780 Financially, there's a lot of loss. 00:47:42.480 --> 00:47:43.380 But God moves. 00:47:43.380 --> 00:47:51.240 And while the answer we hear may not today, may not be the answer we need to hear. 00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:55.620 It's what we need to know. 00:47:57.620 --> 00:48:03.100 God will get us to where he wants us to be. 00:48:03.440 --> 00:48:08.280 If we're willing to trust him, even when it doesn't make sense. 00:48:09.580 --> 00:48:11.460 And acknowledge him while we're doing it. 00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:19.220 You know, I already had a donor reach out and be like, hey, I heard you're taking a job. 00:48:20.740 --> 00:48:22.540 Like, is this the end of the church digital? 00:48:22.740 --> 00:48:26.460 Are you guys going to be wise stewards of the money that's come in? 00:48:26.920 --> 00:48:28.040 Dude, nothing's changing. 00:48:28.820 --> 00:48:31.480 If anything, we're ramping up to be more effective. 00:48:32.320 --> 00:48:45.660 We're in the process, I posted, we're in the process of bringing on a project manager or two and excited about decentralizing more responsibility out and empowering others to use their strengths for the kingdom through the church digital. 00:48:46.320 --> 00:48:54.420 If anything, it's going to create a stronger TCD because it's not centric on me and my strengths and weaknesses. 00:48:55.120 --> 00:49:05.280 A decentralized model with a centralized core and framework is going to be the effective way that TCD grows and multiplies globally. 00:49:06.080 --> 00:49:24.720 And me, as I drive AI, me being hands off and letting God use others and their strengths and abilities, that's going to be so important for the future of the organization. 00:49:24.720 --> 00:49:28.620 And it's going to be beneficial for all of us in the very near future. 00:49:30.400 --> 00:49:34.460 And so don't, don't stress about the future. 00:49:35.080 --> 00:49:43.720 What I would say is that organizationally, I mean, listen, we've already got AI is not being my friend right now. 00:49:44.600 --> 00:49:45.180 Stop it. 00:49:46.500 --> 00:49:46.980 There. 00:49:48.940 --> 00:49:49.740 Freaking car. 00:49:50.840 --> 00:49:52.760 I got my flavors confused while talking. 00:49:55.060 --> 00:49:59.540 We've already, we've already, you know, booking conference 24. 00:50:00.920 --> 00:50:03.780 2025, the four conferences coming up here in the fall. 00:50:04.300 --> 00:50:05.920 Already planning out 26. 00:50:07.260 --> 00:50:15.400 Literally, already got scheduled, not scheduled, but rough written out what's happening for the spring concert conference in 26. 00:50:16.120 --> 00:50:17.380 There's some other things in the fall. 00:50:17.380 --> 00:50:22.420 There's some other things in place, some equipping courses Jason's working on, multiple languages already adapting. 00:50:23.240 --> 00:50:26.020 We're, we're rolling out EDM and French right around the corner. 00:50:26.860 --> 00:50:40.960 Like it's, it's at less than 7,000, about $7,000 a month. 00:50:43.900 --> 00:50:45.720 What we're doing is incredible. 00:50:48.240 --> 00:50:50.260 I'm kind of working on the language in this. 00:50:50.320 --> 00:50:51.160 I'll say it in here. 00:50:52.240 --> 00:51:03.620 Like I, I, my desire is, is to see the church digital, like I want to double next year, go from 75 to 150. 00:51:04.820 --> 00:51:11.600 But I really believe this because of the scalability of digital and online and the decentralized framework that we're kind of bringing out. 00:51:13.320 --> 00:51:22.120 I believe a 2x increase in income would generate a 10x return in ministry. 00:51:22.840 --> 00:51:38.860 I think we're very close to seeing this stuff go viral and to just, to be honest, if we went viral right now, it wouldn't be good because we don't have the framework to, to manage that level of growth quickly. 00:51:38.860 --> 00:51:47.800 And so I'm kind of glad God is, is holding back the giant explosion that I believe is going to happen when the Holy Spirit infuses into this. 00:51:50.260 --> 00:51:57.360 We're almost there, but I believe that God's going to use the work that he's doing through us. 00:51:57.360 --> 00:52:11.980 And, and, and to be honest, me releasing is going to allow a lot more people to be able to come in and own, uh, their piece of this and, and, and allow the ministry to be, oh, so much stronger. 00:52:12.480 --> 00:52:13.900 So be praying for us. 00:52:15.480 --> 00:52:17.880 Know that I'm, I'm praying for, for y'all. 00:52:17.880 --> 00:52:30.080 It's, um, it is not lost on me that so many digital missionaries and digital planters are, are struggling financially. 00:52:31.380 --> 00:52:43.080 I, I, to be honest, I still carry that as a badge, almost that that's like, I need to come up with a solution to solve that problem, to allow for more to come in. 00:52:43.080 --> 00:52:49.200 I really, I did, I used to have meetings, uh, with, with my team and talk about how can we generate revenue? 00:52:49.340 --> 00:52:50.320 What do we need to do? 00:52:50.580 --> 00:52:55.020 We need to be the, the problem solver to allow this thing to explode. 00:52:56.700 --> 00:53:00.980 And maybe God can do work through us in, in some way, in some capacity. 00:53:04.040 --> 00:53:13.200 But what I think is more effective is, is just this simple, okay, I'm going to trust in God, even when it doesn't make sense. 00:53:13.820 --> 00:53:15.820 And I'm going to acknowledge him when I do it. 00:53:16.220 --> 00:53:20.860 And as a result, he's going to make the path straight. 00:53:22.320 --> 00:53:34.840 And the question I want to ask all of you today is what is a small, simple step you can do that doesn't make sense? 00:53:35.720 --> 00:53:43.880 Maybe it's financial, maybe it's operational, maybe it's tech stack, maybe it's volunteer, maybe it's releasing and allowing others to come in and own. 00:53:44.980 --> 00:53:45.620 I don't know. 00:53:47.260 --> 00:53:48.360 That's integrity, right? 00:53:49.180 --> 00:53:53.040 You have the conversation with God, pray through that. 00:53:53.820 --> 00:53:56.280 And then with integrity, take that step. 00:53:58.380 --> 00:53:59.240 It's financial. 00:54:00.600 --> 00:54:01.800 Let it go. 00:54:02.640 --> 00:54:03.840 And watch what God does. 00:54:04.680 --> 00:54:06.880 Traditionally, I have had to let things go. 00:54:08.560 --> 00:54:09.860 And watch what God does. 00:54:10.160 --> 00:54:13.120 Until I let things go, God doesn't move. 00:54:13.820 --> 00:54:16.280 But I have to let it go. 00:54:17.480 --> 00:54:20.160 Those of you at home singing, let it go, let it go, let it go. 00:54:21.420 --> 00:54:21.980 Thank you. 00:54:23.680 --> 00:54:28.420 If I was in my office, I would play the soundtrack, but I'm in my car driving, so I can't. 00:54:29.260 --> 00:54:30.140 But anyway. 00:54:30.800 --> 00:54:33.280 Hey, this has been a great conversation, a great stream. 00:54:33.440 --> 00:54:35.320 I literally just pulled up into my house. 00:54:35.960 --> 00:54:39.420 And I got a jet because I've got a meeting coming up in an hour. 00:54:39.680 --> 00:54:40.780 Hey, listen up, everybody. 00:54:41.060 --> 00:54:47.760 I'm doing another stream tonight, 9 p.m. Eastern, hanging out with our friends. 00:54:49.260 --> 00:54:50.360 Yeah, I thought you were singing. 00:54:50.460 --> 00:54:51.040 That's awesome. 00:54:51.620 --> 00:54:52.980 Send me a YouTube video of that. 00:54:53.780 --> 00:55:07.280 We're streaming with Dark Boyd and some of our Blue Angel VR friends about what their ministry and their story looks like in VRChat, virtual reality. 00:55:07.480 --> 00:55:08.840 I love these kids. 00:55:08.960 --> 00:55:10.060 I love what they're doing. 00:55:11.400 --> 00:55:13.060 It's incredible to me. 00:55:13.860 --> 00:55:15.820 It's a 15-year-old kid, maybe 16. 00:55:16.940 --> 00:55:20.520 But he's got adults that are doing ministry with him. 00:55:20.600 --> 00:55:26.360 He's got college kids from impressive schools. 00:55:27.800 --> 00:55:33.700 Just the vision of this kid to do something different, to reach someone different, and create this ministry in virtual reality. 00:55:34.200 --> 00:55:37.100 It's a fascinating story that I really want you to hear. 00:55:37.700 --> 00:55:41.660 And so we're doing it late, 9 o'clock tonight, 9 p.m. Eastern. 00:55:43.080 --> 00:55:45.520 We'll put the link in FAM everywhere. 00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:46.920 So look for it there. 00:55:47.220 --> 00:55:48.120 But love you. 00:55:48.300 --> 00:55:51.180 Thanks for hanging out with me today as I drove around Miami. 00:55:51.960 --> 00:55:52.780 Talk to you all later. 00:55:52.880 --> 00:55:53.320 Thanks, everybody.