WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:04.360 Wait, am I? Yeah, you can hear me. It just said I was muted, but I'm not muted. 00:00:04.460 --> 00:00:06.080 Hey everybody, welcome to the Church Digital Podcast. 00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:10.360 I tell you what, if you're watching on the stream, could you like give me a shout out? 00:00:10.460 --> 00:00:11.680 Let me know that you can hear me right now. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:17.540 Because that was really weird. It said on the screen muted, but I'm not muted. 00:00:17.780 --> 00:00:18.540 And then the meter is moving. 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:22.920 So somebody tell me if you can hear me and that'll be great, but I'm going to go ahead and dive in. 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:28.200 It was really funny right before we started streaming live on camera. 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:33.060 TCDBot in Discord just generated an error message saying, 00:00:33.580 --> 00:00:36.220 You've reached your number of free usage. 00:00:36.980 --> 00:00:40.220 Unlock unlimited users of this AI-based platform. 00:00:40.380 --> 00:00:42.360 Unlock unlimited users with a server plan. 00:00:43.760 --> 00:00:48.720 And said another way, we have overstretched the account. 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:53.620 What's TCDBot on Discord is out of gas. 00:00:54.660 --> 00:00:55.480 Hate it when that happens. 00:00:55.820 --> 00:00:57.600 All good here, Dwayne! 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:00.100 Dwayne, bud, good to hear you. 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:01.060 Good to see you, man. 00:01:01.120 --> 00:01:01.840 Thanks for jumping on. 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:05.640 Dwayne was hanging out with Dwayne a couple weeks ago. 00:01:07.740 --> 00:01:14.980 Here in Miami, he got together with some friends and did a men's prayer breakfast on Saturday morning. 00:01:15.720 --> 00:01:18.220 And got to hang out with him for a little bit. 00:01:18.240 --> 00:01:18.680 It was funny. 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:23.980 It was maybe, I don't know, 30, 35 people at this. 00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:26.300 I maybe knew a third of them. 00:01:26.380 --> 00:01:28.820 There was actually a lot of people there I didn't know. 00:01:30.380 --> 00:01:34.700 Miami is so cyclical and I'm kind of out of the lifeblood of ministry in Miami. 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:37.420 People are coming in and I don't have a relationship. 00:01:37.420 --> 00:01:43.180 But this guy, the first guy that comes up to me there, I shook my hand out and shook it. 00:01:43.240 --> 00:01:44.060 Hey, hey, Nicole. 00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:45.120 I was talking about you earlier. 00:01:45.240 --> 00:01:46.200 Glad you jumped on the stream. 00:01:46.660 --> 00:01:48.680 But this guy, this guy shakes my hand. 00:01:48.740 --> 00:01:49.600 I'm like, hey, I'm Jeff. 00:01:49.940 --> 00:01:50.720 Who are you? 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:53.940 And he looks at me and he's like, you don't remember me, do you? 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:57.820 First off, I hate it when that happens. 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:00.240 Because, no, I don't. 00:02:00.580 --> 00:02:01.980 I don't remember anybody. 00:02:02.240 --> 00:02:03.920 Like, God bless online. 00:02:04.440 --> 00:02:09.420 Because there's always the little name in the lower left-hand corner over here, I guess. 00:02:09.660 --> 00:02:11.980 Where it says who the name is on Google Meet. 00:02:12.040 --> 00:02:15.480 Because I will forget your name 25 times in the course of the conversation. 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:17.180 And literally, I just, I fall back. 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:24.220 And if it's another name there, like if your spouse logged in before, I will call you the spouse name at least twice in the conversation. 00:02:24.460 --> 00:02:25.620 Because it's just, so, no. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:29.480 I didn't remember my friend here that I was meeting for the first time, I thought. 00:02:30.340 --> 00:02:36.240 And he says to me, yeah, I went to XYZ Church when you were there 20 years ago. 00:02:36.820 --> 00:02:40.400 And you taught me a love for production in church. 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:45.240 And I was like, well, that sounds like something I do, you know. 00:02:45.380 --> 00:02:46.860 But I still, it was so funny. 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:47.760 I was like, I don't remember. 00:02:47.940 --> 00:02:50.940 And he went back and started telling me stories and putting it together. 00:02:51.420 --> 00:02:52.580 And it was awesome. 00:02:53.020 --> 00:02:53.860 And I was like, well, cool. 00:02:53.920 --> 00:02:54.840 Tell me about your ministry. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:58.700 And he's like, oh, I'm the production director of XYZ Church over here. 00:02:58.980 --> 00:03:03.420 So, like, you know, 20 years later, dude is like running with some of this stuff. 00:03:03.940 --> 00:03:04.340 No, I didn't. 00:03:04.420 --> 00:03:05.420 Like, he wasn't with me. 00:03:07.040 --> 00:03:10.220 I mean, I didn't, he was not with me for a long period of time. 00:03:11.260 --> 00:03:20.180 But he definitely, I do remember as we got into it, I did remember him and, you know, some of the interactions with some people at that time. 00:03:20.180 --> 00:03:20.860 And I was excited. 00:03:21.460 --> 00:03:24.060 You know, it's like God uses us in every season. 00:03:24.260 --> 00:03:26.560 You know, even if it's just planting a seed. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:32.380 You know, there are people that I've invested mega in time-wise. 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:33.280 It was interesting. 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:48.380 I just discovered the other day, this is not a ministry story, but the production director for the Florida Panthers, the hockey team here in Florida, the production director is actually a kid that I mentored in a deep way 25 years ago. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:50.440 I say a kid now is probably 40. 00:03:51.160 --> 00:03:54.660 But, I mean, that's just, that's how life goes, right? 00:03:54.660 --> 00:03:58.720 You know, sometimes you, you mentor in a big way with people and make an impact. 00:03:59.180 --> 00:04:02.080 And sometimes you just plant a seed that somebody else can water. 00:04:02.320 --> 00:04:09.840 And in this situation, I did, I planted that seed in this guy that somebody else, you know, developed and ran with. 00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:14.280 And so, anyway, Dwayne, thanks for, thanks for, for jumping on here, man. 00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:14.780 Good to see you. 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.260 I know Nicole is horrible with names as well. 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:24.640 Nicole, man, we've got a, I mean, you know what I really want to do, Nicole, is we're going to, like, I almost want to do it. 00:04:24.660 --> 00:04:27.160 We're going to, like, reorganize all of the church digital. 00:04:27.900 --> 00:04:30.000 And this, this is going to sound very sarcastic. 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:31.980 I really don't mean it that way. 00:04:32.460 --> 00:04:44.340 But I miss the conversations and the involvement of Nicole Howard inside the church digital because we try to stack everything Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, kind of with the stuff. 00:04:44.440 --> 00:04:46.480 And you're more available on the backside of the week. 00:04:46.640 --> 00:04:51.500 And it's killing me that, that you're not able to engage as much as, as you used to be. 00:04:51.640 --> 00:04:53.760 And so, listen, it's, it's great to see you on here. 00:04:53.900 --> 00:04:58.380 And those of you, more that are watching online, the stream and part of it, hey, thanks for coming on, being a part of this. 00:04:58.460 --> 00:05:00.760 I'm, I'm excited for today's conversation. 00:05:01.140 --> 00:05:03.000 Today's conversation with, with me. 00:05:03.080 --> 00:05:07.440 I'm, I'm, I'm talking to you, the people that are watching online and people that are watching on demand. 00:05:07.440 --> 00:05:13.440 And I, this is, this is the last, the church digital podcast. 00:05:13.640 --> 00:05:16.260 This is the last show of 2025. 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:17.940 Now, I'm coming back in 26. 00:05:18.500 --> 00:05:21.160 There were some rumors of my demise. 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:25.060 I may, in fact, have started those rumors. 00:05:25.060 --> 00:05:27.280 In fairness, I did start those rumors. 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:29.920 I, I said I was going to hang it up in 26. 00:05:30.220 --> 00:05:34.640 And I, I was talked into not hanging it up in 26. 00:05:34.640 --> 00:05:39.880 So, but we are going to do some things different and it is going to look different. 00:05:40.080 --> 00:05:43.460 And so, we're going to get more into that here in a little bit. 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:51.920 But thanks for coming on, coming on the show here as we're hanging out and talking here about what is next for the church digital. 00:05:52.140 --> 00:05:54.660 So, I have Melanie's coming on as well. 00:05:54.740 --> 00:05:55.180 Hi, Nicole. 00:05:55.280 --> 00:06:00.580 And if anybody's out there in, in, you know, the, the interwebs, feel free to just shout out here. 00:06:00.580 --> 00:06:08.240 And, and, uh, if there's any questions along the way, this is going to be a very random dialogue with me and whoever's watching online. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:14.540 And if, if you have questions as you're watching on demand, you know, put it, put it in, uh, put it in YouTube chat and do it. 00:06:14.960 --> 00:06:24.040 By the way, of course, if you're wanting to interact with me directly, uh, the best way to do that is to, to connect with us on WhatsApp or Discord. 00:06:24.400 --> 00:06:27.060 And, uh, cause that's, that's where I live. 00:06:27.180 --> 00:06:34.860 That's, that's, that's my digital home are, are the church digitals, uh, discord and WhatsApp communities. 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:46.700 And so, if you're looking for how to get there, it's, uh, you can go to the website, thechurch.digital, thechurch.digital slash fam, F-A-M, first two letters of family, thechurch.digital slash fam. 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:51.980 You can follow the links to the platform of your choice, WhatsApp or Discord, and we can go from there. 00:06:52.300 --> 00:06:59.060 Um, we do actually have a, a rather large Facebook community, but it's a community of Facebook. 00:07:01.440 --> 00:07:01.840 Okay. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:04.780 Hey, let's, let's get into the, yeah, but it's in Facebook. 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:06.540 It's, it's like, nobody wants to live in Facebook. 00:07:06.700 --> 00:07:08.380 Yeah, we still have, I don't, I don't know. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:10.840 Let's get into, let's get into the, the, today's show. 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:14.540 So, um, yeah, so we're going to stop for, for 2025. 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:18.680 Uh, there's several major things organizationally that, that are happening. 00:07:18.920 --> 00:07:22.920 And, uh, and that's, that's not to say that it's, stopping is a bad thing. 00:07:22.940 --> 00:07:23.860 It's actually a good thing. 00:07:24.320 --> 00:07:30.760 Uh, it's, it's allowing us to, to, uh, well, first off, it's allowing us to recover from conference season. 00:07:31.440 --> 00:07:40.620 Um, I, you know, I've talked about this publicly, um, doing four conferences in one month was overwhelming, uh, for all parties involved. 00:07:40.620 --> 00:07:41.900 It burned some bridges. 00:07:42.400 --> 00:07:44.100 Uh, I may have lost some friendships. 00:07:44.420 --> 00:07:47.180 Well, maybe not that drastic, but it was, it was pretty drastic. 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:51.640 And, um, and, and so we need to, we need to regroup a little bit. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:57.040 The, the digital missionary conferences is something that I'm committing to do into the, in the future. 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:03.240 Like, um, what we did in the spring and what we did with the four summits in the fall were incredible. 00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:04.980 And so excited about that. 00:08:05.020 --> 00:08:07.120 We're going to continue that moving forward. 00:08:07.340 --> 00:08:12.380 Well, at least the spring model where it's the one conference for a day or two days. 00:08:12.580 --> 00:08:19.300 The idea of doing four over the span of the month, um, I, uh, it was my idea. 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:25.180 And, and I was maybe, we hadn't even done the first conference where I was like, this is a horrible idea. 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:27.520 Like it just, it didn't, it didn't pan out. 00:08:27.580 --> 00:08:28.540 We wouldn't do it that way again. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:35.960 Uh, what we're actually doing, the next digital missionary conference is, uh, is going to be May 12th and 13th. 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:37.220 It's a two day conference. 00:08:37.580 --> 00:08:42.720 And so the first day is going to be a mega track that everyone will be, want to be a part of. 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:55.440 And then day two is going to be, uh, several tracks simultaneously that are more, uh, niche targeted and aimed at, at particular, uh, people doing particular ministry in particular spaces. 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:59.620 I am already, honestly, I'm already whiteboarding a lot of that stuff right now. 00:08:59.680 --> 00:09:01.140 I actually started a couple months ago. 00:09:01.280 --> 00:09:09.240 We're excited about where we're going, but May 12th and 13th are going to be the days of the next conference. 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:19.160 Um, but recovering from the month long conference season, um, Andy can tell you, Andy Mage, like we're, we're enjoying some downtime. 00:09:19.900 --> 00:09:24.960 Uh, Barbara and her team are finally able to get some rest and, and, and things there as well. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:31.060 So, uh, we are, we're kind of breathing, but we're also moving forward. 00:09:31.280 --> 00:09:37.040 In some, some changes and in some new relationships and some new opportunities moving forward. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:49.100 And so like in many, many ways, I feel like I do say this every end of the year, it's going to be a new, the church digital, like how the church digital jumped from 24 to 25, jumped again from 25 to 26. 00:09:49.180 --> 00:09:50.800 Like there, there's going to be some changes. 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:51.840 It's, it was funny. 00:09:51.860 --> 00:09:53.660 I was in a leadership meeting just earlier today. 00:09:53.660 --> 00:10:04.100 I think there were, uh, I don't know, five countries represented half a dozen, three, three, four continents, half a dozen, uh, time zones, probably more than that, uh, represented on the call. 00:10:04.680 --> 00:10:09.340 And, um, uh, late in, in the meetings, like, yeah, beta is Jeff's favorite word. 00:10:09.700 --> 00:10:11.020 Dude, I'll try anything once. 00:10:11.260 --> 00:10:15.880 Was it, um, uh, oh my gosh, Craig Rochelle, anything short of sin for the kingdom? 00:10:16.900 --> 00:10:17.600 Let's do it. 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:18.200 Let's do it. 00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:20.540 Throw crap against the, throw crap against the wall. 00:10:20.640 --> 00:10:21.160 No, what is it? 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:22.020 Throw pasta against the wall. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:23.140 See if it, see if it sticks. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:25.180 Uh, crap is a bad word. 00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:26.060 Watch your language. 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:29.340 Uh, but you know, just try it, iterate, learn from it. 00:10:29.380 --> 00:10:29.920 Try again. 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:33.100 Learn if quicker failure is quicker success. 00:10:33.620 --> 00:10:35.680 Um, fail fast, fail forward. 00:10:36.020 --> 00:10:39.220 Like don't, I was just a pastor I work with where I know says that I love this guy. 00:10:39.520 --> 00:10:45.520 If you're going to fail, fail, fail quickly, go shoot big enough that you're failing quickly, but learn something from that. 00:10:45.520 --> 00:10:47.180 So you're still propelling yourself forward. 00:10:47.540 --> 00:10:50.380 It's the failures where it's three step forward, two steps back. 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:51.040 That's not good. 00:10:51.540 --> 00:10:52.000 It's fail. 00:10:52.120 --> 00:10:55.760 So that you're learning something shoot for those, shoot for the stars. 00:10:55.940 --> 00:10:59.520 You're, if you get to the moon, that's still a lot better review than here on earth. 00:10:59.900 --> 00:11:06.020 And so like, that's the, that's the opportunities, uh, that, that we're, we're, we're looking at here. 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:09.720 So some of the stuff we're working on here in the fall. 00:11:10.800 --> 00:11:13.700 Um, one is we're bringing on a new agency. 00:11:14.300 --> 00:11:21.600 Um, talked about this, Barbara and her leadership, a lot of our, a lot of our, their, Barbara is transitioning off of, of the church leadership. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:23.380 Friends, things are going well. 00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:26.420 Andy is still actively involved, uh, within the organization. 00:11:26.420 --> 00:11:33.100 And we're excited about the work that, that Barbara is doing, uh, with, uh, with the word revolution team. 00:11:33.580 --> 00:11:40.480 Uh, but we are, we're moving into a new season working with an organization called amplify social. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:43.920 Uh, you can check them out at amplify social.media. 00:11:44.060 --> 00:11:54.200 Uh, if you know, uh, people online, especially in Christian space, this is Nils Smith's, uh, organization, uh, company that he works with. 00:11:54.520 --> 00:12:04.420 Uh, and so he, uh, he owns the company and we're excited to partner, uh, with Nils and the team and handling a lot of our, our communications. 00:12:04.420 --> 00:12:10.980 And so Andy is heading up now, uh, connections and community and working with that. 00:12:11.060 --> 00:12:14.120 And so now, you know, Hey, these graphics look, really look different. 00:12:14.380 --> 00:12:21.220 And, you know, some of the stuff they're doing on, on Instagram right now with, uh, the social media with like the carousels. 00:12:21.380 --> 00:12:21.960 Oh my gosh. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:22.680 It's so good. 00:12:23.140 --> 00:12:31.720 You know, I, I just, I love organizations that take the random musings and stuff that I throw out there. 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:40.040 And amplify it, amplify it, run with it, make it better than, than what I even intended. 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:46.560 And some of the stuff that I've been seeing lately come out of amplify social has just been incredible. 00:12:46.880 --> 00:12:47.660 Like it was funny. 00:12:47.740 --> 00:12:56.320 I, I, they, they keep sending stuff to me to proof and it's like, you know, I'll, I'll proof it, but it takes me two to three days to see it, to reply. 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:58.480 And, and, and like, and it just slows down the process. 00:13:00.160 --> 00:13:05.260 I told him recently, just like, if you want me to see it and say, this is great. 00:13:05.260 --> 00:13:07.440 Like I'll see it when it's posted and say that it's great. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:13.620 But you know, you've been sending me three weeks worth of social media posts and I haven't given back any negative feedback. 00:13:13.740 --> 00:13:14.840 So at this point, I trust you. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:18.200 Uh, I, you know, once again, uh, fail fast, fail forward. 00:13:18.300 --> 00:13:23.520 Rather, rather you be aggressive and let's, let's correct something rather than be hesitant. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.700 And so anyway, it's, uh, very fun moving towards that. 00:13:29.940 --> 00:13:32.340 We're moving towards an, and this is, this is kind of boring. 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:34.460 Uh, we're moving towards a database. 00:13:34.780 --> 00:13:39.040 Um, we're moving a new database, moving our CRM over to go high level. 00:13:39.180 --> 00:13:40.740 We were with another one. 00:13:40.740 --> 00:13:45.520 And, but to really empower our outpost leaders, I know database is boring. 00:13:45.780 --> 00:13:47.540 Nobody cares about database, Jeff. 00:13:47.640 --> 00:13:48.220 Yeah, you're right. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:54.620 But to empower the outpost leaders, to enable them to do ministry within our ecosystem, we need to give them access to information. 00:13:54.620 --> 00:14:04.500 And really we had not figured out how to give people access to the information and we needed to walk away and we needed to shift. 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:06.560 Nobody wants to move databases. 00:14:06.860 --> 00:14:10.860 Nobody wants to move to a different CRM, but we had to. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:14.860 Now, unfortunately, this may be the fourth or fifth CRM in 18 months. 00:14:15.620 --> 00:14:18.060 It's been an interesting journey for us over the years. 00:14:20.660 --> 00:14:23.360 I'm trying to find the right fit for little money. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:28.020 But it feels like now with go high level, high level, we, we found the right solution. 00:14:28.140 --> 00:14:28.780 I'm so excited. 00:14:29.400 --> 00:14:32.920 Uh, and Nash is, is really doing a lot of work with that for us. 00:14:33.420 --> 00:14:36.940 Uh, purpose as well, uh, is, is doing a lot of work. 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:38.440 Project managing that. 00:14:38.560 --> 00:14:39.020 Oh my gosh. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:42.720 There's so many people involved with the church digital and it's so many different names. 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:51.080 Like the, the people, the new people that are coming on board and running the things, it's so exciting about what the, what the future can be. 00:14:51.420 --> 00:14:58.500 And the fact that I'm on this call with like, I don't know, 20 people from like half a dozen, nine different time zones. 00:14:58.500 --> 00:14:59.980 Like we're scattered all over the planet. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:03.260 There's no way all those people are going to be in the room at the same time. 00:15:03.300 --> 00:15:03.440 Yet. 00:15:03.520 --> 00:15:03.900 Thank you. 00:15:03.980 --> 00:15:04.260 Thank you. 00:15:04.300 --> 00:15:05.140 Digital technology. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:07.380 We can find ways to do it. 00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:17.360 And so new database, um, you know, new, new communication channels, new, new vision for, for some of those things. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:24.500 And, um, and to be honest, one of the things that, that we're really have been wrestling with is the show. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:28.840 What are we doing with the church digital podcast? 00:15:28.940 --> 00:15:29.840 This is episode. 00:15:30.060 --> 00:15:32.760 I thought it was episode three 70 YouTube. 00:15:32.940 --> 00:15:33.160 Thanks. 00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:34.480 It's episode three 69. 00:15:35.100 --> 00:15:38.600 Either way, it's a really big number of shows. 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:45.660 I was telling the volunteers, uh, earlier today, I was like, I can remember having a conversation with Ray DeArmas. 00:15:45.780 --> 00:15:48.040 Ray DeArmas was the co-host of the show for a while. 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:49.060 It was me and Ray. 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:54.780 And, um, Ray, Ray was really the impetus for me starting the church digital podcast. 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:56.880 It's like, Jeff, you've got a lot to say. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:58.040 Just suck it up and say it. 00:15:58.420 --> 00:16:00.200 And I just, I had low confidence. 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:03.700 I wasn't, wasn't sure I could pull it off if I'm honest. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:07.740 And, uh, and, and, and it's like, okay, Ray, let's do it together. 00:16:07.820 --> 00:16:10.460 You can co-host with me and we'll start to line up some people. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:19.660 And, and I remember Ray, Ray and I having a serious conversation whether or not we could actually get more than 10 shows. 00:16:20.160 --> 00:16:26.420 Like, did we have enough to say for 10 different shows? 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:30.120 Or are we going to run out of gas somewhere before 10? 00:16:30.820 --> 00:16:38.220 And, uh, and, and I'm, this is now episode 369, 370, 300 something. 00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:42.600 And so, yeah, I think we pulled off 10 shows and, and, and, and, and a little more. 00:16:43.180 --> 00:16:48.420 Uh, but for, for the future, I mean, to be honest, I'm, I'm questioning even, even myself. 00:16:48.560 --> 00:16:49.140 What is this? 00:16:49.260 --> 00:16:50.100 What does this look like? 00:16:50.180 --> 00:16:59.020 You know, I'm part of, of what my, my cycle at this point creatively, like, so I'm producing this show on a, on a regular basis. 00:16:59.020 --> 00:17:06.500 Um, I'm, I'm producing these conferences, which is a, um, a creative suck. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:07.880 I mean that in a good way. 00:17:07.900 --> 00:17:10.800 Like it just, it takes a lot of creative out. 00:17:10.940 --> 00:17:17.340 I'm also, you know, writing blogs and e-newsletters and, and all sorts of, of, of creative. 00:17:17.840 --> 00:17:28.400 And, and, and to be honest, like I'm, I'm in this, I'm in this kind of parallel of, of, okay, if I have this really creative idea, do I do it as a show? 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:30.440 Do I do it as a, as a, as a conference? 00:17:30.560 --> 00:17:32.660 Do I do it as a, a breakout, as a keynote? 00:17:33.040 --> 00:17:40.000 Like, um, and it's, and it's, it's, it's, it's weighing of, of like, okay, what, what, what do I do here? 00:17:40.500 --> 00:17:44.400 And so, you know, and that's where I was like, okay, we're going to, we're going to quit the Church Digital Podcast. 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:45.700 I'm shutting it down. 00:17:45.780 --> 00:17:47.640 January 1st, it's, it's, it's DOA. 00:17:48.040 --> 00:17:53.620 Uh, we're going to put it in the casket, throw some dirt on top of it, and we're going to, we're going to put some flowers on top. 00:17:53.660 --> 00:17:54.160 It'll be pretty. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:57.020 Uh, and, um. 00:17:57.780 --> 00:18:00.780 People around me, once again, listen to the people around me. 00:18:01.300 --> 00:18:05.360 Uh, some people around me suggested, hey, Jeff, that's probably not the right idea. 00:18:06.280 --> 00:18:09.040 And Andy Bage was right. 00:18:09.780 --> 00:18:12.360 Uh, and so, we are not killing the podcast. 00:18:12.760 --> 00:18:13.860 We're, we're going to continue it on. 00:18:13.940 --> 00:18:15.300 Now, it's going to look different. 00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:16.200 It's going to be seasons. 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:20.120 It's going to be more, uh, more topical themed. 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:30.820 There may be more co-hosts that are coming on, uh, more, not one-on-one podcasts, but one-off podcasts, but more of, of a deep dive on certain topics. 00:18:30.820 --> 00:18:37.960 And so, like, um, I'm wrestling through some ideas right now and, and, and, and what that could look like. 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:39.700 And, and we're going to roll that out in January. 00:18:40.360 --> 00:18:49.720 But really, the thing that, one of the things that I'm most excited about on January is this, is that we, the Church Digital, are launching a streaming network. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:59.960 Now, we've been to Church Digital Podcast, and some of you may remember, way back, maybe 22, 23, we were actually doing 21, 22, uh, 21, 22, 23. 00:19:00.300 --> 00:19:17.560 We were doing the Church Digital Podcast Network, where we had, oh, I don't know, half a dozen people that were, were creating shows regularly, uh, that we were promoting and distributing, but through the Church Digital, uh, and bringing awareness to these shows. 00:19:17.560 --> 00:19:26.960 And, and, uh, you know, I'm thinking Chesley had a show, Andy had a show, Tom had a show, um, oh my gosh, they're, I'm calling them kids. 00:19:27.060 --> 00:19:31.160 They were not kids, but it was the couple, uh, Dr., uh, Reverend John Pyle. 00:19:31.280 --> 00:19:32.080 Is it Dr. John Pyle? 00:19:32.600 --> 00:19:33.340 Dr. John? 00:19:34.100 --> 00:19:34.680 John Pyle? 00:19:35.800 --> 00:19:36.700 Oh my gosh. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:38.320 I, you know, it's Dr. John Harris. 00:19:39.100 --> 00:19:45.440 And now in my head, I want to call him Dr. John Pyle, but I'm not sure that Dr. John's a, Pyle's a doctor or Reverend. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:48.700 Uh, anyway, Pastor Pyle, I love you, sir. 00:19:48.780 --> 00:19:52.460 I just can't remember what the, the, the, the three letters are in front of your name. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:20:00.980 Um, and so, like, there were so many good shows and good content that was created, but it was aimed in the environment. 00:20:00.980 --> 00:20:04.260 At the time, we were more aimed at physical churches with digital ministry. 00:20:04.520 --> 00:20:07.540 And so a lot of it shaped more towards that, that mindset. 00:20:08.900 --> 00:20:17.840 Well, I think as we're now leaning more towards digital missionaries, I think it's time to bring around some more voices. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:24.840 Now, listen, I, ego not aside, when I say this, I'm intentionally going to sound like a jerk. 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:27.080 Like, I love the sound of my voice. 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:35.080 Like, I can talk all day long into this microphone in front of people like you and, and be completely fine doing that. 00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:50.160 Um, but I, as a white American, bald with a beard, have a perspective on context that may not necessarily fit other contexts. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:21:00.300 And so, if we want to talk about gaming, well, I, I really don't do much in gaming, so I'm probably not the best voice. 00:21:00.620 --> 00:21:10.800 If we want to talk about urban, African American, I, I definitely am not the best voice. 00:21:11.040 --> 00:21:19.880 If we want to talk about international global, man, there's a, there's a limit to what my capacity is in, in, in those environments. 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:23.460 I, I, I can speak to some, but certainly not to all. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:31.720 And the church digital, my approach, has never been about being the influencer of the church digital. 00:21:31.820 --> 00:21:34.020 But instead, we talked about this in the last stream. 00:21:35.620 --> 00:21:38.420 Decentralizing, distributing, breaking it up. 00:21:38.540 --> 00:21:42.560 By the way, if you didn't listen to the last stream I did, it was, it was two weeks ago. 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:45.380 I'm guessing on YouTube now it's episode 368. 00:21:46.020 --> 00:21:47.580 Uh, decentralized, what's next? 00:21:47.700 --> 00:21:49.300 The decentralization of TCB. 00:21:49.520 --> 00:21:52.380 Like, that is, that's, that's my heart. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:59.900 Is not to make this jeffreed.com, but instead to give the platform, to give the influence to others. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:07.220 Like, this is not collecting it for myself as much as it's distributing and empowering others in, in, in their context. 00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:20.260 And, and, and, and what we did, you know, Simon, Simon in, in, in, uh, Europe is, is a great example where, you know, we gave the influence of the church digital when we produced the, the, uh, European digital missionary conference. 00:22:20.260 --> 00:22:27.900 Uh, we, uh, we, uh, we, uh, we, we, we helped him create, uh, a discipleship conference in, in, in Nigeria. 00:22:27.900 --> 00:22:34.600 Uh, right now we've got, uh, one of our other outpost leaders, uh, Tariq is actually not in Pakistan. 00:22:34.600 --> 00:22:38.140 He's in Thailand, I believe, right now. 00:22:38.460 --> 00:22:45.660 And, and, and is doing missionary work and, and is speaking at a, at a conference and, and, and doing work in, in, in Thailand. 00:22:45.660 --> 00:23:05.980 And so for us, um, it's, if it is very important for, for me, not just to be, um, the main influencer where it's, it's all about me, but instead it's very important for me to empower others in, in, in, in what they're doing. 00:23:05.980 --> 00:23:26.360 Because I believe that's what, that's what Christ would have me do, um, is, is not collect that fame, that influence, that clout, uh, but to, to, to distribute that among others, which is one of the reasons why I love the decentralization model so much. 00:23:26.360 --> 00:23:31.080 Because I believe that we, the church digital can do that in a decentralized manner. 00:23:31.480 --> 00:23:33.520 John 3 30, he must become greater. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:35.300 I must become less. 00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:52.920 So even in the midst of, um, um, um, this, this moment, like it's John, you know, tells us in that, in John 3 30, that, um, you know, we need to say it's actually, that's where John the Baptist is like, you know, I need to step back so that Christ can be. 00:23:53.420 --> 00:23:59.720 And, um, and through that, um, you know, I'm even reading of myself, but we need to draw attention to Christ. 00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:05.700 We need to platform others in their attempt to, to, to, to help others draw closer to Christ rather than myself. 00:24:06.100 --> 00:24:27.180 And so what happens, you know, even in a, um, in a streaming show influence type is that, you know, we get to platform guys like Demarcus Battle, who I'm very excited to say is, is one of the first people that are going to be part of the TCD streaming network. 00:24:27.520 --> 00:24:35.920 Like, listen, I, I, Hey, Jeff, what do you know about black, uh, African, African American urban context? 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:39.360 That much. 00:24:40.380 --> 00:24:41.460 I don't know nothing, bro. 00:24:41.760 --> 00:24:42.860 I live in Miami. 00:24:43.020 --> 00:24:45.640 Like Jeff, what do you know about Hispanic culture? 00:24:45.860 --> 00:24:55.240 I do know a little bit about Hispanic culture because I've spent like 30 years of my life, 35 years of my life living in Miami, which is basically Northern Havana. 00:24:55.620 --> 00:24:59.820 And so there is some stuff I can tell you, but African American, very little. 00:25:00.360 --> 00:25:08.060 And so there's an opportunity to look at, okay, how do you use digital to reach people in urban context? 00:25:10.060 --> 00:25:20.800 His context is going to be much more different than I will, which is why I'm so on board with platforming others in this space to speak into it. 00:25:20.800 --> 00:25:31.860 Because the people that Demarcus is going to be speaking to, the people that Demarcus is going to be reaching is a different audience, a different mindset than what I'm doing. 00:25:32.700 --> 00:25:41.500 And Leighton, Leighton's been doing this for a while and even Leighton, like we're taking, uh, his gaming outpost podcast and we're, we're rebranding that. 00:25:41.500 --> 00:25:45.980 And, and it's, there's going to be, it's going to look different, um, in, in, in 26. 00:25:46.140 --> 00:25:47.000 It's not a bad thing. 00:25:47.020 --> 00:25:48.780 It's a great thing that we're going to be adapting. 00:25:48.780 --> 00:25:56.580 And he's going to be one of these, uh, one of these streaming shows as well, because gaming is speaking, Leighton is speaking, Blackcap is speaking, Sez is speaking. 00:25:57.080 --> 00:25:58.420 That guy has too many names. 00:25:58.600 --> 00:25:58.940 Size. 00:25:59.500 --> 00:26:00.220 I just did it again. 00:26:00.280 --> 00:26:00.740 It's size. 00:26:01.180 --> 00:26:02.500 Uh, size is speaking. 00:26:02.700 --> 00:26:10.420 On, um, so many, uh, from a gaming context, like, I don't know anything about gaming. 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:17.920 I, I, I, I watch, I kind of mock my son when he, when he plays, he plays, um, he plays a lot these days. 00:26:18.420 --> 00:26:21.500 Uh, but he, he had, he had his birthday, his 15th birthday. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:25.580 And, um, for about the past five years, he's had the same birthday party. 00:26:26.040 --> 00:26:28.360 He invites a whole bunch of people over to the house. 00:26:28.360 --> 00:26:30.720 We set up a bunch of TVs in the living room. 00:26:31.180 --> 00:26:35.480 Uh, like, up to four different TVs, four different game consoles, and everybody just plays video games. 00:26:36.280 --> 00:26:44.280 And, uh, my gosh, they were at 15, a bunch of, you know, high school freshmen, 15 year olds, 14, 15 year olds. 00:26:44.700 --> 00:27:00.460 And, uh, and it's, it's, it's, it's, it's not for me too. 00:27:00.460 --> 00:27:07.260 And, uh, and it's not my job to say, well, they need to do this because I'm not, I'm not of that culture. 00:27:08.260 --> 00:27:15.000 And, and, and so we need people that understand these different contexts to help lead into that space. 00:27:16.080 --> 00:27:26.200 Internationally, we're having conversations right now with some of our, our leadership, as well as some of people that we're beginning to invite into the conversation. 00:27:27.160 --> 00:27:33.820 About speaking into that, what does the, I'll tell you one of the hotspots for me in 26. 00:27:34.340 --> 00:27:41.440 Like, this is the, um, I'm trying to figure out what adjective I want to say here. 00:27:42.080 --> 00:27:45.100 To, like, adequately get my point across. 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:49.980 I have a, it's not a vision, I have a dream. 00:27:51.020 --> 00:28:01.520 There's a huge opportunity for us to, to reach the, uh, people in India as, uh, for digital missionaries to engage in India. 00:28:01.940 --> 00:28:04.340 India, and talk about different contexts. 00:28:05.740 --> 00:28:10.600 India, you know, I think India and China are the two largest countries on the planet. 00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:13.480 China one, India two, I'm pretty sure that's the order. 00:28:14.040 --> 00:28:16.560 India is, uh, population wise. 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:21.880 India, there's, you know, I, I always say a number and people tell me it's bigger than that. 00:28:22.180 --> 00:28:31.080 I, I, I thought it was 1,300 dialects, uh, but I'm understanding it's actually probably closer to 1,800 dialects. 00:28:31.080 --> 00:28:44.140 Don't quote me on that, but either way, you're looking at an incredible cultural, uh, imbalance and incredible cultural differences, uh, among the, the community of India. 00:28:44.140 --> 00:28:59.220 Not to mention, um, I'm understanding now, like, um, being part of a Christian church is, is legal in India, but, uh, evangelizing is actually, in some areas of India, like, that's where the persecution comes. 00:28:59.520 --> 00:29:02.560 It's, it's not in your belief, it's, it's, it's in sharing that belief. 00:29:03.260 --> 00:29:11.480 And so, how can, how can Christians share their belief in, in India digitally to maybe avoid some of that persecution? 00:29:12.420 --> 00:29:17.220 I mean, this is, this is some of what we're, we're beginning to, to wrestle with. 00:29:17.320 --> 00:29:27.320 Um, and, and to try to figure out how we can help, um, missionaries in India be effective digitally to, to reach people from Christ. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:31.460 By the way, I know nothing. 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:32.240 Uh, it was funny. 00:29:32.800 --> 00:29:36.940 Uh, there, uh, there's really only two cultures I actually do know in India. 00:29:37.500 --> 00:29:39.700 Uh, Bengali and, and Hindi. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:44.200 Uh, I know Hindi's the largest, Bengali is, is pretty up there. 00:29:44.540 --> 00:29:48.300 The other thing I know about India is, uh, they like curry on their food. 00:29:50.700 --> 00:29:54.880 That's not to insult her to downplay the Indian culture. 00:29:55.980 --> 00:30:05.380 That's to say, we want, we, the Church Digital, I, Jeff Reed, I want to learn more about the Indian culture. 00:30:05.720 --> 00:30:14.380 I want to find leaders who can help me understand the Indian culture and how to impact people to share Christ in India. 00:30:15.220 --> 00:30:24.180 And, and, and to figure out how to share Christ in India, giving some of the upcoming persecution that is beginning to happen in, in physical space. 00:30:26.280 --> 00:30:29.160 This is where it's not about jeffreed.com. 00:30:29.300 --> 00:30:30.860 It's about the Church Digital. 00:30:31.640 --> 00:30:35.100 And, and, and now finding people and empowering those people. 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:41.120 By the way, I would love, I would love to have an Indian version of, of this show. 00:30:41.300 --> 00:30:42.920 I have no idea what that looks like. 00:30:42.980 --> 00:30:43.960 I don't even know if it's legal. 00:30:44.620 --> 00:30:49.640 Um, I, I, I would not even expect it to be, this is the fun part of where we're going with the Church Digital. 00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:56.500 I told Andy the other day, I was like, I want shows on the Church Digital's YouTube in different languages. 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:00.500 Simon comes on and he wants to do a German show. 00:31:01.360 --> 00:31:02.700 More power to you, Simon. 00:31:02.800 --> 00:31:08.660 Yutope wants to speak in, in the, in the native tongue or in the dialect of, of where he is in, in Nigeria. 00:31:09.560 --> 00:31:10.240 Cool, bro. 00:31:10.340 --> 00:31:11.060 Go to town. 00:31:11.580 --> 00:31:14.020 Like, and that, that's because, well, first off, 00:31:14.020 --> 00:31:19.040 I think that we can use the platform of the Church Digital to reach people that don't look like us. 00:31:19.040 --> 00:31:23.580 But we may have to do something that is, um, is, is different. 00:31:24.060 --> 00:31:28.460 We may have to be okay with, uh, including others into the conversation. 00:31:28.900 --> 00:31:32.580 And I would rather, you know, I don't want to get into algorithms. 00:31:32.920 --> 00:31:44.340 It makes more sense, I believe, to launch an algorithm specific, one, one account that has multiple languages than, and a different account per, uh, at least I think so at this point. 00:31:44.520 --> 00:31:56.880 But, uh, I don't want to get into the algorithm, but the streaming network, Demarcus, Leighton, um, and me, we'll be kicking it off in early 26. 00:31:57.540 --> 00:32:02.300 Uh, look for the Church Digital podcast kicking off strong in January. 00:32:02.540 --> 00:32:06.440 Um, and, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm really excited. 00:32:06.560 --> 00:32:10.000 I'm working right now on, on the first kind of show season. 00:32:10.100 --> 00:32:11.740 I'm, I, I was trying to tease it. 00:32:12.080 --> 00:32:16.300 Uh, I did not get, I wanted to get some details like locked down. 00:32:16.560 --> 00:32:23.480 And, and there's one particular, um, co-host I was trying to get locked in, um, before. 00:32:23.740 --> 00:32:28.120 And we're trying to get the scheduling figured out, like, uh, when we can actually do it. 00:32:29.140 --> 00:32:31.920 So we're gonna, we'll be having the Church Digital podcast. 00:32:32.100 --> 00:32:33.260 We'll kick off in January. 00:32:33.760 --> 00:32:35.000 And then, thanks, Nicole. 00:32:35.360 --> 00:32:41.140 Um, very excited for Demarcus and, uh, and, and Leighton to kick on, uh, with that as well. 00:32:42.080 --> 00:32:48.820 The, another thing, um, is, uh, EDM, equipping digital missionaries and, and a lot of our equipping. 00:32:49.200 --> 00:33:03.800 By us not, um, doing the show, we're actually funneling a lot of the energy, um, into our, um, equipping and, and getting some stuff built out there. 00:33:03.880 --> 00:33:09.080 We, we started, there's, there's a new whole group of, like, project managers that are coming on and working. 00:33:09.080 --> 00:33:13.740 And, and I'm so excited about some of the energy and ownership that we're seeing at the department level. 00:33:14.520 --> 00:33:26.580 But, um, Jason Morris and, and, uh, and Nash are, are very active right now in building out the Church, uh, equipping digital missionaries in multiple languages. 00:33:27.320 --> 00:33:31.120 Um, sharing Jesus online is getting translated into multiple languages. 00:33:31.860 --> 00:33:38.320 Um, we're, uh, we're already building out more courses in, uh, on, on different topics. 00:33:38.320 --> 00:33:44.500 We're launched, we're, we're baiting right now a, um, a digital church planting course. 00:33:44.680 --> 00:33:54.820 We're beta-ing right now a, uh, uh, or we're, we're building out right now a, uh, oh my gosh, like, you know, fundraising course. 00:33:55.300 --> 00:34:00.960 Um, and so, like, there's a lot of energy that's going into, to developing our equipping library as well. 00:34:02.740 --> 00:34:05.480 By the way, Nobi has been an incredible find. 00:34:05.700 --> 00:34:07.200 Real excited about how Nobi's come out. 00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:12.200 Uh, but, um, it's, uh, now it's a matter of, of putting more courses on that. 00:34:12.560 --> 00:34:18.460 We were even talking with organizations like Taco that, that have, uh, a very quality course. 00:34:18.580 --> 00:34:19.820 And they, they give it away for free. 00:34:20.260 --> 00:34:22.860 And I, and then I was like, Hey, why don't, why don't we partner together? 00:34:22.980 --> 00:34:24.240 Like still give it away for free. 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:33.900 Uh, but, you know, let's, uh, put it on a more stable platform and then let's, you know, let's use the church digital funnel, more people your way for the course. 00:34:34.420 --> 00:34:42.000 And so, you know, I think more partnerships are, are, are, are going to be happening in, in, in the weeks, uh, in the months to come in, in 26. 00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:46.520 Excited about the opportunities and to create trainings for that. 00:34:47.520 --> 00:34:55.200 The last thing that we're going to do in, in 20, this is going to be a shorter stream, by the way, I'm looking at the time and it's like, I've, I've got some other things going on these days. 00:34:55.200 --> 00:35:05.160 But, um, one of the last things that we're going to do in 25 is our Giving Tuesday live stream. 00:35:05.260 --> 00:35:09.420 Now, some of you may remember, it's funny, internationally, Giving Tuesday has no context. 00:35:09.680 --> 00:35:12.720 So, so let me back up it from our international friends. 00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:17.500 Um, so we have a holiday Thursday, November something. 00:35:17.520 --> 00:35:18.460 At the end of November. 00:35:19.080 --> 00:35:20.740 And on Thursday, it's Thanksgiving. 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:32.620 And this is where we, as Americans, we gather in families and places, stuff our face with turkey and stuffing and ham and mashed potatoes and all sorts of, of fat food. 00:35:32.780 --> 00:35:59.600 Um, and then Friday is known as Black Friday, which is a reference to, uh, businesses, retail businesses getting in the black because so much money is spent because everybody, the day after Thanksgiving goes out and starts spending a bunch of money on, on Christmas gifts. 00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:06.240 And so we gorge ourselves on day one, Thursday, Friday, Black Friday, we spend a bunch of money. 00:36:06.760 --> 00:36:15.420 And then there's small business Saturday, which is where we spend a bunch of money, not at the brand stores, but at like the small businesses and local business, small business Saturday. 00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:19.580 Once again, buying a bunch of money for gifts and for other people and buying stuff for us. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:22.020 And then Sunday, everybody goes to church. 00:36:22.520 --> 00:36:23.860 Monday is Cyber Monday. 00:36:24.060 --> 00:36:28.300 And this is where you've already spent money at the, at the brand stores in your neighborhood. 00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:30.640 You already spent money at the local businesses. 00:36:30.640 --> 00:36:40.520 Now you spend a bunch of money online, uh, for, uh, for Cyber Monday to, to buy whatever is left to finish off your, your gift shopping. 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:45.800 And then Tuesday, this will be Tuesday, December 2nd. 00:36:46.120 --> 00:36:48.040 Um, we call that Giving Tuesday. 00:36:48.580 --> 00:36:59.420 So after you've gorged yourself with food Thursday and had at least three major days of shopping, Friday, Saturday, Monday, you know, cause God actually did her on Sunday. 00:36:59.520 --> 00:37:05.260 I never, I never understood why they never came up for a name for Sunday, but Monday being Cyber, uh, Cyber Monday. 00:37:05.260 --> 00:37:06.840 And then Tuesday is Giving Tuesday. 00:37:07.200 --> 00:37:17.360 This is where it's like, Hey, whatever money you have left that you haven't like spent on gorging yourself with food or buying a bunch of gifts for everybody else or for yourself. 00:37:17.980 --> 00:37:23.320 Um, yeah, let's, uh, let's go ahead and give that to others in need. 00:37:23.680 --> 00:37:27.520 And so I'm, I'm being somewhat facetious of American culture. 00:37:27.520 --> 00:37:30.960 Although let's be honest, that really does fit American culture. 00:37:31.380 --> 00:37:36.460 Um, we are doing a, there's a Giving Tuesday on Tuesday, December 2nd. 00:37:36.520 --> 00:37:39.900 We, the Church Digital, we are doing a 12 hour live stream. 00:37:39.980 --> 00:37:44.720 This is the Church Digital's second annual 12 hour live stream. 00:37:44.820 --> 00:37:49.060 We did the live stream previously last year, and it was so much fun. 00:37:49.200 --> 00:37:56.080 I literally got on this camera in this environment with this mic and talked for about 12 hours straight. 00:37:56.080 --> 00:38:15.360 We had close to 50 people cycle through on the interview, basically having conversations about what, how digital ministry, digital discipleship, digital evangelism, how this stuff is working and how we, um, and how we, the Church Digital are helping to make it happen. 00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:26.880 And so it was, uh, it was a huge opportunity, uh, for the people of Church Digital to jump on and celebrate, uh, what they're doing in the space. 00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:36.300 And, and, and, you know, through, through the 12 hour live stream, there's two things really that, that we want, three things we would love to see happen with that. 00:38:36.620 --> 00:38:41.840 Number one, we want to see exposure to the ministries of what's happening through, through the Church Digital. 00:38:42.240 --> 00:38:49.220 Number two, through that exposure, if any of our ministries, if anyone would like to support those ministries, we would love to see that happen. 00:38:49.780 --> 00:38:55.040 Uh, and then number three, we, the Church Digital, would love to see some funding happening as well. 00:38:55.500 --> 00:39:01.440 Um, we got, um, you know, financially with the Church Digital, we're doing very good this year. 00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:06.960 Hashtag, uh, there's still room to, to grow. 00:39:07.500 --> 00:39:14.040 Um, organizationally, the two conferences have really elevated our game towards what is possible. 00:39:14.040 --> 00:39:21.480 Uh, but we're, we're still under budget moving forward for, for what our operating level is. 00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:31.700 And, and, and really, it's, it's interesting, like we're, we're working on this premise, uh, for 26 of, of, of, hey, let's, um, let's 2x our budget for 10x the impact. 00:39:31.960 --> 00:39:46.520 And, and, and how can we make minuscule, um, financial increases, minuscule, um, financial outputs that are actually 10x, that'll, that'll greatly scale it and multiply what our, our reach is. 00:39:46.520 --> 00:39:51.860 And so excited to see some of that roll out in, in, in the, in the weeks and months to come. 00:39:51.860 --> 00:40:04.800 Uh, but we will be doing that live stream Tuesday, September, no, I'm sorry, Tuesday, December 2nd, 8 a.m. Eastern, U.S. Eastern, which is UTC minus 5 now. 00:40:06.180 --> 00:40:12.760 UTC minus 5, uh, we'll be doing it for 12 hours, so 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. U.S. Eastern, UTC minus 5. 00:40:15.200 --> 00:40:30.580 If you want to be on that, hey, Jeff, uh, if you've got some ideas of, of, of something you want to, you want to talk about on the show, hey, Jeff, if you've got something digitally you want to promote, let's talk, let's figure it out, let's, let's find ways. 00:40:31.240 --> 00:40:39.160 Um, it's, it's incredible the amount of, of influence and touch points that the church digital has developed. 00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:54.060 You know, I, I, it's so funny, I, I had to, I'll, I'll tell this story several times, I'm sure, on the stream, but, um, when, when, so, you know, I mean, maybe you don't know, but I, I actually have a, a, basically a full-time job at this point. 00:40:54.060 --> 00:41:05.660 Um, I, outside of the, the church digital was not paying my bills and giving Tuesday, the conferences, I have no, I have no expectation for our desire, really. 00:41:06.040 --> 00:41:08.900 I have no desire for the church digital to be a full-time job for me. 00:41:09.460 --> 00:41:13.500 Um, I have no expectation for the church digital to be a full-time to pay my salary. 00:41:13.720 --> 00:41:26.400 I, I just don't, you know, even, even as, even as the founder, if I were to get a six-figure check, I'd be finding ways to, to distribute that among other people and amplify the ministry more than I would bring it home as for me personally. 00:41:27.220 --> 00:41:45.020 Um, and so, to, in order to pay my bills, I got a mortgage, I had to get a job, and so one of those jobs is, is actually with, uh, a, a, a church partner, church supporter, uh, that's known as, uh, it's a, a church in town here in Miami called, called Christ Journey. 00:41:45.860 --> 00:41:49.740 And, uh, and so I, I was, this is the one, this is one of the funniest conversations. 00:41:49.740 --> 00:42:02.580 It's their executive pastor, uh, his name's Ryan, and, um, I don't know, maybe, maybe a year ago at this point, a year and a half ago, I was, was talking to them about financially supporting the, the, the church digital. 00:42:03.040 --> 00:42:08.360 And, uh, and Ryan was somewhat interested, and he's like, hey, yeah, you know, send me some paperwork, let me, let me look at it. 00:42:12.620 --> 00:42:18.900 And, um, it's so funny, this was a year ago, I'm actually now remembering more context than about a year ago. 00:42:19.740 --> 00:42:24.320 And, uh, and so I sent him the paperwork, and, uh, he is reading it over. 00:42:25.220 --> 00:42:29.740 And, uh, in the next meeting, I get on the call with him, and he's like, hey, I looked over the paperwork, I got a question, though. 00:42:30.520 --> 00:42:38.240 He says, it sees here, is, is that you're, you're trying to raise, um, you know, an annual budget of $75,000 a year. 00:42:38.560 --> 00:42:40.360 Like, that's what your annual budget is. 00:42:40.900 --> 00:42:41.760 And I was like, yeah. 00:42:42.460 --> 00:42:44.340 And, and, and he says, Jeff, I don't understand. 00:42:45.820 --> 00:42:49.520 How can you be in as many continents and countries as you are? 00:42:49.600 --> 00:42:52.140 How can you be developing and resourcing all of these people? 00:42:52.600 --> 00:43:00.960 How can you be involved in all of these, these conversations, doing all of the work that I see you doing, only on $75,000 a year? 00:43:02.440 --> 00:43:03.360 And this was a year ago. 00:43:04.600 --> 00:43:05.960 And, uh, and I laughed. 00:43:06.480 --> 00:43:07.980 I, I literally, I laughed when I said it. 00:43:07.980 --> 00:43:08.860 I was like, okay, well, hold on. 00:43:09.320 --> 00:43:12.000 I, I said, I, I, I think you're best understanding something. 00:43:12.680 --> 00:43:19.480 I was like, my, um, my, that $75,000 number, that's the number I'm, I'm hoping for. 00:43:19.560 --> 00:43:20.700 That's the number I'm driving for. 00:43:20.920 --> 00:43:27.780 That's actually, we, we, right now, the church, we, we, we, we can, we're about $75,000 a year, um, right now. 00:43:27.780 --> 00:43:37.660 And, uh, uh, I said, I was like, but, but to be honest with you, like, our operating budget at the time was about, uh, maybe $15,000. 00:43:39.040 --> 00:43:40.440 We were less than $2,000. 00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:44.960 Uh, and it was just, like, we were, now, it was funny when he said it. 00:43:45.040 --> 00:43:48.420 Like, even, like, we were on a, we were on a, uh, a payroll freeze. 00:43:48.500 --> 00:43:50.000 We weren't paying any of the contractors. 00:43:50.380 --> 00:43:51.940 We weren't paying any of our leadership. 00:43:51.940 --> 00:43:56.780 We were, like, it was, uh, it was the season after it was on and we were just, we were broke. 00:43:56.920 --> 00:43:57.920 Our last dollar went on. 00:43:58.640 --> 00:44:00.700 And it was, like, we just, we don't, we don't have any money. 00:44:00.840 --> 00:44:01.740 We're not paying any money. 00:44:02.160 --> 00:44:05.400 And so, um, and so this guy's, like, how are you all these places? 00:44:05.500 --> 00:44:11.040 And it's, like, man, you know, the secret is, I guess, you get a bunch of people that are excited about something, 00:44:11.520 --> 00:44:14.560 cast vision, and, and create a model of how you can make it better. 00:44:14.960 --> 00:44:16.540 And then invite them to be a process. 00:44:16.540 --> 00:44:18.900 Give them, uh, give them ownership of it. 00:44:19.420 --> 00:44:27.060 And I'll tell you, Simon, Yatope, Tariq, Steve, Leighton, these guys drive me. 00:44:28.080 --> 00:44:30.740 Which is why I love this new model of being decentralized. 00:44:31.560 --> 00:44:33.620 Because now, they're in control. 00:44:35.740 --> 00:44:37.680 Steve Reed is the new boss of the church. 00:44:39.960 --> 00:44:43.380 Someone, just like Tariq is, just like Yatope. 00:44:43.860 --> 00:44:46.200 Leighton finally has the keys, he keeps me right. 00:44:47.060 --> 00:44:48.440 But that's the goal, right? 00:44:48.520 --> 00:44:55.800 It's by decentralizing our role of the church digital is to empower their ministry to go out and to go on. 00:44:56.380 --> 00:44:58.640 And so, how can we do that more effectively? 00:44:59.220 --> 00:45:00.320 That's the heart of this. 00:45:01.160 --> 00:45:04.140 And this is the hang-up, you know, that takes funding. 00:45:05.060 --> 00:45:10.040 So, the church digital, you know, our goal is for, for 2x to, 2x to budget. 00:45:10.260 --> 00:45:11.500 We're about $75,000. 00:45:12.040 --> 00:45:16.340 Our goal is to get to $150,000 annually. 00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:21.060 And, and with that, we don't want to see a 2x increase. 00:45:21.140 --> 00:45:22.640 We want to see a, a 10x. 00:45:22.700 --> 00:45:23.940 We want to see this stuff scale. 00:45:23.940 --> 00:45:30.360 Because, literally, these things that we've built have been designed to scale. 00:45:31.120 --> 00:45:34.640 We need to get to the place where they can scale. 00:45:35.320 --> 00:45:40.520 And we just need a little bit more to pour that gasoline on the plane. 00:45:41.400 --> 00:45:48.740 And as we're looking into Giving Tuesday, the stream, and even into the 26th calendar year, 00:45:49.400 --> 00:45:59.320 our hope as a ministry is to 10x what we're doing with just a 2x increase. 00:46:00.560 --> 00:46:09.620 And, and, and, and to be honest with you, some of you, and I hate talking about money, but some of you have benefited in a big way from the church digital. 00:46:09.960 --> 00:46:17.480 And, and as much as possible, I'm actually trying to think, I don't think we've done anything at this point that we've, we've charged for. 00:46:18.680 --> 00:46:32.100 Very little have, have we, and so we're trying to do everything possible to keep it free on, on, on, on the trainings, on the shows, on the conferences, all of this. 00:46:32.600 --> 00:46:36.100 I mean, so many people have said, Jeff, create a, a paid community. 00:46:36.960 --> 00:46:38.840 Jeff, why are you giving community away for free? 00:46:38.960 --> 00:46:41.500 Get people, make people write a check for that. 00:46:41.600 --> 00:46:45.060 I mean, community's the most beautiful part of what the church digital does. 00:46:45.380 --> 00:46:47.200 It's like, we don't, we don't want to pay for that. 00:46:47.260 --> 00:46:48.760 I don't want to put a pig ball on that. 00:46:50.100 --> 00:47:01.180 If the church digital has benefited you in any way, I want you to, to, to take some time and pray about supporting the church digital in, in, in 2026. 00:47:01.380 --> 00:47:03.680 Own the ministry of what's happening here. 00:47:03.760 --> 00:47:06.880 Like, like make a monthly, I listen, I don't want to listen. 00:47:07.040 --> 00:47:08.380 You want to write me a six figure check? 00:47:08.460 --> 00:47:08.780 That's great. 00:47:08.860 --> 00:47:09.180 Thank you. 00:47:09.760 --> 00:47:11.460 Uh, you want to write me a four figure check? 00:47:11.520 --> 00:47:11.800 Thank you. 00:47:11.840 --> 00:47:12.160 That's great. 00:47:12.600 --> 00:47:14.300 Um, don't write new rights checks. 00:47:14.600 --> 00:47:17.520 You write me a six figure check, but a four figure check, you can make money online. 00:47:18.040 --> 00:47:21.440 Um, if you, you want to give me five bucks a month, thank you. 00:47:22.040 --> 00:47:27.160 Uh, set that up and, and, and, and do that because that five bucks is going to make a difference. 00:47:27.160 --> 00:47:29.860 That five bucks will help somebody get connected. 00:47:30.360 --> 00:47:37.800 Uh, and, and what we're, what we're, we're really starting to do is drill down and get into the metrics of, Hey, you know what? 00:47:37.820 --> 00:47:44.260 You want somebody to, to, to, you want to pay for somebody to do that equipping digital mission, of course, this is how much it's going to cost. 00:47:44.600 --> 00:47:49.460 Hey, you want to help somebody, uh, create some content or pay for one of these shows. 00:47:49.700 --> 00:47:51.240 This, how much it's going to cost. 00:47:51.580 --> 00:47:51.980 Yeah. 00:47:52.020 --> 00:47:53.980 You know, Melanie's even saying who writes checks. 00:47:54.120 --> 00:47:54.620 I know. 00:47:56.220 --> 00:47:57.100 I'll be honest. 00:47:57.620 --> 00:48:03.760 I actually, we have one donor right here, uh, that still writes checks. 00:48:06.260 --> 00:48:10.420 So somebody still writes checks, but not that many people. 00:48:10.920 --> 00:48:15.260 Actually, I need to write a check to my mom and I'm like, I have, I don't, I don't have any checks. 00:48:16.320 --> 00:48:20.840 And I'm like, well, I can acquire the money, but she's not comfortable with that. 00:48:21.720 --> 00:48:22.560 It's a whole thing. 00:48:23.360 --> 00:48:32.240 Look, um, I, I want to invite some of you, those of you that benefit from the church that John want to invite you to, to support it. 00:48:32.260 --> 00:48:33.740 Be praying about it in the month to come. 00:48:34.040 --> 00:48:36.360 You're going to be hearing more about it in the month to come. 00:48:36.420 --> 00:48:46.400 But as, as we head into 26, pray about owning the ministry of what's happening here and making a difference in the life of, um, how the church digital is operating moving forward. 00:48:47.040 --> 00:48:50.900 Um, I'm, I'm telling you, Jeff's salary is not Jeff's payment. 00:48:51.140 --> 00:48:53.880 Jeff is, yeah, I may, I'll, I'll go and say it. 00:48:53.940 --> 00:48:55.660 Like, I'll, I'll publicly, I'm saying this. 00:48:55.980 --> 00:49:00.380 I will not get a salary increase, uh, through Q2 26. 00:49:01.140 --> 00:49:02.680 I'm not asking for myself. 00:49:03.440 --> 00:49:11.840 Um, I, I am asking, uh, because I see the potential of what this ministry can do, but we need a little more. 00:49:12.300 --> 00:49:20.300 And, and with a 2x vision, with a 2x increase in our operating budget, I really do believe we can get a 10x impact out of it. 00:49:20.420 --> 00:49:25.140 And I, I cannot wait to see what God does in digital virtual spaces in the church. 00:49:27.400 --> 00:49:28.600 And with that, we're going to wrap. 00:49:28.940 --> 00:49:33.900 I, I really don't think I'm going to be around much, um, in the month of November. 00:49:34.100 --> 00:49:37.960 I may surprise y'all and get bored and jump on to do a stream. 00:49:38.600 --> 00:49:47.880 Um, I may, um, say, Hey, in the communities, I'm sure I'll be around in the communities, create some videos over there. 00:49:48.320 --> 00:49:56.320 But we're going to be pushing forward with the Giving Tuesday live stream on Tuesday, November 2nd, Tuesday, December 2nd, 8 a.m. Eastern. 00:49:56.880 --> 00:50:02.300 And you're going to be hearing a lot from TCD in the weeks, uh, to come about this. 00:50:02.760 --> 00:50:09.540 So, for episode 369 and 2025 wrapping up here, this is Jeff with The Church Digital. 00:50:09.540 --> 00:50:19.860 So, thanks for, thanks for watching any and all of these podcasts, uh, and looking forward to the new TCD in 2026. 00:50:20.360 --> 00:50:21.400 All right, y'all, have a good one.